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Halifax to host 2005 Canadian Trials SASKATOON (CP) - Curling teams at the Canadian men's curling championship are also battling for berths in the 2005 Olympic trials and Halifax was announced as the site of that competition on Thursday. The trials will be staged Dec. 3-11 at the Halifax
Metro Centre. The winner of the men's and women's competitions - involving
10 teams each - will represent Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin,
Italy. The CCA wanted to stage the event in Atlantic Canada because many high-profile curling competitions will be held in Western Canada next year, explained Warren Hansen, manager of event operations. Hansen cited Halifax's successful hosting of the Brier and the fact two teams from that city have already qualified for the Olympic trials as contributing factors in its selection. ``Having two teams already qualified, Colleen Jones and Mark Dacey, made it a natural for us to bid for the event,'' said Graham Harris, president of the trials host committee. ``We look to their involvement as a great marketing tool for the event.'' London, Ont., also made a pitch for the event, and is in the running as host of the 2006 Canadian women's championship. Curling became a full medal sport at the Olympics in 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Brandon hosted the 1997 trials and Regina was the site of the 2001 event. Sandra Schmirler's Regina team won Olympic gold in 1998 and Ontario's Mike Harris won silver that year. Edmonton's Kevin Martin won silver in at the 2002 Olympics and Kelley Law's team from New Westminster, B.C. was third. Women's teams who have qualified for the 2005 trials already are Canadian champion Colleen Jones, Ontario's Sherry Middaugh, Sherry Anderson of Saskatchewan, Alberta's Shannon Kleibrink and Quebec's Marie-France Larouche. On the men's side, Alberta's Randy Ferbey and John Morris and Haligonian Mark Dacey have qualified. Dacey earned a berth last year when he finished runner-up to Ferbey in last year's Brier final. He will have comfort level in the arena that other teams don't. ``I've played three nationals in Halifax and I was in the final in all three of them,'' Dacey said. ``The nice thing is you can go to the rink during a Moosehead (junior hockey) game or a concert and you can sit there and you just start to absorb the energy in the rink while people who come from away are in unfamiliar surroundings.'' For world champion Ferbey, an Olympic gold medal would be the missing piece in his long and successful career. ``For me personally, it would be the culmination of a good curling career,'' Ferbey said. ``I've won almost everything there is to win in curling and the only thing I haven't got is an Olympic gold medal.'' Veteran Russ Howard of New Brunswick, the oldest skip at the Brier at 48, is still looking for an Olympic trial berth. He doesn't consider the Olympics the greatest event in curling.
``It's a carrot that's eluded me and I'd love to get up there. But to me winning the Olympics, winning the worlds it's the same thing.'' But for Brad Gushue of Newfoundland, at age 23 the youngest skip at the Canadian men's curling championship, an Olympic gold medal is the ultimate prize in his sport. ``If I ended up winning the Brier two or three times I would exchange those for an Olympic title in a flash,'' Gushue said. ``Not taking anything away from the Brier but I think the Olympics is the pinnacle of all sport. Gushue, a world junior curling champion in 2001,
says winning an Olympic gold gives a team a higher profile than winning a
world championship. ``I'd like to be known as the best curler in the world and to do that I think you have to be an Olympic champion. ``And it looks like such a cool event to play in.'' |