The Canada Cup (branded as the Home Hardware Canada Cup for sponsorship reasons, and also referred to as the Canada Cup of Curling) is a major men's and women's curling championship in Canada. It is organized by
Curling Canada and is one of its major events on its "Season of Champions". The event is frequently used as a qualifier for various other events, such as the
Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, Pre-Trials and
Continental Cup. Since 2013, the Canada Cup is not held during the same curling season as the
Winter Olympic Games.
Competition history
The first event was held in 2003 at the
Sport Mart Place in
Kamloops, British Columbia, the Cup's home until 2008. During this time the event was sponsored by the
Strauss Herb Company. The first event featured a total purse of $220,000, divided equally for the men's and women's events. Subsequent events however have seen smaller purses available.[1]
The 2009-10 season was without a Canada Cup, with the event returning in December 2010 rather in the Spring like it had been previously. The Canada Cup qualifiers were abolished for the 2010 event, using a number of smaller bonspiels to feed the event. The 2010 event was held at the
Medicine Hat Arena in
Medicine Hat, Alberta.[1]
The
2011 event in
Cranbrook, British Columbia hosted seven teams of each gender instead of ten. The teams played in a round robin as in previous years, with the top three advancing to the playoff round. The second and third-placed teams played in the semifinal, and the winner faced the first-placed team in the final. The
2012 event used the same format.[1]
At present, there are no longer any qualifying tournaments. Teams qualify based on their
World Curling Tour Order of Merit rankings, with one spot reserved for the top-ranking non-qualified team on the
Canadian Team Ranking System closer to the event.[3]
Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, Curling Canada stated that the 2020 Canada Cup would likely be postponed to an unspecified date in 2021, citing its role in qualification for trials for the
2022 Winter Olympics.[4] The 2021 event ultimately did not go ahead, and there are no plans to hold the event in the near future.[5] It was replaced on Curling Canada's Season of Champions calendar by the
PointsBet Invitational.[6]