Curling quarrel: Mark Dacey takes on the Nova Scotia Curling Association

Mark Dacey is some ticked about the state of curling in his home province of Nova Scotia.

And he's continuing to put the pressure on the Nova Scotia Curling Association (NSCA) even as the world's best teams converge on Halifax for this year's World Men's Curling Championship. Detailing his grievances in a lengthy email and subsequent phone conversation, Dacey, the 2004 Brier champion, took aim at the NSCA for what he believes is flawed thinking and slow movement on important provincial curling issues. Issues that he insists are at the root of his province's missing the boat when it comes to preparing its players for high level competitions like The Brier and The Scotties.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s probably like a 9.5," Dacey says of his frustration levels. "I don’t know if there’s much room to go higher. There probably is, but it’s fairly high.”

While Dacey has gone public with his disappointment, the president of the NSCA, Chris Manuge is preaching patience, saying they are really on the same page. “We’re doing things that we believe will help the situation,” she says.

Roiling frustration is apparent, in Nova Scotia, the temperature moved to the boiling point with the province's failure to qualify for this year's Brier. Dacey refuses to blame a newly designed Brier format for that frustration, feeling that there has been decay on the home front and that it needs to be tended to.

“The steps at the beginning, in Nova Scotia, are in need of repair. They’re like cottage steps that just went through a harsh winter. They’re broken and they’re in need of repair,” he says.

Nova Scotia missed out on a chance to play in the 2015 Brier a couple of weeks ago, in Calgary, when the province's representatives - skipped by Glen Macleod - failed to earn a berth through what Curling Canada calls "pre-qualification," but what most everyone else calls "relegation." It meant that The Bluenosers did not take part in the national men's curling championship for the first time ever.

On March 14th, the day before this year's Brier champions were crowned, Dacey and a group of concerned players met with the NSCA to discuss what they felt were problems with the game at the provincial level. A week later, the NSCA's Competition Committee got together to go over what had been discussed the week before. If the players felt that they might get some traction on their requests for better provincial conditions, Dacey is not now feeling the love. On Tuesday night, he sent out a detailed email, bemoaning  what he sees as an inadequate response from the NSCA, which told him they'll be looking at proposals in greater detail, on April 19th.

“If you came to one of our provincials, you would be blown away with disappointment,” he laments, distilling his concerns down. Dacey is sure that perennially poor ice and rock conditions at the Nova Scotia championship are greatly to blame for the province's flagging curling fortunes. As well, he's not impressed with the NSCA's plan to lobby Curling Canada to increase Brier and Scotties fields to 16 in the future. “They wanna come back to us and say ‘hey, we got you back in The Brier. We’re heroes.’ Oh my God." You could practically hear him rolling his eyes over the phone.

“Really? We’re gonna go cry about not being in, instead of focusing on where the problem really is, which is inside the province?"

Dacey is impatient, wanting answers straight away, thinking it would be a good idea to announce positive steps while the curling world focuses on Halifax during The Worlds. Manuge is not unsympathetic - “I have as much passion for the sport as Mark does” - but believes his timeline is unreasonable.

“When we get input from players on a Saturday, I don’t think it’s reasonable for a volunteer board to be expected to have decisions made five days from receiving input,” she responds.

Dacey seems particularly uncomfortable with the NSCA's efforts to lobby Curling Canada for a change in how Brier and Scotties fields are fashioned, comparing it to a hypothetical where he would call the organizers of The Elite 10 and ask to be included even though his team is not ranked in the top ten.

“That’s what it would feel like to me. If we’re asking for a spot in the main draw because we’re not good enough to make it (as is), that’s embarrassing to even ask that question," he scoffs. “That’s what they’re proposing to us," he says of the NSCA. "That’s how they think.”

When asked whether Curling Canada ought to revisit the relegation format, Dacey is dismissive.“Relegation’s fine," he says. "I don’t care about relegation. We’re way better than relegation. We’re too good for relegation." Then, he pivots back to where he thinks the troubles are really located, with the NSCA. "They just don’t help us shine.”

If the main concern of Dacey and his fellow players is that ice conditions at the provincial championship aren't nearly what they are at a Brier or Scotties - Dacey claims in his email that the ice is generally straight and slow and that the rocks used are not properly cared for and have become badly mismatched - then he and the NSCA might be reading from the same chapter, if not the same page.

“Improved ice conditions are one facet that need to be addressed,” agrees Manuge, hopeful that having The Worlds in Halifax will be helpful. That's because well-regarded ice maker Jamie Bourassa will be handling the sheets. He'll have some 15 local ice makers helping and learning as the world championship plays out.

“Good ice alone is not going to guarantee that Nova Scotia will be back on the podium,” says Manuge.

Dacey certainly agrees with that notion. In his email, he itemized the changes suggested:

- Ice!!! Ice that is fast, 4 second split for draw. Ice that curls 4-5 feet. Ice where sweeping makes a difference to a shot. Ice that stays that way for the duration of the game.

- Rocks!! Rocks that are matched. Rocks that slide freely when being swept. Rocks that finish aggressively and stay that way through a competition.

- Draw!! A TKO draw in which every single game means something to both teams. A draw in which the team that survives is the team that lost the least number of times. A draw we used when we were contending and winning.

- No more 3 game days!! I repeat, no more 3 game days!!

- Players guide is given to your team the right after you qualify.

- Provincial finals club is decorated and signed to acknowledge that a special event is taking place.

- Media! Somebody please inform the media that this is taking place.

- Event management, it’s all in the details. Flawed draws and other details are not acceptable.

- Self seeding. Points system requires too much work and maintenance for something that often doesn’t work anyway.

- Transparency. There cannot be details that are hidden or modified.

- Residency or other requirements to compete. Clear everyone before first rock of first event then leave them alone.

Mark Dacey is not crying 'foul' on Curling Canada's relegation system. He is crying 'foul' on the road any Nova Scotian has to take in order to get to nationals.

“The first step that you take and the last step that you take need to have some resemblance (to each other). There has to be some resemblance, within our province, as to what you’re gonna see at the next level.”

The reshaping of Nova Scotia curling is on, in a public way. There is frustration. There is embarrassment. There is also, it appears, at least some agreement on issues.

The question now is, will there be solutions?