The Northern Alberta Curling Association playdowns are underway at the Leduc Curling Club for 18 rinks vying for three spots at the Boston Pizza Cup provincials next month in Camrose.
The St. Albert Curling Club is represented by the Jamie King rink, with third Glen Kennedy, second Sean Morris and lead Todd Brick, and the Glen Hansen rink, with third Doug McLennan, second Don Bartlett and lead George Parsons.
Last year King competed in his 10th provincials and finished 4-3 curling with Jeff Erickson, Warren Hassall and Kennedy.
The Hansen foursome are the defending senior (50-plus) provincial champions and at nationals placed fourth.
Also participating at northerns is the Morinville rink of Mike Hutchings, third Steve Hutchings, second Brian McPherson and lead Derek Skarban, plus Dan Holowaychuk of St. Albert and the second for Wade White, third Kevin Tym and lead George White.
Visit www.northernalbertacurling.com for draw times and results.
Rinks confirmed for provincials include Kevin Koe, the defending champion with Marc Kennedy of St. Albert at third, Charley Thomas, Mick Lizmore and Brendan Bottcher.
The St. Albert Raiders host the Lloydminster Bobcats today in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
Game time is 1:45 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Bobcats (20-4-2) are the north division leaders with 28 more points than the ninth-place Raiders (6-19-2).
Sunday the Raiders play the last-place KC Pats (4-19-5) at 2:15 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena.
Last weekend the Raiders suffered their first shutout loss of the season, 5-0 by the third-place Kings (14-9-4) in Sherwood Park. Shots were 35-24 for the Kings.
Monday the St. Albert Blues face-off against the Maple Leafs in the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League.
Puck drop is at 8:30 p.m. at Go Auto Arena.
The Blues (11-9-3) and Leafs (4-15-2) are fifth and seventh, respectively in the Investors Group division.
The Blues are winless in their last three games.
Brett Mossing is the Blues’ top scorer with 18 goals and shares the team lead in points with Sam Smith-Ackerl at 26 apiece.
The next game for the St. Albert Crusaders is Jan. 26 against the Sherwood Park Oilers (8-10-3) at 8:30 p.m. at Mark Messier Arena.
The Crusaders (16-6-2) are first in the Clean Harbors division and second overall in the 25-team NAMHL.
Mattias Neset leads the Crusaders in scoring with 19 goals and 41 points.
