Penton: Personnel moves rampant in curling
By Bruce Penton
As the inturn turns…
Well, it might not be as intriguing and dramatic as the television soap opera As The World Turns, but the Canadian curling scene continues to draw gasps of surprise from the thousands of diehard fans across the country.
The latest: Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton, who skipped his team to the Brier title in 2021, appears to have been fired by the other three members of his team — Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert — and been replaced at skip by Brad Jacobs, who has become Canada’s most prominent member of the ‘Have Broom, Will Travel’ club. Jacobs, from Sault Ste. Marie, has a spectacular curling resume, having won one Brier (2013) and an Olympic gold medal (2014). He was a perennial participant in the Brier out of Northern Ontario but his rink split up when he took a sabbatical after the 2022 Brier. Last year, he hooked up with Reid Carruthers of Winnipeg and by the latter stages of the season, was skipping the team. After his sabbatical — reportedly so he could devote more time to family and business interests — Jacobs is now back in the full grind of competitive curling.
The Bottcher move was intriguing because only three years ago, the team’s third, Darren Moulding, was essentially fired by the team. To have the same thing happen to Bottcher must have brought a wry smile to the face of Moulding, who wasn’t happy with the move and didn’t mind saying so. What kind of supporting cast Bottcher will wind up with for next season remains to be seen, but publicly, he took the high road, posting on X that he wished his former team-mates all the best “on and off the ice.” He said he would have “more news” in the near future.
The Jacobs-to-Alberta move left the Carruthers rink with a big hole, but Saskatchewan native Catlin Schneider, who has thrown third stones for Matt Dunstone and Colton Flasch, among others, filled it by joining the Winnipeg-based rink at third. There were other headline-inspiring moves during curling’s unofficial ‘free agency’ period. One of the bigger ones concerned Jennifer Jones, perhaps the best female curler in Canada’s history. She retired and her youthful rink went looking for a replacement, finding Calgary’s Chelsea Carey, an original Winnipegger who has two Scotties’ Tournament of Hearts’ titles to her credit.
Other personnel moves involving top curlers include Scott Howard, Glenn’s son, taking over as skip after his dad’s retirement; John Epping moving on from his Toronto-based rink and joining forces with Jacob and Tanner Horgan out of Northern Ontario (the Horgans are brothers of Tracy Fleury, the third on Rachel Homan’s world championship rink); and Lisa Weagle, who has played with Homan and Jones, has joined the Laurie St-Georges rink from Quebec.
Intrigue remains. Where will Bottcher land? Are there more changes to come? Will Moulding pop up on someone’s team? Stay tuned. Curling news is a 12-month-a-year deal these days.
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Headline at fark.com.: “Ahh, the signs of late spring. Flowers blooming, birds singing, and St. Louis Cardinals’ fans panicking.”
Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: “Bally Sports channels removed from Comcast after bankruptcy of Bally operator Diamond Sports. Comcast fans of MLB’s Tigers, Brewers, Reds, Cardinals, Rays, Rangers, Braves, Angels, Royals, Twins and Marlins can no longer see games. Sadly White Sox fans can still watch their team.”
Vindictive guy Steve Burgess of Vancouver: “The Leafs are out. The Jays are losing. Drake’s beef is not going well. Sucks to be you, Toronto.”
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: “Did you see where LIV Golf just made a major announcement that there will now be a trading window to allow its teams to swap players. Philosophical question: If a sports league makes a major announcement and nobody cares, is it still a major announcement?”
Canada’s satirical website, the Beaverton, after coach Sheldon Keefe was fired: “Maple Leafs begin search for new scapegoat.”
From fark.com: “NFL strength of schedule for all 32 teams: Browns face most difficult slate as they don’t get to play against the Browns.”
Another one from fark.com: “He’s MVP for the third time, and that’s no Jokic.”
Steve Simmons of Sunmedia, lamenting some of the high salaries paid to Maple Leafs compared to Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl: “Draisaitl is paid $8.5 million a year by the Oilers, $2.5 million less than the Maple Leafs pay John Tavares, $2.4 million less than they pay Mitch Marner, $3 million less than the Leafs will pay William Nylander next season.”
Another one from Simmons: “Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is fifth in all of baseball in hitting the ball the hardest. When that translates to runs scored, call me.”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca