Curling bubble could be ‘Toba reunion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/01/2021 (2007 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Calgary bubble could be bursting with Manitoba flavour at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and Brier national curling championships.

Curling Canada is expanding the fields to 18 teams — two pools of nine — for each of the women’s and men’s Canadian championships, an increase of two from previous events.

If the rocks align, a whopping four ’Toba teams could be in the Scotties mix, including defending champion Kerri Einarson of Gimli, while a pair of men’s foursomes will be representing the buffalo in Cowtown.

The traditional Friday wild-card games have been scrapped, so three additional teams will be invited to the competitions, along with the reigning champs (Team Canada) and 14 provincial/territorial representatives for each competition. Play begins next month in a bubble format — an environment to protect players and officials from the COVID-19 pandemic — at Markin MacPhail Centre.

The announcement Wednesday from the federation is good news for Manitoba, which is holding no playdowns owing to the pandemic.

Jason Gunnlaugson of Morris will return to the Brier as the Manitoba representative and will be joined by Mike McEwen of West St. Paul, who competed in the 2020 event as Team Wild Card and will qualify for the ‘21 championship. 

On the women’s side, Tracy Fleury of East St. Paul lost the Scotties wild-card game last year to Jennifer Jones of St. Vital but will head to Calgary because Jones is already booked into the bubble. Jones will don Manitoba colours in place of last year’s provincial champion, Einarson, who went on to win the 2020 Canadian crown and will return to the Scotties as Team Canada. 

Still with a slim chance of qualifying is Mackenzie Zacharias and her Altona team, which could earn a spot by way of its standing on the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) — although that’s still to be determined.

The Scotties goes Feb. 20-28, while the Brier is set for March 6-14. The Canadian mixed doubles championship and world men’s championship will be staged in what’s hoped is the relatively safe confines of the bubble, followed by a pair of Grand Slam of Curling women’s and men’s events.

Based on the CTRS, the other wild-card teams to receive an invite should be a pair of former wold champions, Alberta’s Kevin Koe and Ontario’s Glenn Howard.

It’s a foggier view on the women’s side. Several provinces and territories, including Saskatchewan, still hold out hope they can put on championships in the coming weeks, yet that seems less likely with each passing day as virus numbers remain high across the country.

In Saskatchewan, the women’s playdowns are set for Jan. 28-31 and the men’s competition goes Feb. 4-7. A cancellation creates a bit of a mess, as reigning women’s champ Robyn Silvernagle of North Battleford has just two returning players from her 2019-20 lineup.

If Silvernagle is hand-picked to represent the province, the remaining wild-card berths could go to the two highest-ranked teams on the CTRS, Alberta’s Kelsey Rocque and Zacharias. But like Silvernagle, Rocque has just two returning curlers.

Indeed, it’s still a cluttered house.

 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell