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First draw at 2018 Alberta Scotties wraps up

Jan 10, 2018 | 3:37 PM

 

MEDICINE HAT, AB — 12 of the top women’s curling teams in the province are in Medicine Hat this week, with the goal of representing the province later this month.

The first draw of the 2018 Alberta Scotties has wrapped up at the Medicine Hat Curling Club. The teams are competing to represent Alberta at the Scotties tournament of Hearts in Penticton, B.C. from January 27- February 4.

The tournament is competitive, with no team as an overwhelming favourite, however multiple ranked teams are in contention.

Among those taking part is Casey Scheidegger, skipping a team out of Grande Prairie. Scheidegger is originally from Lethbridge, and says curling in Medicine Hat feels a lot like home.

“We feel like this is our extended home club,” she said on Tuesday. “We’re really excited to come back here all of the time, and it has good feelings when we walk in the door.”

Scheidegger received a bye in the first round, and will take on Nadine Scotland’s rink during the second draw. Scotland defeated Amanda Craiggie’s rink by a score of 8-6.

Shannon Kleibrink, who skipped Team Alberta at last year’s Scotties, is off to a strong start, defeating Delia DeJong’s team 10-8 in their first game on Wednesday.

Kleibrink noted Tuesday her rink hasn’t played together in a month, with  Kalynn Park competing at Canada’s Mixed Curling trials and  Sarah Wilkes playing with Val Sweeting’s rink at the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials.

“We’ll just take one game at a time, sort of like we did last year, with no expectations,” she said.

Kleibrink will face  a team skipped by Laura Crocker in the second draw Wednesday evening.

In other games during the first draw, Marla Sherrer’s rink out of Lacombe topped Jessie Hunkin’s rink 9-6, and Lethbridge-based Jodi Marthaller defeated Geri-Lynn Ramsay’s team out of Calgary 10-6.

Sherrer will battle Sweeting’s team tonight in the second draw, while Marthaller will take on Olympic-berth runner up Chelsea Carey.

Draw 2 is set for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., following the tournament’s opening ceremonies.

The full schedule can be found here.