S10 | SPORTS OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | SATURDAY,FEBRUARY22,2020
Protective of their curl-life bal-
ance, Krista McCarville and her
Northern Ontario team build
their season around peaking for
the national championship.
The Fort William Curling Club
foursome from Thunder Bay,
Ont., don’t play in as many World
Curling Tour events as the big
names in women’s curling do.
It doesn’t seem to hurt their
performance at the Scotties Tour-
nament of Hearts, however.
McCarville skipped Northern
Ontario to the playoffs for the
fourth time in her career.
A 6-5 win over Prince Edward
Island’s Suzanne Birt on Friday
secured the fourth and final play-
off berth for McCarville.
Northern Ontario joins Onta-
rio’s Rachel Homan, Manitoba’s
Kerri Einarson and the Jennifer
Jones wild-card team in Satur-
day’s Page playoff in Moose Jaw,
Sask.
Trailing three coming home
with last-rock advantage, Birt at-
tempted a hit for three and pos-
sibly four for the win, but count-
ed two.
“We always seem to make it re-
ally exciting at the end,” McCar-
ville said. “Maybe a few more
wrinkles on my face and some
more grey hair. What else can I
ask for?”
Page seedings were still in play
heading into the championship
round’s finale Friday evening.
Jones (9-1) was assured a top-
two finish. Homan (9-1) and Ei-
narson (8-2) were jockeying to
join her.
McCarville (7-3) will be the
fourth seed.
The rest of the field fell out of
contention with five or more
losses.
The top two seeds meet Satur-
day evening with the winner ad-
vancing directly to Sunday’s final.
The loser drops to Sunday’ssemi-final to face the winner of
Saturday afternoon’s playoff be-
tween the third and fourth seeds.
Homan faced Einarson and
Jones met McCarville on Friday
evening.
McCarville came through thethree-four game to reach the 2016
final in Grande Prairie, Alta.
She fell 7-6 to Alberta’s Chel-
sea Carey. Her teams lost out in
the three-four game in 2017 and
2019.
McCarville, who is coached bythree-time Canadian men’s
champion Rick Lang, is ranked
28th in Canada.
Because her team doesn’t trav-
el to many events, it doesn’t rack
up ranking points.
Their presence in Pool A in
Moose Jaw contributed to it’s
“pool of death” label, however.
“Basically at any Scotties that
Krista McCarville is in, whatever
pool she’s in is going to be the
harder one,” Carey said. “She’s
ranked really low, but she’s really
good and we all know that.”
McCarville is a teacher, third
Kendra Lilly works in financial
services, second Ashley Sippala is
a lab technician and lead Jen
Gates is a communications man-
ager at a country club.
Both McCarville and Sippala
have children.
“Right from the time we really
started getting more competitive,
we said, ‘You know what? Curl-
ing’s not number one in our lives.
We love curling and it’s a passion.
All of us want to do it, but it’s not
our number one,’ ”McCarville
said.
“We might not ’spiel as much,
but we practise really hard at
home. To come out here and be
able to contend it is exciting.
Carey will not defend her Can-
adian title this year. She dropped
to six losses falling 9-2 to British
Columbia’s Corryn Brown.
Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silver-
nagle needed a win and a McCar-
ville loss to keep her playoff
hopes alive, and got neither. The
host province lost 9-4 to Homan.
“Today we were just a little
fooled on the ice,” Silvernagle
said.
Jones defeated Einarson 12-7 in
a rematch of the Manitoba wom-
en’s final. The two teams tied in
the pregame draw the button to
determine who had hammer to
start the game. Jones claimed
hammer on a second try.THECANADIANPRESSKRASNOYARSK,RUSSIACana-
dianwomen’sandmen’srinks
haveadvancedtotheirrespec-
tivefinalsattheworldjunior
curlingchampionships.
MackenzieZacharias’sManito-
bawomen’srinkscoredasingle
intheextraendtobeatVlada
RumiantsevaofRussia9-8in
semi-finalactiononFriday.
Earlier,JacquesGauthier’sManitobamen’steambeat
Germany’sSixtenTotzek7-4in
semi-finalplay.Zacharias(8-2)
willfaceKimMin-ji(10-0)of
SouthKoreainthefinal.
