CALGARY - The first time Matthew Blandford competed at the Alberta provincial curling championship, he was just happy to be there.

This time, his team’s a little more ambitious.

“There’s a big difference between this year and last year,” the 27-year-old Calgarian said. “This is probably more of an open field than last year. Even the bottom-ranked teams could beat anyone on any day.

“Last year, there were some teams, like ours, who were kind of lucky to get to provincials and didn’t really expect to do much.

“But this year the goal is to get to the playoffs, and from there anything can happen.”

Blandford was new to the Alberta curling scene last season, having moved from Newfoundland and joining up with an Okotoks-based team.

This season, he’s put together a team — consisting of lead Brad Chyz, second Brent Hamilton and third Evan Asmussen — that’s young, hungry and devoted to mixing it up with the best of the best for years to come.