1. What are the Season of Champions events?
Curling Canada’s Season of Champions events include the following:
- Home Hardware Canada Cup
- World Financial Group Continental Cup
- Canadian Juniors
- Scotties Tournament of Hearts
- Tim Hortons Brier, and
- either the Ford World Women’s or Ford World Men’s Curling Championship (whichever event is taking place in Canada that season)
Because 2017-2018 season is an Olympic year, the Home Hardware Canada Cup will be replaced by two Canadian Olympic qualifying events: the Road to the Roar Pre-Trials and the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings Canadian Curling Trials.
Curling Canada operates other national championships as well. For a complete list, please visit the Championships page on our website:
www.curling.ca/championships/
2. Who broadcasts Curling Canada’s Season Of Champions events?
TSN is Curling’s Canada’s Official Broadcast Partner, and as such is the only Canadian television network to broadcast Season of Champions events. For information and broadcast schedule, visit https://www.curling.ca/championships/tsn-curling-broadcast-schedule/
3. Are Grand Slam of Curling events part of Curling Canada’s Season Of Champions?
No, the Grand Slam of Curling operates separately from Curling Canada, but many of the top teams compete in events operated by both the Grand Slam and Curling Canada. For more information, visit the Grand Slam of Curling website at
www.thegrandslamofcurling.com
4. I don’t live in Canada or I’m travelling out of the country during an event. How can I watch the Season Of Champions events?
In the United States, ESPN3 live-streams Season of Champions events. For more information and broadcast schedule, please visit the ESPN3 site at
www.espn.com/watchespn/
Curling Canada also posts complete games on our YouTube channel within approximately 48 hours after the end of the live broadcast on TSN. Visit our YouTube channel at
www.youtube.com/curlingcanada
5. What is pre-qualification and why does it exist?
Pre-qualification was voted in by the Member Associations back in 2010 and was introduced to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and Tim Hortons Brier at the start of the 2014-2015 season. It ensured that every Member Association would send a representative to the national championship, as previously not all had been included.
For the full history and explanation of the Equitable Opportunity to Access Championships, please visit
www.curling.ca/championships/equitable-opportunity-to-access-championships/
6. I heard pre-qualification at the Scotties and Brier is ending after this season. Is that true?
Yes. At Curling Canada’s Annual General Meeting in June 2015, the Member Associations voted for the elimination of the pre-qualification and voted in a new format in June 2016.
The new format will include two pools of eight teams. There are already 15 teams (including the 14 Member Associations and Team Canada) and the process for selecting the 16th team will be decided after consultation with stakeholders. The new format will take effect during the 2017-2018 season at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and Tim Hortons Brier.
7. Why is Curling Canada making this change now? Why couldn’t you do it sooner?
Major changes to championship formats are determined by the four-year Olympic cycle, which ends with the 2017-2018 season.
8. Why do Ontario and Northern Ontario both get to send teams to national events?
Northern Ontario is one of the original charter members of Curling Canada (formerly the Canadian Curling Association), which gives it the right to send a representative to national championships. Find out more about Curling Canada’s Member Associations here:
www.curling.ca/about-curling-canada/member-associations/
9. How does Curling Canada decide which teams get to go to the Olympics? Which teams have already qualified for the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings (Trials)?
Find more information about the Olympic qualifying process for Team Canada Men’s, Women’s, Mixed Doubles and Paralympic Curling teams here:
www.curling.ca/team-canada/becoming-team-canada/
10. What happens if the winner of the Tim Hortons Brier or Scotties goes to the Olympics? For the Olympic season, who would be Team Canada at the national championship?
The winners of the Tim Hortons Brier and Scotties Tournament of Hearts return the following season as Team Canada at the national event.
But if that team also wins the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings and goes to the Olympics, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts silver-medallist would return as Team Canada at the national championship during the Olympic season because of the difficulty in scheduling to attend both events. But because the Tim Hortons Brier happens after the Olympics, the defending champion will have the option of attending both events.
