Skip to content

Selections leave Foothills curling team out of Brier

Despite leading Alberta Tour standings Team Harty misses out on national event

The bubble burst for a Foothills curling team enjoying a prolific season.

Despite leading the Alberta Tour standings Team Harty, with Okotokian Kyler Kleibrink at third, was left on the outside of the Brier picture after Curling Alberta was left to select its provincial representatives for the Calgary bubble and went with selecting last year’s champions.

"With the news of Curling Alberta's decision, we want to congratulate Team Bottcher, Team Walker and Team Tran/Sluchinski. They will be great representatives for Alberta," said Team Harty, in a social media post. "Of course, Team Harty is disappointed that the decision to send three Alberta men's teams was not made.

"Alberta men were fortunate enough to have a tour this year with three very-well run events and all competitive teams in attendance. We were number one on the Alberta Tour both this season and last season and felt we had the merit to be named Team Alberta knowing that Koe and Bottcher would be guaranteed the wild card spots.

"We understand that it was a tough decision and appreciate all of Curling Alberta's efforts this year."

Earlier in the month, Curling Alberta was forced to cancel its men’s, women’s and mixed doubles provincial championships planned for late January in Sylvan Lake due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Without a championship to determine the provincial representatives at the Brier, Scotties and Mixed Doubles Canadian Curling Championships, Curling Alberta opted to select the previous year’s provincial titleholders.

Representing Alberta at the Brier is the Brendan Bottcher rink, at the Scotties it will once again be Team Laura Walker wearing the Alberta colours and reigning provincial champions Brittany Tran and Aaron Sluchinski will be the mixed doubles representatives.

“This was an extremely difficult decision for Curling Alberta’s board of directors,” said Curling Alberta president Steven Young in a press release. “As a province, we were faced with a unique set of circumstances in unprecedented times.

“No one could predict that we would be forced to make a decision like this, which we tried to avoid by pushing hard to host our championships.”

The Calgary bubble is set to host all three championships at WinSport’s Markin MacPhail Centre starting with the Scotties on Feb. 19-28, the Brier held from March 5-14 and the mixed doubles to follow on March 18-25.

With the expanded wildcard field in the Brier, increasing the number of competing teams from 16 to 18, there were further decisions to be made on who should go forward.

The Kevin Koe rink, six-time provincial champions, ultimately got the second nod out of Alberta and will be a wild-card team.

It was a controversial decision to not grant Alberta three slots at the championships given the province was able to put on three events during the pandemic. As well, other member associations such as Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia used recent results rather than last year’s championships to determine its provincial representatives.

Team Harty led the Alberta Tour standings in 2020 and in 2019 and were ranked 15th nationally.

Harty, with Jeremy Harty throwing skip stones, Kleibrink at third, Foothills County's Joshua Kiist at second and Kurtis Goller at lead, won the ATB Banff Classic and were semifinalists and quarter-finalists at Alberta tour stops in Okotoks and Airdrie, respectively, during the 2020-21 season.

The Curling Alberta release added that the board looked to guidance from other member associations across the country which encouraged other provinces to put forward the winning team from the previous years championships provided at least three of the four members of the squad remained.

“The board considered a full range of options in making this decision,” Young added. “Alberta is fortunate to have some of the world’s best curlers reside here. In all categories, we have several teams who are previous champions and immensely deserving. Most importantly, we are fortunate that Curling Canada is proceeding with the hub city, giving our athletes an opportunity to play this season and our fans an opportunity to stay engaged.

“We will consider all our Alberta-based teams to be Team Alberta, and we look forward to supporting them in their preparations and cheering them on in Calgary.”


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
Read more



Comments

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks