SYLVAN LAKE — The 2009 Alberta women’s curling championship was such a roaring success that the event will be staged at the Sylvan Lake Medican Multiplex for a second time starting this week.
The 2014 Jiffy Lube Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts runs Wednesday to Sunday at the Multiplex and Lesley Hill of the host committee is confident the provincial championship will again be a major hit.
“The feedback we had after the 2009 provincials here was unbelievable,” Hill said Monday. “The competitors were really happy with it as were the officials who came in to work the event. The Alberta Curling Federation was really pleased and I think that is probably the major reason we got it back so quickly.”
The 2014 Alberta STOH field is an impressive one. Among the 12 teams competing for the right to represent Alberta in the Canadian championship Feb. 1-9 in Montreal are three that participated in last month’s Canadian Olympic Curling Trials at Winnipeg.
Rinks skipped by Val Sweeting and Heather Nedohin of Edmonton were among the eight foursomes vying for the honour of representing Canada in the Sochi Olympics, as was Renee Sonnenberg of Grande Prairie.
“We also have Cheryl Bernard of Calgary, who won it here in 2009 albeit with a little different team, and Cathy Overton-Clapham is playing third for Crystal Webster of Calgary. It’s an unbelievable field,” said Hill.
Overton-Clapham formerly tossed third stones for Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, who will wear Canada’s colours in Sochi.
Rounding out the provincial field are rinks headed by Chana Martineau, Tiffany Game and Kelly Erickson of Edmonton, Tiffany Steuber of Spruce Grove, Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge and Delia DeJong and Deanne Nichol of Grande Prairie.
Red Deer native Amy Janko throws third rocks for DeJong, while Brittany Whittemore of Delburne plays second for the foursome.
Kristie Moore of Grande Prairie won last year’s provincials with an 8-7 win over Sonnenberg, but declined to return this year as the defending champion.
The opening draw goes Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. with the second draw set for 6:30 p.m.
The Thursday and Friday draws are at 9 a.m., 2 and 6:30 p.m., with Saturday’s action set for 1 and 6:30 p.m. (semifinal). A second semifinal is slated for 8:30 a.m. Sunday and will be followed by the championship game at 1:30 p.m.