Portage to host Olympic trials

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This article was published 01/05/2017 (3387 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The road to the Winter Olympics winds through Portage la Prairie for Canada’s medal hopefuls in mixed doubles curling.

The Manitoba city has been selected to host the first-ever Canadian Mixed Doubles Olympic Curling Trials in early January, Curling Canada announced Tuesday in Portage. 

The qualifying event is set for Jan. 3-7 at Stride Place, the nearly 1,700-seat home of the Portage Terriers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, in the community about 85 kilometres west of Winnipeg.

Credit Winnipeg curler Reid Carruthers and his partner, Joanne Courtney of Edmonton, with nailing down a spot for Canada in the mixed doubles event at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The renowned Winnipeg skip and Courtney, who plays second on Rachel Homan’s reigning world women’s championship team, secured a berth in the Olympic field by qualifying for the final four at last week’s world mixed doubles playdowns in Lethbridge, Alta., 

Carruthers and Courtney eventually lost the world final to Switzerland but claimed a silver medal for Canada.

“I’m very excited to be here and, more importantly, share this medal with the rest of you,” said Carruthers, in Portage for the big announcement. 

“It was a tough process over the past week but we had a great support team and managed to get the job done. I’m just very excited to get the opportunity to come back here in January and maybe get another chance to don the maple leaf in Korea.”

The Canadian duo finished 5-2 in round-robin play in their pool to make the 16-team playoffs, downed Scotland in the opening round and then beat Latvia late Friday to advance to the semifinals at the worlds and claim an Olympic berth.

Carruthers and Courtney then downed a Chinese team in the semifinals Saturday but suffered a heart-breaking 6-5 defeat to the Swiss in the world final that evening, giving up a four-end lead in the last end.

Mixed doubles curling makes its Olympic debut at the Winter Games, Feb. 9-25. Canada joins host South Korea, Switzerland, the United States, Finland, Norway, China and Russia.

Three months ago, Carruthers guided his men’s team to the provincial men’s final at Stride Place but lost to fellow Winnipegger Mike McEwen.

He said when he found out last week that Portage was hosting the trials, he figured it was an opportunity for some redemption on the same ice.

“When I found out the Trials were going to be played here back in Portage, I figured, ‘Hey, better try to do very well in the weekend so I can earn my chance to get back here and win one in this arena,” he said. 

Eighteen teams will play off in Portage for the right to represent Canada at the Olympics.

Seven teams have already qualified for the mixed doubles trials, including the Courtney-Carruthers connection, and Saskatoon’s Marliese Kasner and Dustin Kalthoff, who earned qualification points for Canada with their fifth-place result at the 2016 playdowns in Karlstad, Sweden.

Other teams to secure spots in Portage include Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones and her husband, Brent Laing, Calgary’s Chelsea Carey and Winnipeg’s Colin Hodgson, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan and Calgary’s John Morris, Kalynn Virtue of Lethbridge and Calgary’s Charley Thomas, and Ottawa’s Emma Miskew and Tyrel Griffith of Kelowna, B.C.

The final 11 berths will be up for grabs at a final regional bonspiel qualifier next fall. 

Many of the curlers will compete with their regular men’s and women’s teams at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Ottawa in early December. Curlers who qualify for the Olympics in the men’s and women’s events cannot represent Canada in mixed doubles.

But for those falling short in Ottawa, the mixed doubles trials in Portage provide another path to Pyeongchang.

“It’s a second opportunity, as I like to say,” said Carruthers. “We’re definitely motivated big-time about the mixed doubles but it’s a second opportunity to go and represent Canada at the Olympics, not just medal but go for a gold medal.”

The second-place finish by Carruthers and Courtney combined with the fifth from Kasner and Kalthoff a year ago has vaulted Canada into the top spot in mixed doubles world rankings.

“I think that’s a testament to how great and how deep our program can be,” said Winnipeg curling legend Jeff Stoughton, who serves as  Curling Canada national mixed doubles coach.

“We’re going to see these great players performing in Portage, with the expectation that anyone who represents Canada knows that gold in curling is what’s expected. We haven’t won one yet in mixed doubles, and it would be phenomenal if it happens at an Olympic games.”