Junior worlds
Team Canada, with St. Albert’s Abby Marks the third for the Selena Sturmay rink, was tied for fourth place with one game left in the round-robin draw at the U21 world junior women’s curling championship.China (7-1), Russia (6-2) and Switzerland (6-2) were ranked ahead of Canada (6-3), Korea (5-3) and Sweden (5-3) in the 10-country competition at Liverpool, N.S.
The score between Canada and Russia on Friday afternoon was unavailable at press time.
The semifinals were played Friday night and the medal finals are scheduled for this afternoon.
Visit www.worldcurling.org/wjcc2019 for results.
Canada’s losses were 6-5 to Scotland on Sunday, 9-3 to Sweden on Tuesday and 8-7 in an extra end against China on Thursday.
One of the victories was 6-4 against Switzerland on Wednesday.
The Team Canada foursome of Sturmay, Marks, second Kate Goodhelpsen and lead Paige Papley are coached by Amanda-Dawn St. Laurent, a product of the St. Albert Curling Club.
The Alberta champions, who curl out of the Saville Centre as the University of Alberta Pandas, finished 11-0 at nationals as the seventh team to go undefeated in the competition.
After worlds, the Sturmay rink will represent Canada West at the Curling Canada/U SPORTS Canadian University Championship, March 15 to 19 at Fredericton, N.B.
Canada Games
Week two of the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer starts Sunday for the St. Albert’s curlers and female hockey players.The U18 Team Alberta rinks are skipped by Nathan Molberg (Ben Helston, Nicholas Warkman, Morgan Bilassy and coach Nicole Bellamy) and Julia Bakos (Quinn Prodaniuk, Alyssa Nedohin, Julianna MacKenzie and coach Glenna Rubin).
The U18 provincial roster for female hockey includes Isabelle Lajoie, Jaden Bogden and Brooklyn Schroeder of the St. Albert Slash (24-2-1), the first-place midget AAA team in the Alberta Female Hockey League as the two-time defending Esso Cup national champions.
Local representation at the Games includes figure skater Matthew Newnham and judoka’s Sasha Tanasiuk and Nicholas Gagnon.
Visit www.canadagames.ca/2019/ for schedules and results.
The first week of competition ended Friday with Team Alberta playing for bronze in U16 male hockey and the U18 provincial ringette team was involved in the placement portion of the tournament. Results were unavailable at press time.
The U18 male hockey team featured Marc Lajoie, Zack Ostapchuk and Matt Savoie of St. Albert while Vail Ketsa, Lauren Millar, Jordyn Scott and head coach Heather Konkin of the U19AA St. Albert Mission were ringette participants.
Bellerose basketball
The metro Edmonton division three women’s basketball playoffs tip off Monday for the first-place Bellerose Bulldogs.The quarter-final against the Austin O’Brien Crusaders (5-6) starts at 5:30 p.m. at Bellerose.
The semifinals are Wednesday and the final is next Saturday at 6 p.m. at Ross Sheppard.
In league play, Bellerose (9-2) knocked off the Crusaders in their home gym 60-35 Jan. 7.
Bellerose is coming off Wednesday’s 40-38 loss to the visiting Millwoods Christian Royals (5-6) in the last league game before the playoffs. The result ended a seven-game winning streak for the division three finalists the last two years.
In the division two junior men’s playoffs, Bellerose (8-3) entertains the J. Percy Page Panthers (6-5) Tuesday. The start time was unavailable at press time.
The semifinals are Thursday and the final is next Saturday at Ross Sheppard.
Division two hoops
A playoff repeat for the Paul Kane Blues starts Tuesday in metro Edmonton division two men’s basketball.Paul Kane (10-1) hosts the Leduc Tigers (5-6) but the game time was unavailable at press time.
Paul Kane edged the Tigers 56-55 Jan. 17 in Leduc.
The lone loss for Paul Kane was 72-58 against the McNally Tigers (4-7) Jan. 8 in St. Albert.
The semifinals are Thursday and the final is next Saturday at Ross Sheppard.
In last year’s final, Paul Kane pulled off an epic 81-72 comeback victory against the St. Peter the Apostle Spartans of Spruce Grove as the Blues rallied from a 23-point deficit in the second half after trailing 40-28 at halftime. Paul Kane outscored the Spartans 34-10 in the last 10-minute period.
Tuesday’s division two women’s quarter-finals feature the St. Albert Skyhawks (10-1) versus the Strathcona Christian Academy Eagles (5-6) at the SkyDome. The start time was unavailable at press time.
The Skyhawks clipped the Eagles 49-48 Jan. 8 in Sherwood Park.
The Skyhawks were winners of five in a row before the 53-46 loss to the host St. Francis Xavier Rams (8-3) Feb. 7.
The semifinals are Thursday and the final is next Saturday at 2 p.m. at Ross Sheppard.
