Alberta’s Team Sturmay advances to the final three

Alberta’s Team Selena Sturmay is charting new territory after the Edmonton team paved its way into the semifinal at the 2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

An 8-4 win against Nova Scotia’s Team Christina Black has earned the Alberta unit of skip Sturmay, third/vice-skip Danielle Schmiemann, second Dezaray Hawes, lead Paige Papley and coach Ted Appelman a spot in the top three in the event running at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ont.

“I’m feeling everything right now. Christina Black’s team is an amazing team; they put up a great fight,” Sturmay said. “I haven’t really put into words or hasn’t really sunk in yet that, you know, we won that and we’re in the semifinal, but we’re ready to keep fighting and keep playing well and see where that goes.”

It marks the first time Team Sturmay has made the playoffs since its debut appearance as a team at the 2024 Scotties in Calgary. Team Sturmay lost the Page 3v4 game as the host province.

That wasn’t the case on Saturday afternoon.

Sturmay knew her team must take advantage of any opportunities Team Black provided and did so in the middle ends of the game when Team Black struggled to find its draw weight on changing ice. Alberta stole a single in the fifth after Black missed her draw, and in the sixth, Team Sturmay was set up a steal of as many as three, were it not for an important draw to the back of the button to limit the damage to one.

While Team Sturmay had a shot for four in the eighth end, the three points scored were enough to turn the tide completely in the Albertans’ favour for a late-game two-point lead. Sturmay eliminated any opportunity for a deuce from Nova Scotia by making a double. It left Team Black with a hit to score, but missed the double to give up the steal.

Team Black was left with a flat double attempt to score three and tie the game, but the attacking stone slid just under its second target. That miss eliminated last year’s bronze-medallist team.

“Wanted to win this thing, definitely wanted to get on the podium and get a little further than last year,” Black said. “But still really proud, like we played really well all week, and had a great season, it’s been a long week, and a great two years together of battling and accomplishing so much, so I’m really proud of us. But, I’m a little heartbroken. It’s too bad, we wanted to play on Sunday, yeah, for sure.”

Team Sturmay has played plenty of curling this season, winning the 2025 Home Hardware Canadian Pre-Trials, competing at the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Trials, winning the Alberta women’s championship, and now being one of the final three teams in the field at the 2026 Scotties.

The team has worked hard to define its roles this season and is evolving into a team that is finding ways to win games from all four positions. Sturmay has expressed her gratitude to her teammates throughout the week and was sure to highlight Schmiemann’s efforts during the elimination game. 

“She’s one of the best players, in my opinion. She saves our team a lot, and I can always count on her to make that big shot,” Sturmay said. “Just, honestly, super proud of all the girls, all the girls play a key role on the team.”

On Friday, Schmiemann was named to the Second All-Star Team as third. She also believes the team is evolving into a unit ready to win the Canadian women’s championship, pinpointing a moment in their pre-game meeting where second Hawes mentioned they’ve all worked hard to be in this position and they deserved a win.

“I can’t say enough about them and how they’ve done their jobs as best they can,” Schmiemann said. “Couldn’t ask for more from all three of them, and I think it makes it easier to do my job when they’re doing theirs. We really feed off of each other that way, and that kind of calm, collected energy has kind of led to putting us in this position.”

Alberta-Sturmay awaits the results of Saturday night’s Page 1v2 game at 7 p.m. (all times Eastern). The loser of the game between Manitoba’s Team Kaitlyn Lawes (Winnipeg) and Canada’s Team Kerri Einarson (Gimli, Man.) drops to the semi on Sunday at 1 p.m., and the winner advances to the championship final at 7 p.m.

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/. 

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule. 

For ticket information for the 2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, go to www.curling.ca/2026cotties/tickets/. 

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/fr/2026scotties/nouvelles/.