The four playoff teams emerge from that group. The top three teams in each pool at the conclusion of the preliminary round Thursday advance to the championship round. Quebec's Laurie St-Georges was 1-1 followed by Prince Edward Island's Suzanne Birt and Saskatchewan's Robyn Silvernagle at 1-2 in Pool A.Īlberta's Kayla Skrlik, Nunavut's Brigitte MacPhail and Yukon were 0-2. Kelly and Casey Scheidegger's wild card 2 were both 1-1 ahead of Walter and Curtis 1-2 in Pool B. Homan edged Northern Ontario's McCarville 7-5, Jones defeated Stacie Curtis of Newfoundland and Labrador 7-4 and New Brunswick's Andrea Kelly downed Yukon's Hailey Birnie 14-3 in Sunday evening's draw. 'I definitely did not think I'd be playing in a Scotties at 20,' said Walter, whose first win was an 8-6 decision over Northwest Territories on Sunday night.īrendan Bottcher and Reid Carruthers lost the Alberta and Manitoba men's finals respectively, but are the first and second wild cards in next month's Brier in London, Ont.Īlberta's Karsten Sturmay snared the third wild card by just five points over veteran John Epping of Ontario. If you're in the hunt and you're around that top five in the CTRS, there's a chance you might throw in an extra event in January.'Įxtra wild cards offer a young team like Walter's, who faces a gauntlet of Einarson, Jones, Lawes and Chelsea Carey in Manitoba, a chance to play in a Hearts early in their career. 'I do think everyone wants to win their provincials and everyone wants to wear their crest on their back, but knowing there are some provinces that have a lot of great teams, you do kind of have your eye on wanting to be at the top of the CTRS,' Lawes said. Lawes and Walter took two for a total of four Hearts entries from that province, including Einarson and Jones. Three wild cards were a boon for Manitoba women this year. 'When you do come from a province that has had several wild cards come out of it the past couple years, it's good planning to have that in the back of your mind.' 'We attempted to play in 'spiels that would give us the most kind of bang for our buck, so they would give us the most points. 'Most of the teams that are in the top 10 probably have that person that's calculating, and making sure that you are in a good situation for that,' Scheidegger said. Scheidegger, who lost to Kayla Skrlik in Alberta's final, chased points this season with third Kate Cameron in charge of math. 'You've got to play in as many as possible and try to get to playoffs most of the time. 'You're not guaranteed to qualify (for playoffs) in every event and earn those big points.

'Next season, we've talked about it, we're playing the same amount of events, 14 or 13 we've played. 'You can't really lay off at all,' Walter said. There is no rest for a team that intends to pursue a wild card as a backup plan for entry into the Hearts and Brier. 'It's a very odd thing,' Walter said Sunday in Kamloops. When Walter lost the final to Jones, Walter's supporters were still happy because of a Homan win that dealt the third and final wild card to Walter. 29, Walter's Hearts prospects also rested on Rachel Homan winning Ontario that same day. When Walter faced Jennifer Jones in the Manitoba women's final Jan. Northwest Territories, Ontario, Northern Ontario and Manitoba were bunched atop Pool B at 2-1. The team lost to Northern Ontario Sunday morning 9-6ĭefending champion Kerri Einarson topped Pool A at 3-0 ahead of British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Kaitlyn Lawes' wild card 1 all 2-1 heading into Monday's draws. Lethbridge's Casey Scheidegger is the skip of Wild Card #2. 'We're here, so that's all that matters,' Walter said. 7 in the CTRS earned wild cards for this year's Hearts in Kamloops. When the dust settled, Kaitlyn Lawes at No. So it's a matter of entering enough events and winning enough points during the season, while hoping a team ranked higher wins its province or territory so a wild card lands on you. Wild cards go to the top three teams in Curling Canada's Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) that don't win their provincial or territorial championship. Three wild cards in Canada's men's and women's curling championships apparently here to stay means keeping noses to grindstones to earn them.īumping up the number of wild-card berths from one to three was a COVID-19 adaptation in Calgary's 2021 curling bubble.īrought back by popular demand in 20, wild cards are a Plan B ticket to both the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and Tim Hortons Brier for teams that don't win provincial or territorial championships.

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