New Jones rink to remain Team Canada
Manitoba squad would have lost its designation under current rule requiring three returning members
Curling Canada is planning to craft a rule exemption in order to allow an altered Jennifer Jones squad to return as Team Canada at the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Sydney, N.S.
Under the current setup, a team must have at least three of the four members from a winning team return.
Jones beat Team Wild Card’s Kerri Einarson to win the national championship last month in Penticton, B.C. The Manitoba lineup included Jones at skip, lead Dawn McEwen, second Jill Officer and substitute Shannon Birchard at third.
Vice-skip Kaitlyn Lawes did not play because she was preparing for the mixed doubles event at the Winter Olympics. Officer, meanwhile, recently announced she would be stepping away from competitive curling at the end of this season.
That leaves Jones with only two returning members from her 2018 Scotties roster.
However, Curling Canada high-performance director Gerry Peckham said a rule exemption was warranted in this case due to the unexpected scheduling conflict with the Games.
“The original rule never contemplated
the possible impact of a mixed doubles team on a lineup at the Scotties or the Brier,” Peckham said. “So the three-of-four rule obviously
needs to be rewritten to factor in that possibility now that we know it exists.”
Lawes, who won gold at the Pyeongchang
Games with John Morris, returned to the Jones rink for the recent World Women’s Curling Championship in North Bay, Ont. The Winnipeg team defeated Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg for gold.
Jocelyn Peterman, who is currently playing second for Chelsea Carey, will replace Officer at that position next season. Birchard, who served as alternate at the world championship, is joining a new Manitoba-based team skipped by Kerri Einarson.
Lawes was listed as an alternate on the Scotties roster, but under the three-of-four rule players need to be in the regular on-ice lineup.
Peckham said Curling Canada generally looks at potential rule adjustments every quadrennial, but added there is more flexibility to adjust event-based rules — like at a Scotties or a Tim Hortons Brier — based on situations that may arise.
He also noted there will be some tinkering done to the current wildcard eligibility rule that was used for the first time at the Scotties and Brier this season.
With both fields expanded to 16 teams, a play-in game was used to determine the last berth at both events. The two highest-ranked teams who played in provincial/territorial championships were eligible to become Team Wild Card.
However, that provincial/territorial provision excluded teams who may have had scheduling issues due to their participation at the Olympics.