Olympic hopefuls preparing for Ottawa qualifying events

Canadian curling fans will be able to watch many of this country’s best curling teams pursue their dreams of Olympic gold later this month in two significant qualifying events.

The Canadian Curling Trials Direct-Entry Event and Canadian Curling Pre-Trials Direct-Entry Event will run concurrently Sept. 22-26 at the RA Centre’s revamped Curling Centre of Excellence facility in Ottawa.

And while fans won’t be admitted into the building to watch live, Curling Canada will produce three live-stream broadcasts per day, it was confirmed today.

With the short lead-up time to prepare for fans, combined with an increase in positive COVID-19 cases across Canada, it was considered not feasible for the Ottawa events to have fans in attendance. But Curling Canada will live-stream games on its YouTube channel so that fans can watch from their homes or on their mobile devices wherever they are.

Five men’s and five women’s teams will compete for direct-entry berths into the Tim Hortons Curling Trials, presented by AGI, while eight teams of each gender will compete for direct-entry berths into the Home Hardware Curling Pre-Trials.

Draw times on Sept. 22 will be noon (all times Eastern), 3:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. On Sept. 23-24, draw times will be 8 a.m., noon, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. On Sept. 25, draw times will be 9 a.m., 1 p.m., 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., and on Sept. 26, draw times will be 10 a.m., 3 p.m. and, if necessary, 8 p.m.

Here’s a summary of each event:

Canadian Curling Trials Direct-Entry Event

A total of five berths (three for women’s teams, two for men’s teams) into the 2021 Tim Hortons Curling Trials Nov. 20-28 in Saskatoon will be on the line in Ottawa in this event.

The number of available direct-entry qualifying berths from the Ottawa event into the Tim Hortons Trials is based on the number of teams that have already qualified to play in Saskatoon (see below for qualified teams, and how they qualified).

Women’s teams competing in Ottawa are:

• Team Suzanne Birt (Charlottetown)
• Team Corryn Brown (Kamloops, B.C.)
• Team Kelsey Rocque (Edmonton)
• Team Casey Scheidegger (Lethbridge, Alta.)
• Team Laura Walker (Edmonton)

Men’s teams competing in Ottawa are:

• Team Matt Dunstone (Regina)
• Team Colton Flasch (Saskatoon)
• Team Jason Gunnlaugson (Winnipeg)
• Team Glenn Howard (Penetanguishene, Ont.)
• Team Mike McEwen (Winnipeg)

To qualify for the Trials Direct-Entry Event, teams had to meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Canadian teams in the Top 18 of the World Curling Team Ranking (WCTR) as of Aug. 31, 2020 (including teams with new lineups)
• Eligible teams that finished in the top nine of the Canadian Team Ranking System in 2019-20 
• Eligible teams that finished in the top seven on the Canadian Team Ranking System in 2018-19

NOTE — Teams qualifying via the Canadian Team Ranking System must have three of four players that earned the CTRS points remaining on the team, and must have been CTRS-registered for the 2020-21 season.

Both the men’s and women’s events will use round-robin draws leading to potential playoffs where necessary. The men’s draw has a modified round-robin because it will have only two Trials qualifiers.

Teams that don’t secure berths in the Tim Hortons Curling Trials will have a second chance to qualify via the Home Hardware Curling Pre-Trials, set for Oct. 26-31 in Liverpool, N.S.

Already in the field in Saskatoon for the Tim Hortons Curling Trials are (hometown and qualifying standard they met are in parentheses):

Women:

• Team Kerri Einarson (Gimli, Man.; 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion)
• Team Tracy Fleury (East St. Paul, Man.; top three on Canadian Team Ranking System in 2019-20 season)
• Team Rachel Homan (Ottawa; 2019 Home Hardware Canada Cup champion)
• Team Jennifer Jones (Winnipeg; top three on Canadian Team Ranking System in 2019-20 season)

Men:

• Team Brendan Bottcher (Edmonton; top three on Canadian Team Ranking System in 2018-19 season)
• Team John Epping (Toronto; 2019 Home Hardware Canada Cup champion)
• Team Brad Gushue (St. John’s; 2020 Tim Hortons Brier champion)
• Team Brad Jacobs (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.; top three on Canadian Team Ranking System in 2019-20 season)
• Team Kevin Koe (Calgary; top three on Canadian Team Ranking System in 2018-19 season)

Canadian Curling Pre-Trials Direct-Entry Event

Eight teams of each gender will compete in a triple-knockout draw for two men’s and two women’s berths into the Home Hardware Pre-Trials in Liverpool, N.S.

Teams qualified based on their World Curling Team Ranking (highest not-previously-qualified teams) as of July 2021. Teams also needed to have three of four players remaining from their declared 2020-21 lineups.

Women’s teams competing will be:

• Team Abby Ackland (Winnipeg)
• Team Jill Brothers (Halifax)
• Team Kerry Galusha (Yellowknife)
• Team Ashley Howard (Saskatoon)
• Team Lauren Mann (Ottawa)
• Team Jessie Hunkin (formerly Team Robyn Silvernagle (North Battleford, Sask.)
• Team Laurie St-Georges (Laval, Que.)
• Team Sarah Wark (Abbotsford, B.C.)

Men’s teams competing will be:

• Team Corey Chambers (Winnipeg)
• Team Jacques Gauthier (Winnipeg)
• Team Sean Grassie (Winnipeg)
• Team William Lyburn (Winnipeg)
• Team Shaun Meachem (Saskatoon)
• Team Vincent Roberge (Etchemin, Que.)
• Team JT Ryan (Winnipeg)
• Team Ryan Wiebe (Winnipeg)
• NOTE — Team Steve Laycock declined its berth

The two qualifiers in each gender will head to Liverpool for the Home Hardware Pre-Trials, which will decide the final entries (two men’s, two women’s) into the Tim Hortons Curling Trials in Saskatoon, where Canada’s four-player teams for the 2022 Winter Olympics will be decided.