#PowerRankings W24

#BetweenTheSheets: New Year, Same Rankings

Welcome to the first ranking of the new decade

The first week of January sucks, amirite?

Unless it is your birthday or an anniversary of some kind, there is no reason to get excited for the first full week of a new year.

Holidays are over. Back to work. Back to school. Temperatures start to dip...or continue to dip depending where you live. Heck even those in the Southern Hemisphere have tough weather conditions. Thoughts and prayers to everyone in Australia dealing with and fighting against the wildfires.

The beginning of January is just the worst!

Good thing we have sports to rejuvenate our spirits and get us excited.

The NFL playoffs hit the turf last weekend. The NCAA college football playoff is coming to a close next week. NHL season reached the midway point. NBA season in full swing.

And the second half of the curling season is about to leave the hack. Lots to be excited for.

The #TwineTime blog opened the new year with the BIGGEST #POWERRANKINGS BLOG POST EVER!!! The reveal of the Top 50 men's and women's teams heading into the new decade, including the Top 53 nations and Top 10 mixed doubles teams. Check out the post HERE.

Now the question will be can those teams at the top stay there for the remainder of the 2019/2020 season? We have two major #GSOC events (Canadian Open, Players' Championship) plus the season-ending Champions Cup. We have the Scotties and Brier. We have world championships.

Still a lot of points on the ice to take...or lose depending how you performed a season ago.

Before we get to the updated rankings, we need to look back at the results on the ice from the opening weekend of 2020. A Scottish double and junior upset headline the positives while a time bomb goes off to secure the one negative.

#GunnerRunback

#INturn

• #PerthMasters - Home ice was extra nice for Team Mouat and Team Muirhead this weekend. Both Scottish teams took home championship cheques from the Mercure Perth Masters. Muirhead went a perfect 6-0 en route to a finals victory over fellow Scot Team Wilson. Mouat also navigated a perfect weekend, finishing with a 8-0 record. Mouat was able to #DefendTheIce when he knocked off Canada's Team McEwen in the final.
• #CJCC2020 - The Canadian Junior Curling Championships hit the ice next weekend (Jan. 18 - 26) in Langley, B.C. This past weekend molded the field with numerous provincial junior championships wrapping up. A few big winners include Team Kleiter (SK, record 4th-straight championship) and Team Zacharias (MB). The blog will bring you a full preview of the championships next week. #StayTuned 
• #TeamUpset - You all know Beth Farmer right? Name sounds familiar? The team from Kinross, Scotland. A junior team. Drawing a blank? Well you may not be anymore if you watched the Perth Masters this past weekend. Team Farmer shocked MANY all weekend with their results. The team lost their opener to Korea's Team Gim and then gave up 3 in 8 to lose their second game to SUI Team Witschonke. A junior team sitting 0-2 at their first #wct event, no big news story there right? Well bring on the bright lights. The team won their final two RR games, knocking off #ECC2019 participants Team Jentsch and Team Kubeskova to qualify for the 6-team playoff bracket. In the QF they extracted revenge for their opening loss, hammering Team Gim 8-2. They would lose their SF to Team Wilson but a strong debut. The junior team competed at only one other event this season, a junior event in Braehead where they would finish 2-2 (including a win over #ECC2019 competitor Team Halse from Denmark). Is this the emergence of another young up and coming Scottish women's team or a one hit wonder? Time will tell but right now they sit with a 3-0 record against current European Championship contenders and own a 3rd place finish in their debut event. Welcome to the #wct Beth Farmer!
• #QMDC Champs - The 2nd Annual Qualico Mixed Doubles Classic took place in Banff/Canmore with some big-time familiar names being the last man and woman standing. Rachel Homan and John Morris wowed the crowd throughout the event, posting a perfect 8-0 record towards claiming the trophy. In the championship final they would deny USA's Sarah Anderson and Korey Dropkin from being able to #DefendTheIce but a nice run to the final for the inaugural champs.
• #QRollCall - Shout out to our playoff teams in Perth. Reaching the SF: Team Wrana, Team De Cruz, Team Whyte. Reaching the QF: Team Han, Team Gim, Team Klima, Team Mellemseter, Team Muirhead, Team Paterson. The playoff qualifiers at the mixed doubles event in Banff/Canmore included: Team Birchard/Schneider, Team Albrecht/Wozniak (SF), Team Jones/Laing, Team Martin/Griffith, Team Sahaidak/Lott, Team Skaslien/Nedregotten (QF), Team Agre/McLean, Team Desjardins/Desjardins, Team Rocque/Steinke, Team Sauder/Bottcher (PO).

#OUTturn

• #TickingTimeBomb - While South Korea's Un-chi Gim may have reached the QF in Perth with a 3-1 RR record, the loss stands out as the weekend's weird #OUTturn result. In their third game of the event (Draw 6), the Koreans were playing Czech Republic's Team Kubeskova. After scoring 3 in 6 to take a 5-3 lead with two ends to play, time ran out in 7. Kubeskova would actually score 3 in the 7th end to take a 6-5 lead but it did not matter when Team Gim's time clock hit 00:00 thus ending the game. Regardless of score and who was leading, as per WCF rules, if your time runs out you lose. Gim's time ran out. They took the L. Sure they would rebound to win their final RR game (vs. Germany's Team Jentsch) to book their playoff spot before losing in the QF but it is still a bit surprising to see a team lose due to time in the 7th end. Something you don't see every day.....

