2018 Boston Pizza Cup Explained

2018 Boston Pizza Cup
Host City:	Spruce Grove, Alberta
Arena:	Grant Fuhr Arena
Dates:	31 January - 4 February
Winner:	Brendan Bottcher
Curling Club:	Saville Sports Centre
Skip:	Brendan Bottcher
Third:	Darren Moulding
Second:	Bradley Thiessen
Lead:	Karrick Martin
Finalist:	Karsten Sturmay
Prev:	2017
Next:	2019

The 2018 Boston Pizza Cup was held 31 January to 4 February at the Grant Fuhr Arena in Spruce Grove, Alberta. The winning Brendan Bottcher rink represented Alberta at the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier in Regina, Saskatchewan.^[1]

The semifinal and final games were broadcast on Sportsnet One.^[2]

Qualification Method

Twelve teams qualified for the provincial tournament through several methods. The qualification process is as follows:

Qualification method	Berths	Qualifying team
Defending Champions	1	Brendan Bottcher Kevin Koe
	1	Aaron Sluchinski
ACF bonspiel points	2	Karsten Sturmay Ted Appelman
Peace Qualifier	2	Scott Webb Daylan Vavrek
Northern Qualifier	3	Thomas Usselman Mike Hutchings Charley Thomas
Southern Qualifier	3	Scott Garnett Kevin Park Jeremy Harty

1. Because he had competed as Team Canada in the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier, Kevin Koe would also have been eligible for direct entry to the 2018 Boston Pizza Cup as a past provincial/national champion. Had Koe entered, only one team would have qualified via ACF bonspiel points. However, Koe's team withdrew from the 2018 Boston Pizza Cup after qualifying to represent Canada in the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Teams

The teams are as follows:^[3]

Skip	Third	Second	Lead	Alternate	Locale(s)
	Nathan Connolly	Shawn Donnelly			Spruce Grove Curling Club, Spruce Grove
			Karrick Martin		Saville Community Sports Centre, Edmonton
Scott Garnett	Tyler Lautner	Craig Bourgonje
		Joel Berger	Gregg Hamilton		The Glencoe Club, Calgary
Mike Hutchings			Travis Cooper	Kevin Tym
		Robert Collins	Ben Savage
				Cory Nelson	Airdrie Curling Club, Airdrie
					Saville Community Sports Centre, Edmonton
					Crestwood Curling Club, Edmonton
	Aaron Sarafinchan	Morgan Van Doesburg	Tyler Pfeiffer	Colin Davison	Saville Community Sports Centre, Edmonton
		Rob Maksymetz			Sexsmith Curling Club, Sexsmith

Knockout Draw Brackets

The draw is listed as follows:^{[4] [5]}

C Event

Playoffs

A vs. B

February 3, 6:30pm

C1 vs. C2

February 3, 6:30pm

Semifinal

February 4, 11:00am

Final

February 4, 5:00pm

Notes and References

1. News: Time for the taking is now at Alberta men's curling championships . Terry . Jones . Edmonton Sun . 31 January 2018 . 2 February 2018.
2. Web site: 8 Ends: Big 3 lead stacked field at Viterra Championship . 29 January 2018 . Jonathan . Brazeau . Sportsnet . 2 February 2018 .
3. Web site: Teams | 2018 Alberta Boston Pizza Cup . 4 February 2018 . 5 February 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180205001308/http://2018bostonpizzacup.com/teams/ . dead .
4. Web site: Draws and Scores . 2018 Boston Pizza Cup . 2 February 2018.
5. Web site: Alberta Boston Pizza Cup - Scores. Curling Zone. 2 February 2018.