One of Canada’s most popular national curling championships makes its much-anticipated return to Ottawa.

Play gets underway Monday at the Ottawa Hunt & Golf Club in the 2021 Everest Canadian Curling Club Championships. (Photo, courtesy Ottawa Hunt & Golf Club)

The 2021 Everest Canadian Curling Club Championships get underway Monday afternoon at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club, bringing together the country’s top men’s and women’s club curling teams, with all 14 of Curling Canada’s Member Associations (10 provinces, three territories and Northern Ontario) represented in both genders.

Each team is allowed just one player who has played in a provincial/territorial Juniors’, Men’s (Brier), Women’s (Scotties) or Seniors’ championship in the current or previous three curling seasons, or participated in a full-field Grand Slam event in the current or previous three curling seasons.

The field in Ottawa features many past participants in the Tim Hortons Brier, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and even an Olympic gold-medallist.

The B.C. women’s team from Parksville is skipped by Penny Shantz, who played for the Linda Moore-skipped Canadian team that won gold at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, where curling was a demonstration sport.

Also in the field is Shelly Bradley, who’s skipping the Prince Edward Island team from Charlottetown. Bradley played for P.E.I. at six Scotties Tournament of Hearts. [The team also includes Amanda Power, Aleya Quilty, and Jodi Murphy.]

On the men’s side, Team Quebec from Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville is skipped by Philippe Ménard, who threw lead rocks for his brother Jean-Michel Ménard at seven Tim Hortons Briers.

Meanwhile, Newfoundland-Labrador’s team from St. John’s is skipped by Mark Noseworthy, who also skipped his home province at four editions of the Tim Hortons Brier, earning a bronze medal in 1987 at Edmonton.

Also worth noting is that 2016 Canadian Curling Club Championships men’s winning skip Wes Forget is now throwing second rocks for Team Tanner Horgan at the 2021 Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials, presented by AGI, where Canada’s Olympic four-player teams are being decided.

[P.E.I. will be represented by the Summerside Curling Club at the Silver Fox Entertainment Complex men’s team of Tim Hockin, Darren Higgins, Mike Spencer and Jonathan Greenan.]

The annual fundraising challenge to benefit youth curling across Canada through the Curling Canada Foundation will once again be a part of the 2021 Everest Canadian Curling Club Championships. Teams will be involved in fundraising, and the team that raises the most money for junior curling will earn a $2,500 grant for their home clubs. You can find more information by CLICKING HERE.

At the most recent Everest Canadian Curling Club Championships, two years ago in Leduc, Alta., teams from Alberta (Nanette Dupont’s women’s team from Lethbridge) and Ontario (Paul Moffatt’s men’s team from Kitchener-Waterloo) captured gold medals.

The Canadian Curling Club Championships began in 2009 in Toronto. Since then, Alberta and Ontario have each won the men’s title three times, while B.C. and Saskatchewan have each claimed two titles and Newfoundland/Labrador has one.

On the women’s side, Manitoba leads the way with four championships, followed by Ontario and Alberta with three apiece, and Prince Edward Island with a single victory.

The 14 men’s and 14 women’s teams will be split into two seven-team round-robin pools. After a single round-robin, the top three teams in each pool will make the modified double-knockout playoffs, which begin Friday, Dec. 3, at 9 a.m. (all times Eastern). 

The championship semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 4, at 9 a.m., and the semifinal winners will play for gold, and the losers will play for bronze later that day at 2 p.m.

Games from the 2021 Everest Canadian Curling Club Championships will be live-streamed on TSN.ca as well as on Curling Canada’s YouTube channel. Check curling.ca/broadcast for the up-to-date broadcast schedule.

Scores and standings from the event will be available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard.

For draw times, team lineups and other event info, go to: www.curling.ca/2021clubchampionships.

Click the link to read this story at Curling Canada: https://www.curling.ca/blog/2021/11/26/everest-club-championships/