Olympic trials to have Manitoba flavour

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This article was published 20/04/2017 (3399 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ottawa as a December destination? Unquestionably, it’s the place competitive curlers will be drawn to in a little more than seven months.

At least two women’s teams and two men’s foursomes from Manitoba will be in the nation’s capital Dec. 2-10 for the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials.

Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones, the reigning Olympic women’s champion, qualified for the Roar of the Rings a year ago, securing enough Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) points following the 2015-16 season, while adopted Manitoban Michelle Englot, who won a provincial Scotties title in late January but lost the national final to Ottawa’s Rachel Homan, earned a berth based on CTRS rankings for the 2016-17 season.

Reid Carruthers qualified in December after capturing the 2016 Canada Cup bonspiel title in Brandon, while fellow Winnipegger Mike McEwen, who tucked away a second-straight Viterra provincial men’s title in February but lost the Brier semifinal a month later, slid in based on CTRS points over two seasons (2015-17).

Seven of nine spots in each of the men’s and women’s divisions have been snagged, with the last spots available at a pre-trials tournament — the Road to the Roar — in Summerside, P.E.I., from Nov. 6-12. Possibly a half-dozen Manitoba squads could take that longer road to the trials, including Kerri Einarson, Brianne Meilleur and Shannon Birchard in women’s play, and Jason Gunnlaugson, Pat Simmons and William Lyburn in men’s competition.

Curling Canada won’t release the pre-trials event lineup until after the Champions Cup in Calgary, the last event of the season on the elite Grand Slam circuit, April 25-30.

Suffice to say the Olympic trials will have a strong Manitoba flavour.

“We’ve got a great contingent going to Ottawa and some pretty darn good teams going to the pre-trials in P.E.I. that will have a chance to get some of those last spots,” Carruthers said. “That was the goal for every team this season. For us, No.1 was punching our ticket to Ottawa. The trials is a different demon. If you make it in and have a really good week, you could be one shot away from making it to the Olympics.

“Aside from (Brad) Gushue, there really isn’t a front-runner. It will really be about who gets hot that week.”

Indeed, Gushue’s crew from St. John’s, N.L., the recently crowned 2017 Brier and world champions and the World Curling Tour’s top-ranked team, will head to Canadian Tire Centre as the favourites. Kevin Koe, the 2016 world champion, Carruthers, McEwen, and 2014 Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs, along with John Epping and Steven Laycock, will deliver a strong push.

Englot and Jones, meanwhile, will share the stage with Homan, the 2017 world champion, as well as 2016 Canadian champion Chelsey Carey, Allison Flaxley, Val Sweeting and Casey Scheidegger.

The Winter Olympics are slated for Feb. 9-25 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Jones, with third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn McEwen, won Olympic gold in 2014 in Sochi, Russia. She said the competitive fire still rages, with a potential return to the Games on the table in December.

“We like getting better, we like trying to see what we should be doing differently and that’s what drives us,” said Jones, whose quartet is wrapping up the season on a hot streak, winning the Players’ Championship Slam event last weekend in Toronto. “Going to the Olympics was above and beyond our wildest dreams and the thought of having the opportunity to maybe go back would be unbelievable. You kind of fulfilled that dream, but once you go you always want to go back.”

Across the trials field, connections to Manitoba run deep. Carey, born and raised in Winnipeg, just enlisted the services of Winnipeg’s Cathy Overton-Clapham to replace retiring third Amy Nixon on her Alberta team for the 2017-18 season. Flaxley, now curling out of Ontario, is also a former Manitoban. Winnipeg native Ryan Fry plays third for Jacobs’ team from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., while Laycock’s Saskatoon foursome recently recruited Winnipegger Matt Dunstone to play second.

A little more than a year ago, Englot, a Regina product and seven-time Saskatchewan champion, took over the reins of retiring skip Kristy McDonald’s team of third Kate Cameron, second Leslie Wilson and lead Raunora Westcott. Trading in green for Manitoba’s yellow and white worked wonders for the veteran curler, who admitted that even she’s shocked by the team’s meteoric rise.

“It’s been a pretty incredible season for us. For me, it’s actually been beyond my wildest dreams what we accomplished in our first season together and I’ve spent a lot of time in Winnipeg and I really enjoy the city and I really enjoy the people,” said Englot, whose foursome had several top-four finishes on the bonspiel circuit before heating up at the provincials and the national Scotties in St. Catharines, Ont.

“When we put the team together at the end of last season, (the Olympic trials) was a goal, but we knew it was a pretty lofty goal. It’s really a phenomenal opportunity. Getting the direct berth into the trials cannot be underestimated. It gives us the opportunity to plan our season and take the approach where we are really prepared and well-rested going into the trials. From there, it’s a matter of putting together one good, consistent tournament and hoping you’re there at the end of the week.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPJasonBell