#PowerRankings W9

#BetweenTheSheets: The *ICE* Bubble Watch Returns

The Canada Cup field is almost complete. Who claims the FINAL spot?

The #IceBubbleWatch is baaaacckkk!!

Here you thought when The Masters announcement was made the ice bubble watch would take some time off and not roll back onto the sheet of ice until we start discussions on the next #gsoc. Wrong!

Last week the Canada Cup of Curling field was announced. Wowzers was there a lot of announcements made in the curling world last week, right?! The showcase Canadian event, the next tier below the Brier/Scotties, will take place November 27 - December 1 in Leduc, Alberta.

7 of the top men's and women's teams in Canada will compete for the prestigious title. The announcement last week finalized 6 men's and women's teams. The question now remains, who will be Lucky #7?

The final entries will be determined by the highest non-qualified team on the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) as of November 11. 7 weeks away. 7 weeks for those teams not already on the list to earn their spot. 7 weeks to become Lucky 7.

Here are the teams already qualified:

Men - Team Jacobs (#DefendTheIce), Team Koe (Brier), Team Bottcher, Team Epping, Team Gushue, Team Howard

Women - Team J. Jones (#DefendTheIce), Team Carey (Scotties), Team Einarson, Team Homan, Team Scheidegger, Team Silvernagle

These 14 teams are above the cut-line and safely into the field. But now lets look at who is in the best position to claim the spot and who has some work to do.

And to be clear, the CTRS are different from the Order of Merit (OOM) which of course are much different from the #PowerRankings. For more information, clarity and a list of CTRS events visit the Curling Canada website.

We start with the men's #IceBubbleWatch:

IN: Team Calvert (68.132, CTRS #2)

BUBBLE: Team McDonald (67.115, #3), Team Dunstone (65.164, #4), Team Gunnlaugson (60.717 #6)

OUT: Team Muyres (50.386, #8), Team T. Horgan (43.329, #9), Team Ferris (42.646, #10)

We should not be that surprised with the front-runner right now. Team Calvert is having a heck of a start to the season, reaching the SF at the Icebreaker, Shorty Jenkins and this past weekend's Mother Club. The result this weekend pushed them into the lead position, just squeaking past Team McDonald.

But the advantage could sit with Team Dunstone. Remember they qualified for The Masters at the end of October. The #gsoc events bring huge points, if you do well. Sure there a lot of events to be played by many teams over the next 4 weeks but Dunstone should be tabbed as the early favourite to move from the Bubble to the IN spot come mid-November. Of course Team McDonald may have something to say about that as well. There could be a lot more on the line in North Bay then just a #gsoc title folks. The team who has the best result could take the chase lead.

As for those teams who did not qualify for The Masters? Well they have some heavy lifting to do over the next 7 weeks. They need to curl and curl often. And win. And win often. It could be hard to overcome two teams with big #gsoc point potential. But it is not impossible. Calvert and Gunnlaugson are looking strong thus far. Gunner has two tour titles under his slider already and is making a move up the rankings.

Now what about the women's #IceBubbleWatch:

IN: Team Fleury (87.876, CTRS #1)

BUBBLE: Team Rocque (66.404, #3), Team Balsdon (52.820, #5), Team Cannon (41.026, #7)

OUT: Team Horton (40.262, #8), Team Peterson(37.470, #10), Team Walker (34.985, #11)

Without question Fleury has the big lead here. She may not give it up either. The team has reached two tour finals already and owns one title. They have started the season on fire and do not look close to slowing down. Plus they have a spot in The Masters field as well.

But Team Rocque has also been quite the story of the early going's of the season. The double SF showings in Oakville and the QF appearance in Edmonton a few weeks ago. This team is looking like a contender and also qualified for The Masters. As did fellow bubble contender Team Cannon. Another team who has started strong this season, reaching the final this past weekend at the Mother Club.

Three teams already in The Masters field and all chasing down one berth in the Canada Cup. Imagine seeing some scoreboard watching in North Bay among these Ice Bubble teams.

And look at those final two teams listed in the OUT category: Team Peterson and Team Walker. Oh the rivalry brewing between these teams. Both still in the hunt for the final Canada Cup berth.

Now we should mention The Masters is being discussed a lot because of the points available. But that is not the only #gsoc event factoring into this #IceBubbleWatch discussion. The Tour Challenge will be THE final event contested before the November 11 cut-off, with the Tour Challenge wrapping up November 10.

