ST. CATHARINES, ONT.—Kerry Galusha shed tears of happiness as she, and others not so fortunate, bid good riddance to the qualifier to keep playing in the Canadian women’s curling championship.
Galusha’s Northwest Territories rink downed New Brunswick’s Melissa Adams 5-3 in Saturday’s opening draw to secure the final berth in the 12-team field at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Adams, Yukon’s Sarah Koltun and Nunavut’s Geneva Chislett are going home early in the final year of the unloved play-in of the four lowest-seeded provinces and territories.
The three-year experiment with it is over with Curling Canada introducing 16-team formats to next year’s men’s and women’s national championships.
The 2018 Hearts and Tim Hortons Brier will each incorporate all provinces and territories, Team Canada, Northern Ontario, and a 16th team to be named later.
The qualifier wasn’t a hurdle Galusha had to clear when she skipped N.W.T. nine times at the Tournament of Hearts between 2001 and 2013.
After falling a win short of the main draw the last two years, Galusha was too relieved to still be playing Saturday to heavily bash the format making its exit.
“It’s been a cruel last couple years,” Galusha said. “This feels amazing to be on the other side of it.
“Losing the last two years, I was crying because we lost. This year I’m crying because we won.
“The territories have not been represented the last two years. It’s huge to have a territory in it this year, for sure.”
Ontario’s Rachel Homan opened with a 7-5 extra-end win over defending champion Chelsea Carey.
Homan controlled the game early stealing a point in the second end and scoring a deuce in the fourth. But she gave up a steal of two in the seventh and led 5-4 without the hammer heading into the 10th.
Carey was held to a single point to tie it. Homan, the crowd favourite at the Meridian Centre, hit to score two for the win with her last rock of the game.
Manitoba’s Michelle Englot scored two in the 10th to pull out a 7-6 win over Quebec’s Eve Belisle. Nova Scotia’s Mary Mattatall opened with a 5-4 victory over B.C.’s Marla Mallett.
The top four teams at the conclusion of the preliminary round Friday morning advance to the Page playoff. Ties for fourth are solved by tiebreaker games.
Curling Canada expanded the fields of the Hearts and the Brier in 2015 to allow all 10 provinces and the three territories to participate.
Yukon and Northwest Territories were previously represented by one team.
The addition of Northern Ontario to the women’s championship and a defending champion to the men’s competition was done to each event to mirror the other, made for an unwieldy 15 teams in each.
To manage the larger field, the four-team, play-in between the lowest-seeded regions starting two days before the main draw was introduced to a tepid reception.
Despite Curling Canada’s attempts at inclusion, territories teams felt consigned to a curling ghetto.
“They wanted to give us each our own individual spot, but still found a way to keep us out of the tournament,” Koltun said. “They tried to do something good, but then it kind of backfired for us from the territories.”
All teams will be guaranteed at least seven round-robin games next year.
In a format similar to the Canadian junior championships, the top four teams from each pool advance to a championship round. From that group emerges the four teams for the Page playoff.
“If it takes pools to not have the pre-qualifier, well, it will be better,” Adams said. “We won’t be able to play everyone in the round robin. That’s the only downfall.”
A 15-team round robin takes 15 days to play when you add in two travel days and a practice day, said Curling Canada’s director of championship services.
“I don’t think anybody wants to be away for 15 days playing in a curling tournament,” Danny Lamoureux said. “This is not the World Cup of soccer.”
Curling Canada has diverse parties to satisfy when it comes to their marquee properties: the provincial and territorial associations, sponsors, television, the participants and the fans.
“This was the best compromise,” Lamoureux said.
The identity of the 16th team will be announced following approval by the provinces and territories at Curling Canada’s annual congress in June, he said.
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