Eight Ends: Tour Challenge preview
The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season is just around the corner as we kick off another exciting year with a brand-new event.
The Tour Challenge runs Sept. 8-13 at the Paradise Double Ice Complex in Paradise, N.L., and will feature double the excitement and stakes.
For our Eight Ends blog, here’s a rundown of what you need to know ahead of our season-opening event as the chase for the Rogers Grand Slam Cup begins:
Tour Challenge: Teams | Draw Schedules | TV Schedule | Watch Online
1st end: 60 teams, 2 tiers, 1 must-see event
The Tour Challenge features 30 men’s and 30 women’s teams in action. That’s twice the number of teams that will compete at the Masters and National Grand Slam events. Both men’s and women’s divisions are split into Tier 1 and Tier 2 groups with four champions crowned.
This is the largest Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling field since the 2012 Masters when the two tier system was also implemented.
Along with familiar faces like Brad Gushue, Mike McEwen, Brad Jacobs, Jennifer Jones, Rachel Homan, and Eve Muirhead, there will also be regional favourites like two-time world champion Mary-Anne Arsenault and 12-time Newfoundland & Labrador Scotties winner Heather Strong as well as rising stars like reigning N.L. junior champion Greg Smith.
2nd end: How were teams selected?
Based on the World Curling Tour (WCT) order of merit, the top 15 men’s and top 15 women’s teams were invited to the Tier 1 groups. In the event a team declined, the next ranked team on the WCT’s list received an invite.
Upon completion of the Tier 1 groups, 10 additional men’s and 10 additional women’s teams were invited from the WCT rankings to compete in Tier 2. The remaining five men’s and five women’s teams were selected based on the region of the event — in this case Newfoundland and Labrador.
3rd end: Clash of the Champions
The Tour Challenge is the first of two new events on the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule for 2015-16. The second event is the year-ending Champions Cup, running April 26 to May 1, 2016.
The Champions Cup will feature all of the men’s and women’s winners from the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season — such as the Tour Challenge Tier 1 — plus champions from select events including the Brier, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and world champions among others in one final best-of-the-best event to finish the season.
“The Champions Cup is a great new event that all of the top teams are extremely excited about,” said Team Koe’s Marc Kennedy, 2010 Olympic gold medallist and a 10-time Grand Slam champion. “Nobody wants to miss out on this one, so it gives us all more incentive to win a big event during the season. It will be an amazing event featuring the best of the best.”
To see a full list of events that qualify for the Champions Cup, click here.
4th end: What’s at stake in Tier 2?
The Tier 2 men’s and women’s winners will earn guaranteed spots to the next Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event, the Masters, running Oct. 27 to Nov. 1, 2015, in Truro, N.S. This is an excellent opportunity for these teams to earn points and vault up the rankings.
5th end: Double the fun for women’s division
The women’s division has twice the number of events this season on the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule. On top of the all-new Tour Challenge and Champions Cup, the National has expanded to include a women’s division, joining the Masters, Canadian Open and Players’ Championship.
6th end: Five-rock rule in effect
The five-rock rule is played at all Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling events.
Under the five-rock rule, during each end teams cannot removes stones that are sitting in the free guard zone until five rocks have been played. This gives the team with the hammer a better chance of mounting a comeback.
Twelve-time Grand Slam champion Craig Savill had this to say last season on the five-rock rule when it was implemented for all events:
“With the incredible hitting ability of the top teams in our game, it seems that once a team is up two or three, the game is all but over. With the five-rock rule there seems to be a better chance at a comeback. At the very least, the team that is ahead must still be offensive and leave rocks in play, creating chances for the losing team to score points. As a fan, I would rather see lots of rocks in play than a bunch of wide-open ends with little to no offence.”
7th end: Team changes
Last year we had a frenzy of moves during the summer as teams began their preparations for the new four-year Olympic cycle on the road to the 2018 Winter Games. It wasn’t a fire sale of activity this off-season, however, we did see some teams make some tweaks and adjustments to re-tool their lineups.
Leading the pack in that department was Glenn Howard, who made changes for the second consecutive summer, this time seeing third Wayne Middaugh return to the fold after a one-year hiatus from the Pinty’s GSOC series. Glenn’s son Scott Howard also joined the rink at lead.
This left Jon Mead on the outside and he latched onto Team Mike McEwen as a utility man. Meanwhile, longtime Team Howard lead Craig Savill joined the Nova Scotia rink featuring Shawn Adams, Mark Dacey, and Andrew Gibson. Nova Scotia didn’t make it out of the pre-qualifier last season and missed the Brier for the first time ever. Residency rule changes by Curling Canada that came into effect this year allowed the Nova Scotia-based trio to bring aboard one player from outside the province and they chose the Ottawa native Savill. This super-team of Brier winners and finalists should boost Nova Scotia’s chances of making it back into the main tournament.
Also notable is the new Team Chelsea Carey, with Chelsea Carey joining the former members of Team Heather Nedohin after their skip decided to step back from competitive curling at the end of last season. Carey’s former team now have back-to-back reigning world junior champion Kelsey Rocque as skip.
The Rink Formerly Known As Team Horgan make their return to the Pinty’s GSOC series with a new name — Team Fleury — and a new member with former skip Crystal Webster as a fifth.
For a complete rundown of team changes, check out our tracker here.
8th end: Which teams could win their first Pinty’s GSOC title this season?
The expansion of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling could result in some first-time winners, especially with the women’s division doubling from three events to six.
Team Anna Sidorova had a strong run to end last season and reached a Pinty’s GSOC career-high by finishing runner-up at the Players’ Championship. They may make another charge although they will be without lead Ekaterina Galkina at the Tour Challenge as she’s taking a short break from competitive curling.
Reigning world champions Team Alina Paetz could capitalize from the Pinty’s GSOC expansion and get their chance to win their first title. Also, watch out for Team Fleury. They haven’t played in a Pinty’s GSOC event since the 2012 Masters, but they could be the dark horse and factor into the playoff picture at the Tour Challenge.
Over on the men’s side, it would be unfair to expect another dominant year from Team McEwen, who went all Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson on the field last season winning eight tournaments on tour. On the Slam side of things, they reached the final at four of the five Pinty’s GSOC events and capturing the National and Elite 10 titles. Of course, anything’s possible but with two new men’s events added to the mix it’s also likely we’ll see some different faces winning championships.
Brendan Bottcher had a breakout season at Pinty’s GSOC events last season by reaching the semifinals at all three events his Edmonton-based team competed in. What’s in store for the encore? This season they shouldn’t be considered underdogs anymore and should be legit contenders.
Team Niklas Edin of Sweden surged at the Elite 10 in March finishing runner-up to Team McEwen and continued their strong play that month to win the world championship. Edin hit a wall at the Players’ Championship, but it’s likely the team was burned out after a long season on the road. Still, the Elite 10 performance was the boost they needed and it could happen again.
Extra End: Tour Challenge tune-up
Several teams set to compete in the Tour Challenge are hitting the ice this weekend for the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard at the Oakville Curling Club. If you’re in the GTA, you’ll definitely want to check this event out with the likes of Team Gushue, Team Koe, Team Edin, Team Jones, Team Homan, Team Paetz, and many more featured.
