The St. Albert Rugby Football Club premier men’s team is one win away from a Labatt’s Cup provincial three-peat in today’s championship showdown against the Calgary Hornets.
Kickoff is 4:30 p.m. at Calgary Rugby Park.
A convoy of supporters will leave SARFC at 11 a.m. to cheer on the team against the 13-0 Hornets.
SARFC is 11-2 and one of its losses was 28-24 against the Hornets on May 28 in Calgary.
SARFC and the Hornets have combined to win the last seven Labatt’s Cups and today’s final marks the fifth installment between the premier powerhouses. The Hornets stunned the undefeated firsts 24-22 in 2009, followed by wins of 31-13 in 2011 and 47-10 in 2013 at Ellerslie Rugby Park. The firsts prevailed 39-5 in 2014 in Calgary to end the Hornet’s three-year championship reign.
The first Labatt’s Cup in SARFC history was celebrated in 2010, 33-17 over the Calgary Canucks in the Cow Town, and last year’s result was 40-12 over the Calgary Saints at Ellerslie.
Today’s final is the eighth in nine years for SARFC in the premier ranks after winning the 2007 Lor-Ann Cup second division provincials.
The St. Albert Soccer Association is hosting a national sendoff brunch for the U14 Impact boys today at 10 a.m. at the Riel Park clubhouse.
The Impact will also play an exhibition against an older team at 6 p.m. at Riel Recreation Park.
The first St. Albert boys’ team since the 1989 gold-medal winning U18 Cougars to qualify for nationals is 17-0-2 in the Edmonton Interdistrict Youth Soccer Association regular season and provincials.
The U14 National Cup kicks off Wednesday in Moncton, N.B. and in group B the Impact plays Dartmouth FC of Nova Scotia, Fraser Valley of B.C., St. John’s SC of Newfoundland and Hillsborough United of Prince Edward Island.
Visit www.canadasoccer.com for the schedule and results.
The playoffs are underway at the annual St. Albert Physical Education Council junior high volleyball tournament, sponsored by Active Physio Works.
The finals are 3:15 p.m. at the SkyDome for the girls and Ecole Secondaire Sainte Marguerite D’Youville for the boys.
The tournament started Friday with pool play for the 16 boys’ and 16 girls’ teams to determine today’s playoff pairings at 9 a.m. at Vincent J. Maloney and the SkyDome for the girls and Richard S. Fowler, Lorne Akins, Elmer S. Gish and ESSMY for the boys.
