#ChampionsCup Preview

#BetweenTheSheets: Champions Cup Preview

An event in name only, what happened to the criteria?

Welcome to the Grand Slam of Curling season....redux. Or shortened? Or modified?

What exactly are we calling this #GSOC "season"?

Maybe we don't need to call it anything and just enjoy some extra curling inside the #IceBubble?

The Humpty's Champions Cup is the first slam event to hit the ice, starting Thursday and concluding the following Monday.

But is this REALLY a #ChampionsCup? Is this not just an event in name only?

When the Champions Cup format was introduced in 2016, I was all for it.

The idea of a year-end curling event where the only way to qualify was to actually win a major event during the season was amazing.

No more debate on the rankings system. No more complaining about unfair advantages for some teams or some regions or some countries over others.

If you wanted to play in this slam, you better win a high-profile event.

The awarding of a slam berth to world junior champions, European champions, #PACC champions and USA champions is great. Add in winning the Brier/Scotties and the other slams and you have yourself a solid field.

But not this year. Not in COVID times. Not in 2021. Not inside this #IceBubble.

So why are we even having this event?

This is no Champions Cup. Yes the teams who will be competing are "champions" in some sense of the word but were they "champions" in the sense of qualifying for this field based on the criteria? Nope!

This year's Champions Cup field just handed out spots to the Top 12 teams according to the World Curling Federation rankings.

Ho-hum. Another event with the same top teams we usually see while diminishing what truly made the Champions Cup stand out as a unique event. I must admit, bit of a yawner.

And what happened to the message provided after the cancellation of the 2020 Champions Cup? You know, the one where it was announced "the teams that qualified (for the 2020 Champions Cup) will be invited to play in the 2021 Champions Cup"?

Did that happen? If we look at the field, nope!

Here is a quick glance comparing the 2020 and 2021 field.

For the women, Team Han and Team Zacharias qualified based on winning the #PACC and world junior championships respectfully. Where are they in the 2021 field?

They have been "replaced" by Team Kim and Team Kovaleva.

For the men, Team C. Kim (#PACC), Team Shuster (USA) and Team Jacques (world junior) qualified. Are they in the 2021 field?

They have been replaced by Team Schwaller, Team De Cruz, Team McEwen and Team Gunnlaugson.

Now, to be fair, the numbers are off because the Champions Cup is originally a 15-team field and it has been reduced to 12. Props to #GSOC for actually reducing the number of teams in order to preserve health and safety of everyone involved during a pandemic.

Worth noting as well, Team Gunnlaugson did earn a spot in the field because Scotland's Team Patterson declined their berth in both slam events.

Regardless, Team Han, Team Zacharias, Team C. Kim, Team Shuster and Team Jacques earned their way into this field. Why have they now been "uninvited" to participate? Team Shuster was just in the #IceBubble at #WMCC2021. They could have easily stuck around to play as a few of their opposition last week have done the same.

This is not a Champions Cup. This is just a slam event. They should have called it any of the other slam names and this issue goes away. Cancel the Champions Cup for 2021. Call this event The Masters (or The National or The Canadian Open) and move on.

Those other slam events have qualification based on rankings. The Champions Cup was special. It was unique. And you tossed it all away in 2021 for what reason?

And don't get me started on how we have back-to-back slam events with the EXACT same field. WTF?

It has a certain "rich get richer" feel to it, doesn't it? The elite get money while the rest of the teams around the world continue to struggle. 

Maybe we should have had just one slam during this time? And bump up the World Women's Curling Championship instead? Hmmmm.....lets put that idea in the parking lot folder for now. Bring that car out for a test drive during the #PlayersChampionship preview perhaps?

Again, this is not a comment on the teams themselves. The blog has been a huge fan of Team Kovaleva the past few years, believing the rankings system actually has worked against them for some slam qualifications in the past.

Obviously the blog is a fan of Jason Gunnlaugson. He is a #TwineTimeFam member after all.

This is a comment on the process put in place by #GSOC. Sure, maybe all those other teams declined invites and/or were not interested in playing in the slam events? I mean, I don't believe that for a second of course. And, if they did, would you not list them as qualified but declined rather than no mention at all?

Happy to see the #GSOC events back on the ice. It is great for all involved, from organizers to sponsors to Sportsnet employees to event volunteers.

