Listen to this article
Approximately 5 minutes
The audio version of this article was created using artificial intelligence technology. Pronunciation errors may occur. We work with our partners to continually analyze and improve results.
The Canadian curling competition in Montana did more than just determine the country's representatives for the Winter Olympics.
It also provided a valuable opportunity for aspiring players to experience what it was like to compete in curling's largest domestic competition every four years.
Rachel Homan and Brad Jacobs won their respective teams last November in Halifax and will wear the Maple Leaf at the upcoming Cortina games in Milan. For younger players like Jordon McDonald, Kayla Skrlik, Rylan Kleiter and Selena Stermey, it was a chance to play in a high-profile tournament against some of the best teams in the country.
This could pay off in the future, especially as curling's depth in Canada will be impacted as some of the sport's senior ranks plan to hang up their brooms.
“I think these (younger) teams have gotten some really high quality reps that will pay dividends for them in the future,” Curling Canada CEO Nolan Thiessen said in a recent interview. “So in our case, victory does not always depend only on the team.
“There are a lot of teams that are at different stages of their competitive journey.”
Significant changes usually occur in curling at the end of the Olympic cycle, and this quadrennial will be no exception.
The veteran men's arena is expected to see more changes than the women's as more retirements are likely. Top players like Brad Gushue and E.J. Harnden said this will be their last competitive season, with more likely to follow.
The so-called free agency period in Canadian curling essentially begins after the Olympic teams are formed. Even with months left in the campaign, players are starting to think about the four-year cycle leading up to the 2030 Games in the French Alps.
In a sport where there are no general managers to pull the strings, that usually means players start discussions early on as teams consider how best to make changes or fill vacancies in a situation that can change quickly.
Harnden said it was “good” to be on the other side of the conflict this time.
“It’s refreshing because I don’t have to worry about anything because I know what I’m doing,” he said with a laugh. “And so there are no more questions: “I wonder what will happen?” Will so-and-so continue to play? And now I know that so-and-so is changing teams, and what does that mean for me?”
Harnden's plan, announced last weekend, would leave the top-ranked Canadian men's team, missed by Matt Dunstone, without a second.
The departure of Gushue, who announced his plans to retire last fall, will leave Mark Nichols, Brendan Bottcher and Jeff Walker without a pass.
The dominoes will likely start to fall once Jacobs and teammates Mark Kennedy and Ben Hebert – all in their 40s – solidify their plans for the future. An Olympic gold could propel them to come out on top, while any other result could light the fire for the next cycle.
The curling world is also looking forward to the Rock League. The professional course from The Curling Group, which owns the Grand Slam of Curling tournaments, is set to debut this spring after several outings in recent months.
“I always think when something like this happens in curling, it can either go very well or very badly,” said Coe team vice president Tyler Tardy, who will play in the Rock League. “And honestly, I think it's 100 percent up to those involved.
“I think the only way a project will truly fail is if the players and people involved in it allow it to.”
The planned six-week schedule for the Rock League in 2026 has been reduced to seven days.
Plans to bring the league to Europe this spring were quietly scrapped last November. The development was buried in an article on the GSOC website praising the first US Grand Slam tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and the international presence in the field.
The KIOTI GSOC Tahoe event had a large viewership on Sportsnet but was played in a virtually empty arena. Several messages left by The Curling Group requesting attendance and streaming viewing data were not returned.
Plans for a Rock League USA event in 2026 were scrapped when it was recently confirmed that Toronto's Mattamy Sports Center would be the only stop (April 6-12) on the schedule.
A four-week Rock League season is planned for 2027, with each event lasting four days. Stops in Canada include Moose Jaw, Sask. (January 7-10), Halifax (January 14-17) and Ottawa (February 4-7), with a single US stop in Utica, New York (January 28-31).
The host city for the April 8-18 playoffs has not yet been determined.