There may have only been one event on the men's and women's tour this weekend but it was a #Tour500 event so there were some nice points on the ice up for grabs.

Plus the 52-week system caused some havoc on the women's mountain, resulting in some major changes among the Top 5.

#PowerRankings

Women

1. Team Hasselborg - 6730 (LW: 1)
2. Team Fleury - 5448 (3)
3. Team Einarson - 5274 (5)
4. Team Tirinzoni - 4965 (2)
5. Team Fujisawa - 3830 (HM)

Hon. Mention: Team Homan, Team J. Jones, Team Carey, Team Walker, Team Muirhead

The #SwedishVikings retain their top spot through the holidays but the mountain was covered in ice over the past week and some teams took a tumble while others put on their hiking spikes to make the climb.

The movements are less about what happened on the ice this week and more about the removal of points from a season ago. Last season the #GSOC Canadian Open event was held during Week 24 of the women's tour. This year the event is pushed back to Week 26. As a result, those teams who earned big points at the season's third major in 2019 had those points removed this week in 2020.

Those who struggled at the Canadian Open last year (Einarson/Fleury/Hasselborg) gain ground while those who did well, as in reaching the final (Homan/Tirinzoni), will see a rankings slide this week.

Fleury continues to make a move for the #1 ranking, climbing up to a YTD best #2. Coupled with the announcement of pregnancy, it has been a great holiday season for the skipper.

Fellow Manitoba competitor Einarson also climbed back up the mountain, moving back into the Top 3 after a dip to #5 the past few weeks.

Homan made the big drop this week, falling outside the Top 5 for the first time this season. The 2019 Canadian Open champ lost the points earned last season (2000 points) this week and thus drops to a season-low #6. Hard to imagine considering Homan started the year #1, held the ranking for 17 weeks and now in the span of three weeks drops outside the Top 5. But this is how the ranking system works folks. Reward for consistency and the pressure to #DefendTheIce and #DefendThePoints.

Similar point for Tirinzoni. The 2019 Canadian Open finalist drops the 1200 points earned and thus drops from #2 to #4 this week. Now of course with the 2020 Canadian Open approaching in two weeks both Tirinzoni and Homan have the opportunity to regain their footing and make the climb towards the top once again.

We also welcome a new member to the Top 5 this week. Japan's Team Fujisawa finally cracks the upper echelon, coming in at #5. The team has been hovering around #8 for most of the season but the SF result at The National and finals appearance in Karuizawa have this team continuing to climb and looking dangerous for a Top 3 spot.

And if you are wondering how Team Muirhead remains in the #10 spot after winning the Perth Masters, a #Tour500 event, it is quite simple. Muirhead did gain 500 points with the Perth title; however, remember how Muirhead performed at the Canadian Open last year? She reached the SF, earning 720 points. The tour title did not gain the team points but rather limited the reduction to only 220 points against overall. Muirhead is roughly 300 points behind Walker but also 400 points ahead of #11 Team M. Kim from South Korea.


Men

1. Team Bottcher - 7825 (1)
2. Tem Edin - 5415 (2)
3. Team Koe - 5225 (3)
4. Team Jacobs - 5020.25 (4)
5. Team Mouat - 4714 (5)

Hon. Mention: Team De Cruz, Team Epping, Team Gushue, Team Matsumura, Team McEwen

Now you may be wondering how we can have so much movement on the women's side of the mountain but no movement on the men's. Simple answer rock heads.

While the 2019 Canadian Open fell on Week 24 for the women's tour, the same #GSOC event remains on Week 26 for the men. Those points earned at last year's major are still eligible towards current point totals and will remain as such until the conclusion of the 2020 Canadian Open.

Team Mouat was able to #DefendThePoints earned last year at this time when they defended their title in Perth, thus not losing points but also not gaining. Their point total remains the same. A similar result for De Cruz (SF) and Paterson (QF). Both defended the points earned last year but failed to gain new points this year.

The big winner this week is Team McEwen who did not compete last year at this time but reached the Perth final. Their 300 points earned moves them back into the Top 10 at #10, a return after falling out from #9 last week.

#StayTuned

Week 25 is a relatively quiet one on tour with only one women's and one men's event on the schedule. The women have the Bernese Cup while the men have the Golden Wrench. It may only be one event on either schedule but both of these events are #Tour500 events so there are still some nice points up for grabs.

Of course the Continental Cup also hits the ice this week in London, ON as Team World (ie: Team EuropeS) tried to #DefendTheIce against Team Canada.

And the 2020 Youth Winter Olympics kick off in Switzerland, including the curling competition.

Plus the return of the Playdown Party kicks off this weekend with provincial/territories Scotties championship action in NWT and PEI. On the island they actually dual host the men's and women's provincial playdowns so the men will also hit the ice to crown a champion. Scotties and Brier berths are on the line.

The blog will return later in the week to preview the two #Tour500 events and who knows what else will be discussed. 😉