| 2022 Ontario Tankard | |
| Size: | 200 |
| Host City: | Port Elgin, Ontario |
| Dates: | February 9–13 |
| Winner: | Team Howard |
| Curling Club: | Penetanguishene Curling Club, Penetanguishene |
| Skip: | Scott Howard |
| Third: | Adam Spencer |
| Second: | David Mathers |
| Lead: | Tim March |
| Finalist: | John Epping |
| Prev: | 2020 |
| Next: | 2023 |
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.[1] The winning Howard team represented Ontario at the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship in Lethbridge, Alberta.[2]
The event was expected to attract around 9,000 spectators, and to bring a $1,000,000 to the local economy.[2] 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).[3]
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.[4]
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).[5]
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.[6]
| 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 Mooibroeek Sam Steep Shane Latimer Fraser Reid |
The team lineups are as follows:[7] [8] [9]
| Skip | Third | Second | Lead | Alternate | Club | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameron Goodkey | Jordie Lyon-Hatcher | Navan Curling Club, Navan, Ottawa | ||||
| Leaside Curling Club, East York, Toronto | ||||||
| Zachary Shurtleff | ||||||
| Scott Howard | Glenn Howard | Penetanguishene Curling Club, Penetanguishene | ||||
| Ed Cyr | ||||||
| Shane Latimer | Punit Sthankiya | Brendan Acorn | Nicholas Lemieux | |||
| Scott Mitchell | Nathan Steele | Colin Schnurr | Jacob Jones | |||
| Sam Mooibroek | Matthew Garner | Brady Lumley | Spencer Dunlop | John Gabel | ||
| Dylan Niepage | Gavin Lydiate | Jayden King | Daniel Del Conte | Guelph Curling Club, Guelph | ||
| Fraser Reid | Spencer Nuttall | Tyler Twining | ||||
| Sam Steep | Adam Vincent | Oliver Campbell | Thomas Ryan | Douglas Thomson |
The draw is listed as follows:
February 9, 7:30pm
February 10, 9:30am
February 10, 2:30pm
February 10, 7:30pm
February 11, 9:30am
February 11, 2:30pm
February 11, 7:30pm
February 12, 9:30am
February 12, 2:30pm
February 12, 7:30pm
February 13, 9:30am
February 13, 2:30pm
December 17–19, CC of Collingwood, Collingwood[11] [12] [13]