What you need to know as Gushue, Einarson set to compete at Pan Continental Curling Championships
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The second annual Pan Continental Curling Championships will take place Oct. 29-Nov. 4 at the Kelowna Curling Club in British Columbia.
Here’s what you need to know.
What are the Pan Continental Curling Championships and what’s on the line?
The Pan Continental Curling Championships made its debut last year in Calgary with Canada’s Team Brad Gushue winning the men’s title and Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa doing the same on the women’s side.
The event serves as a qualifier for the World Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships, merging the previously held Pacific-Asia Curling Championships and Americas Challenge qualifying events.
The top five teams in both the men’s and women’s competitions automatically earn spots to the world championships in the spring for their countries.
However, with Canada hosting the 2024 World Women’s Curling Championship – taking place in Sydney, N.S., from March 16-24 – they earn an automatic berth, meaning only four spots are available on the women’s side.
The 2024 World Men’s Curling Championship takes place in Schaffhausen, Switzerland from March 30-April 7 with the best five countries in Kelowna punching their tickets to the event.
The men’s and women’s A-Division flights will comprise of eight teams competing in a seven-game round robin followed by a four-team playoff. The B-Division flights see six teams on the women’s and eight on the men’s.
The last-place finishers in the A-Division will be demoted to next year’s B-Division while the top team in the lower division will be promoted to the top division in 2024.
Who will represent Canada?
For the second consecutive year, St. John’s Team Brad Gushue and Gimli’s Team Kerri Einarson will wear the red and white at the Pan Continental Curling Championship.
“It means so much to wear the red and white on home soil, especially in beautiful Kelowna. We’re looking forward to competing at this event again and it’s always an honour to represent Canada,” Einarson said in a release.
Gushue’s lone loss at the 2022 event came to the American rink led by Korey Dropkin in the round-robin opener before they reeled off eight straight wins, highlighted by wins over Japan in the semi-final and South Korea in the gold-medal game.
Gushue, with third Mark Nichols, second E.J. Harnden, lead Geoff Walker and coach Caleb Flaxey, are bringing along B.C. curler Jim Cotter as their alternate for this year’s event.
“Yeah, that’s a cool event. We’re excited to play there, and we have Jim Cotter coming with us as our fifth man, which is going to be nice,” said Gushue. “It’ll be fun to spend a week with him. Kelowna is a beautiful city, and I would imagine the ice is going to be pretty good.”
Team Einarson also posted a 7-1 round-robin record but lost 6-5 to Japan’s Team Fujisawa in the semifinal after allowing a three-point end in the ninth and a steal of one in the 10th.
Einarson and company would get some redemption in the bronze medal game with a 7-5 victory over Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States in the bronze-medal game.
The four-time defending Scotties Tournament of Hearts champions – also featuring Val Sweeting at third, Shannon Birchard at second, Briane Harris at lead and coach Reid Carruthers – will have Dawn McEwen serving as their alternate for the event.
Who else will be competing?
Men’s Team – Division A
Australia – Jay Merchant
Canada – Brad Gushue
Chinese Taipei – Randolph Shen
Guyana - Rayad Husain
Japan - Riku Yanagisawa
New Zealand – Anton Hood
South Korea - Park Jong-duk
United States - Korey Dropkin
Team Gushue, currently ranked third in the world, will be the favourites to win their second straight Pan Continental Curling Championship with the strongest competition coming from Team Dropkin of the United States, Japan’s Team Yanagisawa, and South Korea’s Team Jong-duk.
Dropkin won the bronze medal last year, while South Korea, skipped by Jeong Byeong-jin, took the silver after falling to Gushue in the final.
Jay Merchant and Anton Hood are returning this year as the skips for Australia and New Zealand, respectively.
Guyana’s Team Husain won the B-Division in 2022 and will compete in the top flight in Kelowna.
The top five teams will qualify their nations for the World Men’s Curling Championship.
Men’s Team – Division B
Brazil - Márcio Rodrigues
China - Zou Qiang
Hong Kong - Jason Chang
India - P. N. Raju
Kenya - Oliver Echenje
Mexico - Diego Tompkins
Philippines - Marc Pfister
Saudi Arabia - Amar Masalmeh
Brazil was relegated to the B-Division after going 0-7 last year. They have a new team in 2023 with Márcio Rodrigues at skip.
Philippines is making its world curling debut at this event.
The top team will play in the A-Division next year.
Women’s Team – A-Division
Australia - Jennifer Westhagen
Canada - Kerri Einarson
Chinese Taipei - Cynthia Lu
Japan - Satsuki Fujisawa
Mexico - Adriana Camarena
New Zealand - Jessica Smith
South Korea – Eunji Gim
United States – Tabitha Peterson
The women’s division could be a little more competitive as it features four teams who currently reside in the top 10 of the world curling rankings.
Team Einarson, currently ranked second in the world, took out Team Peterson of the United States, 10th in the world, to claim bronze last year in Calgary, while No. 7 Team Fujisawa claimed the gold medal.
Gim’s rink will represent the South Koreans in Kelowna as the foursome are having a great season, currently ranked fourth in the world.
All four will have a real shot at standing atop the podium by week’s end and will all be expected to qualify for the World Women’s Curling Championship.
Canada has already booked their spot as the host nation.
New Zealand’s Team Smith claimed the fifth spot last year to qualify for their first women’s worlds and could be the favourites to do that again in 2023.
Chinese Taipei earned the promotion after winning last year’s B-Division.
Women’s Teams – B-Division
Brazil – Anna Shibuya
China – Han Yu
Honk Kong - Ling-Yue Hung
Jamaica - Cristiene Hall
Kenya – Laventer Oguta
Philippines - Donna Umali
Brazil went 0-8 last year in Calgary and will now attempt to return to the top flight by winning the B-Division in Kelowna.
Jamaica and Philippines will make their world curling debuts.
How can I watch the Pan Continental Curling Championship?
You can watch select round-robin games featuring Team Canada as well as the playoffs throughout the week on TSN and streaming on TSN.ca or the TSN App.
See the full schedule below and click here for the full Curling on TSN broadcast schedule.