FINAL #PowerRankings

#BetweenTheSheets: Final Power Rankings Top 50

Time to officially close the house on the 2019/20 season

Everyone is still in mourning over the lost few months of the 2019/20 curling season. It is sad. It is unfortunate. But it was also required.

COVID-19 has taken down all sports, curling is just added to the list. And while it is disappointing to see the season end early, especially without a few major world championship events, it is what it is.

It is not like the sport itself has died. And it is not like we do not know what it is like to live without curling.

I still see quite a few posts on social media remarking how upsetting and lost they are without curling right now. Yes it is sad but really? What do you do every May through August?

Yes losing major international competitions is a tough blow to athletes and fans and governing bodies but it is not the end of the world. Well at least not the end of the curling world. We still must remember there is a much larger issue at play here. I would give up every world championship in every sport for one season if it meant the end of this pandemic.

Weeks have now passed since the shut down of curling, from events to clubs. But we need to move on folks. The weather is getting nicer. Curling season would be on its final rock at this point anyway. The time to mourn is over.

How about we look back on the season we did have and celebrate?

The time has come to reveal the FINAL #PowerRankings of the season.

Now this is a bit tricky for the Power Rankings. We did not see two world championship events plus we missed out on the final two #gsoc events (Players' Championship, Champions Cup). What does the cancellation of those events do for Power Rankings mountain?

Let me explain.

For the men's and women's teams who did qualify for the 2020 world championships, points were still awarded. These teams qualified and should be rewarded as such. It would be unfair not to give them something for the hard work put into a season. Teams start a season with hopes of dawning their nation crest at the world championship.

As for the final #gsoc events, a bit different as well. The official field for the Players' Championship was not announced before COVID-19. As a result there will be no points awarded for the event. The Champions Cup did have qualifiers so those teams who punched their ticket to Olds will be awarded some points.

And what about the Nation rankings you ask? Similar to above. For those nations who qualified teams in the cancelled world championship events (ie: Women, Men, Mixed Doubles, Senior), they will also earn points.

Here is how the points were broken down:

• World Championship - Team: Each qualifying team will be allocated 135 points, the equivalent to a Top 6 finish
• World Championship (Women/Men/MD) - Nation: Each qualifying nation will be allocated 150 points, the equivalent to a Top 6 finish
• World Championship (Senior) - Nation: Each qualifying nation will be allocated 90 points, the equivalent to a Top 6 finish
• Champions Cup: Each qualifying team will be allocated 90 points, the equivalent to qualifying for the playoffs

Now I can hear the argument already. This seems to be a bit unfair as not every team would reach the playoffs of course. And perhaps an argument could be made that awarding the same points to say Sweden compared to Denmark might be unfair as odds are the Swedish teams would do better.

True, perhaps. But the games were never played so, technically, we will never know. As of now the status looks equal with all teams finishing with identical 0-0 records. As such, right now each team should be allocated the same amount of points.

Advantage for Denmark's Team Halse and Team Krause? Perhaps as odds would suggest they may not have reached the playoffs.

Disadvantage for Sweden's Team Hasselborg and Team Edin? Unfortunately yes as they not only lose points earned last season but also only earn back the middle ground point allocation.

And what about those teams making their world championship debuts? Have to feel for Switzerland's Team Stern and Team Schwaller. They had only points to gain from competing and who knows what their end result would have been. Not to mention accomplishing a life goal of representing their nation at a world championship.

But, again, it is what it is. Those teams who did qualify at least earn some reward compared to those who did not. And this was the best option the blog could think of to still reward these teams and nations with something.

How the World Curling Tour and World Curling Federation will respond with rankings for these events is still unknown. Hopefully a fair and just system will be determined.

Now seeing as this is the FINAL Power Rankings of the season, we will take a deeper look at the final rankings through revealing the Top 50.

The Top 50 reveal seemed to be popular when done at the end of 2019. ICYMI, look back at those rankings HERE. In the final rankings below, the previous ranking in parenthesis will not be from the last ranking but rather from the Top 50 ranking back in January.

Which women's and men's team finished the season atop the mountain with the coveted #1 spot? And which nation can claim to be the best of the best?

Time for the reveal....

