PanCon, Okotoks, Halifax and Mixed

Much of the new Pan Continental tournament attention was focused on the A-Division, where Canada (men) and Japan (women) captured the titles and the top five nations in each gender qualified for the 2023 world championships.

There were amazing stories from athletes who qualified—including New Zealand skip and cancer survivor Jessica Smith—and also from those who did not.

Out of the spotlight, competing on a neighbouring ice pad, were the B-Division teams. Their goals were to gain more professional curling experience and possibly finish at the top of their pools, and thus qualify for next year’s Pan Continental A-Division.

All of the B-Division teams in Calgary looked good in terms of delivery fundamentals, some more so than others, and are at varying stages of development across the board.

These curlers deserve credit for building into a new sport. Even the best players in the world had to start somewhere, and no doubt looked like rank amateurs the first time they tried to throw a stone.

It was delightful to see Kenya win the first all-African nations curling battle by defeating Nigeria in women’s play. After losing 10-3 (to Mexico) and Chinese Taipei (12-3) in their first two matches, the Kenyans took an opening three-count and two deuces—in the third and eighth ends—on the way to a 9-7 victory.

The Kenyans were training in New Jersey earlier this year, where two of their players were interviewed on The Extra Extra End podcast (jump to the 16:20 mark).

Next year’s championship sees Guyana advance from the men’s B-Division into the A-Division. Rayad Husain’s three-man Guyanese squad defeated India, skipped by P.N. Raju, by a 7-6 scoreline in the men’s final.

The women’s B champions—and A qualifiers for 2023—are Chinese Taipei, skipped by Heidi Lin, who defeated Mexico’s Adriana Camarena 8-7 in a stolen extra-end final.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s men and women, and the Hong Kong women, will drop into the 2023 B-Division.

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It’s always fun to see a senior-aged squad make noise in a high-performance cashspiel. Particularly when the team had no idea they’re heading into a high-performance cashspiel.

Atina Johnston, best known for winning Olympic gold as Team Schmirler’s alternate in 1998, made a weekend appearance at the ladies Alberta Open at Okotoks.

Johnston was backed by 2010 Olympic silver medallist Cori Morris, Sheri Pickering—the daughter of Saskatchewan curling legend Bob Pickering—and Nikki Handfield Smith, the sister of Curling Canada data analyst Renee Sonnenberg.

Handfield Smith was asked to spare for the weekend and didn’t realize it was essentially a tour event with “a lot of great teams” in the field.

Indeed, some of those teams featured skips named Casey Scheidegger, Kayla Skrlik, Selena Sturmay and Kristie Moore, who had Morris’ Olympic teammate Susan O’Connor on board.

Johnston, Morris and Pickering entered the event to prepare for senior women’s playdowns. Handfield Smith was the too-young-for-seniors spare player, replacing regular third Shannon Morris.

“We were all rather shocked when we saw the draw,” Cori Bartel Morris told me. “We chose (this event) as the timing worked, and it was close to home.

“Truth be told I was just happy when we scored three in the first end against Sturmay, thinking at least we wouldn’t get skunked. (It) turns out we had a few veteran moves.”

One could suggest these familiar faces seemed fresh, as they curled deeper and deeper toward the playoff round.

Team Johnston went 2-2—beating Moore along the way—and made it into a tiebreaker, where they met up with Scotland’s Beth Farmer, the heir-apparent to the retired Eve Muirhead. The Albertans won that one, 5-4, on an eighth-end steal.

Then it was on to the quarterfinals and a matchup with Edmonton’s Elysa Crough, a young team which qualified for the Tier 2 Grand Slam playoffs in Grande Prairie. Again, Team Johnston prevailed with a final-end steal, 6-5.

The run came to an end in the semifinal, but that too was a battle. Johnston stole the eighth-end to tie the match against Scheidegger, but lost 5-4 in the extra-end.

Skrlik won the title, beating Scheidegger 6-5 in an extra-end (yes, on another steal).

The event marked Johnston’s first tour event in a decade. The foursome ended up playing seven games in some 53 hours and cashed $1,600 in winnings.

“It was so much fun,” said Morris. “We missed (curling at this level).

“It was really nice to go head to head with some top talent in the game, and not get blown out of the water. Atina is an amazing player. The whole team was so positive.

“It’s pretty amazing when you can step onto the ice with zero expectations, just relishing in the joy of the game. Our competitive spirits are just as strong as ever.”

Their semifinal match was streamed online using the Curling Stadium setup.

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Down east, Selena Njegovan led the Kaitlyn Lawes team—with super spare Laura Walker playing third—to victory at the women’s Stu Sells 1824 Halifax Classic.

Toronto’s John Epping won the men’s side.

Of note, longtime third Njegovan went 6-1 as skip over the weekend. Coupled with her 6-1 run during last year’s Tournament of Hearts—with skip Tracy Fleury sidelined at the start due to COVID-19—Njegovan is now 12-2 as a skip over the past 10 months.

Huh. 

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Quebec set one heck of a modern Canadian curling record on the weekend, winning their third straight national mixed title featuring three different teams.

Following Jean-Sébastien Roy’s win in 2020, last year’s title went to Jean-Michel Ménard, who recently captured the world title.

Roy missed two chances to compete for Canada, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 world championships.

Saturday’s win by the Felix Asselin foursome marked the first time a province or territory has won three straight national championships with totally different teams since Manitoba did it in a bygone era—at the 1929, 1930 and 1931 Briers.

Asselin, Laurie St-Georges, Émile Asselin and Emily Riley beat Northern Ontario’s Trevor Bonot 10-3 in the championship final. The Quebecers went 10-2 during the week.

“It’s good for curling in Quebec, that’s for sure,” said Asselin. “It’s going to push young kids to play and adults to compete.

“We did not want to be the ones to break the streak. We’ll see what happens from then on.”

The same squad earned bronze at the 2019 Canadian Mixed. Bonot took the gold back in 2017.

Jamie Koe’s Northwest Territories team won their second straight bronze medal with a 10-3 victory over British Columbia’s Miles Craig.

Mixed curling fans can expect a proper tournament debrief on the next episode of the 2 Girls and a Game podcast.

Pod co-host Lori Eddy played third on Scott MacDonald’s Team Ontario, which finished fifth in the championship pool with a 6-4 record.