What can we expect from a very unusual curling season?

Like everything in 2020, this curling season will look radically different compared to what we are used to seeing.

There probably won't be any postgame handshakes for starters.

The COVID-19 global pandemic hit North America in March just days after Brad Gushue and his St. John’s, Nfld., rink captured their third Tim Hortons Brier in four years, beating Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher in the final from Kingston, Ont.

The virus forced the 2019-20 season to wrap up prematurely with the cancellation of the men’s and women’s world championships, the world mixed doubles championship as well as the final two Grand Slams of the season.

Over six months later, as summer drifts away to fall, we still have more questions than answers when it comes to what the granite game on the elite-level circuit will look like this season.

In a normal campaign, a handful of high-level World Curling Tour events would have already been in the books. So far, the only pro curling to take place has been overseas in Europe as rinks in North America have been forced to wait it out a little longer.

After pining to get back onto the ice for months, some of Canada’s best curlers, including Rachel Homan, Jennifer Jones, John Epping, Brad Jacobs and Glenn Howard, will be competing at the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard from Oct. 2-4 and the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard from Oct. 9-12 (both from Waterloo, Ont.)   

Still, at this point, much of the 2020-21 curling season is very much up in the air with plenty of questions yet to be answered.

 

Which events have been cancelled and what is the state of the Canadian championships?

One thing that is certain is fewer professional curling events will be played in 2020-21 due to the pandemic.

Curling Canada has already postponed or cancelled a handful of high-profile events, namely the Canada Cup, Continental Cup and Canadian Juniors.

Here’s the full list:

Cancelled

• Canadian Mixed Curling Championship (Nov. 7-15 in Canmore, Alta)
• Everest Canadian Curling Club Championship (Nov. 22-28 in Ottawa)
• Continental Cup (Jan. 7-10 in Oakville, Ont)
• New Holland Canadian Junior Championships (March 15-23 in Fort McMurray, Alta)
• Canadian under-18 Championships in Timmins, Ont
• Canadian Wheelchair Championship in Moose Jaw, Sask
• Canadian Under 15 RockFest and the U Sports/Canadian Colleges Athletic Association Championships

Postponed

• Canada Cup (Nov. 24-29 in Fredericton, N.B.)

Since this year's Canada Cup acts as a qualifier for the 2021 Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials, Curling Canada says they will attempt to reschedule the event in the new year.

"We considered all options, but in the end, we had to make the responsible decision — for the athletes, for the volunteers and for the organization, to ensure the safety of those involved in the championships as well as the viability of the sport in Canada," Katherine Henderson, chief executive officer of Curling Canada, said in a statement of the cancelled events.

As of now, both Canadian championships – the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and Tim Hortons Brier – are scheduled for this winter, but there is a chance they will look vastly different given the possibility of having no fans in the stands due to the virus.

The Scotties is slated to run Feb. 20-28 in Thunder Bay, Ont., while the Brier is set for March 6-14 in Kelowna, B.C.

Rick Lang, co-chair of the organizing committee hosting the Scotties in Thunder Bay, is hoping Curling Canada will make different plans for the 2021 championship if they are unable to have fans.

“Of course, they really hoped to have a full event here in Thunder Bay. They knew the ticket sales were great and they knew it was going to be a really exciting event. They still want to come here. But the COVID pandemic has thrown a real wrench into all that, of course,” Lang told TBNewsWatch.com.

“So, they’re looking at other possibilities – a partial event, which we’re not really excited about, partial being partial attendance. We know we can do way better than that here. So, we’re hoping to have a full event here when it does come.”

Curling Canada could implement the bubble system for the Scotties and Brier this season, similar to what the NHL and NBA are using for their playoffs. Thunder Bay and Kelowna could then host the national championships in 2022, hopefully with fans in attendance.

The Brier has been played every year since 1946 after it was sidelined for three years due to the Second World War. The Scotties has never missed a year since its inception in 1961.

A decision will also need to be made on the world men’s curling championship, scheduled to take place in the nation’s capital April 3-11. The world women’s curling championship runs from March 20-28 in Switzerland.

Additionally, the first four Grand Slams of the season have also been axed, including the Masters in Sarnia, Ont., the Tour Challenge in Grande Prairie, Alta., the National in Chestermere, Alta., and the Meridian Open in Las Vegas.

The final two Grand Slam events – the Players Championship in Toronto and the Champions Cup in Olds, Alta., – are still both on the schedule and are slated to run in April and May.

 

Roster Changes: Who are the faces in new places?

After the pandemic brought the season to an abrupt end last season, teams across the country wasted no time in making off-season roster changes, including some major moves that stunned the curling world.

Here’s a roundup of what went down.

Here’s Johnny!

After taking two seasons off from traditional four-person curling, two-time Olympic champion John Morris is back, this time playing second for Team Kevin Koe in Calgary.

Just 12 months after winning the fourth Brier Tankard of his career, Koe made the tough decision to replace Colton Flasch with Morris following a disappointing finish at the national championship in Kingston, Ont.

The move sees the 41-year-old Morris reunite with fellow 2010 Olympic gold medalist Ben Hebert.

Morris has spent time at skip and third in his career, so it will be interesting to see him in a different role in 2020-21.

Shakeups in Saskatchewan

Flasch, 29, didn’t waste anytime finding new teammates, creating his own foursome out of his native Saskatchewan.

Flasch will skip a squad that sees Catlin Schneider at third, who was let go by Matt Dunstone after the Brier, and the Marsh twins, Kevin and Dan, throwing second and lead rocks, respectively.

After leading Saskatchewan to their first Brier playoff appearance since 2015, 25-year-old Dunstone made some changes to his roster as well, adding Kirk Muyres, who skipped the prairie province at the 2019 Brier, to play second.

Flasch and Dunstone should be the teams to beat in Saskatchewan for the foreseeable future. 

On the women’s side, Robyn Silvernagle will look to don the province’s green colours at a third consecutive Scotties in 2021 with former skip Kristen Streifel replacing third Stefanie Lawton and lead Dayna Demers taking over for Kara Thevenot.

Team Homan stuns with Weagle swap

In one of the more surprising curling moves in some time, Rachel Homan parted ways with long-time lead Lisa Weagle in March.

Weagle and Homan, as well as third Emma Miskew, had been teammates for a decade, winning three Scotties, a world championship, numerous Grand Slams, and making an Olympic appearance together.

But, after a disappointing showing at the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea and back-to-back losses in the Scotties finals, Homan made the bold decision to replace Weagle with Sarah Wilkes, a former third who won the 2019 Scotties with Chelsea Carey. Wilkes will play second while Joanne Courtney will be moved to lead.

Weagle told the Canadian Press that she didn’t see the move coming.

"I wasn't part of the discussions and it was a decision that was taken by the team," she said.

Homan went on to praise Weagle, but said a change needed to be made “to keep up with the best teams in the world.”

"Lisa is one of the best leads in the game and we wouldn't have had the success we achieved over the last few years without her," Homan said. "The game is constantly changing, and we need to change with it by restructuring if we want to keep up with the best teams in the world. Personnel changes play an important role in high performance for teams to be able to grow and thrive.

"If you’re always standing still, you are getting passed. Given the comparison to other high-performance sports, trading elite talented athletes is commonplace and curling is no different."

Shortly after the shocking move, Weagle joined Team Homan rival Jennifer Jones as the Winnipeg rink will serve as a five-player team. How Team Jones incorporates Weagle into their lineup will be interesting to watch going forward. And even more interesting will be the future matchups between Homan and Jones given this recent juicy storyline.

Carey a free agent

The Weagle news affected the makeup of other teams as well.

After Wilkes left the 2019 Canadian champs to join Team Homan in Ottawa, the front end duo of lead Rachel Brown and second Dana Ferguson quickly made the

move to play for two-time world  junior champ Kelsey Rocque with the hopes of helping the 26-year-old skip to her first Scotties.

The disbanded rink left Carey, a two-time Canadian champ and Olympic trials finalist, without a team and not many options available. The 36-year-old skip has yet to announce any plans to play with a team this fall and winter, leaving one of the best skips in the game on the sidelines for the time being.

Other shakeups

Jason Gunnlaugson

Matt Wozniak, the long-time second for Team Mike McEwen, is coming out of a brief hiatus to play with Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugson as a replacement for Alex Forrest. Former second Adam Casey will now hold down the vice position. The skip affectionally known as “Gunner” competed in his first Brier last season.

Tyler Tardi

Lead Jason Ginter has replaced Alex Horvath on Team Tyler Tardi as the three-time Canadian junior champion continues his young career on the pro circuit.

Jamie Sinclair

Americans Jamie Sinclair and Monica Walker will reunite for the 2020-21 campaign after a year apart.

Corryn Brown

Samantha Fisher is the new lead on Team Corryn Brown, replacing Ashley Klymchuk. The British Columbia rink made the championship pool in their first appearance at nationals in 2020.

