Local curling teams get last shot to qualify for Olympic Trials

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/05/2017 (3386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Another half-dozen Manitoba curling teams are still in the mix to represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea in February.

This morning, six local teams were invited to participate in an event in Summerside, Prince Edward Island in early November — offering a last chance to qualify for the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials a month later in Ottawa.

The field includes 12 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams.

Local teams skipped by Kerri Einarson, Darcy Robertson and Briane Meilleur have been invited to the “Road to the Roar Pre-Trials,” Nov. 6 to 12, while men’s teams led by Jason Gunnlaugson, Pat Simmons and William Lyburn were also invited.

There is a caveat to Meilleur’s participation. Her foursome finished in a virtual tie with Karla Thompson of Kamloops, B.C., for the 12th and final invitation, based on results of the Canadian Team Ranking System over the last two seasons. Should no team above them decline an invitation, Meilleur and Thompson will play a tiebreaker for the berth, at a date and location to be determined later.

Invited teams are being given some time to decide on their status for the event in Summerside, and the official field will be announced at a later date.

Gunnlaugson is taking over the Matt Dunstone foursome for the 2017-18 curling season. Dunstone joined Saskatoon’s Steven Laycock about six weeks ago.

Simmons, who resides in Saskatchewan, will lead Gunnlaugson’s former crew. Despite the lineupe changes, the teams have adhered to Curling Canada rules that stipulate they must retain three of their original players who earned qualifying points.

Four Winnipeg teams have already earned their way to the Canadian trials in Ottawa, Dec. 2 to 10.

Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones, the reigning Olympic women’s gold medallist, qualified for the Roar of the Rings a year ago, while 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 following 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 captured a second-straight Viterra provincial men’s title in February but lost the Brier semifinal a month later, qualified in based on CTRS points over two seasons (2015-17).

Nine men’s and nine women’s teams will compete in Ottawa for the right to represent Canada in Pyeongchang in February.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell