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Roaring Game Returns: Olympic qualification a key storyline this curling season

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With the Paris Games in the books, the countdown is on to the next Olympics in Milan and Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy.

The Winter Games are set for February 2026 and the Canadian curling qualification playdowns – for mixed doubles, at least – will kick off in just a few months.

Olympic representation is one of many intriguing storylines as the Roaring Game returns. Here’s a look at some other hot talking points as the 2024-25 season begins.

MIXED PLAYDOWNS

After missing the podium in mixed doubles at the 2022 Beijing Games, Curling Canada tweaked the timing of its Olympic qualification event and adjusted a key rule for this quadrennial.

Instead of finalizing Canadian representatives a few weeks before the Games, the Canadian Mixed Doubles Trials will be held over a year out from competition.

The 16-team domestic playdowns will be held Dec. 30-Jan. 4 in Liverpool, N.S.

For the first time, Canadian athletes will be allowed to compete in mixed doubles and four-player team competition should they qualify in both disciplines.

BUSY SCHEDULE

The already compact curling schedule includes some key mixed doubles events that will serve as direct-entry qualifiers for the Trials.

Berths will be on the line at the Oct. 31-Nov. 3 competition in Abbotsford, B.C., the Nov. 21-24 event in Guelph, Ont., and the Dec. 5-8 competition in Banff/Canmore, Alta.

Several berths in the four-player Canadian Curling Trials – set for Nov. 22-30, 2025 in Halifax – will be determined by the end of the campaign.

HARRIS CASE

It remains unclear when Team Kerri Einarson lead Briane Harris might return to competitive curling.

She was provisionally suspended last February. Harris tested positive for trace amounts of the banned anabolic agent Ligandrol, her lawyer said.

The case is before the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport but no other details – including a date for a potential hearing – have been released.

Team alternate Krysten Karwacki will fill in for Harris at the Saville Shootout in Edmonton this weekend.

GRAND SLAMS

The showcase event on the Grand Slam of Curling calendar – a series now owned by The Curling Group – remains without a confirmed date and venue.

The Princess Auto Players’ Championship is traditionally held in Toronto in mid-April.

Sportsnet, which sold the circuit last spring, will continue to serve as event broadcaster. The Slam season kicks off Oct. 1 with the HearingLife Tour Challenge in Charlottetown.

COACH BOTTCHER

A top free agent should he one day return to the four-player game, Brendan Bottcher is focusing on mixed doubles and coaching this season.

He was let go by his teammates last April and replaced at skip by Brad Jacobs. Bottcher will partner with Rachel Homan this season and also coach her four-player team.

Coach Don Bartlett guided Team Rachel Homan to a stunning 67-7 record and seven championships in 2023-24.

CC IN FOR JJ

Team Jennifer Jones – now known as Team Chelsea Carey – has a new leader with Carey taking over at skip for the curling legend, who closed out her four-player career last April.

Carey will anchor a squad that’s ranked fifth in the world. Jones plans to continue playing mixed doubles with her husband Brent Laing.

HEADING WEST

Calgary’s WinSport Event Centre had sellout crowds at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts last winter.

Organizers are hoping the turnout will be just as strong for the Sept. 25-29 PointsBet Invitational.

The Season of Champions opener was plagued by attendance woes last season in Oakville, Ont.

WORLD RANKINGS

There is plenty of international flavour in the latest world curling rankings.

Italy’s Joel Retornaz is sandwiched by Scotland’s Bruce Mouat (No. 1) and Ross Whyte (No. 3) with fourth-ranked Brad Gushue the lone Canadian entry in a top five that includes Sweden’s Niklas Edin.

Ottawa’s Rachel Homan leads the women’s rankings ahead of Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni, South Korea’s Eun ji Gim, Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg and Winnipeg’s Chelsea Carey.

SPONSOR SITUATION

The Canadian Curling Trials remains without a title sponsor even though the competition is just over a year away.

Tim Hortons served as title sponsor for five editions of the event. The restaurant chain, which also sponsored the Brier from 2005-23, declined to renew its title sponsorship last year.

Montana’s has since come on board as the title sponsor of the national men’s championship.

YOUNG GUNS

Team Taylor Reese-Hansen and Team Jordon McDonald are two young Canadian rinks to keep an eye on this season.

They’re coming off victories at the U25 NextGen Classic in Edmonton. Both teams received NextGen funding and berths in the upcoming PointsBet Invitational.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 4, 2024.

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RCMP investigating after three found dead in Lloydminster, Sask.

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LLOYDMINSTER, SASK. – RCMP are investigating the deaths of three people in Lloydminster, Sask.

They said in a news release Thursday that there is no risk to the public.

On Wednesday evening, they said there was a heavy police presence around 50th Street and 47th Avenue as officers investigated an “unfolding incident.”

Mounties have not said how the people died, their ages or their genders.

Multiple media reports from the scene show yellow police tape blocking off a home, as well as an adjacent road and alleyway.

The city of Lloydminster straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.

Mounties said the three people were found on the Saskatchewan side of the city, but that the Alberta RCMP are investigating.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Sept. 12, 2024.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story; An earlier version said the three deceased were found on the Alberta side of Lloydminster.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Three injured in Kingston, Ont., assault, police negotiating suspect’s surrender

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KINGSTON, Ont. – Police in Kingston, Ont., say three people have been sent to hospital with life-threatening injuries after a violent daytime assault.

Kingston police say officers have surrounded a suspect and were trying to negotiate his surrender as of 1 p.m.

Spokesperson Const. Anthony Colangeli says police received reports that the suspect may have been wielding an edged or blunt weapon, possibly both.

Colangeli says officers were called to the Integrated Care Hub around 10:40 a.m. after a report of a serious assault.

He says the three victims were all assaulted “in the vicinity,” of the drop-in health centre, not inside.

Police have closed Montreal Street between Railway Street and Hickson Avenue.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Government intervention in Air Canada talks a threat to competition: Transat CEO

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Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.

“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.

“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.

Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.

Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.

Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.

The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.

As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”

“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.

The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.

It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.

Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.

The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.

“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”

Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.

“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.

“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.

“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRZ)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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