Mary-Anne Arsenault

Mary-Anne Arsenault, who has represented the province of Nova Scotia 14 times at the Scotties, moved out West this off-season and will now skip the team previously led by Kelly Scott. Scott won back-to-back Tournament of Hearts in 2006 and 2007 with Jeanna Schraeder, Sasha Carter and Renee Simons.

Kerry Galusha

After 14 Scotties appearances with Kerry Galusha, long-time Northwest Territories lead Shona Barbour is stepping away from the sport and will be replaced by Margot Flemming on Team Galusha.

For all the roster moves from this off-season, click HERE.

 

What about the gameplay?

Like golf, athletes competing in the sport of curling are fortunate because they can play it while keeping their distance from other players, thus reducing the risk of spreading the coronavirus.

In July, Curling Canada released thorough guidelines and recommendations on how curling clubs across the country can return-to-play safely.

The guidelines are meant for recreational curling but could also be implemented on the pro circuit for various events this season.

Here are some of the notable recommendations via Curling Canada.

• No handshakes before or after the game
• Do not use coins to determine the hammer in the first end
• Players should always stay on the same side of their sheet
• Only one sweeper is allowed and the player inside the house is not allowed to sweep
• The opposing team is not allowed to sweep behind the tee-line

Speaking to The Canadian Press, Curling Canada’s high-performance director Gerry Peckham says whether rules likes sweeping restrictions will be used at professional bonspiels will be determined on a case-to-case basis.

"Sweeping-related realities will vary on a province-by-province, region-by-region, club-by-club basis," Peckham said. "There's way more grey than any other colour at this moment in time.

"We've already heard about situations where curling clubs have put in more stringent rules than a provincial or regional health authority has."

It is still not known which regulations, if any, will be implemented at the national championships.

 

What's the status for qualifying for the Olympic Trials?

The 2021 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials is just over a year away, scheduled from Nov. 27-Dec. 5, 2021 at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, Sask.

Rachel Homan and John Epping were the first to book their spots after claiming the Canada Cup in Leduc, Alta., last December before Brad Gushue and Kerri Einarson qualified by winning the Tim Hortons Brier and Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

That leaves seven spots available on both the men’s and women’s sides for the biggest event in Canadian curling. Five spots were slated to be filled during the 2020-21 season, but COVID-19 may throw a wrench into those plans.

In early September, Curling Canada announced that they were putting the qualifying process for the Roar of the Rings and the Canadian Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials on hold due to the pandemic and a review would be conducted.

“The safety of our athletes is our prime consideration and we don’t want to put them under any kind of duress to be trying to participate in events to pursue qualifying points until we know they can do so safely,” said Peckham. “Until that time comes, we will look closely at the qualifying process and consult with our athletes to fine-tune the system to make sure it identifies Canada’s most deserving nine men’s and women’s four-player teams and 16 mixed doubles teams.”

Furthermore, the Canadian Team Ranking System and Canadian Mixed Doubles Rankings will not award points for any events played before Nov. 30, 2020.

Here’s how teams could of qualified for the trials this season before Curling Canada announced the review. We'll have to wait and see how many of these spots get filled in the fashion they were intended to before the virus hit.

• 2020 Home Hardware Canada Cup champion
• 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts/Tim Hortons Brier champion
• Two-year CTRS total, 2019-20, 2020-21 seasons
• Two-year CTRS total, 2019-20, 2020-21 seasons
• 2020-21 CTRS single-season total 

November’s Canada Cup has already been postponed, but Curling Canada is hoping to make that event up sometime in the new year.

The final two spots will be determined at the Roar of the Rings Pre-Trials from Oct. 26-31, 2021.

The Canadian Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials will run from Jan. 3-9, 2022 in a place and venue yet to be determined.

The teams of Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing as well as Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant qualified last season, leaving 14 spots available. The winner of the cancelled 2020 Canadian Mixed Doubles Championship was supposed to qualify as well, so that spot will need to be made up in some fashion.

Here’s how teams could of qualified for the trials this season before Curling Canada announced the review.

• 2021 Canadian Mixed Doubles Champion
• Two Regional Bonspiel Qualifier Champions

The final 10 spots will be determined by November 2021 using the rankings. 

• Top eight teams from the CMDR as of Nov. 1, 2021 (points from May 1, 2020-Oct 31, 2021)
• Top two teams from the CMDR as of Nov. 1, 2021 (excluding CTRS points, from May 1, 2020-Oct 31, 2021)

The 2022 Winter Olympics take place in Beijing, China from Feb. 4-20.