#PowerRankings

WOMEN

1. Team Hasselborg - 7715 (LR: 1)
2. Team Fleury - 5150 (3)
3. Team Fujisawa - 4625 (6)
4. Team Einarson - 4069 (5)
5. Team Tirinzoni - 3595 (2)
6. Team J. Jones - 3579 (8)
7. Team Stern - 3420 (15)
8. Team M. Kim - 3305 (12)
9. Team Homan - 3154 (4)
10. Team Walker - 3034.5 (9)
11. Team Muirhead - 2955 (10)
12. Team Roth - 2870 (11)
13. Team Kovaleva - 2655 (13)
14. Team Wrana - 2212 (24)
15. Team Carey - 2090 (7)
16. Team Yoshimura - 2047 (16)
17. Team Cannon - 2035.5 (17)
18. Team Koana - 2015 (21)
19. Team Zacharias - 1940 (31)
20. Team Sinclair - 1742 (26)
21. Team Rocque - 1725 (22)
22. Team Gim - 1725 (23)
23. Team Han - 1590 (38)
24. Team Sidorova - 1560 (18)
25. Team Nakajima - 1535 (19)
26. Team C. Brown - 1515 (25)
27. Team Schori - 1369 (27)
28. Team McCarville - 1302 (32)
29. Team Robertson - 1176.75 (28)
30. Team K. Jones - 1138.5 (29)
31. Team E. Kim - 1120 (42)
32. Team Balsdon - 1069.75 (33)
33. Team M. Wilson - 1020 (NEW)
34. Team Peterson - 1000 (34)
35. Team Birt - 975 (36)
36. Team Skrlik - 930 (39)
37. Team Jentsch - 927 (35)
38. Team Feltscher - 890 (37)
39. Team B. Richards - 805 (41)
40. Team Scheidegger - 786 (20)
41. Team Murphy - 780 (43)
42. Team Ackland - 760 (44)
43. Team Silvernagle - 698 (14)
44. Team Zappone - 675 (NEW)
45. Team Horton - 666.75 (45)
46. Team Brunton - 650 (47)
47. Team Anderson - 655 (48)
48. Team Howard - 602.5 (50)
49. Team St.-Georges - 557.75 (NEW)
50. Team Wuest - 530 (NEW)

Hon. Mention: Team Wark, Team Farmer, Team Harrison, Team Rumiantseva, Team Sundberg


Are we surprised with Team Hasselborg finishing the season as the #1 ranked team? If so, what season have you been watching? 3 #gsoc titles + Euro title = #1 overall. Pretty simple math. Hasselborg has also been the #1 ranked team on the last 7 Power Rankings. No surprise here.

There are some big movers though. Team Stern cracks the Top 10 with a #7 ranking, up 8 spots from the beginning of 2020 thanks in part to their Swiss championship and world championship qualification.

China's Team Han jumped 15 spots to finish #23 overall, bolstered by gaining points through their qualification for #WWCC2020. World junior champ Team Zacharias is up 12 spots to crack the Top 20 at #19, thanks in part to a world championship win and earning points for qualifying for the season-ending Champions Cup.

Other teams took a tumble down the mountain. Team Tirinzoni lost world championship and #gsoc points. As did Team Carey. Team Homan also lost some valuable #gsoc points from last season.

When we look at the Top 5 we see a strong international look with teams representing four different nations: Sweden, Canada, Japan and Switzerland.

In looking at the Top 10, we see half of the top teams representing Canada and the other half representing Sweden, Japan, Switzerland and South Korea. A great showing of how global the sport has become at the top.

Of the Top 50, 23 teams are non-Canadian. Almost half of the Top 50 in the world. We have representation among the Top 50 from 11 nations: Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, Scotland, USA, Russia, China, Germany, Italy. We continue to #growthesport on a global level.


