Whitehorse skip Thomas Scoffin will be in title-defence mode next week in Kelowna, B.C.

The 21-year-old will lead the Alberta Golden Bears into the 2016 CIS-Curling Canada University Championships, beginning Sunday.

The event, sponsored by Travelers, will feature the country’s top university teams.

Scoffin’s rink won the event in 2015, marking the Yukoner’s first career national championship.

Headlining the tournament is Scoffin – the same young man who honed his craft at the Whitehorse Curling Club, en route to appearing in a record seven Canadian junior championships as a skip – six times for Yukon and once for Alberta.

Scoffin was named a second team all-star for his performance in Waterloo, Ont., last season.

Last year, Scoffin beat Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks skip Aaron Squires in the final.

Squires also returns to this year’s tournament.

Eight teams of each gender will compete in the four-day event at the Kelowna Curling Club.

Round-robin play will wrap up Tuesday night, with semifinals and finals taking place Wednesday.

The women’s field is topped by University of Alberta Pandas skip Kelsey Rocque, a two-time Canadian and world junior champion, and the defending CIS champ.

The winning teams will represent Canada at FISU’s 28th Winter Universiade, Jan. 28 to Feb. 8, 2017 at Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Following this tournament, Scoffin will head to South Korea to play third for Team Bottcher in an exhibition series.