Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Milwaukee
Posts: 38

So the new Brier format gives exemption to the "Top Ten Provinces" plus team Canada. Then the rest have to play for a remaining spot....who are deemed the "Top Ten". I'd have thought it was the top ten from the previous year's Brier...but Northern Ontario finished in second-to-last last year (Jacobs did not play) and yet N-ONT does not have to participate in the 4-team play in process as I understand it. Anyone have more detail on this? Is it aggregate provincial CTRS points or something?

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Registered: Feb 2005
Location: Manitoba
Posts: 480

I believe for this first year under the new format, to determine the teams relegated to the play-in process they took a total of the last 2 or 3 Briers combined.

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Registered: Feb 2008
Location:
Posts: 31

Yes, the CCA used the final standings of the past three Briers and Scotties to determine the bottom teams. For the Brier, the three worst teams would join Nunavut, who is new, in the qualifying round.
As it stood, because the Yukon has not qualified for a Brier in a few years, it had 0 points, so the Yukon was in the bottom. The other two who had the worst records over that three-year span were N.S. and PEI. Since Nunavut has since announced they don't have a team for this year, N.S., PEI and Yukon will be participating in the qualifying tournament.
For the Scotties, Northern Ontario and Nunavut were given teams for the first time, so they were automatically put in to the qualifying pool along with the 2 jurisdictions that had the worst records in the past 3 years. That worked out to be NWT and Yukon. Since Nunavut has since announced it will not have a women's team this year, NWT, Yukon and Northern Ontario will play for the one spot.
Hope this helps

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Registered: Feb 2007
Location: Mid-Atlantic
Posts: 706

I haven't been following curling for a year or so but I was aware of format changes. Although I'm no fan of the "Team Canada" concept at least it ensures another competitive team in the Brier. And add to that requiring the least competitive teams to go through a play-in process would seem to create an overall better standard of play.

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