Skyhawks rock
The St. Albert Skyhawks are returning to the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association curling championships as the defending gold medallists.
The men’s foursome of skip Nic Oake, third Chase Lozinsky, second Owen Pacholok and lead David Howes outlasted the Paul Kane Blues in Wednesday’s playoff for a berth at provincials starting Thursday at St. Paul.
The 7-6 tiebreaker determined the metro Edmonton rep after Paul Kane won the A-B final by the same 7-6 score earlier in the day at the Ottewell.
Visit www.stalbertgazette.com to view the Skyhawks’ championship picture.
The Skyhawks finished the 13-team double elimination tournament with four wins and one loss as the No. 1 seed while going 9-1 in seeding and tournament action.
Paul Kane was seeded fifth while going 7-2 in the tournament and the fifth victory in the B bracket was 7-2 over the No. 2 Bev Facey Falcons for a shot at the Skyhawks.
Curling on the Paul Kane team this season were Ryan Boljkovac, Carson Davis, Andrew Nowell, Ethan Palmer and Tanner Schnirer.
Last year the Skyhawks finished 3-2 and Paul Kane was 5-2 in the 10-team double elimination draw.
The Skyhawks lost out to the Strathcona Lords 8-5 for metro honours but the Lords were unable to put together a full team for provincials in St. Albert so the Skyhawks were declared the league reps and the Paul Kane lineup of Nowell, Davis, Boljkovac and Schnirer was the host rink.
At provincials, the Skyhawks finished 5-1 in the 10-team men’s tournament after beating the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Rams 5-4 for the gold medal and Paul Kane with Nowell skipping placed fourth at 4-2.
Meanwhile, Wednesday's mixed A-B final at the Ottewell was 8-7 for the No. 1 Archbishop Jordan Scots (4-0) over No. 4 Paul Kane (4-2) in the eight-team double elimination draw.
Paul Kane also lost 10-8 to the Scots in the A semifinals.
Paul Kane’s mixed team this season was comprised of Rodney Erickson-Fitl, Anna Smith, Owen Woollam, Brennin Turner, Cassandra Siwiec-Hlewka and Ethan Dorn.
Stick champions
The husband and wife team of Randy and Ruby Olson will represent Alberta at the 15th annual Canadian Open Stick Curling Championship.
The St. Albert Curling Club duo defeated Ryan Meyers and Ervin Yaremko of Morinville 3-2 in an extra end in last month's final at the Granite for the Alberta Stick Curling Championship Trophy sponsored by Milt and June McDougall of St. Albert.
Last year the Olsons lost the final 3-2 in an extra end to Meyers and Dennis Fitzgerald, the 2014 national finalists when the Canadian Open was staged in St. Albert.
The 2018 nationals were also held in St. Albert and this year’s championship tournament is March 31 to April 3 in Cornwall, P.E.I.
At last year’s nationals, Tom and Rae Campbell of the St. Vital Curling Club in Winnipeg were awarded the Sure-Shot Stick Trophy after stealing the tying point in the sixth end and the winning point in the second extra end against Chris Pieper and Tim Smith of the Armstrong Curling Club.
Two-person stick curling consists of one-hour six-end games with six rocks per team per end with no sweeping between the hog lines.
The winning team in the consolation bracket at provincials was St. Albert stick league members Sheila and Dennis Stockman of St. Albert with a 7-6 extra-end decision against Ed Wilson and Ken Lorenz.
Also competing on the final day of provincials were the St. Albert teams of Tom Steele and Barb Palmer, Dan Lee and Jan Dekker, and Rick Jenkyns and Don Kuchelyma.
The first two-person stick provincials were held in 2004 at Didsbury and previous winners included McDougall and Bob McKenzie of St. Albert in 2014 at Wetaskiwin and Tony Van Brabant and Scott Holland of Morinville in 2017 at St. Albert.
