Not much room for error in loaded men's field at Roar of the Rings

The biggest event on Canada’s curling calendar is finally here.

The Roar of the Rings Olympic qualifying tournament starts Dec. 2 in Ottawa where nine of the best rinks in the nation will compete for the right to represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

The men’s field is stacked with the best-of-the-best in the sport including Olympic, Brier, world and tour champions. TSN has all your curling needs covered with coverage throughout the week in Ottawa.   

Every team has a shot at standing atop the podium with gold medals draped around their necks by week’s end and O Canada blaring on the loud speakers as they attempt to come to grips with what they just accomplished.

Being the last team standing in the nation’s capital on Dec. 10 could be the hardest part of winning Olympic gold. Sure, the Olympic field in South Korea will be elite, but Canada’s field in Ottawa is better.

And teams better come out hot because there will be no time to find their game. After round-robin play, the top-ranked team advances straight to the final, with the next two playing in the semi-final. Unlike the Canadian championship, battling back from a 0-2 or 0-3 start to make the playoffs could prove to be impossible at the Olympic trials.

Let’s take a deeper look at the teams competing in Ottawa and how they stack up to the rest of the field.

 

Team Brad Gushue (St. John’s, Newfound and Labrador)

Season Record: 32-5
Events Won: 4
Career Accolades: 2006 Olympic gold medalist (Gushue and Nichols), 2017 Brier champion, 2017 world champion

Roar of the Rings Schedule

Dec. 2 – Epping
Dec. 3 – Bottcher
Dec. 4 – Morris, Jacobs
Dec. 5 – Carruthers
Dec. 6 – McEwen
Dec. 7 – Laycock
Dec. 8 – Koe

Brad Gushue’s squad is the best in the game right now.

After winning his first Brier title in front of a roaring home crowd in St. John’s, Gushue went on to post a perfect 13-0 record at the world championships last season. And there has been no championship hangover for this team ever since.

Team Gushue have been nearly unstoppable, maybe even better than last year, posting a winning percentage of .864 with a pair of Grand Slam titles in 2017-18.  

In 2005, Gushue came out of nowhere to win the Canadian Olympic trials. A few months later in Turin, Italy, the then 25-year-old skip, with the help of current vice Mark Nichols, Russ Howard and Jamie Korab, captured Canada’s first ever curling gold medal at the Winter Olympics.  

After failing to qualify for the past two Canadian Olympic trials, Gushue has finally made it back. However, he won’t be sneaking up on anybody this time at the Roar of the Rings.

The East Coasters should be considered the favourites in Ottawa, but would be wise to pick up some early wins against John Epping and the Road to the Roar pre-trials qualifiers in John Morris and Brendan Bottcher. Having to beat three-time Canadian champ Kevin Koe in the final game of the round robin, with a possible berth into the semi-final on the line, won’t be an easy task.

 

Team Brad Jacobs (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario)

Season Record: 19-10
Events Won: 1
Career Accolades: 2014 Olympic gold medalists, 2013 Brier champs, 2013 world silver medalists

Roar of the Rings Schedule

Dec. 2 – Morris
Dec. 3 – Koe
Dec. 4 – Gushue
Dec. 5 – Laycock
Dec. 6 – Bottcher
Dec. 7 – Carruthers, McEwen
Dec. 8 – Epping

Team Brad Jacobs crossed the ultimate curling goal off their list four years ago when they captured gold at the Sochi Winter Olympics. Now they’re attempting to be the first Canadian rink to qualify for back-to-back Games.

Since their Olympic feat, Team Jacobs has claimed two medals at the Brier, neither of them gold. They’ve also won plenty of money on the World Curling Tour, with three Grand Slam victories, highlighted by taking the 2016 National in their hometown of Sault Ste. Marie. 

However, the Northern Ontario foursome, who has been together for six years now, could be due for another major victory. They’ll need to rekindle some of that magic from four years ago and will do everything in their power to get back to the biggest stage in curling.  

