The Boston Pizza Cup provincial men’s curling championship sweeps into action today in Camrose.
The St. Albert rink of skip Glen Hansen, third Doug McLennan, second Don Bartlett and lead George Parsons plays Tom Swallows of Grande Prairie at 9:30 a.m. and the winner advances to the 6:30 p.m. match against Brendan Bottcher of the Saville Centre.
The Hansen foursome won the senior (50-plus) provincials and finished fourth at nationals last year. They have also qualified for this year’s senior provincials, starting Feb. 17 in Coaldale.
The Kevin Koe rink, with Marc Kennedy of St. Albert at third, curls at 6:30 p.m. against Brent Bawl of Airdrie or Warren Cross of the Saville Centre.
Team Koe, with Brent Laing at second and Ben Hebert at lead, are the defending provincial champions and at the 2015 Tim Hortons Brier tied for fifth at 6-5.
This season, the Calgary Glencoe Club affiliate won a spot at the 2017 Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials as winners of the Home Hardware Canada Cup.
On the World Curling Tour, they rank second on the money list at $112,856 and fourth in the order of merit.
At provincials, the qualifiers are 6:30 p.m. Thursday in A, 6:30 p.m. Friday in B and 1 p.m. Sunday in C.
The playoffs start 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The semifinal is Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and the final is 2 p.m.
The 2016 Brier is March 5 to 13 in Ottawa.
Visit www.2016bostonpizzacup.com for the provincial draw and results.
Kennedy, 34, is a six-time Brier all-star. The St. Albert Curling Club wall of fame inductee was the second-team all-star at third last year after five selections at second in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011 on the first team and 2013 on the second team.
Kennedy is also a two-time Brier winner, 2008 world champion and 2010 Olympic gold medallist.
The last game for the St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres before the playoffs is Saturday against the Lloydminster Heat.
Faceoff is 4:15 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League playoffs start Tuesday, when the Sabres host the SSAC Southgate Lions in the best-of-three nitro north division series. The Sabres (23-6-6) and SSAC (21-9-5) are second and third, respectively, in the standings.
The Sabres are 2-0-2 against SSAC in league play.
The Sabres lost 3-2 to the PAC Saints in Spruce Grove last weekend.
