2015 Continental Cup of Curling

2015 World Financial Group Continental Cup of Curling
2015 World Financial Group Continental Cup of Curling
Host city	Calgary, Alberta
Arena	Markin MacPhail Centre International Arena
Dates	January 8–11
Winner	TBD
Discipline
Score Breakdown
Discipline	Canada
Team Round 1	2
Mixed Doubles Round 1	2.5
Team Round 2	2.5
Team Round 3	1.5
Singles	3.5
Team Round 4	3
Mixed Doubles Round 2	2
Team Round 5	3
Total	20
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The 2015 World Financial Group Continental Cup of Curling will be held from January 8 to 11 at the Markin MacPhail Centre International Arena in Calgary, Alberta.^[1] The Continental Cup will feature team events, mixed doubles events, singles competitions, and skins competitions, and the brunt of the points will be in the skins competitions. TSN will broadcast the event, as it has in previous years.^[1]

Competition background

This edition of the Continental Cup will be the first in which the new system of competing teams will be implemented. In this and future editions of the Continental Cup, Team North America will be replaced by an all-Canadian team entry. Team Canada will compete alternatively against Team Europe in odd years and Team World, made up of teams from the United States and non-European curling nations, in even years. In this edition of the Continental Cup, six teams from Canada will compete against six teams from Europe.^[2]

The same competition format as that of the previous year will be used. Out of the sixty total points available, a majority of points will be needed to win the cup. The mixed doubles, singles, and team games will be worth one point each, and ties will be worth one half point each to both teams. The skins games will be worth a total of five points. Six mixed doubles and six singles games will be played, along with eighteen team games and six skins games.

Teams

The teams will be selected from the top teams in each region. Six teams from each region will compete against each other in the competition. The teams from Canada earn the right to represent Team Canada by virtue of winning certain events, namely the Canada Cup of Curling and the Canadian National Championships (the Brier and the Tournament of Hearts). The final two teams are the teams who represented Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and the teams representing Team World are selected by the World Curling Federation.

The teams in the table below have been announced as representatives of their respective regions.^[3] For Team World, the teams participating include Olympic bronze medallist Eve Muirhead, Olympic silver medallist Margaretha Sigfridsson, world bronze medallist Anna Sidorova, Olympic bronze medallist Niklas Edin, two-time world champion David Murdoch, and two-time European champion Thomas Ulsrud.

Team	Skip	Third	Second	Lead	Locale
Team Canada	Rachel Homan	Emma Miskew	Joanne Courtney	Lisa Weagle	Ottawa, Ontario
	Jennifer Jones	Kaitlyn Lawes	Jill Officer	Dawn McEwen	Winnipeg, Manitoba
	Val Sweeting	Lori Olson-Johns	Dana Ferguson	Rachelle Brown	Edmonton, Alberta
	Brad Jacobs	Ryan Fry	E. J. Harnden	Ryan Harnden	Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
	John Morris	Pat Simmons	Carter Rycroft	Nolan Thiessen	Calgary, Alberta
	Mike McEwen	B. J. Neufeld	Matt Wozniak	Denni Neufeld	Winnipeg, Manitoba
	Coach: Rick Lang, Captain: Randy Ferbey
Team Europe	Eve Muirhead	Anna Sloan	Vicki Adams	Sarah Reid	Stirling
	Anna Sidorova	Margarita Fomina	Alexandra Saitova	Ekaterina Galkina	Moscow
	Maria Prytz (fourth)	Christina Bertrup	Maria Wennerström	Margaretha Sigfridsson (skip)	Umeå
	Niklas Edin	Oskar Eriksson	Kristian Lindström	Christoffer Sundgren	Karlstad
	David Murdoch	Greg Drummond	Scott Andrews	Michael Goodfellow	Stirling
	Thomas Ulsrud	Torger Nergård	Christoffer Svae	Håvard Vad Petersson	Oslo
	Coach: David Hay, Captain: Peja Lindholm