General Info
The continental cup of curling kicks off this week in London. The continental cup was started in 2002. This is the second time the event has been held in London. The last was 2018. The event pits six teams from Canada or the United States against six of the best teams from Europe. The Canadian teams are determined by previous events like the Canada Cup, as well as the rankings from last season. Team North America/Team Canada has had great success in this event in previous years. In the previous editions of this tournament, they have won the event nine times with team Europe winning six times. Team World won this event last year by a score of 34-26.
Points system
The Continental cup of curling has a unique points system that is not used in any other form of curling. There are a total of 60.5 points available throughout the four-day tournament. The first team to score 30.5 points will be declared the winner. In the event of tiebreakers, there will be a draw to the button between skips. In the history of the tournament, there has only been a tie-breaker needed in one event, in 2018, the last time the event was held in London. Games in the Continental Cup are eight ends with no extra ends. Each win will earn one point while ties earn a half a point for each side.
To get an idea of the rules of curling check out this video from curling Canada.
Game Types
There are four different types of games in the Continental Cup. These consist of regular team games, mixed doubles, team scramble and skins.
Team Games
The team games work like any other curling tournament. One team from Canada and one team from Europe will face off in an eight end game to determine a winner. The winner of these games will each earn a point toward the 30.5 required. There are a total of six team games throughout the weekend. If these games end in a tie, both teams will earn a half-point.
Mixed Doubles
There are a total of 9 mixed doubles events throughout the weekend. All teams are required to have three of their four players compete in mixed doubles play. There are a total of 9 points available for mixed doubles play throughout the weekend. At the beginning of each end, players will be able to place their own stones.
Team Scramble
The scramble is a new event to the continental cup that was introduced in last year’s event in Las Vegas has the most games throughout the event. The scramble games are unique as they cannot have a skip and third playing together or a lead and a second playing together. For example, Kevin Koe and his third BJ Neufield cannot play together in the scramble games. There are a total of twelve games of scrambles in this event.
Skins Games
The skins games are worth the most points throughout the tournament and they decide the winner of the continental cup if tiebreakers are not required. Every member of every team is required to curl at least once in a skins game. Each end of a skins game is considered a skin. A team has to sit two rocks to win a skin. Teams without hammer need to steal at least one to win the point in a skin. If a team with hammer only sits one rock the points in the skin carry over to the next end and that team will lose hammer next end. The skins games are worth five points in draw ten and six points in draw eleven.
Teams
Team Canada
Team Canada brings a very strong roster with them to London as they try to reclaim victory after last year’s defeat.
Team Koe
Kevin Koe and his team from Calgary return for their fifth straight trip to the event. Koe’s team consists of B.J Neufeld, Colton Flasch, and Ben Hebert. Koe is the reigning Tim Horton’s Brier Champion.
Team Bottcher
Brandon Bottcher skips a team out of Edmonton. Bottcher and his team have won two consecutive silver medals in the Tim Horton Brier. Bottcher’s team consists of vice-skip Darren Moulding, second Brad Thiessen and lead Karrick Martin. Team Bottcher is making their first appearance in the Continental Cup.
Team Epping
The only team from Ontario on the men’s side is lead by John Epping. Epping and his team curl out of Toronto. His team consists of vice-skip Ryan Fry, second Matthew Cam, and lead Brett Laing. Epping and his team have made one Brier appearance in 2018 where they earned a bronze medal. Team Epping is also making their Continental cup debut.
Team Homan
Rachel Homan and her Ottawa team are making the trip to London. Homan finished runner up in last year’s Scotties Tournament of hearts. Homan’s team consists of vice-skip Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney, and lead Lisa Weagle. This is team Homan’s third straight appearance at the event.
Team Carey
Chelsea Carey leads a team to London out of Calgary. They curl at the same club as Kevin Koe. Carey is the reigning champion of the Scotties tournament of hearts. Team Carey consists of vice-skip Sarah Wilkes, lead Rachel Brown and Second Dana Furguson.
Team Fleury
Tracy Fleury and her team out of Manitoba are making their debut at the event this year. Fleury and her team lost a tiebreaker at last year’s Scotties. Her team consists of vice-skip Selena Njegovan, second Liz Fyfe, and lead Kristin Maccuish.
Team Europe
Team Europe returns with the same lineup that won last year’s event.
Team Mouat
Bruce Mouat and his team out of Scotland consists of vice-skip Grant Hardie, second Bobby Lammie, and lead Hammie McMillan Junior. Mouat and his team went to the world championships last season where they got defeated by Kevin Koe of Canada in the Playoffs.
Team Edin
Niklas Edin of Sweden is the reigning world champion after beating Kevin Koe in the final. Team Edin consists of vice-skip Oskar Eriksson, second Rasmus Wrana, and lead Christoffer Sundgren.
Team De Cruz
Peter De Cruz leads this team out of Switzerland. His team consists of vice-skip Benoit Schwarz, second Sven Michel, and lead Valentin Tanner.
Team Muirhead
Eve Muirhead leads this Scottish team. Her team consists of vice-skip Lauren Gray, second Jennifer Dodds, and lead Vicky Wright.
Team Hasselborg
Anna Hasselborg leads this team out of Sweden. Her team is the two-time runner up at the world championships. Team Hasselborg consists of vice-skip Sara Mcmanus, second Agnes Knochenhauer, and lead Sofia Mabergs.
Team Tirinzoni
Silvana Tirinzoni leads the final European team. They curl out of Switzerland. Her team consists of vice-skip Alina Paetz, second Esther Neuenschwander, and lead Melanie Barbezat. Team Tirinzoni is the reigning world championship team after winning in Denmark.
The event gets underway Thursday morning and runs until Sunday night. All draws will be televised on TSN.
