Big-money events add to curling bubble

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This article was published 03/12/2020 (2063 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They keep adding carrots to dangle in front of the cream of Canada’s curling crop.

National championships, Olympic Trials spots and a chunk of change from Curling Canada are pretty good incentives — all while competing inside a presumably pandemic-free environment, sealed up safe and sound in Calgary.

Now, we get the official word (it’d been a rather poorly kept secret for weeks) that two big-money bonspiels have been added to the mix inside the ‘bubble’, which I’ve clarified with one prominent local skip isn’t actually some kind of transparent, thermoplastic sphere the size of Plum Coulee.

A pair of Grand Slam of Curling events — the Players’ Championship and Champions Cup — are in the planning stages and would likely be tacked on to an already glitzy lineup of national and international events at Markin MacPhail Centre, the arena at Winsport’s Canada Olympic Park.

Curling Canada will host the Scotties Tournament of Hearts women’s, Brier men’s and Canadian mixed doubles championships, in addition to the men’s worlds. Those would last up to seven weeks — beginning Feb. 20 and remaining active until April 11. The Slams would be tucked in at the end.

It’s not out of the realm of possibility a guy like Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., could spend more than two months in Cowtown, a long stretch of time to be away from his wife, Krista, and his two daughters Hayley and Marissa. The Brier winner last March in Kingston could successfully defend his national crown, compete in the mixed doubles with usual playing partner Val Sweeting, go for gold at the worlds and play both Slams.

A two-week quarantine could await them at home, as per their current provincial health rules.

Gushue told me Thursday that’s a daunting proposition, but one made easier with the inclusion of the Players’ Championship and Champions Cup and the payoffs they provide. And the former Olympic (2006) and world (2017) champion isn’t just talking about thickening his own wallet, either.

The take-home pay for Slam victors is north of $30,000 on each of the women’s and men’s sides. 

“The money’s good. There’s not many Canadians that haven’t been hurt financially by what’s gone on the last seven months, and the opportunity to win some money would help. But the biggest thing, no doubt — and every single player competing in the Grand Slams will tell you — the positive is the chance to showcase our sponsors and play best on best in the world,” he said.

Indeed, it’ll be a grind but teams have a responsibility to keep companies that pay the bills happy.

“There’s a lot of teams that don’t have any long-term agreements with their sponsors, and going a year without showcasing them on TV or in an event like the Grand Slam, it becomes hard to retain them,” said Gushue. “This is going to all help us all to retain sponsors and show the value that curling sponsorship has. That’s what we’re most excited about. On our team, our sponsors have stuck by us and we want to do everything we can to reciprocate. We’re pumped about that, to be honest.”

That said, he and his teammates, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker, are elated with the proposed one-stop curling extravaganza (aptly tagged as Rockfest ‘21 by yours truly) but still need to work through the ramifications of the late-winter upheaval to their lives.

“The intent right now is to get in there and play. And there’s no sense going if your heart and your mind and soul aren’t in it. There’s no sense being a zombie for 10 weeks and getting through it. You want to play and perform,” said Gushue. “We gotta figure out what’s going to give us the best chance of doing that. There’s a few more issues than we initially thought.”

Not unexpectedly, teams will perform to an empty house. The bubble is similar to the format the NHL used for its playoffs in Edmonton and Toronto, to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches, curling officials and umpires, and the on-ice broadcast crew during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vic Rauter, Russ Howard and Cheryl Bernard will be a busy trio, calling the action for TSN during the Scotties, Brier, mixed doubles and world men’s, while the Sportsnet bunch takes over for live end-to-end coverage of the two Slams.

Back in the summer the Slam circuit scrapped four events, owing to the pandemic, but held out hope for the final two. Traditionally, the top-15 teams in World Curling Tour rankings are invited to the Slam cashspiels.

Kerri Einarson’s squad will likely have a couple of stays in Stampede City, with about a two-week respite in the middle.

The Gimli team, with Sweeting at third, Shannon Birchard at second and lead Briane Meilleur, gets a return trip to the Scotties after winning the title in February in Moose Jaw, Sask., and will don Team Canada colours in Week 1. There will likely be time to slip home between the end of the Scotties and the end of the Brier before some or all participate in the mixed doubles with their respective playing partners.

“I think they will allow us to do that, as long we stay safe and don’t put ourselves in any compromising positions and return to Calgary healthy and follow all the protocols,” said Meilleur, the key starting on the world’s No.2-ranked women’s squad (behind only Anna Hasselborg of Sweden).

The team will, most assuredly, be the Scotties favourite — but not because of anything it’s done lately. Certainly not due to an unblemished 1-0 record this season. After a few months of sporadic practise, they finally played their first bonspiel of the season, in Okotoks, Alta., and got in one game, a blowout over Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque, before the event was cancelled after Alberta health officials rolled in new restrictions.

Meilleur, 28, hasn’t tossed a rock in three weeks and, with Manitoba under ‘code-red’ restrictions, she fears the next time might, unbelievably, at the Scotties.

“Not being able to practise at all, it’s making us a bit nervous. The health of everyone is definitely the priority but it’s so weird not being on the ice,” she said. “That’s why the news of the bubble is so exciting. But it’s definitely unsettling (the second game of the season) could be at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, but if that’s the way it has to be we’ll just work to get ready for that opportunity.”

The Scotties and Brier purses are both $300,000, the same as last season, while the mixed doubles purse is $150,000. There will also be some lovely parting gifts for the last teams standing at the Slams.

Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher and Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland each picked up a cool $40,000 the last time the Champions Cup was held (spring of 2019). Later that year, former Winnipegger Matt Dunstone guided his Saskatchewan crew to the Masters title and a $35,000 cheque, the same payday as women’s winner Tracy Fleury of East St. Paul.

“The Slams are big-money event, high-profile events. It makes it a lot more appealing to a lot of the teams coming to the Scotties, the Brier, the mixed doubles, because it’s a large chunk of time to spend there and curlers don’t have the luxury of making the millions of dollars the NHL and NBA players had while they were in their bubbles,” said Dunstone.

His crew of third Braeden Moskowy, new second Kirk Muyres and lead Dustin Kidby should be flush, conquering at a couple of regional events in Regina and Prince Albert, Sask.

“Oh, goodness… we didn’t get rich. I think it was around $3,500 combined for both,” Dunstone said, with laugh. “At least we’ve played.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell