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St. Albert curling coverage includes Kennedy at the Brier and masters provincials

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STRATEGY SESSION – Marc Kennedy, right, of St. Albert discusses shot options with skip Brad Jacobs at last week's Brier in Kingston, Ont. The Northern Ontario rink, with lead Ryan Harnden and second E.J. Harnden, finished in a four-way tie for fourth place in the championship pool at 7-4, resulting in three games last Saturday with wins of 8-3 against Kevin Koe of Team Canada and 8-4 against John Epping of Ontario in the tiebreakers before losing the 3-4 Page playoff 7-4 to Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador. Kennedy was also recognized as the second team all-star third for his seventh all-star selection in the ninth Brier of his career. CURLING CANADA/Michael Burns

Marc Kennedy of St. Albert was honoured for the seventh time as a Brier all-star in nine appearances at the Canadian curling championship.

Kennedy, 38, was recognized as the second team all-star third at the last week’s Brier in Kingston, Ont.

The all-star team selections were determined based on a combination of shooting percentage and player and media votes.

Kennedy was the first team all-star second in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011, the second-team second in 2013 and second-team third in 2015.

The two-time Olympian and 2010 gold medallist was competing in his ninth Brier and the first with the Northern Ontario rink of skip Brad Jacobs, second E.J. Harnden, a first team all-star, and lead Ryan Harnden based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

The last Brier for Kennedy was 2017 with Team Canada and skip Kevin Koe as finalists against Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador.

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The 2011 St. Albert Curling Club wall of fame inductee was a Brier winner in 2008 and 2009 with skip Kevin Martin and 2016 with Koe and is also a two-time world champion.

At this year’s Brier, Team Jacobs got off to a rocky start at 1-3 before qualifying for the championship pool with a fourth-place 4-3 record in pool B.

A four-way tie at 7-4 for fourth place in the championship pool led to three games last Saturday for Team Jacobs – 8-3 against Team Canada skipped by Koe and 8-4 against John Epping of Ontario in the tiebreakers before bowing out to Team Gushue 7-4 in the 3-4 Page playoff game.

Gushue went to win his third Brier in Sunday’s 7-4 final against Brendan Bottcher of Alberta.

Jacobs and the Harnden brothers won the 2013 Brier and 2014 Olympic gold medal with Ryan Fry as the third.

Team Jacobs entered the Brier slotted No. 1 in the Canadian Team Rankings System points standings as well as the World Curling Tour’s money list at $138,500 and Order of Merit rankings.

Masters curling

The masters men’s provincials ended with a fourth-place finish for St. Albert curler Doug McLennan as the second for the Mark Johnson rink.

The Crestwood team, with third Gary Greening and lead Lance Dealy, finished 4-3 in the eight-team round robin last week in Airdrie.

The last two games were losses of 7-5 to Mickey Pendergast (8-0) of Red Deer and 6-2 to Dave Olsen (6-3) of the Thistle with handshakes after the seventh end in both games.

The results were determined by Pendergast’s four-ender in six and Olsen’s steal of four in seven.

The provincial C qualifiers at the 13-team playdowns in January at the Crestwood also lost to 6-5 Lorne Goodman (5-3) of Airdrie as the third-place team counted the winner in eight after a deuce by Johnson knotted the score in seven.

The final was for 6-4 for Pendergast against Olsen.

McLennan, a former two-time senior (50-plus) provincial champion and 2013 national bronze medallist, was competing in his first masters playdowns in the 60-plus age division.

McLennan was inducted into the St. Albert Curling Club’s wall of fame in 2016.

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