MEN

1. Team Jacobs - 6255.25 (4)
2. Team Gushue - 4716 (8)
3. Team Epping - 4516.5 (7)
4. Team Mouat - 4334 (5)
5. Team Edin - 4220 (2)
6. Team McEwen - 3744 (11)
7. Team Schwaller - 3715 (13)
8. Team Bottcher - 3185 (1)
9. Team Matsumura - 3025 (9)
10. Team Dunstone - 2912 (14)
11. Team De Cruz - 2715 (6)
12. Team T. Horgan - 3642 (12)
13. Team R. Whyte - 2436 (15)
14. Team Paterson - 2390 (10)
15. Team Dropkin - 2343 (16)
16. Team Gunnlaugson - 2304 (20)
17. Team Koe - 2229 (3)
18. Team Ruohonen - 2125 (23)
19. Team Shuster - 1930 (34)
20. Team Harty - 1825 (19)
21. Team C. Kim - 1595 (28)
22. Team van Dorp - 1496 (24)
23. Team Howard - 1469 (18)
24. Team Muyres - 1365 (26)
25. Team Sturmay - 1339 (29)
26. Team McDonald - 1310 (22)
27. Team V. Roberge - 1300 (27)
28. Team Tardi - 1292.5 (17)
29. Team Retornaz - 1265 (30)
30. Team Morozumi - 1130 (NEW)
31. Team Bryce - 1106 (36)
32. Team Murphy - 1101 (33)
33. Team Calvert - 1097 (32)
34. Team Gauthier - 1095 (NEW)
35. Team Muirhead - 1050 (25)
36. Team Lottenbach - 1020 (47)
37. Team Ulsrud - 965 (31)
38. Team Geall - 935 (35)
39. Team Dunnam - 913 (38)
40. Team Zou - 910 (43)
41. Team Cotter - 870.75 (37)
42. Team Magnusson - 860 (NEW)
43. Team Richard - 846.25 (40)
44. Team S. Jones - 844 (39)
45. Team Glukhov - 834 (21)
46. Team Pahl - 815 (42)
47. Team S. Thompson - 782 (41)
48. Team Klima - 765 (44)
49. Team Maerki - 765 (NEW)
50. Team Fournier - 760 (45)

Hon. Mention: Team Grattan, Team Chambers, Team K. Thompson, Team Stevens, Team Tuck Jr.


Well we certainly see a lot of movement within the Top 20 here.

To start we have a NEW #1 to end the season: Team Jacobs. Similar to Team Hasselborg finishing atop the women's rankings, no huge surprise here given the 3 #gsoc titles Jacobs won this season. Of course one has to wonder what might have happened had the world championship and final two slam events run their course. The standings are fairly bunched up.

Team Gushue's Brier win helped them move into the #2 spot, creating a Brad-Brad Top 2.

The big movers among the Top 20 are Swiss champs Team Schwaller and USA champs Team Shuster. Schwaller moves up 6 to finish in the Top 10 at #7. Shuster shoots up 15 for a Top 20 finish at #19. With both having qualified for the world championships, both could have even finished higher. Plus remember Schwaller collected the final title of the season, winning in Aberdeen just before the cancellation of all remaining events. Aberdeen is a #Tour500 event so the Swiss champs picked up some valuable last minute points before the season shut down.

But lets talk about the big move you probably noticed right away: Team Koe. Tough fall down the mountain for Koe, tumbling 14 spots to #17 from #3. Koe took a hard fall with losing Brier and world championship points from a season ago though. Not to mention finals appearances at the Players and Champions Cup.

Similar for Team Bottcher. The boys were sitting #1 heading into 2020 but being unable to #DefendTheIce at the Players and Champions Cup cost them valuable points, resulting in their tumble down to a final ranking spot of #8.

You have to feel a bit for Team Edin too. Being unable to #DefendTheIce at the world championship costs them some valuable points combined with QF and SF results at the two #gsoc events. They are still marked as defending world champions mind you but they do slip from #2 (and were in a great position for #1) down to #5.

Special shout out to Canadian and world junior champions Team Gauthier who made the jump from unranked to #34 to end the season. They were also bolstered a bit by qualifying for the Champions Cup.

Overall the Top 3 spots belong to Canada as well as 6 of the Top 10. But when we look at the Top 20, only half are from Canada with the remaining 10 representing Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan and USA. Scotland and USA each have 3 teams finishing with the Top 20.

Similar to the women, 26 of the final Top 50 teams represent Canada. And our final Top 50 ranking has representation from 13 different countries: Canada, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, USA, South Korea, Netherlands, Italy, Norway, China, Russia and Czech Republic.