But not like this. Not with this event name. Not with this qualification. And not at the expense of teams who earned a spot in 2020 and were originally told they would compete in 2021.

Plus, what is the deal with having 2 pools of 6 teams but teams only play 4 games? They don't even play one of the teams in their own pool. Again, WTF?

Might as well just do 3 pools of 4, each team gets 3 RR games and top 2 in each pool advance to the playoffs.

The qualification is weird. The format is weird. But, seems about right since this entire year is weird.

Nevertheless of the #TwineTime complaint department, here we are. So lets focus on the teams who will step on the ice.

Bring on the preview....

#TwineTimePredictions

Humpty's Champions Cup

#IceBubble, Calgary, AB.

2019 Champions: Team Tirinzoni (women) and Team Bottcher (men)

Format: 12-team RR with 2 pools of 6. Top 6 qualify for the playoff bracket. Pool winners earn bye to SF.

WOMEN


Pool A

Teams (#PowerRanking): Team Fleury (#2), Team Hasselborg (#1), Team Jones (#6), Team Kim (#8), Team Muirhead (#11), Team Tirinzoni (#5)

#Fav

We might need to co-Fav here with Sweden's Team Hasselborg and Switzerland's Team Tirinzoni.

Hasselborg is the number one team in the world. Defending Olympic and European champs and winners of the last 3 #GSOC events.

Tirinzoni is the defending champion here, not to mention the defending world champion.

Saturday. Noon. The battle of champions. Hasselborg vs. Tirinzoni. I hope this will be the feature game on Sportsnet.

#TeamUpset

Korea's Kim Min-ji is the youngest skip in the field at just 21 years of age. But don't misrepresent age as inexperience.

Kim is a #PACC champion, having won the title in 2018. She won a bronze medal at the 2019 World Women's Curling Championship when she was only 19 years old. 

Only 1 #PACC and world championship appearance and a podium finish both times. Before the ago of 20. Yowie Wowie!

And she has been to 4 World Junior Curling Championships, winning silver in 2020 and bronze in 2016.

We may not be as familiar with her on the #GSOC ice as this will only be her 4th slam appearance. However, again, don't underestimate this as "lack of experience". Her last slam appearance was a finalist at the 2020 Canadian Open. How did she qualify for the Canadian Open? She won the 2019 Tour Challenge Tier II event.

That equates to 3 slam appearances, 2 finals and 1 title. How did your resume look when you turned 21?

#W2W4

Our Canadian teams are out numbered this week. There are only two Canadian women's teams competing in each pool at this event. The international teams outnumber the Canadian teams 8-4. Could we see an all-international playoff bracket?

Don't shrug it off so quickly. Sure Einarson is a favourite. Fleury and Jones have experience and are slam champions too. But this is a strong contingent of international flavour.

This pool alone could easily see the Top 3 (or 4) be all international teams. Olympic, Euro, #PACC and world champions comprise the resumes of our international teams here. Canada could be in trouble.

Not to mention the fact Hasselborg, Tirinzoni and Team Muirhead are also using these slam events as tune-up events for the upcoming World Women's Curling Championship.

Projected Standings: 1. Team Hasselborg  2. Team Tirinzoni  3. Team Muirhead  4. Team Jones  5. Team Kim  6. Team Fleury


Pool B

Teams: Team Einarson (#4), Team Fujisawa (#3), Team Homan (#9), Team Kovaleva (#13), Team Peterson (#12), Team Stern (#7)

#Fav

Anyone wanna bet against Team Einarson? The fair bet may just be Team Einarson vs. The Field here.

Einarson is coming off back-to-back Scotties titles. The skipper won the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship with Brad Gushue. She is the #IceBubble Queen. Can she be stopped?

Einarson also has reached the championship final at this event the past two seasons, coming up short each time. Is this finally her year?

She seems to love this event. It is, overall, where she has had the most #GSOC success having reached 2 finals and 1 SF in 4 appearances. Tough to pick another team in the field to stop her from picking up slam title #3.

#TeamUpset

It feels like Russia's Alina Kovaleva is still considered an underdog. She does not have a ton of #GSOC experience. She has only participated in 3 slam events dating back to the start of the 2017/18 season. However, of those 3 appearances, she has QF and SF results. Her last slam was a SF finish at the 2020 Canadian Open.

