Olympic Trials draw closer

The Olympics are probably the biggest event that most people will ever compete at. For many curlers, it's bigger than the Scotties or Brier. And with just a handful of events left to qualify for Canada's Olympic Trials, curlers are desperately grabbing those CTRS points where ever they can.

This season, however, a few teams put themselves at ease by securing a spot at those trials. Thirteen other teams have guaranteed themselve a chance at the pre-trials qualifier.

Those thirteen teams include six mens teams: Randy Ferbey and Kevin Koe from Alberta, Kerry Burtnyk and Jeff Stoughton from Manitoba, Pat Simmons from Saskatchewan, and Wayne Middaugh from Ontraio. The women's field for the pre-trials will include Kelly Scott, Sherry Anderson, Cheryl Bernard, Stefanie Lawton, Shannon Kleibrink, Sherry Middaugh, and one team that many consider a surprise — Amber Holland. Prior to April of this year, the Holland rink was not a familiar name to curling fans. The young skip from Kronau, Saskatchewan was ranked fifteen in the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) when she headed into the 2008 TLYNEOL Players' Championship. Despite being a major underdog at the even, Holland's team rose to the top and was crowned the Players' Champion. The 40 CTRS points she picked up at the event rocketed her up to eleventh place in the CTRS standings and gave her a spot at the pre-trials event.

But enough about pre-trials. Let's talk about those teams who have bypassed all that. There are only three of them; two mens teams and only a single womens team. To nobody's surprise, Glenn Howard, Kevin Martin and Jennifer Jones have all secured a berth at the 2009 Olympic Trials which will take place in Edmonton. Each of these three teams have won a world championship in the past two years, and have won multiple World Curling Tour events this season. Jennifer Jones is the top CTRS ranked womens team, with 450.050 points and Kevin Martin in the top ranked mens team,with 593.050 points. Glenn Howard's rink is at Martin's heels though, in second place with 569.700 points.

With such strong teams already in the trials, it's really anybody's guess as to which team will represent Canada at the Vancouver games in 2010.