#BetweenTheSheets: What The Rock?
Get ready for an unpredictable 2018/19 curling season
Are you ready? The 2018/19 curling season is about ready to hit the house with fans and athletes feeling a mixture of emotions from being excited to nervous. What should we expect in the upcoming season? We just wrapped up a tense and dramatic four year preparing for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. This is the reset year. No qualification points. New teams. New strategies. New relationships. New drama?
Some teams stayed the course from the past few seasons and time will tell if they keep the train on the track for the full four years or not. Many switched tracks and aligned with new friends or old foes to try and jump on the winning train moving forward. We really have no idea which teams will excel and which will falter....and neither do they.
But I can guarantee one thing for the new season. At least once, but probably more than once, you as a fan and you as a player will be looking out at the ice, seeing the results and reading the headlines and will ask yourself, "What The Rock?"
The fun part of a season preview blog is discussing what happened in the past while trying to predict the future. For the 2018/19 season preview we have a few specific topics of discussion to focus on before the rocks hit the ice.
As #TwineTime did last season, and hopefully will continue to do before every season, the legs have been massaged and prepared. The arms have been stretched. The back is feeling good. And the groin is still batting 1.000 without being pulled or injured on past predictions. Time to throw some rocks at the house and see which come close to the button.
Welcome to the #TwineTime 2018/19 Season Preview:
1. #SlideOfChampions
As is tradition, before we can look ahead to the upcoming season we need to celebrate those who outhit, outdrew and outswept their competition last season. Here are the 2017/18 #SlideOfChampions:
World Mixed Champions - Scotland (Grant Hardie)
Canadian Mixed Champions - Ontario (Mike Anderson)
Pacific - Asia Champions (Men) - South Korea (Kim Chang-min)
Pacific - Asia Champions (Women) - South Korea (Kim Eun-jung)
European Champions (Men) - Sweden (Niklas Edin)
European Champions (Women) - Scotland (Eve Muirhead)
Canadian Junior Champions (Men) - B.C. (Tyler Tardi)
Canadian Junior Champions (Women) - Nova Scotia (Kaitlyn Jones)
Scotties Tournament of Hearts - Manitoba (Jennifer Jones)
2018 Winter Olympics (Men) - USA (John Shuster)
2018 Winter Olympics (Women) - Sweden (Anna Hasselborg)
2018 Winter Olympics (Mixed Doubles) - Canada (Kaitlyn Lawes / John Morris)
World Junior Champions (Men) - Canada (Tardi)
World Junior Champions (Women) - Canada (K. Jones)
Tim Hortons Brier - Canada (Brad Gushue)
2018 Winter Paralympics - China (Wang Haitao)
World Champions (Women) - Canada (J. Jones)
Canadian Senior Champions (Men) - Ontario (Bryan Cochrane)
Canadian Senior Champions (Women) - Saskatchewan (Sherry Anderson)
Canadian Wheelchair Champions - Saskatchewan (Marie Wright)
World Champions (Men) - Sweden (Edin)
World Senior Champions (Men) - Canada (Wade White)
World Senior Champions (Women) - Canada (Sherry Anderson)
Canadian Mixed Doubles Champions - Laura Walker (nee Crocker) / Kirk Muyers
World Mixed Doubles Champions - Switzerland (Michele Jaggi / Sven Michel)
Congratulations to all the winners listed above as well as all the teams who took home championship trophies and cheques at #wct events throughout the season. Pressure is on now though. Winning a championship is one thing, defending is a whole different bag of emotion and expectations. Can you repeat your win of last year this year? #GoodLuck
2. #FreeAgentFrenzy
Ah yes, the big topic of the season. Lets dive right in from the beginning. The most excitement and nerves coming into the season from players and fans is how all these new teams are going to do. We saw a flurry of #FreeAgentFrenzy action once the Olympics were said and done and now it is time for all these players and new teams to put up or shut up so to speak. We saw numerous creative announcements and press releases and videos. It was all cute and added an extra fun new element to the sport. I loved it.
But cute time is over, time for results. Put on the honest hat here. Some of these teams are going to succeed and do quite well in their rookie season together. Some of these teams are going to fail miserably. Most of these teams will not be together three years from now when we are really discussing the 2022 Winter Olympics. This is not hypothetical guessing or crystal ball predictions. This is pure fact. You know it. They know it. We all know it. The question is which teams can survive the dating phase and work their way into the honeymoon phase of next season. Time will tell but it should make for an exciting year on tour.
