Northern curlers set to suffer 'do-or-die' Scotties pre-qualifying one final time
Curlers hope format change will ‘reignite’ sport in the North
Northern curlers will shed no tears when the Scotties Tournament of Hearts bids goodbye to pre-qualifying this year.
Since 2015, the national championship's pre-qualifying round forces the four lowest-ranked teams, invariably including any northern entrants, to play off to reach the main draw. Three teams will be on the plane home before the main event even begins.
It's been a source of immense frustration and a format that has proved as unpopular with fans as it has with teams.
As a result, organizers will drop pre-qualifying from 2018 onward — for both Scotties and its male equivalent, the Brier — in favour of a new, 16-team system that promises a piece of main-draw action for the North's top curlers.
However, that's a year away. Curlers like Kerry Galusha, the Northwest Territories skip, must suffer pre-qualifying for one final time at this year's event, which begins in St. Catharines, Ont., on Thursday.
"Our team understands why they have pre-qualifying in place, but at the same time it's been very cruel to us the last two years, losing in the final and not making it through to the regular week," said Galusha.
"No northern teams have been in the Scotties for the last two years. It'll be nice to see the North represented hopefully this year, but for sure next year."
Before 2015, Yukon and N.W.T. had a playoff and the winner would go south to the national competition. The pre-qualifier was introduced the same year Nunavut and Team Canada were added to the national competition. Nunavut sent its first teams south in 2016.
Sarah Koltun, whose Yukon team faces Galusha's N.W.T. in their opening pre-qualifier on Thursday, agrees the current format is frustrating.
"Nobody likes to play in pre-qualifying,' said Koltun. "It's frustrating to have to go through it again, but there's that light at the end of the tunnel knowing that there is an end coming to it.
"Last time, everyone was upset together, if that makes sense. You hate to be that person who's knocked out, but other people say they don't like to be the team that wins, either, because you're responsible for sending all these people home."
Nunavut's Geneva Chislett begins play against Melissa Adams of New Brunswick in Thursday's other pre-qualifying match-up.
Lack of opportunities
All three territorial rinks suffer from a lack of opportunities to train for such a high-pressure event, with no opponents coming forward for their territorial playdowns this year. In effect, each team received a bye to pre-qualifying.
"That was really disappointing for us," said Galusha.
"We needed those games. We're just as good as the teams here, we just don't get the games in that the other teams do. You get under pressure, you tend to be a little tight, you miss some shots that normally you would make.
"In the main draw you're playing 11 games — if you split your games one day, it's OK. In the pre-qualifier, it's not. You have to go in guns blazing."
Koltun hopes next year's new, more inclusive format will change that situation, increasing the quality of northern curling in future.
"I went to a lot of junior tournaments and those were the times when I had the best opportunity to grow as an athlete," she said.
"Hopefully, by having everybody make it to the main event next year, teams from the territories can have that experience to get better and stronger.
"We need to reignite the sport up here. Hopefully this will do that."