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Posted: Jan 30, 2026

2026 ACAC Curling Championship Day 1 Recap

2026 ACAC Curling Championship Day 1 Recap
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Lac La Biche, AB - (January 30, 2026) It's the Day One wrap-up of the 2025-26 ACAC Curling Championships from the Lac La Biche Curling Club. The three-day championship weekend starts with round-robin play for men's, mixed and women's teams on Friday and Saturday, and the bronze, silver and gold matches on Sunday afternoon.

Lots of ways to start this one – The teams rocked the house! … There was little b-room for error … The ACAC teams fought HARD! … The winners swept up … OK – that's enough. You probably can't hack any more curling puns, right? So, in-turn we will continue, and slide right into the Day One scores.

The NAIT Ooks men's team came into the championships as this year's top team in the division, winning eight of their 10 matches in the fall and winter regional qualifiers. NAIT kept that streak going in Lac La Biche on Day One, beating their southern "AIT" rival 8-4 in one of only two opening day men's games. In the other tilt, the Concordia University Thunder stormed past the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings 6-3.

Scotties connection

On the women's side, two players on the conference's top team, the SAIT Trojans, had to hurry hard to get to Lac La Biche after competing at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Mississauga. SAIT skip Bayly Scoffin and third Raelyn Helston represented Team Yukon at the Scotties, competing with the best Canadian women's teams in the country. They played and lost eight games at the week-long Scotties event, gaining valuable experience. Team Yukon played its last game at the Scotties on the night of January 28. The SAIT team made their 4:30 pm draw in Lac La Biche on January 30 – with Scoffin and Helston showing no signs of jetlag as the Trojans beat the home-town host Portage Voyageurs 8-2 in six ends. The loss for Portage was one of two on Day One, losing the tournament opener earlier to the Red Deer Polytechnic Queens 6-1, but then winning the day's final draw in an extra end 6-5 nail-biter over the Lakeland College Rustlers. Red Deer finished their first day with a similar record of one win and two losses as they were beaten by Concordia Thunder 8-2 in six ends and then dropped their last draw of the day to SAIT in a 5-4 battle. The Day One wins for the SAIT women add to their undefeated record through the season.

Mixing it up

SAIT continued its winning ways in Day One's mixed events, with the Trojans beating Concordia 11-3 in six ends, and finishing off the day with a 7-5 win over the Lakeland College Rustlers. The NAIT Ooks mixed team had mixed results on Day One, losing 10-2 in their first draw matchup with the Rustlers, but winning their last draw of the day 9-3 over Concordia.

Early start

Teams will need a good sleep after Day One as Day Two action starts at 7:45 am for the men's and mixed rinks. The first women's game goes at 11:15 am. Teams will have a banquet-break on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 pm for presentations and individual all-star conference awards from the curling season. The banquet will also award the ACAC Curling Coach of the Year Award.

There's spectator seating available in the upstairs viewing area at the Lac La Biche Curling Club, located in the Bold Centre, for all the games. Results and game information can be found on the ACAC website and on the athletic websites and social pages of the competing ACAC teams.

When the dust – or ice chips settle, the top three teams in each category will advance to the CCAA Nationals in Regina in mid- February.

That's it for Day One, a busy day for student-athletes, many who started with their first draw at 1 pm and left the ice after the last draw at 10:30 pm. You could say they rocked around the clock.