ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The Newfoundland and Labrador Curling Association (NLCA) received the OK from the provincial government and the chief medical officer of health this week to proceed with the Tankard and Scotties Tournament of Hearts men’s and women’s provincial playdowns starting next week.
Those events were originally set to begin this upcoming Monday, but have been pushed back to Wednesday, Jan. 27 for the Tankard and Friday, Jan. 29 for the Scotties.
The Tankard will be an eight-team, round-robin affair, while the Scotties involves two teams (skipped by McKenzie Mitchell and Sara Hill) and will be decided in a best-of-five playdown. Both events are at the ReMax Centre (St. John’s Curling Club).
The winners will represent the province at the nationals in Calgary. Curling Canada announced that four of its championship events this year are using a bubble concept similar to what the NHL and NBA used to host their playoffs last summer, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Tim Hortons Brier, World Men’s Curling Championship and Canadian mixed doubles championship will all be held at the Markin MacPhail Centre at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary in the next couple of months.
Mitchell and Greg Smith are the defending Newfoundland and Labrador mixed doubles champs. There’s no decision yet if they will be offered the opportunity represent the province in the 2021 national mixed.
Like all sports, the NLCA had to submit a Return to Play plan to government to run its provincials.
“Curling Canada has stringent Return to Play guidelines, and we adopted that,” said provincial curling president Mark Noseworthy.
Curlers will be required to adhere to social-distancing rules on the ice. Curling rocks, measuring sticks and the scoreboard will be constantly wiped down with disinfecting wipes and masks will be required to be worn inside the curling club (curlers won’t have to wear masks while playing). Social distancing will also be required inside the curling club.
“We’re following all public health guidelines,” Noseworthy said. “Whatever we can do to get back on the ice.
“The last thing we want to do is pick teams to go play at nationals.”
Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia recently cancelled their Tankard and Scotties playdowns due to CIVID-19. Nova Scotia offered teams skipped by Jamie Murphy and Jill Brothers opportunities to curl in the Brier and Scotties.
On Monday, Alberta announced Laura Walker and Brendan Bottcher will represent that province at nationals.
“Most provinces, certainly out West and Ontario and Quebec, their situation is completely different than here (with the number of COVID-19 cases),” Noseworthy said.
The ReMax Centre and Bally Haly Curling Club in St. John’s have been running their respective Super Leagues this season.
Teams slated to play for the Tankard men’s provincial championship are skipped by Trent Skanes, Andrew Symonds, Colin Thomas, Ryan McNeil-Lamswood, junior-aged Simon Perry, Greg Smith and Nathan Young from the ReMax Centre, and Keith Ryan of Labrador City.
Brad Gushue’s team returns to the Brier as Team Canada after winning the 2020 Brier in Kingston, Ont.
The provincial junior championships were set to open Tuesday at the ReMax Centre, but the juniors were cancelled because there was not enough time to organize the event since getting the OK from government to proceed with Return to Play. That and the fact the national juniors won’t be played this year.
Robin Short writes about sports in Newfoundland and Labrador.
