On What I'm Hearing

A not-so-silly season this time around...

Alright, just a quick little newsletter for my faithful subscribers (or really anyone who clicks a link). I don’t think we are going to see too many seismic team shifts and this won’t look like my past newsletters where I guessed at a bunch of moving pieces. Year 2 of a quad almost can’t see a ton of movement with the points at stake. But there are some fairly big teams forced into some movement, and here’s what I’m thinking might be happening.

As always, take all of this with a grain of salt. I don’t actually know an awful lot, but I have had a penchant for some lucky guesses over the past few seasons. I’m just going to focus on women’s teams today, and honestly, we may not see a men’s newsletter about this at all. From everything I can see and from what I’ve heard, I don’t expect major changes. There will be shuffling among the 25-50 range of teams, and I think BC in particular will once again be a carousel, but the top teams should mostly look the same.

Alright, the big one is obviously the vacant seat left by Jennifer Jones. Those three back-to-back Scotties silver medallists and World Junior champs need a skip. We’ve already learned that the three of them are sticking together—makes sense, they have a Scotties bye sewn up and those aforementioned silver medals. And we know it won’t be a reunion of Mack Zack and the Attack after that Instagram post and her subsequent interview with Gregory Strong. The obvious name here is Chelsea Carey, and I definitely believe she’s in the mix. She filled in for Jennifer twice this year, and they were a finalist in both those events. She has two Scotties titles, a wealth of experience, and is an unencumbered free agent. The team is also comfortable with an older leader (even though Chelsea is 10 years younger than Jennifer, she’s still 15 years older than the rest of the team) and the dynamic would remain largely the same.

The only other name I’ve really wondered about in this spot is Laura Walker. Yes, she has taken the quad off to focus on Mixed Doubles, but I also think that was partly due to her second child being just born when the quad turned over and the combo of a team/MD schedule would be too tough. I think she was very deep in talks with Rachel Homan about that vacancy, and it never felt like she was finished with the 4-person game (and ended up playing the Scotties last year for Team Lawes, if you recall. Not to mention playing VERY well). With the MD Trials being in December, if her and Kirk do not win, that leaves almost a year of thumb-twiddling. Joining Team Jones, maybe they work out something for the first part of the season so she can keep her busy MD schedule, and then go from there. Having the Scotties bye certainly makes that easier. After those two, I don’t think the options are as good for Karlee, Emily, and Lauren, and I’d guess one of them gets it, unless there’s some surprise option that totally blows me away.

Next, we need to talk about two breakups to piece together some new squads. First, we saw Jill Brothers announce she is leaving the defending Nova Scotia champion Team Smith to join up with Christina Black on what should be a powerhouse team. I love that combination and that is the type of move that in my view, instantly makes them a Scotties playoffs contender next year. Second, we saw Jenn Armstrong announce she is leaving Corryn Brown to focus on Mixed Doubles, as her and Tyrel Griffith will no doubt be involved in the MD Trials as well.

Let’s start there. While I do think it’s true that Jenn wants to focus on Mixed Doubles, I also think traveling across literally the entire country to play with Team Brown was a difficulty. I would be surprised if she isn’t playing in New Brunswick next year with a 4-person team as well. With the depth of the field there, I’d think any sort of team with her and Sylvie Quillian would make some noise.

You know what else is a difficulty? Traveling to Thunder Bay. I did wonder this on Twitter, but will Andrea Kelly also make the journey home to form a bit of a powerhouse team there? We saw Team McCarville post in the immediate aftermath of the Scotties “we’ll see you next year”, but that’s a 5-person team. It could simply mean the team returns with their original 4-person lineup. Any Kelly/Quillian/Armstrong combo would be the immediate VERY heavy favourite to win New Brunswick and would also see a schedule that makes more sense for Andrea and Jenn, allowing Jenn to focus on MD as they probably play a bit lighter, closer to home, and focus mainly on the Scotties. I think the Andrea Kelly experiment for Team McCarville worked to an extent and I could absolutely see her staying there. But I’m keeping my eye on this one. Oh, and the reason I brought up Team Smith above is because I believe another piece from that team will also be making her way to New Brunswick to join this potential squad, whether that’s with or without Andrea. We’ll see.

This leaves Corryn Brown without a player. It’s too bad that Jenn left, as I think that was a good chemistry mix for them and they had their best season since they won the Canadian Juniors 10 years ago (I cannot believe that was 10 years ago). That very good season will mean that Brown will have suitors, and I’d imagine the first two knocks at the door would be coming from this year’s Team Northwest Territories. Sarah Koltun had initially indicated she was taking time off this upcoming season due to her medical residency, but said residency is in Kamloops, the beloved home of Team Brown. Would she be able to make that work?

As I reported in my last newsletter, Margot Flemming told me at the Scotties she’d move anywhere for the right opportunity. Hell, she moved to Yellowknife in the first place to play with Kerry Galusha. I could see Team Brown picking up either one of them, or maybe if Sarah’s medical schedule is too heavy…both? They’ll likely also have some internal BC options (Taylor Reese-Hansen, currently sitting 4-1 at the Canadian Mixed Doubles and the 2023 BC Scotties bronze medallist, immediately springs to mind) they could weigh. And I’m sure those wouldn’t be the only phone calls they’d get. That’ll be a fascinating one to watch.

As for the rest of the top Canadian women’s teams, I think it’s status quo, or maybe some minor deck chair shifting. Team Inglis announced today they’re sticking together, and I’d expect we’ll see similar announcements across the board over the coming weeks for the likes of Team Lawes, Cameron, Sturmay, Ackerman, Skrlik, Grandy, St-Georges, etc. As jostling for Trials spots really starts to heat up, changes aren’t advisable as points are too valuable, and those teams all seem to have a good mix. As I say, maybe one person is replaced on any of those given teams, but we aren’t getting a major overhaul.

We already learned that Krysten Karwacki is indeed the permanent fill-in for Briane Harris as she fights her 4-year ban. Move makes perfect sense for both Karwacki and Team Einarson: while Krysten did lose the Saskatchewan final the last two years, she wasn’t going to the Olympics with that team. Either way, this is a smart move for her. Either Harris’ suspension is upheld and she plays, or she’s the dedicated fifth and one who has been with the team so long you could only assume Curling Canada would let her accompany Team Einarson to the 2026 Olympics should they make it there. And for the team, the comfort level is there and Krysten was First All-Star just a few weeks ago at the Scotties. No brainer.

The only other name I’d wonder about among the top women’s teams is Kelsey Rocque. It was a 5-person team with Beth Peterson this season and they made the Manitoba Scotties final, so she could easily be staying there. But with her pedigree, I’d guess she gets a few phone calls and maybe leaves for a more permanent 4-person solution. And with Team Hunkin announcing a break-up, Jessie Haughian likely becomes a sought-after free agent. The talent, experience, and trophy case is there and she wants to keep playing. I don’t know that we’ll see Casey Scheidegger come back, so we’ll see if there’s an Alberta vacancy Haughian slides into, or perhaps elsewhere.

That’s it. Told you it would be short. I’m capable of writing a short newsletter—who knew? Looking forward to seeing how this all plays out, and also absolutely loving watching Team Homan this week. They’re on another level this season and it’s a joy to take in. Thanks for reading! We’ll see you back here soon.