Winnipeg wins curling trials

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This article was published 08/03/2011 (5656 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LONDON, Ont. — History will record that Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton defeated Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs 8-4 in Manitoba’s only game at the Tim Hortons Brier Monday.

The win improved Stoughton to a perfect 5-0 heading into today and puts him in excellent position to make a run at winning Manitoba its first Canadian men’s curling championship since 1999.

But whatever Stoughton does the rest of this week, Manitoba has already recorded a huge victory.

The Canadian Curling Association is expected to announce Wednesday morning that Winnipeg will host the 2013 Canadian Curling Trials, where Canada’s men’s and women’s curling representatives for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi will be determined.

Sources say the high-profile event — which has arguably become the most coveted of the major Canadian curling events to host — will be held Dec. 1-9, 2013 at the MTS Centre. There will also be a companion beer hall installed at the Winnipeg Convention Centre, akin to the setup for the 2008 Brier — the last major curling event in Winnipeg.

It will be the first time Winnipeg has hosted the Canadian Curling Trials, but the second time Manitoba has hosted it. The first Trials were held at Brandon’s Keystone Centre in 1997. Saskatchewan’s Sandra Schmirler and Ontario’s Mike Harris won that event to earn the right to represent Canada at the 1998 Nagano Games.

Since then, the Trials have grown continually as a spectator event. In 2001, they were held in the 7,000 seat Agridome in Regina. In 2005, they were held in the 10,500-seat Metro Centre in Halifax. And then in 2009, they were held in Edmonton at the 16,800-seat Rexall Place, home of the Edmonton Oilers.

The CCA had an opportunity to grow the event even larger this time around. Winnipeg’s competition for the 2013 Trials was Ottawa, where organizers had put in a bid to stage the event in the 19,150-seat Scotiabank Place, home of the Ottawa Senators.

There was also a third formal bid from Saskatoon, where organizers were proposing to hold the event in the 14,700-seat Credit Union Centre. But Saskatoon is hosting next year’s Brier and their bid was considered a long shot.

The CCA has done its best to keep the identity of the winning Trials site a closely guarded secret. CCA events director Warren Hansen flatly refused all comment when asked about it Monday, a continuation of the stance adopted by CCA CEO Greg Stremlaw from the outset of the process.

Even the people behind Winnipeg’s bid were still in the dark when informed by the Free Press Monday that they’d won. Shane Ray, executive director of Curl Manitoba, said he’s been advised to expect a phone call Wednesday morning just prior to the news conference to inform him whether Winnipeg has won.

Ray refused further comment.

In putting out their request for bids, the CCA demanded a minimum fee of $750,000 to host the event, with local organizers also agreeing to share one-half of any profits with the CCA. Sources say Winnipeg’s bid was above that minimum threshold and included money from the province, the City of Winnipeg and — in a departure from usual practice — from Curl Manitoba’s own coffers.

It’s not clear how much money each of the three partners put up, but it is known that Ottawa city council last month approved the expenditure of $400,000 towards that city’s bid.

A Winnipeg Trials and hometown crowd would also be a lift to any Winnipeg curling teams who might qualify to compete. “Having played in them all,” Stoughton said Monday, “I can tell you it’s a real pressure-cooker. I think fans in Winnipeg will really enjoy it. And the home ice would be a good thing — hopefully there will be some teams from Winnipeg.”

The 2009 Trials in Edmonton produced two Alberta winners, Edmonton’s Kevin Martin and Calgary’s Cheryl Bernard.

And Newfoundland’s Brad Gushue has said the huge support from Atlantic Canada fans that he received in Halifax at the 2005 Trials was a big help in his stunning upset win at that event.

No Manitoba-based team has represented Canada in curling at the Winter Olympics.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

2013 Canadian

Curling Trials

 

WHEN: Dec. 1-9, 2013

WHERE: MTS Centre

WHAT IS IT: Eight men’s and eight women’s teams — who will qualify over the next two years through a points system that rewards success on the cashspiel circuit and through playdowns — will play a round-robin and playoffs to determine Canada’s men’s and women’s curling representatives for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

FAST FACT: The 2009 Trials at Edmonton’s Rexall Place drew a total attendance of 175,852.