Quote:
Originally Posted by Derek Sutton
There are two things that really stand out. One is the huge gap between the top teams and the "participants" Going to 16 teams and sticking with provincial representation has really watered down the competition, created some huge blow outs. Expanding the number of teams but adding more less skilled teams was pretty dumb. The Yukon and Nunavut teams do not belong with the AB's and MB's, two provinces that could easily have three teams each vying for the title.
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I like that the Brier and Scottie's are national championships that are competed in by provincial representatives. There have been a lot of positive changes over the years that have improved them, but the latest batch of changes have not. I don't like the wild card teams being involved, even if Scheidegger is one of my favourites. There is a world curling tour. I play on it. The events are sparsely attended, even though it's some of the best curling in the world. The Brier and Scottie's are something different, and there is a reason the attendance is so much bigger.
Having all three territories is stupid. Full stop. If the goal of having all three was to ensure that Curling Canada was growing the game, then I would fully support it. This won't happen. Kids in Iqaluit aren't seeing the team at visualizing that they too could go 1-8 in a national event. The population is 38,000 in Nunavut. How big can they grow the game? They should go back to having one rep from the territories. It gives a better rep and makes the games more fun for everyone. The only thing it's doing right now is incentivizing mid level curlers to go up to the territories and take spots away from local curlers, in order to get to a national championships. Players like Schille, Appleman, Ng, Tran, etc. are benefiting, not residents of the territories.
So now that I've gotten rid of the WC and two teams from the territories, we are down to 13. Next up, get rid of Northern Ontario. It's ridiculous that Ontario gets two berths. Their argument has been it's a travel thing and/or population reason. If that's the case then BC and Manitoba should get two. Sounds dumb? It is. I will give the teams in the Northern Ontario district the option of playing in Manitoba or Ontario. Some actually live closer to Manitoba curling rinks than Ontario ones.
Now we are down to 12. Holy cow. That's a number that works. You get a full round robin, which I think is imperative to a national championship. Every team plays each other and the same number of games until playoffs. You don't have the embarrassing seeding draw that no one wants to play in.
Going to 16 teams is also taking away funding from the Curling Canada members they say they are trying to help grow. The mixed event has had most of the funds taken away from it. Coaches and 5th players are now on their own for expenses.