Day 1 at the Pre-Trials

Day 1 of the Pre-Trials is over and there were a few surprises, I’d say.

On the men’s side, I’d say the biggest surprise was McEwan beating Burtnyk. Now it’s not a jaw-dropping shock (I'm not sure anything can be with this field), but it was still somewhat of an upset, I’d say

The other games went pretty much to form – I’d say the Ursel-Stoughton match could have gone either way with those two squads among the hottest of any going in.

Another interesting development is the possible A final between Stoughton and Gushue. Stoughton, who has a great sense of humour, quipped to the Calgary Herald's Al Cameron “Of COURSE (Gushue) has a chance.” You can read Cameron's full piece which focuses on Brad Gushue here.

What’s also interesting is that lower bracket on the B side which has Ursel, Burtnyk, McAuley and Middaugh all grouped. I will be interesting to see who comes out of that quadrant

On the women’s side, The Scott and Anderson teams are about what most expected although I thought Heather Rankin might advance there too. One the bottom half, those crazy kids, Team Homan are pretty amazing. I’d LOVE to see them make it to the Trials and I’m sure the CCA would too.

Today should be another interesting day.