Here are a few initial musings on what we may expect to see this season:
- Wide Open Spaces - Saskatchewan is known as the Land of Living Skies but really most make fun of the wide open space across the prairie province. This season on the ice could replicate that mentality, especially with the men's game. What are we going to see? What should we expect? For the past few years Team Steve Laycock has been the face of #TeamGreen and the overwhelming favourite to represent the curling hot spot province on tour and at the Brier. But with the disbandment of the team in the off-season, it is a wide open game now. Long-time Laycock vice and last season second Kirk Muyres (#TwineTime fam member remember) will move into the house and skip this season forming #TeamBro with brother Dallan and the Marsh boys. It will be interesting to see Kirk calling the shots and running the team as they start the season just outside the Top 20 in #21. The main competition should come from last season teammate Matt Dunstone (another #TwineTime member) as he joins forces with another #TwineTime fam member Catlin Schneider along with former Team Carruthers vice Braeden Moskowy and Dustin Kidby. Dunstone will also return to his fav position of skipping as he made the surprise move to stay in Saskatchewan being originally from rival province Manitoba. Team Dunstone starts the season just above rival Muyres at #18 on the world rankings. But don't assume a two-horse race for #TeamGreen either. Josh Heidt is back and could be the surprise contender. And keep your eyes on former Sask champ Brock Virtue who also returns to the ice in Saskatchewan with a new team.
- Too Many Chefs - How many cooks does it take to make a successful team? Well we may get the answer to that question sooner than we think with a few new teams taking the ice. The big one is the All-Skip alliance formed in Manitoba with Kerri Einarson, Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Briane Meilleur doing their best example of the Fantastic Four. Will four skips on the ice work or be too many voices around the kitchen table? All four have found success skipping their own teams in the past, with Birchard and Meilleur really coming into their own last season. Which also made this foursome announcement a bit surprising. But maybe for the young front end this is their opportunity to learn from two back end skips who have made Scotties finals and playing in many grand slam events, including winning a few. The success of this team won't come from skill, we know all four have that. The success, or demise, will come from the purest and simplest attribute to team success: Communication! But they are not the only Manitoba team who could feel the kitchen getting a bit cramped this season. What about #TeamBFF? The formation of what many have called the Manitoba super-team with Mike McEwen and Reid Carruthers finally joining forces (yup called it in this very preview blog post a year ago btw) could be interesting. Both enjoy the skipping role and throwing the last brick. How will it work with Carruthers calling the shots and McEwen throwing final stone? Can Mikey sit back and loosen the reigns? And what about Carruthers lead Colin Hodgson? It was easily noticed last season Hodgson seemed to be spending a lot of time in the house with buddy Carruthers discussing shot options, perhaps more than most fans are used to seeing out of a lead. Hodgon is of course best buds with his two back end players as well but can he resort back to the lead front end player? Or will he be the deciding vote among differing opinions? Just who is going to have final say and really call the shots for this team? We often see athletes say they never play competitive sports with their significant other with fear of ruining a good relationship. Does the same hold true for #TeamBFF or #TeamBromance as well? Too many cooks in the kitchen could be an advantage or the straw that breaks the camel's back.
- Buffalo Hunting - Staying with Manitoba, what the heck is going to happen with the women's game in Manitoba? Wow what a crowded house that provincial championship is going to become right? We have the aforementioned Super Skips team but add in the newly formed Team Fleury and Team Flaxey plus last year's provincial finalist Team Robertson and up and coming Beth Peterson and this is a dog's breakfast of fun to watch. The first question everyone had is why would all these teams pick Manitoba to play out of knowing the competition is going to be insane? I mean it is not like we are really monitoring or caring about those residency rules anymore right? What are we one or two seasons away from officially abolishing a rule that hasn't really been 100% followed by many teams for how many seasons now? Manitoba is going to be a fight to the death for these top women's teams, which means fun drama for us curling fans. One thing we do know for sure, the biggest winner out of all of this is Jocelyn Peterman. With long-time teammate Jill Officer retiring (for now, we still question whether this is for good or just a Martina Hingis type of retirement), Peterman slid right into the line up with current Canadian and World champion Team Jennifer Jones. Peterman makes the move from now wide open Alberta to crowded house Manitoba BUT with the free pass for the trial run year. The pressure is a bit off for her and Team Jones knowing they have a Scotties berth already and, after finishing the year #1 in the rankings, auto qualify for all the big events and slams. All they have to do is come together as a team which shouldn't be too problematic given they only added one player and one who is quite capable of throwing the second shots Jones likes to call. For this season anyway Team Jones gets to sit back and enjoy the live show Battle Royale....but for this season only right now. Never get too comfortable Queen!
