Potential body blow for maple leaf curling

Canadian curling fans have had some rough times of late.

Yes, there’s been lots of success to celebrate. But they’ve also watched more international teams grab invitations to the Grand Slam circuit, particularly on the women’s side. They watched as the Rachel Homan and Kevin Koe teams both missed the Olympic medal podium nearly four years ago in PyeongChang—the first four-player teams to ever do so. They also watched their most recent Scotties and Brier champs miss the world championship playoffs, in one case barely qualifying Canada for a berth into Beijing 2022.

The global pandemic, and whatever wave we’re currently in, dealt Canada another blow when their Olympic Trials for mixed doubles were cancelled following an outbreak of positive cases among athletes. The extremely contagious Omicron strain of COVID-19 has apparently struck various athletes in recent tour locations such as Port Elgin, Ont. and Banff, Alta.

There’s been reports of up to 50 athletes testing positive, including some from a U.S. tour stop in Eveleth, MN where Rich Ruohonen’s team defeated John Shuster’s Beijing-bound squad in the final.

Now Curling Canada’s mandarins will appoint a pairing to represent Canada’s mixed doubles hopes in Beijing next month. Curling Social is going wild with guesswork and arguments over whom should be charged with the mission of repeating Canada’s somewhat unexpected golden success in Korea.

Interestingly, our own Twitter poll fails to list an option that will merit serious Curling Canada consideration: Brad Jacobs and Kerri Einarson, who announced their formation a few days after the four-player Olympic Trials wrapped up. Einarson and Brad Gushue are the defending national champions and if one assumes Gushue would decline the MD opportunity, Jacobs would be his spare. Don’t forget, folks, that Curling Canada places great weight on their championships, and wouldn’t hesitate to use that weight as an appointment tool.

Is this the nightmare our headline speaks of … that Curling Canada is now, for the first time ever, just like every other curling nation in the world—in that they now appoint teams for international championships?

This cuts pretty deep. It’s always been Win To Get In for Canadian curling. It’s been a point of pride for Canada to consistently host championship events to declare their Olympic or world championship reps; even the Americans messed with WTGI a few years ago, and sent a couple of national championship finalists to the worlds.

Yes, that dam has burst open. The unthinkable is happening, right before the curling world’s eyes.

But no … that’s not Canada’s ultimate nightmare scenario. That potential, my friends, is found in a section of Curling Canada’s statement announcing the appointment process.

“Curling Canada’s High Performance staff will consult with the Canadian Olympic Committee and Own the Podium to decide the best process to nominate a Canadian mixed doubles team that will compete in China. An announcement of the nominated team will be made when the process is complete.”

And there it is. The operative word, of course, is “consult.”

How strong are the votes that outsiders—i.e. Own The Podium and the Canadian Olympic Committee—will wield in these meetings, which are certainly underway as you read this? What kind of influence do these organizations have? How much of the eventual decision will actually be made by Curling Canada’s High Performance team?

This is the nightmare. Growing influence, over time, from Curling Canada’s partner organizations coupled with waning international results—suddenly accelerated due to unfortunate events during a global pandemic. And presto … before you know it, you’re not necessarily the boss anymore.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall—more likely the Zoom screen—of said meetings.