NATION

1. Canada - 3665 (1)
2. Sweden - 2555 (2)
3. South Korea - 2450 (6)
4. Russia - 2190 (8)
5. Switzerland - 1970 (3)
6. Japan - 1960 (7)
7. Germany - 1780 (11)
8. China - 1765 (5)
9. Scotland - 1755 (4)
10. Italy - 1560 (13)
11. Norway - 1290 (10)
12. Czech Republic - 1055 (14)
13. Denmark - 950 (9)
14. USA - 830 (12)
15. New Zealand - 590 (15)
16. Finland - 570 (17)
17. Hungary - 555 (18)
18. Latvia - 525 (25)
19. England - 475 (23)
20. Turkey - 460 (20)
21. Australia - 455 (16)
22. Hong Kong - 365 (27)
23. Poland - 360 (24)
24. Ireland - 360 (32)
25. Kazakhstan - 310 (33)
26. Spain - 295 (29)
27. Estonia - 280 (26)
28. Slovenia - 275 (28)
29. Slovakia - 245 (19)
30. Austria - 240 (30)
31. Netherlands - 210 (31)
32. France- 190 (20)
33. Wales - 160 (34)
34. Lithuania - 150 (39)
35. Belgium - 135 (40)
36. Chinese Taipei - 130 (35)
37. Israel - 130 (48)
38. Belarus - 120 (21)
39. Croatia - 85 (41)
40. Romania - 80 (37)
41. Greece - 35 (44)
42. Liechtenstein - 35 (47)
43. Luxembourg - 35 (49)
44. Qatar - 30 (42)
45. Kosova - 20 (45)
46. Guyana - 15 (43)
47. Great Britain - 15 (NEW)
48. Bulgaria - 10 (36)
49. Brazil - 10 (38)
50. Ukraine - 5 (50)
51. Nigeria - 0 (46)
52. Mexico - 0 (52)
53. Saudi Arabia - 0 (53)
54. Andorra - 0 (51)

The maple leaf stands atop the tree once again as Team Canada ends the season the way they started: #1. Canada's strong international results, namely winning the world mixed and both World Junior Curling Championship titles, helped them stay atop the nation rankings for the second straight season. Canada also received a bit of an advantage with the cancellation of the world women's championships. Last year Canada failed to reach the playoffs. Canada actually gained points from the event this year compared to their main rivals Sweden and Switzerland.

Sweden does retain the #2 spot though, even with losing points from the women's and men's world championships. Collecting both European championships on home ice back in November certainly helped their position.

But then we have some surprise results. South Korea moves up 3 spots to finish #3 while Russia also doubles down to move up to #4, in strong part to their World Wheelchair Curling Championship title. And Germany also saw a move of four spots to finish the season in the Top 10 at #7, bolstered by the junior men reaching the playoffs.

Scotland took the hardest fall, dropping five spots to #9. The drop is a result of missing the playoffs at the world wheelchair championships after winning silver last year as well as losing points from reaching the playoffs at last year's World Senior Curling Championships (winning silver for the senior men).

The final standings this season really can be broken down into a tier system. We have our Top 6 in Tier I, our 7-14 ranked nations as Tier II, our 15-21 as Tier III, 22-38 as Tier IV and the remaining nations as Tier V.

It will be interesting to see, should we be able to get back to the new normal next season, which nations can make a "promotion" move up the rankings and which nations may take a "relegation" move down.


As we officially end the season, Congratulations to the season ending #1 teams/nation:

• Team Hasselborg
• Team Jacobs
• Canada

Pressure on Team Hasselborg and Team Jacobs heading into next season. Getting to the top of the mountain is one thing but staying there is another. Teams will be fighting to knock them off next season.

Similar for Team Canada. Canada stays atop the mountain dating back to last season but will the streak continue next season? Can the world continue to close the gap and make a push for the #1 spot?

#StayTuned

The curling season may be over and the Power Rankings have been finalized but the true conclusion of the season really comes from the presentation of the Annual #GoldenGranite Awards.

The start of the award season began last week with the nomination call-out for the Social Team of the Year award. This is an award nominated and voted on by the fans.

The Final 8 have been determined. Voting will begin THIS WEEKEND. What better way to celebrate the Easter long weekend then voting for your favourite team(s)?!

Voting will be held through social media so be sure to follow @twinetime14 for full details. As well voting will be open on the Business of Curling and Rockheads! All Things Curling facebook group pages.

The Golden Granite Awards will be revealed daily starting next week.

Stay healthy friends!!