She has also won back-to-back Russian championships in 2019 and 2020. She also has back-to-back 4th place finishes at the European Championships (2018, 2019). This is a good team. A team this blog has been saying for a few years is deserving of competing on slam ice.

This is a great opportunity to show why she and her team belong her. Many will overlook this team as a playoff threat but they are a contender. Don't sleep on this team.

#W2W4

Emma Miskew in the house! No, literally, she will be in the house skipping Team Homan at both slam events. Skip Rachel Homan enjoying the birth of her new baby so Miskew will step into the house in her absence. Homan is with the team, new family in tow, to cheer on the squad though. Will she make an appearance on the ice? Maybe not this week, perhaps next week?

(Ed. Note: Team Homan announced on the day before the event started Rachel will be playing this week. She skipped the team in their opening game Thursday morning and curled 84% in a tight loss to Team Einarson. Amazing!)

Team Miskew will be joined by Laura Walker at vice. Walker is coming off her career milestone bronze medal finish at the Scotties.

Interesting to see Miskew step up to skip with Walker as vice when Walker is a regular skip and Miskew a full-time vice. Hmmmm, interesting. We will see how this slight dynamic change works.

Also, welcome back USA's Nina Roth to the ice. Roth was on maternity leave during the end of the previous full season, pre-COVID, and will make her return this week. Tabitha Peterson stepped in for Roth and did a great job as skip so the decision was made to keep her in that role and move Roth to vice.

Projected Standings: 1. Team Einarson  2. Team Fujisawa  3. Team Kovaleva  4. Team Homan  5. Team Stern  6. Team Peterson 


Women's Qualifiers: Team Hasselborg, Team Einarson, Team Tirinzoni, Team Fujisawa, Team Muirhead, Team Jones 

WOMEN'S #ChampionsCup FINAL: Team Einarson def. Team Hasselborg - A preview of the World Women's Curling Championship final perhaps? Einarson has a clear advantage over the competition with all the curling she and her team have had since the #IceBubble opened. She takes the first leg of this budding rivalry.

MEN

Pool A

Teams (#PowerRanking): Team De Cruz (#11), Team Dunstone (#10), Team Gushue (#2), Team Jacobs (#1), Team McEwen (#6), Team Mouat (#4)

#Fav

The way they played at the world championship, you would be hard to argue against Scotland's Team Mouat as the favourite in this group. But don't tell skip Bruce Mouat. He enjoys being the underdog.

The underdog role is getting harder and harder to defend though Brucey. You have a slam title. You have a Euro title. You have three world championship appearances and two medals (silver, bronze). The fly under the radar technique might not last much longer.

Although Mouat was the #1 seed for the #WMCC2021, according to the #TwineTime rankings, and, as they preferred, flew under the radar for most of the week. After their loss to Canada in the opener, people seemed to forget about them and not focus on how they were doing. And then BOOM...they are in the playoffs, eliminating Canada, knocking off the upstart #TeamVoldemort and giving Sweden a run in the final.

Lets just see where their emotional state is heading into this event. Winning silver is great but also tough to swallow being so close to the goal. Can they maintain focus and momentum for a slam event?

#TeamUpset

Tough to find a #TeamUpset in this pool given the credentials and resume of the teams. However, Team McEwen will be playing with a 3-man rotation and a super spare so the cards are certainly stacked against them.

Skip Mike McEwen and lead Colin Hodgson will skip the slam events and stay home. In their absence, Reid Carruthers will move up to skip the team, Tyler Tardi will join at vice and Derek Samagalski will round out the line-up.

We have seen a 3-person rotation find success at past slams. Remember the run of Team Fujisawa a few seasons ago? But this is going to be a tough go. Carruthers returning to skip. New teammate. Tough competition. If they can make the playoffs, it would be a #TeamUpset.

#W2W4

This is a pool of slam champions. This is a pool where a majority of the athletes have world championship podium finishes. This is going to be a dog fight. Welcome to the #PoolofDeath.

Mouat and De Cruz are coming off podium finishes last weekend. The Battle of the Brads is always intriguing and Gushue and Jacobs are two of the top teams in Canada year after year after year.

Dunstone is having a career defining past few seasons, winning a slam title and back-to-back Brier bronze medal finishes.

And Carruthers has a slam, won a Brier and world championship. Not to mention the resume of #NextGen stud Tyler Tardi.