For those men's and women's teams listed above who did not qualify for The Masters, they still have hope if they can make the move up the OOM and reach The Tour Challenge field. For those teams who did qualify for North Bay, they not only want a strong result there but they also want to put some distance between them and their fellow bubble teams chasing Tour Challenge and Canada Cup invite spots.

The next 7 weeks are going to be fun folks. 7 for 7.

The #IceBubbleWatch is going to get VERY interesting over the next weeks. As the blog always says....#StayTuned!

The pressure is on. Teams WANT to qualify for this event. The winner's will earn a direct pass into the 2021 Roar of the Rings! Olympic dreams become one step closer to reality for the two teams who survive the field and bring home the title on December 1. Not to mention they also earn a spot on the 2020 Continental Cup of Curling roster to represent the Maple Leaf (more on that later in the week).

Plus what about the money? Money, money, money!! The winning teams will receive $40,000 each. The runner's up pocket $25,000 and third place takes home $15,000. And those who fail to reach the playoffs? They pocket $7,500 as a travel subsidy just for qualifying.

For comparison sake, last year's total purse was $70,000. TOTAL PURSE!! The winners took home $14,000 each with the runners up netting $9,000. Heck just for qualifying this year you almost make the same as the runners up from last year. According to the Curling Canada press release, the increase in total purse equates to a 185% increase over last year.

How is that for motivation? So what say you rock heads? Who is your early favourite to snag the final spot in Leduc? Who do you think is the dangerous team to watch out for? And could we see a surprise #TeamUpset emerge over the next few weeks to steal the spot from those currently ranked about them?

Share your thoughts via the comment section below and on social media using #CanCup2019. And for more information on the event itself or to volunteer check out the event home page.

Now speaking of CTRS and ranking points, which teams made some movement this past weekend with strong results on tour? Time to give the rock a little spin back in time for the #GunnerRunback.

