Brier relegation largely panned: Some of the criticism is just, much is not

While the likes of Northern Ontario, Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories sunk to the bottom of the Brier standings this week, the harsh reality of curling's new order was also sinking in. We'd gotten a taste of the general unease felt over the changes when last month's Scotties championship was being played out, in Montreal.

Relegation was on the horizon and it was not sitting well with many players and fans alike. With two teams destined to finish at the bottom of the past three years' accrued records in both the Scotties and Brier, their province or territories' need to play their way back into the tournament at a pre-event, next year, was getting lots of hammering.

For the 2015 Brier, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island will need to earn a berth through the pre-event tourney. Only one of them can.

PEI skip Eddie Mackenzie is not a fan of the changes and offered this opinion to the Canadian Curling Association's Tankard Times:

While some of the criticisms, like Mackenzie's, seemed rooted in the emotion of 'it's always been this way, why change it?', some seemed a little more just.

While change is never easy, sometimes it's a good thing, even if it feels uncomfortable. Relegation may be a case in point.

While you can read about the changes in the Canadian Curling Association's handling of the national championships here, suffice to say that the main points of contention are the adding of a Team Canada entry on the men's side, a Northern Ontario entry on the women's side and the dreaded relegation on both sides, which will see at least one province or territory that played in this year's events completely shut out of next year's.

The adding of a Team Canada to the men's side is a great idea, one that should have been acted on years ago. If the inclusion of that team comes at the expense of a bottom-feeder in the standings, so be it. The addition of a returning champion and the subtraction of a province or territory that has trouble icing a competitive team quite simply means a better competition, with one more bona fide contender playing for a playoff spot. It's simple math, really, and will be good for The Brier moving forward.

Personally, I like the Team Canada concept. Like it a lot. It has been a boon to the women's game and will be to the men's. While many of the competitors I've talked to about the idea do not like it, respectfully, it's not about them. It's about fans. As a fan, I enjoy seeing familiar faces at The Scotties and Brier (and at The Worlds for that matter). This ensures that the team that was plenty good enough to win a title one year will return the next, largely intact, if not totally. While familiarity might not be important to super-fans of the game, it is indeed a touchstone and selling point for casual fans. That's important in building a following.

Point's been made that, with all the changes to teams on a yearly basis, a Team Canada representative might not even be together for the next year, anyway. But, that's looking at it through the wrong end of the telescope. Winning a Brier and earning a berth into the following year's event is a reason to stay together for another season. As Jeff Stoughton told Terry Jones at SunMedia:

As well, most of the successful teams - the winning teams - tend to have longer runs as units, so the threat of a team winning The Brier and not returning the following year is a fairly hollow one. Take a look at The Scotties since Team Canada was added to its mix in 1985. Know how many times a champion skip did not return to defend the title? ZERO. Zero times has that happened in 30 years.

It is true that - if the rumours are to be believed - a fellow like John Morris could conceivably skip his team to a Brier championship and not return to defend for British Columbia, if he heads back to Alberta for next season. However, that would be a rarity and the real problem there lies in the CCA's rules around residency, which basically make it okay for you to live in one province but curl for another one if you have so much as a post office box in that province.

That Team Canada is a good idea for The Brier is tough to argue with.

How it comes to be is entirely arguable, I'll admit, and that is where anti-relegationists get my ear.

Had it been decided that there would be one champion representing Ontario on the men's side - the way it has been on the women's for years - it'd have been much easier to plunk a Team Canada into The Brier. A simple case of addition and subtraction. Maybe it was high time that the Northern Ontario champ squared off against the Ontario champ for a single berth at nationals. For those who bemoan only Brad Jacobs or Glenn Howard getting to rep the province over the last few years, see if that gets you any sympathy in Alberta, where only Kevin Koe or Kevin Martin or Randy Ferbey could make it out. Or in Manitoba, where only Stoughton or Mike McEwen could emerge with a spot.

It may be uncomfortable to think of a Brier without Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island taking part. But one of those provinces will not be in the event next year, as only one team will come out of the relegation round. That stings, I'm sure, in those provinces. But, again that province's team will have its spot filled by a returning champ, meaning a better competition.

Will that mean fewer people from Prince Edward Island or Nova Scotia will plan trips to the 2015 Brier in Calgary? Perhaps, but the great chance their team will not be in the Grey Cup Game has not stopped hordes and hordes of CFL fans from attending that great event year in and year out.

There's been one sensationalized argument rolling around out there that relegation could be disastrous for the national championship should a province like Ontario or Alberta or Saskatchewan or Manitoba suffer through an inordinately fruitless week one of these years and suffer the inglory of having to scramble back in through the pre-event tourney.

Well, that is very, very unlikely to happen. Year in and year out, teams from these powerhouse provinces finish in the top half of the standings, with few exceptions (Saskatchewan in the 2012 Brier being one). Even if that were to happen, there is absolutely zero chance of that province's representative the next year not making it through the relegation tournament. Not in my lifetime.

Slim to none are the chances of a powerhouse province actually missing a Brier or Scotties.

What of the arguments that this could hurt amateur curling in the long run? Rod Macdonald, who's represented PEI seven times at Briers, had this to say to CBC:

Well, it essentially already is and has been for a long while. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. The notion that amateur curlers won't want to play if they don't have a chance at making a Brier is hogwash. Does having little or no chance of playing in the NHL stop Canadians from playing hockey? Anyone stop watching PGA Tour events because they have no shot at ever making the field in one of them? Or stop playing in club championships because of that?

I could continue on that point, but I have a much better option for you. Nolan Thiessen, lead on the Koe rink wrote an extensive and eloquent 'state of the game' essay a few weeks ago. It's essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of the game in Canada.

"You know why there are so few changes at the top?", Thiessen writes. "Because there are so few teams that can, and are willing to, put in the effort it takes to win."

The notion, he points out, that a bunch of buddies could band together at a club and get hot on the way to a national championship is a fallacy, long since dead. He's right and the thought that elite curling is killing the game, somehow, is silly. It's making it better, in fact, the way eite hockey players and baseball players and football players have made those sports better.

Relegation is not a bad idea as, in essence, it should force those who are threatened with it to dig in and work harder. Get better. It's up to the jurisdictional associations to ensure that their curlers can reach elite status through programs, seed money and sponsorship connections.

It's up to the CCA, as well. In all of the areas I just outlined and more.

Getting Down East more often with big events and in conjunction with the World Curling Tour would be a boon to the region's top-flight and burgeoning curlers. Get David Murdoch and Niklas Edin and Tomas Ulsrud there more often. Get Eve Muirhead and Mirjam Ott and Margaretha Sigfridsson there, too. As well as Brad Jacobs and Jennifer Jones. Get them there more often and reserve a clutch of berths in those tournaments for regional teams. Rinks from all over the world come to Canada to improve. And they have. The same could be accomplished for perennial also-rans in this country.

In the end, the CCA could have avoided a lot of headaches had it just gone ahead and swapped out Northern Ontario for a Team Canada at The Brier. Then, they'd have had just a couple of headaches to deal with, one of which - The Ontario Curling Association - it's already had the occasional war with.

Relegation is new and therefore uncomfortable. However, it could be a great positive going forward, if handled properly.

No guarantee of that, of course.