A Friday night showdown will determine the 16th and final entries into the 2018 Tim Horton’s Brier and Scotties Tournament of Hearts, it was announced today by Curling Canada.
On the Friday night prior to the opening of round-robin play at both events, the top two teams from the Canadian Team Ranking System that didn’t qualify out of their provincial/territorial championships will get a second chance at qualifying for the Canadian championship.
It’ll be a Wild Card Friday that will get the championship week at both events off to an exciting start, said Curling Canada Chief Executive Officer Katherine Henderson.”We did extensive consultation with our Member Associations, the athletes and our partners at TSN, Tim Hortons and Kruger and everyone agreed that this was an ideal and positive solution to the issue of determining the 16th entry into the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and Tim Hortons Brier,” said Henderson. “The new 16-team format ensures every Member Association is participating from the beginning of the week, and also ensures that a quality field is in place in order to determine a Canadian team to wear the Maple Leaf and play for a world championship.”
The pre-qualifying format, introduced in 2014, was voted out by Curling Canada’s Member Associations at the 2015 Annual General Meeting, and a 16-team, two-pool format was approved by the same Member Associations a year later.It was determined then that the 14 Member Associations and Team Canada would be part of the field, with discussions to follow to determine the 16th team.
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