News Canadian Open

Time to fill out your brackets, the draw schedule has now been released for the Meridian Canadian Open.

The fourth tournament — and third major — of the 2017-18 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season takes place Jan. 16-21 at Encana Arena in Camrose, Alta., and features 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world.

Full event and weekend passes plus single draw tickets are now available for purchase at Camrosegsoc.goigniter.com or by calling 780-678-2868.

Quick Links: Draw Schedule | Men’s Brackets | Women’s Brackets | TV Schedule

For those without a degree in Bracketology, here’s the 101: Teams must win three games before they lose three in order to qualify for the playoffs.

All 16 teams in both the men’s and women’s divisions start in the A brackets. Winners stay in A while losers drop to the B brackets. Again, winners remain in B while losers fall to the C brackets. Here’s where things get dicey as the C brackets are the last chances for teams to reach the playoffs: winners move on, losers are gone.

Two A teams (3-0 win-loss records), three B teams (3-1) and three C teams (3-2) advance to the quarterfinals.

With the Winter Olympics just around the corner, this tournament will serve as a final tune-up for 11 teams competing in Pyeongchang, South Korea, including Canada’s Kevin Koe and Rachel Homan, Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud, Chang-Min Kim and EunJung Kim of the host nation South Korea, Sweden’s Niklas Edin and Anna Hasselborg, Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz and Silvana Tirinzoni, and John Shuster and Nina Roth of the U.S.

The winning teams earn berths to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup running April 24-29, 2018, at Calgary’s Winsport Arena.

Teams also compete for points towards the Bonus Cup awarded to the overall Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season champions. Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., and Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones currently top the men’s and women’s standings, respectively, with each hold two title wins already in 2017-18.

Gushue and Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta., enter the Meridian Canadian Open as the reigning champions. Scheidegger captured the crown in her top-tier Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling series debut last season stealing in the eighth end of the women’s final against Tirinzoni. Meanwhile, Gushue topped Edin in the men’s final in what turned out to be a preview of the world championship gold-medal game. Gushue begins his title defence against Kim in the opening draw while Scheidegger is set to face Allison Flaxey of Caledon, Ont., in Draw 3.

Can’t make it to Camrose? Watch on Sportsnet, Sportsnet NOW (Canada) or gsoc.yaretv.com (international) beginning Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. ET. Click here for the full TV schedule.