(Column by Gerard McLaughlin).
Big-time change will soon be coming to Canada’s big-time curling events.
It’s already been reported in several publications that the Canadian Curling Association plans to adopt a system where there will be both an A pool and a B pool for Canada’s highlight events like the Tim Horton’s Brier, Scotties Tournament of Hearts and the Canadian mixed championship.
In fact, the CCA will introduce this system to the Canadian mixed championship next fall. It will feature 14 rinks instead of the traditional 12 – one from each province, territory and Northern Ontario.
Then, in 2012, the event will return to a 12-team format, with the bottom three or four teams from 2011 relegated to a lower pool. To get back into the 12-team top flight, B pool teams will have to qualify.
The Canadian Curling Association decided to introduce the pool system after some member associations complained they did not have access to national championships. Currently, the territories are allowed just one representative at national events.
A controversial catch is, since the CCA will likely prefer more than two or three teams in the B pool, they will need more than one entry from some provinces, likely from Manitoba and Alberta, provinces that feature the largest group of teams seeking national titles.
It’s always been a beef from Manitoba and Alberta, both curling power-plants, that they should have more representation at national events.
The CCA struck a committee to study the representation issue and it recommended the pool system.
CCA boss Greg Stremlaw said all major national championships – including the Brier and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts – will move to a similar system over the next few years. Exactly how the format will work at events like the Brier and Scotties hasn’t been determined, but the pool system is already in place at the World Curling Federation level, so there is a map to follow.
Terry Odishaw of Moncton, who has always carried a strong and opinionated voice on Maritime curling, certainly isn’t too excited by the pool plan.