Manitoba rinks in ‘frenemy mode’

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This article was published 29/01/2018 (3085 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba could send a trio of teams to Regina for the Tim Hortons Brier national men’s curling championship in early March.

That scenario will be directly affected by this week’s Viterra provincial championship in Winkler, as the top seeds — Mike McEwen, Reid Carruthers and Jason Gunnlaugson, first, second and third seeds, respectively — are the best positioned to qualify for a spot in the Brier.

Last summer, Curling Canada announced a major format change for the Brier and Scotties Tournament of Hearts, expanding the field to 16 foursomes from 12 and adding a wild-card game to decide the 16th team in each national championship.

And so, the day before Brier round-robin play opens on March 3, the top two squads in the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) standings that have not already qualified through their province or territory will get a second chance in a one-game playoff. That’s where things get really interesting as McEwen, Gunnlaugson and Carruthers are first, fourth and fifth in CTRS standings.

At the same time, second-ranked Kevin Koe of Alberta is representing Canada at the Winter Olympics and is not eligible, while third-ranked Brad Gushue of Newfoundland, the 2017 winner, is already skipping the Team Canada entry at the Brier. That leaves the three Manitoba teams best positioned to claim a berth in the wild-card game.

So, to clarify, the winner in Winkler is off to the Queen City, while two other local teams will likely head west as well for that all-or-nothing contest at Brandt Centre for the last spot in the Brier field.

“From looking at the standings myself — and trust me, as an athlete, I am doing my best not to think too much about this because I can (solve) my dilemma pretty simply by winning and being in — but there’s a good chance three teams from Manitoba are going to be involved in the Brier in Regina,” Carruthers said on Monday.

His West St. Paul foursome is seeded second this week behind McEwen’s defending champion team from Winnipeg’s Fort Rouge Club. The provincial championship begins Wednesday, with draws at 8:30 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 4 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

Even if, for example, No. 4 seed Pat Simmons were to win in Winkler, two of McEwen, Gunnlaugson or Carruthers are almost certain to reach the Brier wild-card game. The only complicating factor is the status of Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs, the 2013 Brier champ and 2014 Olympic gold medallist.

Jacobs, heavily favoured to earn his fourth consecutive trip to the Brier by winning Northern Ontario, is only .581 points behind Carruthers in the CTRS standings. But under the CTRS’s complex, weighted-points formula, it cannot be said with absolute certainty what Jacobs would need to do to claim a wild-card spot if he doesn’t earn an automatic berth.

But if you judge by the points handed out at last year’s Viterra Championship and Northern Ontario Tankard, Carruthers would need a top-four finish in Winkler to secure a wild-card spot if Jacobs were to lose in his provincial final.

Carruthers, who would have met Ontario’s John Epping in a wild-card showdown in 2017 under the new format, admitted the wild-card discussion has come up in conversations with McEwen and Gunnlaugson.

“You get to a point where earlier in the season we’re kind of eyeing it up because it wasn’t like our teams vaulted into the top five of the standings recently,” Carruthers said. “It’s something that’s happened over the course of the year. At one point, I had a conversation with Jason about the standings and wild card, and I have with Mike as well, but definitely not in the last week. We’re into frenemy mode, let’s say.”

Practice sessions for the Viterra Championship are scheduled for this afternoon at Winkler’s Centennial Arena.

The event wraps up Sunday, Feb. 4, with a televised 3 p.m. finale.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14