Maritime provinces will battle Nunavut and Yukon for spot
Two Maritime provinces no longer have a reserved spot at the Brier and will have to play their way into the Canadian men’s curling championship next year.
Nova Scotia skip Jamie Murphy directs Jordan Pinder, left, and Mike Bardsley as the sweep against Saskatchewan at the Tim Hortons Brier in Kamloops, B.C. (The Canadian Press)
The winning teams from those four regions [PEI, NB, Nunavut, Yukon] will still travel to Calgary next year, but will have to play each other. Only the winner will get a spot in the Brier.
Rod MacDonald, who has represented the Island seven times at the Brier, said he has seen a lot of changes over the years and he’s not impressed with this one.
“I certainly don’t like it. I think what they’re doing is taking away the amateur part of curling in Canada. I feel this will become another slam event for the professionals,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s going to help any of the curling in Canada. There are a lot of clubs that are right now closed. I don’t really think the CCA sees that yet.”