Stick nationals
The 48-team draw has been finalized for the 14th annual Canadian Open Stick Curling Championship, April 2 to 5 at the St. Albert Curling Club.The two-person stick nationals will feature men’s, women’s and mixed teams from Prince Edward Island to Vancouver Island, including 23 Alberta teams of which eight hail from St. Albert and four are representing the Morinville Curling Club.
Jim Russell and Milt Larson of the Mayflower Curling Club in Nova Scotia are the defending Sure-Shot Stick Trophy champions and the Morinville duo of Ryan Meyers and Dennis Fitzgerald are the 2018 Alberta champions.
Myers and Fitzgerald were the 2014 finalists when nationals were staged in St. Albert. The winning team for the second time during a run of three championships in six years was John Campbell and Tim Smith of the Armstrong (B.C.) Curling Club. Campbell and Smith are returning to nationals with new partners.
Also in the hunt are two members of the 2015 Alberta Wheelchair Curling Championship team, Mike McMullen and Don Kuchelyma of the St. Albert and Jasper Place clubs, as well as Tony Van Brabant and Scott Holland of Morinville as the 2017 winners of the Alberta Stick Curling Championship Trophy sponsored by Milt and June McDougall of St. Albert.
The majority of the curlers at nationals are over the age of 60 and several are in their 80s.
Teams are guaranteed four games and the first of 27 draws is 5 p.m. April 2 and the final is 2:30 p.m. April 5.
Stick curling games are six ends. One member of each team stays at each end of the sheet and the two delivering curlers alternately deliver six stones each per end as their teammates skip that end and then the roles are reversed. There is also no sweeping between the hog lines.
Visit www.albertastickcurling.ca. for more information on nationals.
Club playoffs
The President’s and Manager’s Cup playoffs heat up the ice next week at the St. Albert Curling Club.The March 28 finals are 6:15 p.m. for the mixed playdowns and 8:45 p.m. for the men’s and ladies’ playdowns.
The President’s Cup winners qualify for the Edmonton and area Tournament of Champions, April 8 to 14 at the Granite.
Last year’s playoff champions were Warren Sadoway in mixed, Dale Briske in men’s and Lauren Jenkyns in ladies.
Briske and Jenkyns guided their teams to first-place finishes at cities.
Canada Deaf Games
Holly Jamieson of the St. Albert Curling Club skipped her Jasper Place rink to a first-place finish at the Canada Deaf Games last month in Winnipeg.Jamieson, third Sally Korol, second Nyla Kurylowich of Sturgeon County and lead Andrea Scott defeated Susanne Beriault in the final 7-4 in nine ends and will represent Canada at the 10th Winter Deaflympics in 2019 in Torino, Italy.
The foursome were bronze medallists at the 2017 World Deaf Curling Championships in Sochi, Russia.
In the final, Jamieson stole two in the first end and singles in the next two ends. A deuce in six made it 6-1.
In the semifinal, Jamieson rallied to defeat Emma Logan 10-7 with a steal of three in the extra end.
Down 7-3 after giving up three in eight, Jamieson roared back with deuces in nine and 10 to knot it at seven.
Jamieson finished 6-2 overall after going 4-2 in the double round robin for second place behind Beriault at 5-1. Logan was third at 2-4.
Curling was one of six sports at the Canada Deaf Games for deaf and hard of hearing athletes.
Jamieson, a junior coach and icemaker at St. Albert Curling Club, was the U21 Canadian and world champion in 2015 as the second with the Kelsey Rocque rink and this year competed in her first Alberta Scotties as the third for the Jessie Hunkin rink of the Avonair as the B northern qualifiers.
In two St. Albert bonspiels this season, Jamieson was the women’s A finalist as skip and was the third for Doug McLennan’s winning mixed rink.
U18 provincials
The Nathan Molberg rink of St. Albert finished 4-3 overall as the consolation round winner at the Optimist Alberta U18 men’s curling championship.Molberg, third Jacob Rahn, second Braden Pelech and lead Morgan Bilassy were seeded third out of eight teams at the recent provincials in Okotoks.
Molberg won two and lost three in the qualifiers and the second victory in the consolation bracket was 5-2 in the final against Cole Ector of the North Hill Curling Club of Calgary.
Molberg qualified for provincials by going 5-0 at the Crestwood U18 bonspiel in December.
The top team at the 3 Son’s Tire & Auto Centre Men’s Bonspiel in November at St. Albert remains in first place in the 10-team Alberta Junior Curling Tour standings after the provincial result.
Travelers northerns
St. Albert rinks skipped by Lauren Jenkyns and Dale Briske are shooting for provincial berths at the Travelers Curling Club northern playdowns, starting Thursday in Camrose.Jenkyns, the 2013 Alberta Travelers' champion, is curling with Christina Monk, Andrea Forbes and Ashley Sykes.
Briske’s lineup consists of Neil McKay, Rick Dallyn and Doug de Bruijn and all four competed at last month’s masters (60-plus) provincials in Stettler. Briske, Dallyn and de Bruijn reached the final on the Gary Greening rink as the A northern qualifiers and finished 7-2 after the 5-2 loss in seven ends to Mickey Pendergast of Red Deer.
McKay, an honorary life member of the St. Albert Curling Club, was the skip for the C northern qualifiers and the team’s provincial record was 1-6.
Jenkyns and Briske qualified for northerns as last year’s President’s Cup playoff winners in St. Albert.
The event winners at northerns advance to provincials in October.