#GunnerRunback

#INturn

• The blog warned you in the #KWFallClassic preview last week the #PACC was well represented and considered the #Fav. Well look who stood tall on Sunday afternoon. Japan's Team Morozumi and Korea's Team Gim broke Canadian hearts when they took home the titles, knocking off Team Tuck Jr. and Team Balsdon in the finals. For Morozumi it is their second title of the season as they rebounded from an opening game loss to reel off 6 straight wins. Gim went one better, going a perfect 7-0 on the weekend.
• The #MotherClubClassic in Winnipeg saw a trio of #TwineTimeFam members stand atop the championship podium on Sunday. The newly formed Team Walker, led by skip Laura Walker curling with fellow fam member Nadine Scotland at lead, won their first event together defeating home club favourite Team Cannon in the final. Walker was perfect on the weekend, going 7-0 en route to the title. For the men, fam member Jason Gunnlaugson and his boys took home their second title of the season when they defeated Team Horgan in the final. Gunner made it a perfect sweep for the weekend, following the lead of women's champ Walker in going 7-0.
• Chalk up two perfect predictions at the #USOpen of Curling this weekend for #TwineTime. Nina Roth got back to winning ways when she claimed the title, knocking off the returning Cassie Potter in the final. The undefeated weekend theme continued with Roth going 6-0. For the men, a rivalry continued in the championship final when "Old Men" Team Ruohonen defeated the "Young Bucks" Team Dropkin. Remember when the blog said in the preview we needed to see more rivalries in curling? This one is building up quite nicely. It started last season and has carried over this season. Toss a follow to both team's twitter accounts to see the back-and-forth in action. For Ruohonen, they went 6-1 on the weekend and got the better of their main rivals twice, once in the RR and again in the championship final.
• At the #GoodTimesBonspiel in Calgary, Team Vavrek took the shortest route possible to claim a #wct title winning just 4 games, 2 to qualify and 2 in the playoffs. Vavrek knocked off #NextGen rising star Team Adams in the final, who were fresh off a junior slam series final the previous weekend. Another #NextGen team on the rise took home the women's title in a #TeamUpset final result. Team Skrlik defeated the only Top 10 team competing this weekend, Team Kovaleva, to win the championship.
• St. John's hosted an all-Newfoundland and Labrador tour event this weekend: The #CabotSpiel. For the men, Colin Thomas defeated Jeff Thomas to claim the title. For Colin, the team would finish the weekend 6-1 claiming the title. Colin Thomas has been in the Gushue shadow for a few years, many predicting he would be the next skip to step up to the champ on The Rock. This is a huge season-opening win and perhaps a movement towards what many have predicted for a few seasons now. On the women's side, welcome back to the competitive ice Heather Strong! After taking last season off, Strong returns this season and took home the season-opening title, knocking off past NL champ Stacie Curtis in the final. Curtis handed Strong her only loss on the weekend in the RR but Strong got revenge when it mattered most.
• The #TourLifePredictions focused on the #NextGen movement last week and it proved to be an accurate prediction over the weekend. Skrlik led the flag waving collecting a tour title in Calgary while Adams was close behind reaching the final. But there were a few other #TeamUpset contenders from the #NextGen conversation who had big results over the weekend. Scotland's Team Whyte made the SF in Kitchener-Waterloo. Team St-Georges also made a SF in Blaine. Team Gauthier and Team Wiebe qualified in Winnipeg. And how about Russia's Team Mangarian also qualifying in Calgary. The #NextGen movement was strong this weekend. Can the movement continue throughout the season?
• This is going to be a long roll call list folks but the blog continues the tradition of praising those teams who navigate a RR or triple knockout (double knockout for some) draw to reach the playoff bracket. Great curling this week: Team Ackland, Team Koana, Team Calvert (Mother Club SF), Team Peterson, Team Robertson, Team McEwen, Team Chambers, Team Bohn (Mother Club QF), Team Murphy, Team Jackson, Team Kean (KW SF), Team Brunton, Team K. Jones, Team Horton, Team Yoshimura, Team Horgan, Team Yamaguchi, Team Hall, Team Stewart (KW QF), Team Rhyme, Team Maerki, Team Violette (US SF), Team Brundidge, Team Dunnam (US QF), Team Vaughan, Team Stubbs, Team Harty, Team Kozak (GT SF), Team Sherrer, Team Margarian, Team Team O'Connor, Team Webb (GT QF) and Team Mitchell, Team Bruce, Team Skanes (NL SF), Team Noseworthy, Team Symonds, Team Peddigrew, Team Rowsell (NL QF).
• On the mixed doubles sheet, Norway's curling couple picked up right where they left off last season in taking another tour title this past weekend in Estonia. Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten defeated the Czech Republic's Zuzana Paulova / Tomas Paul in the Tallinn Mixed Doubles International final. There was a funny, yet scary, moment during the playoffs when Paul lost his wedding ring. Luckily the crew were able to take apart the standing boards off-ice and find the ring. Huge sigh of relief for Tomas!! Switzerland's defending champs Rupp / Wunderlin knocked off national rivals, and former world champions, Perret / Rios to claim the bronze. Other playoff qualifiers were: Turmann / Lill (Estonia), Moskaleva / Eremin (Russia) and Morozova / Goryachev (Russia).
• Saskatoon hosted the College Clean Restoration/Colonial Square Inn & Suites Pro Curling Series mixed doubles event with an all-Sasky final. Ashley Quick / Mike Armstrong took the title defeating defending Sask champs Jill de Gooijer / Garrett Springer in the final. Cottrill/Cottrill and #TeamUpset contender Schmiemann/Ginter reached the SF while the duos of Kitz/Stewart, Johnson/Fleischhacker, Just/Deis and Redlick/Matheson rounded out the playoff bracket.

#OUTturn

• Froud Frightened in Kitchener-Waterloo? I know Halloween is just over a month away but it appear Susan Froud and her new team got a bit of an early scare this weekend at the KW Fall Classic. The team went winless in 4 RR games. To their credit they were in a tough pool drawing eventual champion Gim and SF Murphy, along with Team Harrison and Team Kiemele. But Froud has been a strong skip on tour in the past and did reach the QF here last year (again with a different team). Perhaps this team is still sorting out the growing pains but 0-for results are a tough way to find positives moving forward.
• Speaking of the KW Fall Classic, was something up with the ice or did teams in the women's draw just decide to go all in every end? Look at those score lines. The final scores of 7-1, 7-2 and 8-4 showed up 4 times each. Coupled with other one-sided scores like 8-0, 7-3 (twice), 8-3, 8-1 and 7-0, there were quite a few trips to Blow Out City. Of course then we get the 5-4 extra end final to at least go out with a close nail-biter. Big scores are nice. Fans love them. But we also like close games. Driving out to watch a draw of curling on an afternoon and having 4 of the 6 games be blow-outs, 2 end with handshakes in the 4th end, does not a fun time make.
• Should we start growing concerned for our sport and our tour when we see multiple double knockout events? This past weekend we saw a double knockout format in Calgary. Earlier this season we saw it in Winnipeg at the Icebreaker. WTF? Look I get it. You want 16 to 18 teams for the triple knockout as a minimum. But if the registrations are low, you think making the event a double knockout where teams are eliminated after only playing two games (and paying an entry fee) is going to help? Just go to some sort of RR. 2 pools of 6. 3 pools of 4. 4 pools of 3. Whatever you want. ANYTHING is better than a double knockout format. A team wins 4 games and that is enough to take home the winner's cheque? Time to rise up rock heads. Fans and athletes unite. Deny the Double!