Gauthier(8-2)willmeetSwit-
zerland’sYvesWagenseil(6-4)in
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beatScotland9-6.Gauthierwill
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secutiveworldjuniormen’scrownafterTylerTardiofBritish
Columbiawonthelasttwo.
Gauthierstoletwointhefinal
endtosealitagainstGermany.
“Thatwasoneofthebest-
playedgamesI’veeverbeena
partoffrombothsides,”Gauth-
iersaid.
“Anythingcanhappenin10
andthingswentourway.”
THECANADIANPRESSCANADIANRINKSEARNBERTHSINWORLDJUNIORCURLINGFINALSMcCarvilleclaimsScottiesplayoffberth
Low-rankedteam
fromNorthernOntario
securesfinalspot
bydowningPEI’sBirt
DONNASPENCERMOOSEJAW
TeamWildCard’sJenniferJonesmakesashotduringdraw18againstManitobaattheScottiesTournament
ofHeartsinMooseJawonFriday.JONATHANHAYWARD/THECANADIANPRESSA
veteran of nearly 130 career
fights, Kyle Clifford can see
a day when dropping the
gloves in the NHL has serious re-
percussions beyond a five-min-
ute penalty.
Just not any time soon.
“It’d be a while before you see
that,” the bruising Toronto Maple
Leafs winger said. “Eventually,
I’m sure they’ll go that way.”
It could happen a lot sooner in
the Quebec Major Junior Hockey
League.
One of Canada’s three top-tier
junior circuits, the QMJHL de-
layed a vote on the possibility of
taking a harsher stance toward
fighting at a meeting Thursday.
But the league’s member teams
are expected to reconvene in Au-
gust, with 12 of 18 clubs needing to
approve any proposed rule
change.
“Whether we ban fighting out-
right or simply impose stricter pe-
nalties for fighting, those were
the elements that made our de-
bate very nuanced,” QMJHL com-
missioner Gilles Courteau told re-
porters Thursday in Dorval, Que.
“This is not a debate we’re taking
lightly.”
Canada’s other two major ju-
nior leagues – the Western Hock-
ey League and Ontario Hockey
League – allow fighting, although
the OHL added mandatory sus-
pensions for reaching a certain
threshold in 2016.
A player who instigates a fight
in the QMJHL in the final five
minutes of regulation with one
team leading by two goals or
more currently receives an auto-
matic one-game suspension. A
player is also handed a one-game
ban if he racks up more than
three fights under the same con-
ditions without the instigator
penalty being assessed.
Leafs centre Frédérik Gauthier,
who played three seasons in the
QMJHL, understands why the
league might want to slam the
door shut on fighting, especially
considering the dangers of con-
cussions and head injuries, and
the varying size and maturity of
junior players.
“There’s not much fighting in
that league these days,” the 24-
year-old said. “A guy can get a lot
bigger between 16 and 20 years
old. There’s a big age gap. I’m as-
suming it’s a safety thing.”
OHL commissioner David
Branch, who’s held the job since
the late 1970s, said there’s noth-
ing currently on the table with his
league when it comes to a changein approach to fighting.
“We’ve taken some significant
steps in the area of fighting with
the view of working toward re-
ducing it and seeing it potentially
evolve to where it very rarely oc-
curs,” said Branch, who also
served as Canadian Hockey
League president from 1996 until
September. “I don’t believe you’re
ever going to have an outright
prohibition on it, but it’s a work
in progress.”
Branch said fighting is down
roughly 45 per cent in the OHL
since the implementation of a
rule that sees a player suspended
after his fourth altercation of the
season.
“We’re having one fight every
three or four games, which is a far
cry from what the numbers
were,” he said. “You’re always
looking at ways you can continue
to provide the safest environ-
ment.”
A spokesperson with the WHL
said in an e-mail it’s not consid-
ering a ban on fighting. The CHL,
an umbrella organization that
oversees the country’s top junior
leagues, declined to comment be-
cause the QMJHL discussion is a
regional matter.
Asked about the potential for
harsher penalties or an outright
ban on fighting in the QMJHL, Ot-
tawa Senators winger Nick Paul
said it still has a place in the game.
“If you don’t have [fighting]
then it gets real chippy and guys
start using their stick,” said the
24-year-old, who played three
seasons in the OHL. “When guys
do something really dirty, what
are you going to get? Two min-
utes?”
