Just over eight months ago, the 2020 Memorial Cup that was scheduled to be played in Kelowna was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Today, the city received another major blow, as it’s officially been announced that the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier will no longer be held in Kelowna either.
The tournament isn’t being cancelled, but it will be held in a hub-city or bubble format at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park in Calgary instead.
BREAKING NEWS: The 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, 2021 Tim Hortons Brier, 2021 World Men's Curling Championship and the 2021 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship will be held in Calgary. #STOH2021 #Brier2021 #WMCC2021 #CMDCC2021 pic.twitter.com/0HcD4TZwRz
— Curling Canada (@CurlingCanada) December 1, 2020
“No one can deny that these are challenging times, and not just for curling, obviously, but we also know how important these events are to the athletes, to our partners and, of course, to our fans,” said Katherine Henderson, CEO of Curling Canada.
Kelowna isn’t the only city affected, as all 2021 Season of Champions curling events will be played in the same format in Calgary as well.
That means Fredericton, Oakville, Thunder Bay and Ottawa are all losing out on events in 2021, but Curling Canada says all cities have graciously agreed to host these championships in the future.
While it’s devastating news for BC curling fans who planned on taking in some of the action at Prospera Place, the focus is understandably on safety for the players, fans and organizers.
“It’s exciting news, and as a team we’re very pleased to see that such a high priority is being placed on the safety of the athletes and those involved in putting on the championships,” said Brad Gushue, skip of the defending Brier champions.
“We’re looking forward to playing events — if there’s a safe way to play them, let’s get them played. Other sports are playing, and the NHL and NBA have shown that it can be done safely, so I believe we can do the same in curling.”
Curling Canada says it will be using inspiration from the NHL and NBA to set up a similar bubble environment in Calgary.
New dates and further details won’t be announced until a number of logistics have been ironed out with both the host facility and provincial health authorities.
There will also be no wild card play-in game the night before the round-robin starts for both the Brier and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, but formats for all three Canadian championship events will be announced at a later date.
As is the case with the Memorial Cup, it’s expected that a future Brier will be hosted in Kelowna sooner rather than later, but any official news on that isn’t expected in the coming months.
For now, anyone who has purchased tickets to the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier will receive an email soon regarding their refund, which will be automatically issued to the credit card used to buy the tickets.
