Triple knockout format for final qualifier for Canadian Olympic trials
Six-day bonspiel to feature 24 of the country's best curling teams
By Mark Schadenberg
Steve Yzerman is busy right now. He works for the Lightning, but he’s
storming around North America attempting to determine who should be on Team
Canada for men’s hockey at the Sochi Russia Winter Olympics.
Yzerman was handed the reins from Hockey Canada.
All sports and their respective sanctioning bodies are currently
ranking and rating all their athletes to determine who is bound for the
Olympics.
In figure skating, Patrick Chan would be an obvious choice, and so
would Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir. Previous results at The Games and world
championships will determine how many Canucks can compete in the four different
divisions.
Some sports are in the midst of qualifications and playdowns to
determine who is best to represent the maple leaf in Russia.
Look at curling, for example, and their intricate invitation system as
teams earn their way to the final Olympic Trials bonspiel slated for Winnipeg, December
1-8.
Over the past 2+ years 12 quartets have earned their way to Winnipeg,
so starting in about one week, the final field for the Trials – road to Sochi –
will be rounded out with two more men’s rinks and two more women’s teams.
Road To The Roar
Those last-chance qualifiers will be determined at the Kitchener
Memorial Auditorium Complex, Nov 5 – 10. The six-day event is called the Road
To The Roar and daily action starts at 9 a.m. and continues with three draws
until about 10:30 p.m.
I’ve always been a curling student-of-the-game – watch a lot, have
done some play-by-play (in the past for Rogers TV), and follow the stats and
teams.
The Kitchener event will be a triple knockout format, which means a
team’s trail to try to compete at the Olympic Trials, ends after three losses.
It’s certainly a more than fair format as each team is permitted a bad game, a
horrible end, a lousy break, or simply getting beat by a team that is better
than them at that moment (in one draw). A loss is not elimination from contention,
but three losses certainly is.
So far – as mentioned – just six teams have a firm invitation to the
Olympic Trials. On the men’s side the rinks are Glenn Howard, Kevin Martin,
Jeff Stoughton, Mike McEwen, Kevin Koe and Jon Epping. Two of the half dozen
are from Ontario – Howard and Epping.
Men’s Field
The 12 teams in Kitchener looking to grab the last two positions
include skip Mark Kean of Innerkip and his foursome of Travis Fanset, Patrick
Janssen and Tim March (pictured)
The other 11 teams draw into a field which appears much stronger than
any provincial-level tankard bonspiel, including Brad Gushue from the last Olympics,
plus Brad Jacobs, Jean-Michel Menard, Rob Fowler, Greg Balsdon, Bryan Cochrane,
Rob Rumfeldt, Joe Frans, Jake Higgs, Steve Laycock and Jim Cotter.
Women’s Field
In the women’s playdowns, the teams already secured for Winnipeg are
Jennifer Jones, Heather Nedohin, Stefanie Lawton, Sherry Middaugh, Rachel Homan
and Chelsea Carey.
Anyone following the curling stones closely will know these names
‘rings’ the bell for the Kitchener event: Amber Holland, Cheryl Bernard,
Shannon Kleibrink, Kelly Scott, Cathy Auld, Tracy Horgan, Krista McCarville,
Crystal Webster, Barb Spencer, Val Sweeting, Laura Crocker and Renee
Sonnenberg.
Keep in mind, from either group of 10, just two teams will advance to
Winnipeg and the final (actual) championship tournament to determine who will
have plane tickets to Russia.
A lot is at stake in Kitchener and that’s why all sports fans should
plan on attending a few draws. I always say curling at the rink is better than
on TV because it’s like a four-ring circus – four games happening at once
(until the playoffs, of course).
By looking at the qualification standards, the Canadian Curling
Association appears to be rewarding teams from results over the past three
winters and that’s a good idea.
For more details see:
(519) 578-1570
One of the reasons I often write about sports is that I was sports editor at The Woodstock Sentinel-Review for seven years (1992-98). You can't take the pen away from a writer.
Today, I have 14 years full-time experience in real estate sales in Woodstock and Oxford County.
Mark
Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Royal
LePage Triland Realty
757 Dundas
St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553,
cell or text
Email:
mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter:
markroyallepage
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