CURLER1
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Brandon sun editorial
http://www.brandonsun.com/opinion/t...8251.html?thx=y
Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
Top teams should be at Scotties, Brier
By: Uncredited
Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016 | Comments: 0
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John Epping wont be there.
Neither will at least one of Reid Carruthers and Mike McEwen.
Rachel Homan is out. And shell be joined around the television set by Val Sweeting and Stefanie Lawton.
When the greatest annual curling championships take place, some of the best teams in Canada scratch that, the world wont be there.
And that needs to change.
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts will run Feb. 20-28. It is the premier curling event for women in the country.
Manitobas Kerri Einarson, New Brunswicks Sylvie Robichaud, Stacie Curtis of Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontarios Jenn Hanna secured berths to the championship in Grande Prairie, Alta.
They join Saskatchewans Jolene Campbell, Quebecs Marie-France Larouche, Northern Ontarios Krista McCarville, Nova Scotias Jill Brothers, Albertas Chelsea Carey, Suzanne Birt of Prince Edward Island, Yukons Nicole Baldwin and defending champion Jennifer Jones, whose Winnipeg team will play as Team Canada.
Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories, Nunavuts Geneva Chislett and B.C.s Karla Thompson will play in a pre-qualifying tournament in the two days leading up to the Scotties. One team will advance to the main draw to round out the field.
The truth is, however, only four teams maybe five have a realistic chance of winning.
Ontarios Homan, who isnt there, had a chance. So did Albertas Sweeting. And if everything broke her way, Saskatchewans Lawton could have won it all, too.
Unfortunately, curling fans wont get to see Homans team the worlds top-ranked womens team, according to the World Curling Tour due to the archaic qualifying system in place for the Scotties.
Only one team from each region generally one per province qualify for the championship. The two exceptions are if the defending champion happens to be in your province and Ontario, which is split into two regions with two berths available.
Thats it, though. And that means every year some of the best curlers in the world arent at the Scotties.
Homan is one of the most exciting young curlers the sport has seen in decades. Her last-shot abilities are rivalled only by Jones and she often whips crowds into a frenzy with her final stone.
Homan is the best in the world. Some people in these parts might suggest Jones holds that honour, but they would only be fooling themselves.
Sweeting is ranked third in the world. Lawton is all the way down the list at 18, although her team is ranked 10th in Canada. Again, neither of those two elite teams will be there.
On the mens side, the draw isnt set as teams still jockey to try to punch a ticket to the Brier, but we already know Epping wont be in Ottawa from March 3-13.
Epping, whose team is ranked eighth in the world, lost to Glenn Howard in a nail-biter in the final of the Ontario Tankard on Sunday that will see Howard stretch his record for the most games played at the national championship. Howard made an angle double-raise takeout to score a game-winning deuce in the 10th end to edge Epping 6-5.
We dont know about you, but wed much rather watch that matchup at the Brier than a couple of the snoozers that will take place when Howard rolls through Nova Scotia or the Yukon.
Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories will make his 10th appearance at the Brier. And while its fun to follow his debauchery on Twitter, which includes a lot of
after-hours photos from The Patch, hell need to drink a lot of beer to find a horseshoe big enough for him to qualify for the playoffs.
The truth is Koe shouldnt be there. Curling has passed him by.
Or maybe, for the traditionalists who like the regional qualifiers, he should be there. But Epping deserves to be there, too.
So does McEwen, whose team has been ranked as the best in the world for two years running, but hasnt been to a Brier. Either McEwen or fellow Manitoban Carruthers, ranked fifth in the world, wont be at the championship. Heck, if things really go south, neither of them could be there.
In 2018, all 14 regions will send a team to the Brier and Scotties, according to a Curling Canada press release.
More interesting, however, is a line in that release that states ... with the potential of adding other teams with pre-qualified status.
While its not exactly sure what that means, hopefully it means no team ranked in the Top 10 in the world can miss the Scotties or the Brier.
It seems to be a compromise that satisfies both the traditionalists, who want to see 14 teams qualify out of regions, while appeasing fans who just want to see the sport played at the highest level.
The change cant come soon enough in our mind as its long overdue that the best curlers in the world are at the best curling events in the world.
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition February 9, 2016
Last edited by CURLER1 on 02-09-16 at 09:15PM
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