Curlers not hurrying hard

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/12/2020 (1969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some of Manitoba’s top curlers are on the bubble about getting into the bubble.

Calgary will be the hub for a quartet of premier Curling Canada events later this winter: the Scotties Tournament of Hearts national women’s championship, Brier national men’s championship, Canadian mixed doubles and men’s worlds.

But a blueprint released Tuesday and explained in some detail Wednesday during a virtual media conference — on how the Scotties and Brier will be staged to limit the risk of COVID-19 transmission — didn’t exactly clear things up. Manitoba could have a pair of teams at the Brier and as many as three at the Scotties.

The premier events will be staged in a controlled environment, without fans, at Markin MacPhail Centre at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park. Dates for each specific championship have yet to be finalized, although it’s a certainty the bubble could last up to seven weeks — beginning Feb. 20 and remaining active until April 11.

But the qualifying process for the national championships has yet to be nailed down, mainly because each province and territory needs to develop a plan for identifying its own representatives during a pandemic. Ultimately, the novel coronavirus might have the final say.

Assuming the curling extravaganza is good to go, the method of forming the two championship fields directly impacts no region more dramatically than Manitoba. It’s not just a matter of which teams blow into the bubble but also how many.

Kerri Einarson’s team from Gimli, ranked second in the world, will defend its Scotties title as Team Canada during the opening week. However, identifying the others heading west is still a couple of months away.

“At the end of the day, our team would love the opportunity to be in Calgary. But there’s just too many unknowns at this point, and without some level of clarity it’s really hard to form much of a response beyond that,” Mike McEwen said Wednesday.

“There’s unknowns from the different member associations across the country, whether those championships will even run. So, it’s hard to really say what it’s going to look like in terms of composition and format.”

Since 2018, the Scotties and Brier have featured 16 teams, ensuring every province and territory — plus the defending champion and a wild-card team — were represented in the main field.

McEwen has skipped a Manitoba-based men’s squad at the each of the last five Briers. His crew from West St. Paul lost the 2020 provincial Viterra final to Jason Gunnlaugson of Morris but took full advantage of a last-chance, ‘win-and-in’ game on the eve of the Brier in Kingston, Ont., dumping Glenn Howard of Ontario to earn the moniker Team Wild Card.

With the information he has now, McEwen figures his team will need to prevail at the provincials at the Selkirk Recreation Complex, scheduled for Feb. 2-7, to return to a sixth. But plans for a Viterra with a field hacked down from 32 to 16 teams, to be held jointly with an eight-team Scotties, are tentative at best.

CurlManitoba has designed contingency plans if provincial health regulations mandate smaller fields for the Scotties and Viterra. But in the very likely scenario no provincials will be permitted, defending champ Gunnlaugson would head to the Brier, while St. Vital’s Jennifer Jones, who lost to Einarson in the Manitoba Scotties final, would also travel to Calgary.

The wild-card game won’t happen in 2021, although there could still be a Team Wild Card in the field. McEwen, whose team is ranked fifth in Canada and seventh in the world, didn’t bite when asked if his foursome should, by rights, qualify for the Brier because of its wild-card status last time around, but said the team would go to Calgary, if invited, with no misgivings.

“We understand these are unprecedented times. Behind the scenes, Curling Canada has done a ton of work and we really have to compliment them. I’m confident they’ll be able to do a successful and safe concept, with a number of events, that will be important for our sport,” he said. “We trust they’re going above and beyond. For us, there is no hesitation to participate.”

Curling Canada events manager Nolan Thiessen said Wednesday the goal is “to have as many good teams there as possible.”

That’s not just music to the ears of McEwen, it’s key for Manitoba’s Tracy Fleury. The team, ranked third in the world, went to Moose Jaw but lost the Scotties wild-card game to Jones.

“The format hasn’t been set for the bubble, so we’re just really, really hoping that there’s some way we can get into it. I know the Scotties and Brier do need the provincial and territory reps there, that’s always been the tradition. I hope there is some sort of exception that we can play, but it’s up to Curling Canada and we’ll see what they decide,” said Selena Njegovan, third for Fleury’s foursome from East St. Paul.

If not, she hopes to have an opportunity to qualify by way of the provincials, but highly doubts it will run.

“I would love for it to be possible, but seeing our (COVID-19 case) numbers… I just feel like they keep fluctuating and I’m nervous to see what they look like after Christmas. So, I don’t think it’s going to happen,” said Njegovan. “It would be cool to play with the men and women in the same building, and playing provincials is always so much fun. But I’m not holding my breath.”

 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell