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October 26, 2023 - 8:41 AM
Kelowna is hosting the 2023 Pan Continental Curling Championships.
From Oct. 19 to Nov. 4, the Kelowna Curling Club will host the event which will determine which countries from the Americas, Asia and Pacific regions will compete at the 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship and the 2024 LGT World Men’s Curling Championship.
The reigning champions, Team Jerri Einarson of Gimli, Manitoba, and Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Newfoundland will once again represent Canada.
Because Canada is the host nation of the 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship, the Canadian team is guaranteed a spot, but Team Einarson must still execute a worthy performance to avoid relegation to the B-event next season and eliminate the country’s chances of qualifying for worlds next year.
The team will be composed of Einarson as skip, Val Sweeting as vice-skip, Shannon Birchard as second, Braine Harris as lead and Dawn McEwen as alternate. Coaches Viktor Kjell and Renee Sonnenberg from Kamloops will be coaching them for the event.
As for Team Brad Gushue, they will also attempt to defend their title after last year’s winning performance. The team will be composed of skip Gushue, vice-skip Mark Nichols, second E.J. Harnden, lead Geoff Walker, and alternate Jim Cotter. The team will be coached by Caleb Flaxey and Jeff Stoughton.
The men’s team must finish in the top five spots of the event to ensure Canada’s participation in the world championships.
There will be a total of eight teams competing on each side and they will all play a seven-game round-robin schedule and the top four will advance to the semifinals.
Two of the round-robin games will be broadcast on TSN as well as the whole playoffs. All other games will be available on the World Curling Federation’s streaming platform, Recast.
The Pan Continental B Division Championship will also be happening simultaneously and the winners will earn a spot at next year’s main event.
For the full schedule visit the federation's website and for tickets, visit the event's website.
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