HOG LINE: Four junior national curling berths up for grabs

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This article was published 24/02/2022 (1373 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Those competing at the under-21 provincial playdowns at the Brandon Curling Club this weekend will need to give some thanks to Jacques Gauthier and Mackenzie Zacharias.

Although it feels like it took place three decades ago, the pair led their rinks to Canadian Junior championships in Langley, B.C. on Jan. 26, 2020 and gave Manitoba their first sweep at the nationals since Chris Galbraith and Kelly Scott accomplished that feat in 1995.

With a new 18-team format at this year’s nationals — which will be held from March 25 to April 1 in Stratford, Ont. — additional berths have been given to provinces that reached the podium two years ago. So Manitoba gets two men’s and women’s teams.

“I know that when I was playing with Matt Dunstone and we were battling it out with Braden Calvert for a spot at the nationals, it would have been pretty neat to have a second chance of earning a spot there,” said Rob Gordon, who is the event/development assistant for CurlManitoba.

“I think the additional representative at the nationals for provinces is a good thing. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the under-21 and under-18 curlers have really been hit hard by the event cancellations over the last two years. There’s such a short period of time when you are going to be eligible to go to the junior nationals and I think that second chance is going to make for some pretty good curling this week.”

Manitoba is one of two provinces that will have four teams competing at the nationals, as the hosts from Ontario will also have an additional men’s and women’s rinks competing.

Alberta and Nova Scotia will have a pair of women’s teams as a result of making the podium two years ago, with Newfoundland & Labrador and Saskatchewan parlaying their 2020 success into a pair of men’s teams competing in Stratford.

Although there hasn’t been a junior provincial playdown in over two years, the curlers that are in Brandon this weekend have been making up for lost time after COVID-19 wiped out the 2020-21 campaign.

The Manitoba Junior Curling Tour resumed play this year and many of the top rinks have also competed on the cashspiel circuit, with Jordon McDonald and Jace Freeman taking to the ice in Selkirk two weeks ago for the Viterra Championship.

That extra experience will prove handy this weekend, as Greg Ewasko and his crew have put together arena ice conditions at the Brandon Curling Club.

“Most of these athletes had that experience (of playing on arena ice conditions) from the last junior provincials we had in Dauphin and I think that experience of being back out on the MJCT again has really helped them prepare for this year,” Gordon said. “I think anyone that tunes in to the livestream on YouTube or is in the rink in Brandon is going to be really impressed with the level of curling they are going to see over the next few days.”

Spectators are allowed, though they are required to wear a mask, show proof of COVID-19 vaccination and remain in the upstairs lounge to view the games.

A full weekend pass is $50, with a day pass at $20.

The men’s final will be held at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, with the women’s championship game getting underway at 2 p.m.

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While changes in the men’s curling landscape won’t go into high gear after the Tim Hortons Brier in Lethbridge, we’ve already seen some big movement on the women’s side.

The biggest shakeup was revealed Tuesday when lead Joanne Courtney of the Rachel Homan rink announced that she was stepping back from competitive curling following this season.

As a result, only Homan and her longtime third Emma Miskew remain from the team that represented Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeonchang, South Korea.

Courtney has arguably been the best sweeper on the women’s side for the last decade and it’s going to be tough to get used to not seeing her take to the ice on a regular basis.

Hopefully, we’ll get to see her on television in some sort of capacity in the years to come, as I thought she was fantastic in her role as a colour commentator for CBC’s curling coverage in Beijing.

The other big changes — as of Thursday evening at least — involve Casey Scheidegger’s and Laurie St-Georges’ squads, as their respective thirds (Cary-Anne McTaggart and Hailey Armstrong) are both moving on.

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While everyone wait for some over the top reaction to Canada only earning one medal at the Olympic Games curling events, the men’s and women’s winners put their names into the mix of the tops of their generation.

With a gold medal now added to his two other Olympics medals, five world titles and seven European crowns, Sweden’s Niklas Edin is now a legitimate candidate as the greatest men’s curler of all time.

His run over the last decade has been nothing short of spectacular and his numbers might be even more ridiculous if he sticks it out for another few years.

Then there’s Eve Muirhead, who led Great Britain to the women’s title for her second Olympic medal.

Although she’s been overshadowed at times by the likes of Homan, Anna Hasselborg and countless Swiss squads, Muirhead is just 31 years of age and had been together a pretty strong resume, which has been topped off with a gold medal.

As a longtime Muirhead fan, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that my favourite curler was on top of the podium Saturday night, especially as I didn’t see it coming (my picks of Hasselborg and Bruce Mouat didn’t turn out so well in hindsight).

I suspect I’ll be doing that for the rest of the year, while making sure to wear my Muirhead jersey as much as possible to celebrate the accomplishment.