- Alberta Beef Trade - While the hunt in Manitoba will be a fight, maybe we shouldn't underestimate the wide open field in Alberta for both the men and women. But lets start with the women. Follow along with the trade lines here. Val Sweeting departs for Manitoba leaving her front end dynamic duo Dana Ferguson and Rachel Brown on the trading block. In comes rival skip Chelsea Carey, who herself lost her entire team when Peterman left for Team Jones and HOF Cathy O. and Laine Peters looked for greener pastures elsewhere. Sure why not combine and see how that goes, adding in Sarah Wilkes at vice. Now what about Cathy O. and Peters. Well Kelsey Rocque's team also disbanded so the former Carey teammates joined forces with former Alberta rival as well Laura Crocker as the skip. But they are down one player. Remember Team Sweeting waving bye bye? Well Lori Olsen-Johns was not about to hang up the curling shoes so welcome to the new Team Walker (nee Crocker, remember she did get married to Geoff Walker). What about Kelsey Rocque though? Well she went out and picked up her own new team, joining with Danielle Schmiemann, Rebecca Konschuh and Jesse Iles. You may remember Konschuh from the successful Team Nadine Scotland, who also broke up this off-season with the skipper deciding to take a leave from the ice (for now perhaps?). The biggest winner in all of this though? How about defending Alberta champion Casey Scheidegger (also a #TwineTime fam member)? Her Alberta champion foursome stayed in tact and avoided the AB Beef Trade war among the competition, which could set her up perfectly for an Alberta title defense. As for the men in Alberta? Kevin Koe is back and added some import beef of his own when he picked up former Saskatchewan champion Colton Flasch at second. Flasch and Ben Hebert as the front end. Yup that is a whole lot of beef (although both are Saskie boys remember). Oh yeah and don't forget another beefy import in vice BJ Neufeld, previously with dynamo Manitoba team McEwen. Koe and Hebert come into the season off an Olympic appearance too and while the end result may not have been what they hoped it surely left them hungry for Canadian and World gold heading into this season. Defending Alberta champion Brendan Bottcher returns with the same line-up and seems poised to challenge the big gun Koe for the title. Remember Bottcher has not had to face off with Koe the past two years in winning the Alberta title as Koe was Team Canada one year and the Olympic rep last year. They cannot avoid one another this year! And watch out for up and coming Karsten Sturmay. The former AB junior champ may not bring the Grade A Alberta beef to the ice yet but he could surprise the big dogs.
- Scottish Pride - While most of the off-season moves and attention has been focused within the Canadian borders, there have been international moves as well. Thee birth place of this great sport, Scotland, may not have grabbed a ton of headlines with all the wheeling and dealing going on in Canada but they deserve some attention for sure. The big news, and perhaps least surprising, is Team Bruce Mouat staying together. After their breakout rookie campaign, picking up a world bronze to accompany a #gsoc title and a few tour titles along the way they will be considered the face of Scottish Pride heading into this season. With focus for this year being on change and post-Olympic hangover, the biggest question for Mouat is whether they can avoid the Sophomore Slump. And if they do have a set back, there are numerous teams just waiting to overtake them. The top of the list may be Team GB Olympic reps Team Kyle Smith, with a slightly different line up. Smith moves from skip to vice while alternate Glen Muirhead steps in at skip. Joining them will be Team Smith regulars Thomas Muirhead moving to second and Cameron Smith staying at lead. Team Smith lost second Kyle Waddell who now curls as vice for the new Ross Paterson crew. Paterson played the role of vice last season with Greg Drummond. Paterson will stick with lead Michael Goodfellow and, along with Waddell, will add Duncan Menzies at second. Menzies you may remember curled with Tom Brewster last season. As for Tom Brewster and Greg Drummond? No word yet on what they will be doing this season but as of this publication neither seems to be competing. Wow! A little less drama on the women's side across the pond but still an important change worth mentioning. Defending European champion Eve Muirhead will see a minor shuffle in the line up this season. Long time vice Anna Sloan has decided to step away from the game (again, for how long who knows?) and Jennifer Dodds will assume her position on the team. Muirhead has been the face of Scottish women's curling for many, many years but last year was surprised by Hannah Fleming in the Scottish playoff. Yes this was just after the Olympics so perhaps a bit of post-Olympic hangover was at play but still the result stands. Oh and who played vice for Fleming last year? Why that would be new Muirhead vice Dodds of course! With Fleming not returning to the ice this year it appears, the only threat to Muirhead at home is Sophie Jackson.
