Brendan Bottcher’s team has one goal in mind: getting to the Olympics. They won the Brier. They’re in the Trials. They have a few Grand Slams to prepare for that. They will be up against the world’s top teams week in and week out.
And in between those events, they have another international event: the Americas Challenge, where they will play Team Mexico and Team Brazil. The winner of that double round robin will give their country a berth into the 2022 world championship. The qualifier will be at the Lacombe (Alberta) Curling Club. Their head ice maker is Bottcher’s vice, Darren Moulding.
“Obviously, this is an important event for Canada, and we take that opportunity to wear the Maple Leaf very seriously, so we are already preparing for this event,” said Bottcher. “We have nothing but respect for any team that steps onto the ice to represent their country, and I know Mexico and Brazil will be bringing their best to Lacombe, so we will have to be ready.”
We all know how this is going to end. But them’s the rules in the book, and they must follow them rules.
This will be the eighth men’s Americas Challenge in history dating back to 2009, the second in which Canada was challenged because the USA is hosting it. There have also been two women’s challenges. The countries involved in the challenge have always included Brazil, Mexico, and Guyana.
Brazil has finished a combined 0-23 in those challenges. Everyone wants to grow the game and see more countries compete. But their competition has been stifled. They need to play other teams.
I had this exact idea six years ago, and now the WCF is putting it into motion starting next year. The Pacific-Asia Championship and the Americas Challenge will be combined into a single event, the Pan-Continental Championship, with two divisions similar to the European system. This also improves the PACC field, which had several lopsided matches as well — it was always China, Korea, Japan, and everybody else — and now the field is much more competitive.
The championship will send five teams to worlds, and in the foreseeable future it’s going to be those five, joined by Mexico and two more men’s and women’s teams, depending on who finishes fourth and fifth at the upcoming (and final) PACCs.
The only drama in Lacombe will be if Brazil or Mexico finishes second place, because whoever does so will be in the first PCC’s A-Division. It would be nice to see Brazil finally win a game, though, before the Americas Challenge. torn asunder and lost into the vestiges of curling history.