The 2022 Ontario Tankard, (known as the Port Elgin Chrysler '22 Ontario Tankard Presented by Bruce Power for sponsorship reasons), the provincial men's curling championship for Southern Ontario, was held from February 9 to 13 at The Plex in Port Elgin, Ontario. The winning Howard team represented Ontario at the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship in Lethbridge, Alberta.
The event was expected to attract around 9,000 spectators, and to bring a $1,000,000 to the local economy. Bruce County contributed $5,000 cash and $5,000 in-kind for sponsorship, with revenues expected to contribute to improving the local Port Elgin Curling Club, which is playing host to the event (but is not the host venue).
Team Howard, skipped by Scott Howard, won in the final, defeating the defending champion John Epping rink. Team Howard's normal skip, Glenn Howard (Scott's father) missed the event due to a knee injury. Spare Adam Spencer filled in as third on the team, which also consisted of David Mathers and Tim March. Epping took control early in the final, going up 3–1 after 2 ends, but team Howard remained patient, blanking the next four ends, before Scott Howard made a double in the 7th to tie the game. Epping blanked the eighth, but narrowly missed a blank opportunity in 9th, giving up a steal of one. In the tenth, Howard made a double to lie two on his last. Epping attempted to respond with a double of his own, but missed, giving up another steal, losing the game 5–3. In total, there were about 500 fans on hand to watch the game, which was described as "electric" by Glenn Howard, in a game that was played amidst changing regulations due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario.
Qualification process Originally, eight teams were to qualify, two from a cash spiel qualifier, three from an open qualifier, the top two southern Ontario teams in the CTRS standings (December 1, 2021), and one from the "Trillium Tour Series", the top team from a series of Ontario Curling Tour events (as of December 20, 2021).
On January 24, 2022, CurlON decided to expand the field to 12 teams, as it could not hold the open qualifier due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario. It invited the next top 7 teams on the CTRS ranking who were in the qualifiers.
Qualification method Berths Qualifying team(s) CTRS leader 2 John Epping Glenn Howard Trillium Tour Series 1 Pat Ferris Cash Spiel 2 Scott Mitchell Dylan Niepage Qualifier Invite 7 Tanner Horgan Mark Kean Jason Camm Sam Mooibroek Sam Steep Shane Latimer Fraser Reid
Teams The team lineups are as follows: Skip Third Second Lead Alternate Club Jason Camm Matthew Hall Cameron Goodkey Jordie Lyon-Hatcher Navan Curling Club, Navan, Ottawa John Epping Ryan Fry Mathew Camm Brent Laing Leaside Curling Club, East York, Toronto Pat Ferris Ian Dickie Connor Duhaime Zachary Shurtleff Grimsby Curling Club, Grimsby Tanner Horgan Jonathan Beuk Wesley Forget Scott Chadwick Jacob Horgan Cataraqui Golf and Country Club, Kingston Scott Howard Adam Spencer David Mathers Tim March Glenn Howard Penetanguishene Curling Club, Penetanguishene Mark Kean Kevin Flewwelling Ed Cyr Sean Harrison Ingersoll & District Curling Club, Ingersoll Shane Latimer Punit Sthankiya Brett Lyon-Hatcher Brendan Acorn Nicholas Lemieux Whitby Curling Club, Whitby Scott Mitchell Landan Rooney Nathan Steele Colin Schnurr Jacob Jones Whitby Curling Club, Whitby Sam Mooibroek Matthew Garner Brady Lumley Spencer Dunlop John Gabel KW Granite Club, Waterloo Dylan Niepage Gavin Lydiate Jayden King Daniel Del Conte Guelph Curling Club, Guelph Fraser Reid Shane Konings Spencer Nuttall Tyler Twining Blue Water Curling Club, Owen Sound Sam Steep Adam Vincent Oliver Campbell Thomas Ryan Douglas Thomson KW Granite Club, Waterloo
Knockout Draw Brackets The draw is listed as follows: A Event
B Event
C Event
Scores Draw 1 February 9, 7:30pm
Draw 2 February 10, 9:30am
Draw 3 February 10, 2:30pm
Draw 4 February 10, 7:30pm
Draw 5 February 11, 9:30am
Draw 6 February 11, 2:30pm
Draw 7 February 11, 7:30pm
Draw 8 February 12, 9:30am
Playoffs
A vs. B February 12, 2:30pm
C1 vs. C2 February 12, 7:30pm
Semifinal February 13, 9:30am
Final February 13, 2:30pm
Qualification
CurlON CashSpiel December 17–19, CC of Collingwood, Collingwood
Notes
References