This is going to fun to watch. No freebie's. No bingo squares. It will be a grind every game. The ultimate winner of this pool will be the fans.

Projected Standings: 1. Team Gushue  2. Team Mouat  3. Team Dunstone  4. Team De Cruz  5. Team Jacobs  6. Team McEwen


Pool B

Teams: Team Bottcher (#8), Team Edin (#5), Team Epping (#3), Team Gunnlaugson (#16), Team Koe (#17), Team Schwaller (#7) 

#Fav

Fresh off a record 3rd straight world championship win, tough to bet against Team Edin. Skipper Niklas Edin has the added #HIStory of winning his 5th world championship, the most all-time, solidifying his spot as the GOAT in the sport.

What was more remarkable about the championship win last weekend was the fact throughout the event this team did not look at their best. And that is saying alot when you outcurl your opposition and win the championship. I think they are still trending upwards with reaching their peak performance and that is scary for their opposition over the next few weeks.

On the flip side, the Champions Cup has not been the kindest to Team Edin. It remains the only slam event where they have yet to reach the final, losing in the SF in 2019 and 2017. Team Edin have won 3 slams but their last was back in 2017 (Players' Championship). Can they keep the momentum going and pick up slam #4?

#TeamUpset

The dangerous team here is Switzerland's Team Schwaller. All the other teams have been on the ice recently, either competing at the Brier and/or world championship. But what about Schwaller?

The boys did compete in some "friendlies" over the past year. And they did lose a Swiss championship to rival Team De Cruz. But, aside from those games, it has been a long off-season.

This team also should enter the #IceBubble feeling something to prove. They are the 2019 Euro silver medal winners. They were robbed of competing at their first world championship in 2020 due to the pandemic. They will want to come out here and flex some muscle.

Also, the last time we saw this team on #GSOC ice was the 2020 Canadian Open where they made their first playoff appearance in 7 tries, reaching the QF.

#W2W4

Koe vs. Bottcher. Again. Friday afternoon. These two teams recently faced off in the Brier final. They also battled it out in the last Champions Cup final. Who won both those games? Bottcher.

Koe must have some revenge on his mind right now. Since that 2019 Champions Cup final, Koe is 1-4 vs. Bottcher. The sole victory was in the SF at the ATB Banff Classic in October 2020. This has instantly become one of the best rivalries in the sport.

The big question will be how Team Bottcher responds after their debut world championship appearance. It was a mixed bag of emotions. They qualified Canada for the Olympics so all the Canadian teams in this field should probably buy these 4 guys a drink or two (or socks). But they also lost in the Q-game and failed to reach the SF, only the second time in the 62-year history of the event Canada has failed to reach the Final Four. Lots of emotion for this team. Lets see how they rebound.

Also keep your eye on Team Epping. Ryan Fry is staying home for the #GSOC events and Colton Lott will be stepping in. Yes, the same Colton Lott fresh off a Canadian mixed doubles silver medal win. Lott has played in three previous slam events as a member of Team Simmons in 2017. This is another great opportunity to showcase his talents.

Projected Standings: 1. Team Koe  2. Team Edin  3. Team Bottcher  4. Team Schwaller  5. Team Epping  6. Team Gunnlaugson 


Men's Qualifiers: Team Gushue, Team Koe, Team Mouat, Team Edin, Team Dunstone, Team Bottcher

MEN'S #ChampionsCup FINAL: Team Mouat def. Team Gushue - Bruce and the boys will come out one of two ways: emotionally drained from the world final loss or angry, determined and wanting revenge. I think it will be the latter. And you can never count out Brad Gushue at a slam event. You know he is going to make a deep run. This would be a great slam final.


What say you rock heads? Agree with the predictions? Disagree?

It is worth noting my #WMCC2021 predictions were pretty solid. Correct on 5 of the 6 Olympic berths. Correct on the three podium teams. Correct on the two finalists. Correct on the bronze medal winner. 

Share your thoughts via social media using the hashtags #GSOC and #curling and remember to cheer on your favourites throughout the week.

#StayTuned

The Champions Cup wraps up on Monday and the Players' Championship begins a few days later. The blog will return with a Players' Championship preview, which also will act as a slight Champions Cup review since the fields are the same.

Enjoy the Champions Cup!