 

Team Kevin Koe (Calgary, Alberta)

Season Record: 27-11
Events Won: 1
Career Accolades: Share a combined 12 Briers, nine world championships and two Olympic gold medals

Roar of the Rings Schedule

Dec. 2 – Laycock
Dec. 3 – Jacobs, Carruthers
Dec. 4 – Bottcher
Dec. 5 – McEwen
Dec. 6 – Epping
Dec. 7 – Morris
Dec. 8 – Gushue

This team was built with the sole intention of winning gold in South Korea and anything less will be a disappointment.

Koe won the 2014 Brier in Kamloops, but even before the world championships got underway in Beijing, the skip announced that he would be leaving the foursome at the end of the season as another Olympic cycle began. Koe joined forces with 2010 Olympic gold medalists Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert as well as three-time Brier and world champ Brent Laing.

This powerhouse foursome has lived up to expectations, winning both the national and world title in 2016. Team Koe made it back to the Brier final last year where they lost to Team Gushue.   

This will be Koe’s fourth appearance at the trials as he’ll look to improve dramatically from his 2-5 showing in 2013.

A rematch of the 2017 Brier final seems like a real possibility in Ottawa.

 

Team Mike McEwen (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

Season Record: 27-13
Events Won: 0
Career Accolades: 2017 Brier bronze medalist, four-time WCT money winner (2015, 2014, 2012, 2011)

Roar of the Rings Schedule

Dec. 2 – Carruthers
Dec. 3 – Morris
Dec. 4 – Epping
Dec. 5 – Koe
Dec. 6 – Laycock, Gushue
Dec. 7 –Jacobs
Dec. 8 – Bottcher

Mike McEwen and his rink don’t have an Olympic, world or Brier title to their name, but have still made a ton of cash over their 11 years together.

The Winnipeg foursome has won countless events on the World Curling Tour, resulting in four first-place money list finishes.

After the Manitoba championship eluded them for nearly a decade, Team McEwen has excelled at the Brier the past two seasons, qualifying for the playoffs each time. They just missed the playoffs at the 2013 Olympic trials in their hometown, finishing with a 3-4 record.

Team McEwen have yet to hit their stride this season, with just one final appearance – losing to Team Jacobs at the Shorty Jenkins Classic – but can be one of the toughest teams in curling when they’re firing on all cylinders.

McEwen’s crew will be a wild card in Ottawa.

 

Team Reid Carruthers (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

Season Record: 28-17
Events Won: 1
Career Accolades: Carruthers won a Brier and world title in 2011 as Jeff Stoughton’s second; team won 2016 Canada Cup

Roar of the Rings Schedule

Dec. 2 – McEwen
Dec. 3 – Koe
Dec. 4 – Laycock
Dec. 5 – Epping, Gushue
Dec. 6 – Morris
Dec. 7 – Jacobs
Dec. 8 – Bottcher

Reid Carruthers and his Winnipeg crew qualified for the Roar of the Rings with their surprise victory at last year’s Canada Cup.

The fourth-year team won the Canada Inns Men’s Classic in Portage la Prairie in mid-October and hold a top-ten position on the WCT money list.

They’ll be in tough to make the playoffs in the nation’s capital, but shouldn’t have too much pressure on them as an under-the-radar team.

Team Carruthers could quietly do some damage at the Olympic trials.  

 

Team Steve Laycock (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) 

Season Record: 15-18
Events Won: 0
Career Accolades: 2015 Brier bronze medalist

Roar of the Rings Schedule

Dec. 2 – Koe
Dec. 3 – Bottcher, Epping
Dec. 4 – Carruthers
Dec. 5 – Jacobs
Dec. 6 – McEwen
Dec. 7 – Gushue
Dec. 8 – Morris

Six-time Saskatchewan champ Steve Laycock and his team probably expected to be playing better heading into the Roar of the Rings when the season got underway a few months ago.