Development leagues outside
Canada, such as the NCAA in the
United States, tend to have stric-
ter penalties for fighting. The In-
ternational Ice Hockey Federa-
tion has an automatic game mis-
conduct, while a U.S. college play-
er gets an early shower and is also
forced to sit out his team’s next
game.
But Paul said the lack of fight-
ing at lower levels could have un-
intended consequences.
“If you’ve never fought and
then you come into the pros and
there’s fighting, it’s completely
different,” he said. “If you’ve nev-
er been in a fight before it can be
dangerous.”
The NHL has so far avoided
making changes in its approach
to fighting. The league has in-
stead managed to cut down on
the fisticuffs by enforcing rules
thatpromote speed and skill.THECANADIANPRESSNHLersweighinonfights
inQMJHL:‘It’sasafetything’
JOSHUACLIPPERTONTORONTOA
fter realizing he was coming to a dead
end in his battle with an alcohol prob-
lem, Bobby Ryan says asking for help
has shown him a way forward.
The Ottawa Senators right-winger met with
the media Friday morning for the first time
since entering the joint NHL/NHL Players Asso-
ciation assistance program on Nov. 20. Ryan
said his alcohol problem is one he’s been bat-
tling for a while, and he attempt-
ed to deal with it on his own be-
fore realizing he needed help.
“I was trying the white-knuck-
le thing and do things the wrong
way,” Ryan said. “I’d have 20 days
of nothing and one real bad one,
and you just can’t get better with-
out [help]. There’s such a stigma
around asking for help and I was
trying to do it. I’ve done that for a
long time.”
The prospect of having to
share his battle publicly led Ryan
to delay looking for help, but he
finally realized it was a necessity.
“I took two weeks agonizing over the fact
that it was going to be a media thing for me, and
I spent months and years before that trying to
avoid that with doing it on my own,” he said. “I
got to a point where I said enough’s enough of
this. Of the shame and the guilt and not being
the person you need to be for your family.
“I’ve dreaded this day for a better part of
three months, but if you’re going to stand here
and take time to heal yourself, you’re going to
have to face the music.”
Ryan has spoken previously of his troubled
upbringing. His father was charged with at-
tempted murder after assaulting his mother,
then skipped bail. The family reconciled and
lived on the run until his father was eventually
tracked down, arrested and jailed after he plead
guilty to aggravated assault. Ryan said his past
wasn’t a catalyst for his alcohol problem, but it
played a part.
“I had a lot of issues surrounding that, and I
think for a very long time I just kind of put my
head down and never dealt with any of it,” he
said.
“My therapy is going to continue. It’s not fun,
but it’s something I need to be able to let go and
put in my past, and I’ve started to do that, but I
feel great and at peace with a lot of it and I’m
still continuing to let go of some
more.”
Montreal Canadiens forward
Nate Thompson, a former team-
mate of Ryan with the Senators,
said he reached out to offer what-
ever support he could. As a reco-
vering addict himself, he under-
stands the courage it takes to deal
with an addiction, but also the
loneliness that can come from it.
“He should be proud,” Thomp-
son said. “He went out and got
help, and now he’s being open
about it and I think it’s really big
of him to do that because it’s go-
ing to help somebody else out, too.”
Ryan, 32, last played on Nov. 16. He has been
skating since late December and coach D.J.
Smith said he could be back in the Senators li-
neup in about a week. Ryan said he feels great
physically.
“People have reservations about where I’m
at in my career and contract, and I understand
that,” he said. “I’m not saying I’m going to come
out of this and play to the US$7-million guy
that I want to be as much as everybody else
does, but this is a chance for me to reset and
prove that I still have some years left in this
league, and I can play and I can contribute.”THECANADIANPRESSOttawaSenatorBobbyRyanpreparesforafaceoffagainsttheMapleLeafsinTorontolastOctober.
Theright-wingerhasn’tplayedagamesinceNov.16.VAUGHNRIDLEY/GETTYIMAGES
Sens’Ryanlooksforwardtoicetime
asherecoversfromalcoholproblem
LISAWALLACEOTTAWA
[Bobby]Ryan
hasspoken
previouslyofhis
troubledupbringing.
Hisfatherwas
chargedwith
attemptedmurder
afterassaulting
hismother,then
skippedbail.