St. Albert and the Clansmen renew hostilities today in the Ken Ann Cup north final in premier men’s rugby. Kickoff is 4 p.m. at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
The winner will challenge the defending champion Calgary Hornets or Calgary Canucks in the Labatt’s Cup provincial final next Saturday at Calgary Rugby Park.
St. Albert’s first 15 scrummed down in the last four provincial finals and were victorious in 2010.
The firsts eliminated the Clan in the last two north finals by scores of 22-12 and 20-17.
This year the Clan (8-4) placed second and the firsts (5-7) were fourth in the Alberta Cup table.
The Clan defeated the firsts 53-12 in week two, 18-16 on a game-ending penalty kick in July and 40-6 in St. Albert’s last match before the playoffs. Five red cards were issued in the July dustup, including three to the Clan.
St. Albert’s only win against the Clan was 40-20 in June.
The firsts won the right to play the Clan by beating the Strathcona Druids 37-25.
The home opener for the St. Albert Merchants in the Capital Junior B Hockey League is Sunday against the Stony Plain Flyers.
Faceoff is 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
League play started Friday for the Merchants in Spruce Grove against the defending champion Regals, but the score was unavailable at press time.
Last season the Merchants (19-15-4) placed fourth in the west division and in the best-of-three playoff qualifying round were swept by the fifth-place Edmonton Mustangs.
The Merchants ended the season with five straight losses while going 4-7 after Richard Hebert was replaced by Clint Wandler as head coach.
Wandler is back behind the bench as the team’s fifth head coach in four years.
Next week the metro Edmonton league serves up another season of high school volleyball.
The St. Albert men’s and women’s teams in the premier conference and the lady Bellerose Bulldogs in the city conference have exhibitions scheduled in the senior division.
League play starts Monday for the St. Albert Skyhawks in the men’s city conference against the Beaumont Bandits at 4:45 p.m. at Beaumont.
Wednesday the Paul Kane Blues host the Ardrossan Bison at 4:45 p.m. in women’s exhibition action.
Last year the Blues repeated as premier champions and at 4A provincials finished fourth after placing eighth in 2010 and seventh in 2009.