Now before we dive into the updated Power Rankings, the blog wants to just give a quick shout out to The Lazy Handle Show. There was some great twitter debate going on last week about the current ranking system, led by a tweet from Team Koe lead Ben Hebert. The Lazy Handle show tossed out a credit stone to #TwineTime in a tweet reply mentioning the pilot system this blog uses.

The response created a further conversation among a few curlers and fans alike. This is EXACTLY what this blog has been pushing for over the past two seasons. The current system DOES NOT work. It DOES NOT make sense. But change can only happen through conversation, discussion and tossing out different opinions and ideas.

From a purely selfish perspective, it was great validation for the work this blog has put into the #TourTier system the past few seasons. When fellow blog/podcasts in addition to elite curlers offer positive feedback on the system, you start feeling like you are making a slight difference...even if just in the minds of those within the curling community.

Agree or disagree with this blog, great! But this blog will always operate under an objective of offering a different opinion and, hopefully, furthering conversation.

Back to the ice. With most of the Top 10 teams taking the weekend off, we should expect a fairly stable Power Rankings mountain this week. But there is one Top 5 change....

#PowerRankings

WOMEN

1. Team Homan - 8000 (LW: 1)
2. Team Hasselborg - 7390 (2)
3. Team Einarson - 6690 (3)
4. Team Tirinzoni - 6185 (4)
5. Team Kovaleva - 4195 (HM)

Hon. Mention: Team J. Jones, Team Carey, Team Fujisawa, Team Muirhead, Team Sidorova

There is our one move on the mountain rock heads. Russia's Team Kovaleva returns to the Top 5 after a one-week absence. Kovaleva reaching the final in Calgary, coupled with Jones being inactive this weekend, means the two teams swap positions once again. The point difference between them? 27 points! Expect to see these two teams go back and forth for a few weeks.

MEN

1. Team Bottcher - 7673 (1)
2. Team Koe - 6810 (2)
3. Team Mouat - 5572 (3)
4. Team Edin - 5372 (4)
5. Team Epping - 5333.5 (5)

Hon. Mention: Team De Cruz, Team Paterson, Team Gushue, Team Jacobs, Team Dunstone

For the third time this season we have no movement atop the men's mountain. The Top 10 remain the same. Everyone just chilling out, waiting to make their move towards the apex in the upcoming weeks.

Now there will be a shake-up on both sides of the mountain next week. This upcoming week will see the removal of the #EliteX points earned from last season. With the #gsoc event being pulled (finally!) those teams who did compete will lose all the ranking points earned.

For instance, Hasselborg and Gushue will lose 750 points from the ranking total next week. This is where the 52-week points earned system could be the external force shaking up the rankings mountain.

But it is not just the EliteX rankings disappearing. One men's tour event is no longer offered. Two men's events have been moved to the following week. Overall 4 tour events offered the same week last year are either gone entirely or have been moved to another weekend this year.

Similar for the women. One event was cancelled. Three have been moved. But one event, the Colonial Square, was offered in Week 8 last year but will now be contested this upcoming weekend in Week 10.

Add it all up and this upcoming weekend will see many teams lose points without even stepping on the ice. But that is what the proposed system does. Teams could compete this weekend to try and reclaim some points too.

#StayTuned

The blog will return later in the week to preview the three women's #wct events, the two men's #wct events and the two mixed doubles events. The women also have their first #Tour1000 event with the Colonial Square so big points are sitting on the ice this weekend right for the taking.

Enjoy the week rock heads!