Now these are just a few of the MANY off-season trades and transactions that took place during the #FreeAgentFrenzy time frame. We saw many more moves in Canada. A change within the Olympic men's champions with Chris Plys (another #TwineTime fam member) joining Team Shuster. Long-time back-end teammates Binia Feltscher and Irene Schori went their opposite ways in forming new teams in Switzerland while Silvana Tirinzoni joined forces with former Swiss rival Alina Paetz, adding up and coming Swiss player Melanie Barbezat at lead. #HoppSchwiiz indeed once again this season!
This blog simply does not have the time and space to really break down ALL the trades and off-season moves but check out CurlingGeek's Team Tracker site for a refresher on most of the acquisitions. And of course just #StayTuned to the action on the ice to see how it all plays out. Remember all will enter, some will succeed, some will fail but most will not survive! Mark my words....
3. #SwedishVikings
We know skipper Niklas Edin has been dealing with off-season surgery and recovery. If you don't already follow him on IG I highly recommend doing so. He has let fans in on the process with regular updates and has done an outstanding job at breaking down the barrier between athlete and fan. But what will recovery look like exactly and can he keep up the high-level performance he, his team and his fans have come to expect each season? Don't get me wrong, #KingNiklas is a beast and I don't question his athleticism or ability to recover. Maybe the real question is how long it takes? But does it matter in the first non-Olympic year either?
As for Team Hasselborg, they may have the greatest potential for the post-Olympic blues out of any team competing. They have worked so hard over the past two seasons chasing the carrot at the end of the stick. Now that they caught the carrot, ate it and enjoyed it, what is the next motivation? My guess is the two other big ones, European and World titles, will help but it is just not the same as chasing the Olympic dream.
The big advantage for both of these teams is they are staying together and do not have to deal with lineup shuffles or getting to know another player like so many of their competitors will be doing early in the season. This could be the perfect blessing in disguise for both teams. Even if they do suffer the post-Olympic blues, even if they are recovering from some surgery, the growing pains of gelling as a new team may just outweigh both of those concerns and keep both teams at the top of rankings.
Ok yes I realize both finished the season #2 in the world, respectfully behind Brad Gushue and Jennifer Jones, but lets be real here. When you look back at last season and think of which men's and women's team was the most dominant and consistent throughout the entire season, you are hard pressed not to have Edin and Hasselborg on the tip of your tongue. Getting to the top is never easy but staying at the top, especially after an Olympic cycle, may be the toughest challenge both of these teams have had to face yet. I cannot wait to see how both do this season!
4. #RankingsRedux
Ok I am not going to spend a lot of time discussing this topic. If you want to know my thoughts and ideas and proposal for the future, check out the season opening blog post from last week HERE.
I will say this though. My blog post was not meant to be the definitive response or resolution to the on-going ranking system debate. I merely posed an alternate way of looking at the issue, from a tour overhaul perspective and not solely a ranking calculation perspective. While I realize some may not agree or, to put it kindly greatly disagree, I don't think I am that far off the mark on a functional and rational idea. I realize curling is unique in some geographical disparities and sponsorship/funding issues and so on and so forth. However, welcome to sport! So is volleyball. And moguls skiing. And badminton. And a slew of other amateur sports trying to grow and find their niche and success in a demanding sports market.
What I do believe is we need to continue evolving. We need to continue having new ideas and discussing them as fans, athletes, sponsors and media. I love the open conversation. What I don't love is the immediate shut down of a new idea and hearing it is wrong, whether it is my idea or an idea from any one of you loyal curling fans out there. Bring on the ideas. Agree and disagree with the current system. Lets talk about it. The only way to achieve long-term success is through one key word: Engagement!
