Rock On: NACA junior playdown numbers drop
Just eight men’s, six women’s rinks competing this weekend
The Northern Alberta Curling Association junior playdowns start Friday and run through Sunday at Edson. There are only eight junior men’s teams and six junior women’s rinks, down from 12 and 10, respectively, last year.
“We have to change the dates of this thing,” said an NACA spokesperson. “We have rural clubs which don’t open until November. The rural kids need some time on the ice before they go into the playdowns.”
The current timing of the playdown also conflicts with post-secondary exams.
“We’d prefer to come out of A (Event) because then we’re done on the Saturday morning,” said Bryce Bucholz, who along with twin brother Landon are the only returnees from last season’s world junior men’s championship rink skipped by Brendan Bottcher.
“We have (exam) finals on Monday, so we’d like to get that extra study time.”
Three teams in both junior men’s and junior women’s advance to the provincial championships Jan. 9-13 at the Thistle Curling Club.
Sonnenberg wins
Renee Sonnenberg’s rink of Lawnie MacDonald, CaryAnne Sallows and Rona Pasika won the last World Curling Tour women’s bonspiel of 2012.
The Grande Prairie skip capped off an 8-1 run in the ’spiel by defeating Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge 10-6 in the Boundary Ford Curling Classic final at Lloydminster last weekend to win $8,000 and jump to ninth place on the WCT women’s money list at $18,300.
Laura Crocker and Val Sweeting also qualified for the playoffs. Crocker, the two-time Canadian Interuniversity Sport champ, beat former Canadian champion Amber Holland of Regina in a B Event qualifying final before losing to Scheidegger in the quarterfinals. Sweeting beat Calgary’s Cheryl Bernard in the quarters, but lost to Scheidegger in the semifinals.
Crocker ranks 12th on the WCT money list at $15,300, just ahead of reigning Canadian women’s champion Heather Nedohin at $13,450 (14th place). Nedohin is fourth on the Order of Merit with 238,615 points, while Sonnenberg is 16th, Crocker 18th and Sweeting 19th.
A 1-2-3 finish
NAIT Ooks rinks had a good weekend in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference fall regional at Grande Prairie.
Matt Brown skipped the men’s team to first place in the round-robin with a 5-1 record. Karynn Flory’s women’s team was also 5-1, but finished second to Grant MacEwan’s undefeated Krysta Hilker, while Michael Simmons led the mixed team to a 3-2 record and a third-place finish.
NAIT will host the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association curling championships March 20-23 at the Avonair.
In the news
❚ The 38th European curling championships get underway Saturday in Sweden. There are 10 teams competing in both the men’s and women’s A Group, and 10 women’s teams and 16 men’s teams in the B Group.
The top eight men’s teams and top seven women’s rinks qualify for the worlds. ❚ The Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company, which sponsors the Canadian club team championship recently won by Edmonton’s Dan Sherrard, has agreed to a long-term extension and enhanced partnership with the Canadian Curling Association through 2018.
The Dominion will also take over as the presenting sponsor of the CIS championships. ❚ The Northern Alberta mixed doubles playdown still doesn’t have any entries. The new competition is set for Jan. 12-13 at the Granite Curling Club.
Up next
❚ The Canadian Open, the second men’s Grand Slam, will be played Dec. 12-16 at Kelowna, B.C.
As winner of the Rogers Masters on Nov. 19 at Brantford, Ont., Kevin Koe’s reigning Alberta men’s champions are the only team eligible to claim a $1-million bonus for winning all four Grand Slams.
Koe is also first on the WCT men’s money list with $85,200, followed by Kevin Martin at $49,000. Koe is third on the Order of Merit with 359,155 points, while Martin is fourth at 332,880. Martin is the only other Alberta team among the 18 teams at Kelowna. ❚ Jessie Kaufman’s rink is one of three Canadian teams playing in the Iron Trail Motors Shoot-Out at Curl Mesabi in Eveleth, Minn., Dec. 14-16.