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Canadian mixed doubles curling championship a boon for the new game

don landry

Canada is getting more serious about mixed doubles curling. It's a change that will likely push this version of the sport towards the front of your curling brain in the not too distant future. Maybe even give it a prominent place.

The Canadian Curling Association has announced a plan to crown national champions on a yearly basis, with those champs going on to represent this country at global events. A system of mixed doubles qualifying is being implemented for the first time, culminating with the national pairs' championship being contested in Leduc, Alberta, next March.

It was back in June when the CCA knocked the socks off curling fans, announcing a slew of changes to the Brier and Scotties. The creation of a national mixed doubles championship was packaged in those announcements as well, but it is now that the details of the title chase have been revealed.

The tournament will consist of 32 teams, with 14 of them being named by each province and territory (Ontario gets two teams, as it does currently for The Brier, and will for The Scotties beginning in 2015). Two more teams will come from the foursome that wins the Canadian Mixed Championship, slated for this November in Mont-Royal, Quebec.

The other 16 entries are wide open. However, not just anybody is very likely to get a shot at this thing. Preference will be given to each entry based on the players' standing in The Order Of Merit, the CCA's ranking protocols.

The formalizing of a mixed doubles championship event on an annual basis should bring the sport into a new era of acceptance in Canada. Currently, this form of the game is seen as a bit of a novelty act in this country, with it being taken more seriously in Europe and especially, it seems, Switzerland, which has won the World Mixed Doubles Curling championship 4 times in the 5 years it has been contested (the other championship was won by Russia in 2010).

Greg Stremlaw, the CCA's Chief Executive Officer, says the addition of a national mixed doubles championship should allow Canada to compete much more favourably on the world stage in the future. From today's CCA news release:

"This new event was felt to be critical to enable Canada to ensure it sends its best curlers to represent us at the World Mixed Doubles Championship. Other nations are qualifying using a mixed doubles championship, so it makes sense to provide Canada with the same opportunity to capture consistent podium results in this discipline, especially with the World Mixed Doubles being held in Fredericton next April and a strong chance of Mixed Doubles being granted Olympic inclusion as early as 2018."

Canada has struggled at the event since its inception. And with very good reason. Up until now, the 6 - rock, two - player version of the game has not been seen as a serious pursuit by most pro level curlers, as a trip to the worlds was more of a bonus prize given to the Canadian Mixed Champions; the ones that play a traditional 8 - rock, four - member kind of game.

In the absence of an ordained Canadian mixed doubles championship, and the glories that it would include, this country's top curlers, understandably, concentrated on the traditional game and its Brier, Scotties, Senior, Junior and Mixed Championships. There was little reason to work on doubles' skills and nuances, partly because of that and partly because, as mentioned, a game where the shooter jumps up to start sweeping their own rock just after they've released it seems a little - frankly - odd to most Canadian curling fans.

Indeed, the mixed doubles format has only had a world championship for half a decade but Canada's casual attitudes towards it have changed dramatically in the last year or so, after curling fans began wondering why there was a version of the sport in which this country was not a dominant force.

Canada's top finish at a mixed doubles came in 2009, when Sean Grassie and Allison Nimik scored a bronze. That dearth of hardware hasn't been sitting well with legions of curling fans and supporters who are regularly disappointed in world competitions if Canada doesn't win gold, never mind not being a force to be reckoned with at all.

While most agree that a national mixed doubles championship will be a boon for the sport, not everyone likes the 32 team event idea. The aforementioned Grassie, tells the Winnipeg Sun's Jim Bender that he has his reservations:

"I like the idea of having a separate provincial championship, but I think I'd leave it at that," he said. "I don't know why they'd go beyond that, especially if it's based on the Order of Merit. All of the top players may not be as good in mixed doubles, it's a different game. So, you still can't call it a national event. So, I don't know what their thinking is there."

If there is resistance towards what some believe is the biggest thing to hit curling since the three rock rule (or, perhaps, the demise of the corn broom) it seems that resistance is futile. This relatively new take on the age old game has plenty of supporters, including Manitoba's Kaitlyn Lawes. Again, from the Winnipeg Sun:

"I think it's great, especially since they are trying to make it an Olympic sport. I've never actually played it, but I did practise it (before the 2011 Continental Cup), and it was fun. It's a totally different game and it goes by very fast. It will be different for the spectators to watch."

The expectation is that mixed doubles curling will continue to grow in Europe. With the addition of bona fide national championship set to change the curling landscape here, the betting is that Canadians will accept - and maybe even begin to love - curling's odd little sibling.

Win a few world championships and an Olympic gold and you can bet on the love affair blossoming.