Field announced for Players’ Championship

As expected, it will be an all star line-up at the Grand Slam of Curling’s Crown Royal Players’ Championship, hosted in Steinbach Jan. 6-11 this year.

The top 12 men’s and women’s teams from the World Curling rankings get berths at the championship, which is the final Grand Slam of the year. If any team decided not to accept the invitation, the next highest ranked team was invited.

Rachel Homan, who earned the right to represent Canada at the upcoming Olympics and is the top ranked team in the world will be there, trying to complete a career Grand Slam. Standing in her way is Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni, who is gunning for her third consecutive Players’ Championship victory.

Seven of the men’s teams and six of the women’s teams are playing at the Olympics, including Canada’s Brad Jacobs.

Gimli’s Kerri Einarson is the only Manitoban team on the women’s side of the draw. Winnipeg’s Mike McEwan, who now curls out of Saskatchewan, is also at the event.

The number one seed on the men’s side is Scotland’s Bruce Mouat, who are the defending champions at the event. The men’s final will take place at 11 a.m. Jan. 11, with the women’s final kicking off at 3:30 p.m.

Games will be broadcast on Sportsnet beginning Jan. 8, with earlier draws available online at watch.rockchannel.com. Ticket information and a full schedule is available on the Grand Slam of Curling’s website.

The Southeast Event Centre put out a call for volunteers Dec. 22, needing help with ice prep, ticket taking, check in and even game operations. Knowledge of curling is needed if a volunteer is going to be working stats and timekeeping.

“This is such an amazing opportunity for our region,” SEC director of communications, marketing and sales Michelle Sawatzky-Koop said.

“The Grand Slam of Curling brings the world’s best athletes to our doorstep, and we want to show them what makes southeastern Manitoba so special—our people. Volunteers are the heartbeat of events like this.”

MEN’S POOL A

Mouat (SCO)

Y. Schwaller (SUI)

Casper (USA)

Edin (SWE)

Shuster (USA)

Xu (CHN)

MEN’S POOL B

Dunstone (CAN)

Jacobs (CAN)

Retornaz (ITA)

Whyte (SCO)

Waddell (SCO)

McEwen (CAN)

WOMEN’S POOL A

Homan (CAN)

X. Schwaller (SUI)

Hasselborg (SWE)

Peterson (USA)

Fujisawa (JPN)

Wranå (SWE)

WOMEN’S POOL B

Tirinzoni (SUI)

Gim (KOR)

Yoshimura (JPN)

Tabata (JPN)

Einarson (CAN)

Kitazawa (JPN)