2022 P.E.I. Scotties Tournament of Hearts cancelled due to COVID-19

Citing recent COVID-19 outbreaks and public health measures not allowing tournaments on the Island, the 2022 P.E.I. Scotties Tournament of Hearts has been cancelled.

The annual curling tournament usuallytakes place in Januaryand decides which team represents P.E.I. at the national women's curling championship.

Jamie Newson, the president of Curl P.E.I., said it was in the best interest to cancelto keep players, coaches and staff safe.

"We were hoping to still be able to run the women's event with some strict protocols in place, but we didn't feel it was a wise decision at this time," he said.

"Wewere waiting on Curl Canada, there had been some talks, rumours basically, whether the national event would be postponed in light of case counts all across the country, and we hadconfirmation yesterday that they were going ahead as scheduled for the end of January.

"With such a tight timeline we had no option to postpone the event any longer."

This year's event was supposed to take place at the Montague Curling Club from Jan.5-9.

Newsonsaid there isstill a plantosenda team to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ont.

This is how Curl P.E.I. will decide which team goes:

• Curl P.E.I. will invite the P.E.I. team that is leading on the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) as of Dec. 26, 2021, to represent P.E.I. at the national event.
• If at least 50 per centof the original roster of that team is unavailable, Curl P.E.I. will invite the next highest ranking team and so on.

Newson said clubs and players agreed that it was the right decision to cancel the P.E.I. Scotties, and that the response has been nothing but positive.

"It's discouraging that we're in this situation, but at the end of the day you have to do what's best for everyone's health and safety," he said.

P.E.I. Tankard expected to beginJan. 26

For the time being, Curl P.E.I. plans on the 2022 P.E.I. Tankard going ahead, which will be heldfromJan. 26 to 30.

That tournament decides which men's team will represent the Island at the national men's championship, the Tim Hortons Brier, in Lethbridge, Alta.

A decision on whether that will still take place will be made a week or two before the tournament.