The foursome, who added former Canadian junior champ Matt Dunstone to their side as a replacement for Colton Flasch this off-season, have posted a losing record and haven’t got past the quarter-final stage in six events.

Laycock’s crew hasn’t found much consistency and finding that consistency at the Olympic trials won’t be an easy task. The latter part of the week will be extremely tough for Team Laycock if they don’t get off to a good start as they are scheduled to face Jacobs, McEwen and Gushue in three of their final four games.

It will be interesting to see what they can put together at the trials.

 

Team John Epping (Toronto, Ontario)

Season Record: 26-20
Events Won: 0
Career Accolades: 2015 Canadian Open champion

Roar of the Rings Schedule

Dec. 2 – Gushue
Dec. 3 – Laycock
Dec. 4 – McEwen
Dec. 5 – Carruthers
Dec. 6 – Koe
Dec. 7 – Bottcher
Dec. 8 – Morris, Jacobs

John Epping is arguably the best active skip to never qualify for a Brier in today’s game.

A surprise victory at the Canadian Olympic trials will definitely place that conversation on the back burner. 

Team Epping were granted their trials spot thanks to their solid fifth-place positioning on the Canadian Team Ranking System last year.

The Toronto rink has qualified for the playoffs in five of eight events this season, but hasn’t appeared in a final.

Epping, 34, appeared in the 2009 trials as Wayne Middaugh’s second and finished with a 2-5 record.  He was back at the trials in 2013, this time as skip for his own team, finishing with a disappointing 1-6 record.

Team Epping will look to improve on those numbers in Ottawa.

 

Team John Morris (Vernon, British Columbia)

Season Record: 13-17
Events Won: 1
Career Accolades: Morris won gold Olympics (2010), three Briers (2008, 2009, 2015), worlds (2008) and two world juniors (1998, 1999)

Roar of the Rings Schedule

Dec. 2 – Jacobs
Dec. 3 – McEwen
Dec. 4 – Gushue
Dec. 5 – Bottcher
Dec. 6 – Carruthers
Dec. 7 – Koe
Dec. 8 – Epping, Laycock

Just like four years ago, Team Morris took the long way to the Roar of the Rings. The rink from Vernon qualified through the pre-trials competition in Summerside, P.E.I., beating Charley Thomas and Bottcher in the playoffs.

The Morris rink may be a qualifier, but shouldn’t be disregarded when it comes to what happens in Ottawa. At the 2013 Olympic trials in Winnipeg, Morris and company were a win away from representing Canada at the Sochi Olympics before losing to Team Jacobs in the final.

The 2010 Olympic champ is back and should be in playoff contention by the end of the week.

Team Morris, who have appeared in the last two Briers for B.C., haven’t won an event on the WCT this season and have only made the playoffs in three of six events.

However, when it comes to big events, this rink always seems to make some noise. Keep an eye on Team Morris in the nation’s capital.

 

Team Brendan Bottcher (Edmonton, Alberta)

Season Record: 30-12
Events Won: 3
Career Accolades: Bottcher won the 2012 world junior championship

Roar of the Rings Schedule

Dec. 3 – Laycock, Gushue
Dec. 4 – Koe
Dec. 5 – Morris
Dec. 6 – Jacobs
Dec. 7 – Epping
Dec. 8 – McEwen, Carruthers

Brendan Bottcher and his Edmonton crew were the last rink to qualify for the Olympic trials after they defeated the legendary Glenn Howard in the second qualifier at the Road to the Roar in Summerside.

They followed that with a victory at the Red Deer Classic the following week and are one of the hottest teams heading into the Roar of the Rings. 

The 25-year-old skip is starting to become a notable name in the world of curling after he led his team to their first Brier appearance last year in St. John’s. They finished with a 3-8 record, but the experience gained at a Canadian championship can only be helpful.

Team Bottcher are the only team that will play two games on two separate days in Ottawa. Every other team has only one day of double games. 

Bottcher won’t be favoured to win the Olympic trials quite yet, but he’s a skip to watch as one of the stars of the next generation of curlers.