Thomas Scoffin is disappointed after an early exit from the Alberta Boston Pizza Cup.

But the University of Alberta skip is taking his team’s first appearance at Alberta provincials in stride.

“Overall it was a good experience for us. We played pretty well,” he said. “Pretty disappointing to come out of it with a 3-3 record. We had more in the tank.”

Scoffin, who attends school at Edmonton’s U of A, honed his curling craft at the Whitehorse Curling Club.

His father, Wade Scoffin, is an alternate on the Yukon team heading to the Canadian men’s curling championships next month.

The Scoffin rink, with third Tristan Steinke, second Jason Ginter and lead Brett Winfield, started play against Team Robinson. They won it 6-4.

The game started slow, Scoffin said, as both teams were battling nerves and were figuring out the ice at the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre.

The evening draw saw Team Scoffin face Team Lizmore in a tight battle that went into extra ends.

“That was a tough one,” said Scoffin. “We played really well. That’s a game we should have won.

“That game is on me.”

Scoffin missed his shot in the extra end for the point, a shot he said he can make 90 per cent of the time.

They lost the game 7-6 and were bumped down to the B bracket.

Rested, they came back the next day to go undefeated against Team Lambden and Team Appelman, before falling to Team Thomas last Friday morning.

It was another slow start.

“I missed a few shots that put us in a hole,” said Scoffin. “We did a really good job of battling back.”

But it was too little, too late. Team Scoffin lost 9-7 and went down to the C bracket, where they faced Team Sluchinski in a do-or-die-game.

It seemed Sluchinski couldn’t do any wrong in the game.

“He was making everything,” said Scoffin. “There wasn’t any way around him.”

The Scoffin rink was knocked out of playoff contention, losing 5-4.

For this team roster, the season is over.

“We had a lot of close games against some of the best teams in Alberta,” said Scoffin.

The Alberta Boston Pizza Cup was won by Team Bottcher, who will represent Alberta at the Tim Hortons Brier in March.

But Scoffin and third Steinke aren’t done with their season just yet. They will suit up for the U of A Golden Bears at the Western Canadian University Curling Championships at Edmonton’s Saville Community Sports Centre from March 3-5.

If all goes well, they could be competing at the U Sports Curling Championships, hosted by Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont. in mid-March.

Scoffin won the competition in 2015, his first career national-level win.

He was, however, unable to defend the title last year, falling 7-4 to the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks.