When veteran curlers Brad Gushue and Mark Nichols walked into the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard locker room for their season opener, they expected to see many of their usual opponents.

Instead, they got a first-hand look at the next generation set to make their mark on the Roaring Game.

“We looked around and didn’t recognize many faces,” Gushue said. “A lot of new younger teams are on the scene, especially international teams.”

September’s bonspiel wasn’t just a one-off event for emerging international talent. Many of the men’s and women’s teams on the Oakville court are regulars on the Grand Slam circuit of top curling.

A wave of under-30 talent from abroad — anchored by players such as Switzerland’s Marco Hoesli, Scotland’s Ross Whyte, Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Sweden’s Isabella Wrana, to name a few — shows the future of the sport bright, but it has also revealed a lack. of new generation depth on the Canadian stage.

“The rest of these countries are amazing and they’re young, they’re kids,” said four-time world champion Glenn Howard, who is coaching this season after retiring as a player. “It’s not like 40-year-olds are coming.

“I’m 20 years old, with a ton of talent.”

Long gone are the days when domestic entries dominated the entry lists at Slam stops. Canadian teams typically take up about a third of the spots, with a few strong young international rinks joining their fellow veterans in the field.

“You no longer need experience to reach the top,” said Swedish skipper and reigning Olympic champion Niklas Edin. “Basically, you have to have the talent and you have to put in the time. And then obviously do it the right way.”

Edin, who will turn 40 next summer, said that in addition to quality training from experienced curlers, many young players also use streaming options and online videos to go over strategy and technique.

“22-year-olds today are probably as savvy as 30-year-olds were a decade ago,” he said in a recent interview. “I think you can gather information much faster.

“If you’re physically and mentally capable, you’ll get there in no time these days.”

This week’s Co-op Canadian Open in Nisku, Alta., has seven domestic entries in the men’s and five in the women’s. The average age of Canadian skips is 36.9, while it is only 30.4 for international skips.

Only three Canadians are over 20: Rylan Kleiter (26), Selena Sturmay (26) and Matt Dunstone, who turns 30 in June. Both Kleiter and Sturmay are playing in a Tier-1 Slam for only the second time.

In addition to Hoesli (24) and Whyte (26), other players under 30 include Switzerland’s Michael Brunner (29), Scotland’s James Craik (23) and Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller (29).

Constantini (25) and Wrana (27) are joined on the women’s under-30 list by South Korean Seung-youn Ha (24), Japanese Ikue Kitazawa (28), Swiss Xenia Schwaller (22) and Japanese Miku Nihira (22).

Howard, who is coaching Chelsea Carey’s side this week, said he had noticed many of the young internationals played “without fear”.

“I look at strategy and I look at tactics and they don’t care,” he said. “They say, ‘If I don’t make this shot, I’m going to give up four. But I’m going to go make this shot.”

“And I do. It’s like, “Wow!”

Curling Canada unveiled a revamped next-generation national program last May to help develop the country’s younger talent. It includes U21 national champions, U25 Next-Gen Classic winners and U27 teams in the top 15 of the national rankings.

Selected teams spend two years in the program, with funding and support conditional on meeting performance standards and expectations.

However, many international rinks have different configurations because there are fewer elite teams in those countries. Depending on funding arrangements, many athletes are able to curl full-time.

It contributed to greater parity and strengthened the sport as a whole.

“The game is amazing right now,” Howard said. “The game has never been this good. It’s fun to watch and it will be interesting to see where it goes in the next 10 years.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 5, 2024.

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