Retirements, relegation, rejuvenation. Canadian curling's top 10 stories of 2014-15

Well, that was eventful.

The 2014-15 Canadian curling season has drawn to a close - apologies to those of you who are still duking it out in your club championships - so it is time to take stock of a year jammed with interesting stories. Tough to whittle 'em down, but here are my choices for top ten stories of the year.

And, as we say at the end of a long curling season: Good golfing.

10. TEAM HOWARD BOUNCED FROM ONTARIO PLAYDOWNS

Last season's loss in the final of the Ontario Tankard was surprise enough. This season's elimination during the province's playdowns? A shocker for Team Glenn Howard. Bumped during regionals, Howard and his team decided to ditch an invitation to The Skins Game so they could take one more crack at getting to the provincial championship through the last chance 'challenge round.' They lost there, too. Some had no sympathy given that one of the tour's top teams wouldn't even make an appearance at The Tankard. Others, like me, believe it shone a light on Ontario's less than modern qualification system. The failure to qualify was, in part, responsible for Howard shaking up his line-up for next season.

9. GUSHUE AND JACOBS FRONT COMPETING BRIER BIDS

Usually, bids for upcoming Briers are quiet affairs, handled behind the scenes with little publicity ahead of the actual announcement of who won. Not this time. First, Brad Gushue announced he was spearheading a formal bid to have the 2017 men's national championship held in St. John's. Not long after that, Brad Jacobs and his team became poster boys for a group trying to bring The Brier to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, that same year. Both sides launched websites and ticket sales drives, each trying to lure Curling Canada into plopping down the Brier tent in their town for the first time in a loooong time. St. John's last hosted in 1972. The Soo last held a Brier in 1990. A decision on the winner might come as early as this summer, but more likely in early fall.

8. TEAM SWEETING'S BUMPY ROAD TO CURLING RICHES

In one calendar year, Alberta skip Val Sweeting went from being Alberta champ, to being shocked by a teammate's departure, to replacing that teammate only to have that new teammate leave as the season got underway, to adding yet another player and then going on to win another Alberta Scotties. And making it to the final of nationals for a second year in a row. When Joanne Courtney jumped ship to Team Rachel Homan at the end of last season, Sweeting and her remaining teammates, Rachelle Brown and Dana Ferguson, brought in New Brunswick's Andrea Crawford. Crawford abruptly left the team a week before The Masters, so Sweeting invited Cathy Overton-Clapham to spare for that event. All they did was win it. After that, Lori Olson-Johns joined the team and they went on to win The Canada Cup and then beat Chelsea Carey in the Alberta final, before losing to Jennifer Jones at The Scotties. That is what you'd call an adventurous season.

7. TEAM CANADA'S REMARKABLE TURNAROUND

Like Team Sweeting, Team John Morris had a strange but successful season, one that had its roots in the great curling upheaval of 2014. While Nolan Thiessen, Carter Rycroft and Pat Simmons had won the Brier with Kevin Koe at skip, Koe left them to form a new team, meaning they'd be invited back as Team Canada at the 2015 Brier, but with Morris as their house manager. It was not what you'd call a sterling season for the four, playing a lighter schedule that saw them struggle through much of it. At The Brier, the flatness continued, until Morris and Simmons switched positions, with the team out to a 2 and 3 start. Immediate ignition, after that. The four went on a tear, winning 8 of their next 9 and retaining the crown with a 6-5 win over Northern Ontario. Seemed the beat would continue at The World Championship, but a disappointing semi-final loss meant Team Canada had to settle for bronze.

6. LINDA MOORE RETIRES

A mainstay in the TSN booth for 25 years, Linda Moore brought a keen analytical eye and an awful lot of insight as to what was unfolding on the ice. Over that time, she built a seamless camaraderie with Vic Rauter and Ray Turnbull, followed by Russ Howard. Unfortunately, due to health concerns, Moore decided to leave the booth part way through this past season, leading to an outpouring of well-deserved accolades and good wishes. “I am physically unable to keep doing the job that I love," Moore said in a media release last December, when she announced that she was fighting a neurological disorder. "I had to make a very difficult choice, but it’s time that I focus all of my energy on my well-being.” Moore was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame in 1991, for her exploits as a player. She should get another ceremony, this time celebrating her work as a builder of the game from her seat in the broadcast booth. Fortunately for viewers, Cheryl Bernard had a superb rookie season in taking over for Moore.

