World juniors
Abby Marks of St. Albert rocks the house at the U21 world junior women’s curling championship starting Sunday in Liverpool, N.S.Marks, 19, is the third for Team Canada playing with skip Selena Sturmay, second Kate Goodhelpsen and lead Paige Papley as the University of Alberta Pandas curling out of the Saville Centre.
The alternate is Karlee Burgess of Chester, N.S., who won world junior gold with Kaitlyn Jones last year in Scotland and Mary Fay in 2016 in Denmark.
Team Canada is coached by Amanda-Dawn St. Laurent of the U of A curling program. The St. Albert Curling Club product also coached world gold medallist Kelsey Rocque in 2014 and 2015, and bronze medallist Kristen Streifel in 2017 as the Canadian junior champions.
Goodhelpsen was also the second for Streifel and both Sturmay and Papley are the second and alternate, respectively, for Streifel as the Canadian reps at the Winter Universiade next month in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
At worlds, Team Canada plays Scotland and the United States on day one of the 10-team women’s competition.
Visit www.worldcurling.org/wjcc2019 for draw times and results.
The Sturmay foursome finished 11-0 at nationals as the 10th Canadian junior women’s champion from Alberta and the seventh to go undefeated.
It was the second nationals for Marks, the fifth-place finisher at the inaugural U18 Optimist Canadians in 2017 at Moncton, N.B., as the skip for Team Alberta with Papley, Jamie Scott and Brittany Brezinski.
Marks, an École Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d’Youville graduate, is a second-year U of A nutrition and food science student.
After worlds, the Sturmay rink will represent Canada West at the Curling Canada/U SPORTS Canadian University Curling Championship, March 15 to 19 at Fredericton, N.B. The Pandas finished 4-0 at the Canada West playdowns and all four players were named to the all-star team.
Senior provincials
Round-robin action at the provincial senior (50-plus) men’s championship ends today for the St. Albert curlers in the eight-team competition at Spruce Grove.The 8:30 a.m. draw features the Wade White rink, with Dan Holowaychuk of St. Albert as the second for the 2017 national champions and 2018 world gold medallists, against Colin Griffith of Grande Prairie while the Spruce Grove/St. Albert foursome of skip Randy Guidinger, third Doug McLennan, second Conrad Yaremchuk and lead Lyle Biever plays Scott Egger of Calgary.
White, with third Barry Chwedoruk and lead George White in the Lac La Biche-based lineup, was 4-0 and Guidinger was 0-4 after Thursday’s draws.
White slid past Egger 11-7 in seven ends, Kevin Park of the Crestwood 4-3, Terry Meek of Calgary 9-2 in five ends and Fred Armstrong of Red Deer/Lethbridge 6-4 in seven ends.
Guidinger lost 9-2 to Meek in five ends, 8-7 to Griffith, 6-3 to Park in seven ends and 8-3 to Mark Johnson in six ends.
In Friday’s draws, White traded shots with Johnson (4-0), who is curling out of Grande Prairie, and Guidinger. Scores were unavailable at press time.
Visit www.albertacurling.ab.ca for the playoff pairings and the time for Sunday’s final.
The winner advances to nationals, March 22 to 28 in Chilliwack, B.C., for the right to represent Canada at the 2020 worlds.
Holowaychuk, the alternate for the Ferbey Four, is a three-time provincial champion and McLennan is a two-time winner.
The St. Albert Curling Club wall of fame inductees were bronze medallists at the 2013 nationals with White as skip and George Parsons at lead.
McLennan also curls with Yaremchuk in the Tuesday night men’s league in St. Albert.
Metro playoffs
The Nic Oake rink is one win away from qualifying for the metro Edmonton final as the defending Alberta Schools’ Alberta Association champions.Oake, third David Howes, second Chase Lozinsky and lead Owen Pacholok of the St. Albert Skyhawks are 7-0 as the No. 1 seed in the 13-team double elimination tournament after defeating the No. 4 Harry Ainlay Titans 7-1 this week at the Ottewell.
The winner of Tuesday’s A semifinal between the Skyhawks and the No. 2 Bev Facey Falcons at 3:45 p.m. advances to the Feb. 27 final against the B-side qualifier at 9 a.m. and if a second game is needed to determine the metro champion, it will start at 12 noon.
The No. 5 Paul Kane Blues face the No. 3 Strathcona Lords in the B bracket Tuesday at 3:45 p.m.
Paul Kane is 3-1 in the tournament and the lone loss was 9-4 to the Titans.
High school provincials are March 7 to 9 at St. Paul.
Oake, Lozinsky and Pacholok are also curling with Carter Parenteau in the U18 Optimist playdowns and the foursome qualified for the juvenile provincials as the B-side winners while going 5-1 overall in the 14-team male tournament last weekend in St. Albert.
Provincials are March 14 to 17 at Medicine Hat and nationals are April 2 to 7 at Glen Allan Recreation Complex in Sherwood Park.
