HOG LINE: COVID chaos in lead-up to Scotties

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/01/2022 (1538 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hello and welcome to another edition of what I’m now dubbing cancellation corner.

Since my last column, things have gotten a little muddier in terms of who exactly will be competing at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, if they still go ahead as planned on Jan. 28 in Thunder Bay, Ont.

As of Tuesday afternoon, five provincial championships — New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, Northern Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Quebec — had already been cancelled due to the evolving COVID-19 situation involving the omicron variant.

Meanwhile, this week’s Ontario playdowns were “suspended” Monday, just two days before they were slated to begin.

While the Ontario Curling Association said in a statement it could host the event at a later date, the province’s representative for the Scotties — which will more than likely be Rachel Homan’s rink barring a massive plot twist — is going to be declared Friday.

Of the other provinces that have to pick a rink for the event, only Newfoundland & Labrador has done so thus far, with Sarah Hill earning a second straight trip to the nationals.

“Here we are again having to make decisions based on COVID,” the Newfoundland & Labrador Curling Association tweeted in a statement that I’m sure is being echoed across the country right now. “I assure you this is not how the NLCA wanted this to happen.

“Other provinces that are in our situation has gone the route of CTRS (Canadian Team Ranking System) points and we will do the same … In the event that the national gets delayed and we find a way to be able to host a provincial, we will look at taking that route.

“As you know, things change daily on the national front. We will update the curling community if anything changes.”

Besides the Hill foursome, Kerri Einarson’s rink from Gimli — which will serve as Team Canada for the second straight Scotties — three other squads are already locked into the field.

Mackenzie Zacharias and Christina Black will represent Manitoba and Nova Scotia after winning their provincials last month, while Brigitte MacPhail was declared as Nunavut’s representative in December.

In the midst of everything else being cancelled across the country, three provincials are going ahead as planned this week.

The Alberta men’s and women’s playdowns are already underway in Grande Prairie, while the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan Scotties are set to start today.

Meanwhile, the British Columbia men’s and women’s championships are also opening play today in Kamloops, though that event has moved behind closed doors at the local curling club instead of an arena.

Then there’s the mystery of the Yukon playdowns.

They are slated to begin Thursday in Whitehorse, but that club has suspended all league play and gave no mention of what’s going to happen with the men’s and women’s competition.

So as you can see, things are a bit of a mess.

Plus, we haven’t even gotten to what’s going on with the Tim Hortons Brier playdowns and the Viterra Championship, which is supposed to start in Selkirk in three weeks.

With the way things are shaking out elsewhere, I expect that we’ll know what’s happening with that competition in the coming days, though there is some time on CurlManitoba’s side as the Brier isn’t getting underway until March in Lethbridge, Alta.

That same benefit of time isn’t occurring with the Scotties, which could lead to Curling Canada making some big decisions.

While it may make sense to postpone things a bit until there’s a better idea of what’s going on, there is a recent example of what could be coming around the corner.

On Tuesday morning, it was announced that February’s under-18 nationals in Timmins, Ont. had been postponed to later this year and will be held in a new location, since there’s apparently no ice available in Timmins for the rest of the curling season, per Curling Canada.

If they do the same with the Scotties in Thunder Bay — where the event was originally slated to be held in 2021 — get ready for the Scotties to end up in Fort Macleod, Alta. or some other random location in Wild Rose Country just so they can have the event.

Between figuring out their national championships and determining who is going to be Canada’s mixed doubles representative at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, it’s not a good time to be in Curling Canada’s shoes.

It may be a new year, but we’re still living in the same 2020 simulation.

In hindsight, perhaps I should have stayed at the Patch during the Manitoba Scotties in Carberry when I had the chance.

» lpunkari@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @lpunkari