5. DACEY TAKES ON THE NOVA SCOTIA CURLING ASSOCIATION

When Nova Scotia missed out on taking part in The Brier for the first time ever this season, 2004 national champion Mark Dacey got mad. Not at Curling Canada, which instituted a new format that meant the province had to earn a berth into the full tournament (more on that story, below), but at the Nova Scotia Curling Association. "I don’t care about relegation," Dacey said, commenting on the state of the game in his home province. “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.” Dacey's level of frustration? "On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s probably like a 9.5," he said. You can read more about it here.

4. RELEGATION REMAINS A FOUR-LETTER WORD

While Curling Canada insists on calling it a "pre-qualifier," the rest of Canada calls it "relegation." In its first application, this season, the mini-tournament held at the beginning of The Scotties and The Brier came under siege from some quarters. While Northwest Territories and Yukon were playing a qualifier game at The Scotties, the "Hot Shots" competition was being held on another sheet, sparking criticism. As did the fact that the opening banquet began before a couple of teams had finished their qualifier game. The Brier experience for the team from Yukon was not to their liking. Team Bob Smallwood sent a lengthy letter of objections through their territorial body to Curling Canada. One of their objections was over format. From the letter: "Two games and last stone draw determining if you stay or go?" Some have called for a change to when these qualifiers are held. Others want an outright elimination of relegation. The Nova Scotia Curling Association, this summer, will lobby Curing Canada for a 16 team format at both The Scotties and Brier. The Yukon Curling Association will probably back them.

3. TEAM MCEWEN COMES BACK FROM THE DEAD

Remarkable how the fates can intervene. After another loss at the Manitoba Championship in 2014, Mike McEwen, Denni & B.J. Neufeld and Matt Wozniak were all but certain to call it quits, feeling they needed to disband. However, after a visit to the Sochi Olympics, McEwen returned to his friends and proposed that they, instead, refocus their efforts (You can read about the team's near disintegration and change of heart here). Those efforts paid off handsomely. Eight event victories, including The Canada Cup and The National. A record of 72 wins and just 12 losses. If not for an over-swept final stone at The Players' Championship, the team would have won that event and overtaken Team Brad Jacobs as the number one team on the planet. It wasn't all roses, though. That Manitoba Championship? Still out of reach for Team McEwen as they were bested in the 2015 final by Team Reid Carruthers.

2. THE GRAND SLAM GROWS

More events, more money. Lots more money. In January, organizers of the Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling announced that the tour would be adding two more events for next season and then another one in 2016-17. On top of that, prize money for next year will rise to a total of $1.5 million and to $2.5 million the year after. A series that was flagging badly just three years ago is on the rise and organizers are now looking to make the city of Toronto a top destination for curling fans going forward. Lots of events, lots of cash, lots of games on Sportsnet. Along with TSN's decision to offer multi-sheet coverage at The Brier (and, presumably, Scotties, going forward) it is a golden age for those who like to follow the sport.

1. JEFF STOUGHTON RETIRES

Two years, two giants of the men's game step aside. Last year's revelation that Kevin Martin was retiring topped my list of stories of the year and Jeff Stoughton's announcement is no less deserving. The great gentleman of the game will be available, next season, for cameo appearances only. As far as his full-time, competitive curling career is concerned, the three-time Brier champ (with four more top three finishes) is done, going out with a couple of his patented spin-o-ramas at The Players' Championship, last week. On top of his Brier wins, Stoughton skipped teams to two World Championships and eleven Manitoba crowns, as well as four Grand Slam victories.

“You never think that you’ve accomplished all that you want to because as a competitive player, everyone says they’d always like more," Stoughton told me on the day he announced his retirement, last February.

"But, looking back, I think it’s pretty darn good.”

That's an understatement. One of the great skips the men's game has ever seen has lowered the curtain on a dazzling career, although he will stay close to the game as an organizer, broadcaster or coach, if he has his way.

"Whatever it happens to be, I want to be part of this game," Stoughton said.

That's good news for the game of curling.

TO READ MORE ON STOUGHTON'S RETIREMENT CLICK HERE.