DOMINION CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP

Dominion Club Championship
Posted 2008-12-19

The Manitoba Curling Association is pleased to announce that they have come to agreement with the Dominion Insurance Company to host a Dominion Club Championship in the province of Manitoba. The Dominion Club Championship is a program introduced by the Dominion Insurance Company to help fill the gap between grassroots club curlers and those elite curlers who garner so much of the attention in the curling world.

The winners of the Manitoba Dominion Club Championship will go on to represent Manitoba in the National Championships to be held the last week of November, 2009 in Etobicoke, Ontario. The 8 team men’s and 8 team women’s provincial championship will take place from April 24-26, 2009 at the Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club in Winnipeg. The provincial championships will take place immediately after the Winnipeg Club Championship which will also take place at the AMCC. Representatives at the Provincial Championship will be selected with one male and one female representative coming from each provincial sport region. The eighth team will come from the host region. The host region this year will be Winnipeg.

Representatives will be selected from each region through a regional playdowns that will take place throughout February, March and early April. The seven sport regions in Manitoba are Norman, Parkland, Westman, Central, Interlake, Eastman and Winnipeg.

“We are very excited about this opportunity for Manitoba curlers. For too long there has been a missing link for the everyday club curler to compete and have the opportunity move onward and represent Manitoba. We feel that this will not only help to draw new curlers into a more competitive environment but draw curlers who had moved away from serious competition and participation in the Safeway and Scotties qualifying process back into competitive curling. “ commented Shane Ray, Executive Director of the MCA.

To date more than 20 Manitoba curling clubs have declared the intent to participate in the regional play downs. Clubs have until mid January to declare their intent to participate in the regional playdowns.

In the intent of making the Championship for everyday curlers, the Dominion has set the eligibility as follows.
Each team will be allowed only one player who has played in a Men’s, Women’s or Seniors’ provincial event in the current or previous year, or participated in a Grand Slam event in the current or previous year. A maximum of 2 replacement players from the club can play any position except skip, but cannot play any position higher than the position being filled. Each team will be allowed a maximum of 2 players under the age of 20, as of December 31st of the year prior to the championship (minimum age of 15 as of December 31st).