5. #TeamUpset
One of my favourite aspects to watching sports and blogging about curling: #TeamUpset! If you are a loyal follower to this blog (and by now I hope you are) you are well aware of my passion towards cheering on the upset. With no disrespect of course to top teams like Edin, Gushue, Koe, Hasselborg, Jones and Homan, seeing a team emerge from the middle of the pack or even ranked near the bottom of the rankings entering an event and then surprising the field and qualifying for the playoffs or even winning the event is what makes a sport fun to watch. Unpredictability = Excitement!
Last season #TwineTime identified six teams who could shock the world and raise their ranking over the year. Well, I may have overvalued a few of those teams and undervalued a few others who truly rose to #TeamUpset flag bearer status.
Denmark's Rasmus Stjerne and Korea's SooHyuk Kim seemed poised for strong seasons but underperformed in the end and neither team is together for the upcoming season. Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller was a bright spot though. Schwaller started the season #57 in the world and will now enter the upcoming season at #20, a 37 spot rankings jump. While Team De Cruz is still the favourite out of Switzerland, I would be keeping my eye on the young Schwaller team this season (more on them below too).
For the women, USA's Cory Christensen was a highlight success story. Starting #37 in the world, Christensen rose 19 spots to finish the year #18. With the success of Jamie Sinclair winning a slam last season and USA curling on the upswing with John Shuster's Olympic gold, Christensen could be the next USA top story this season as they continue to rise. Czech Republic's Anna Kubeskova held her ranking over the season moving from #35 to #33 but is still a threat, especially on the European scene come the European Championships. Korea's Min Ji Kim did drop to #58 from starting the season at #49 so we will see how she recovers, although she did just win the Hokkaido Bank Curling Classic to start the season.
So what about this season? Well here are the six teams #TwineTime says could wave the #TeamUpset flag during the 2018/19 season and find themselves rise from the middle of the world rankings pack right up to Top 30 or beyond. I should point out, for a team to be considered as a team to watch here, they must start the season ranked outside the Top 30. Here are my picks:
Men Women
1. Jaap van Dorp (Netherlands) #32 1. Chiaki Matsumura (Japan) #31
2. Tyler Tardi (B.C.) # 52 2. Danielle Inglis (Ontario) #40
2. Tyler Tardi (B.C.) # 52 2. Danielle Inglis (Ontario) #40
3. Greg Smith (Newfoundland) #73 3. Julie Hastings (Ontario) #57
Ok yes I realize there may be a perceived #TwineTime fam bias in the picks above considering three of the six teams have fam members on them: Danielle Inglis, Julie Hastings, Matt Hall (with Tyler Tardi). But honestly, can you really make a strong argument against any of the six above raising their rankings this season? Van Dorp has continued to rise and get better each season. Matsumura seems ready to be the new face of Japanese women's curling on the international scene. Tardi...well we all know his pedigree stock. Inglis reached the Ontario Scotties final last season and won the Canadian Mixed title. Smith was the #TeamEnergy darling of the Brier in Regina and with Gushue retaining his Team Canada status he will be favoured to repeat his title on The Rock. And welcome back to the ice Julie Hastings!!
6. #TourLifePredictions
Scotties Champion: Ontario (Rachel Homan)
Brier Champion: Northern Ontario (Brad Jacobs)
European Champion (Men): Scotland (Bruce Mouat)
European Champion (Women): Sweden (Anna Hasselborg)
World Champion (Men): Sweden (Niklas Edin)
World Champion (Women): Sweden (Hasselborg)
Order of Merit (#1 Ranking): Niklas Edin (men) and Anna Hasselborg (women)
Dark Horse Team of the Year: Yannick Schwaller (Switzerland, men) and Cory Christensen (USA, women)
Most Improved Team of the Year (Biggest Ranking Jump): Greg Smith (NL, men) and Julie Hastings (ONT, women)
7. #StayTuned
This will be a wild, unpredictable and exciting season on the curling ice rock heads and stoners...and the #TwineTime blog will be back with you all season bringing up regular previews of tour events, updated #PowerRankings and hopefully a few surprises along the way. Who knows, maybe a major international event is on my horizon this season?
Looking forward to celebrating another great curling season with all of the fans and athletes of the sport. As always, best of luck and good curling to all!
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