The Ford Hot Shots was the annual skills competition preceding both the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and the Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's women's and men's national curling championships respectively. The competition has not been held since 2018.
History When Ford became a sponsor of the World Curling Championships in 1995, it also began a tradition of a skills competition preceding Canada's national championships.
The change in competition format for the 2018 Tournament of Hearts and 2018 Brier led to a change in format for the Hot Shots. Fifteen teams would compete instead of individual curlers, with the winning team being awarded a cheque for $15,000 and one of four Hot Shots spectators winning the two-year lease on the Ford vehicle. The three finalist spectators would each receive $500 to donate to the charities of their choice.
Disciplines There were six disciplines that each competitor (for 2018, each team) had to do:
The "hit and stay" (they must hit a rock on the button and not roll out) The "draw to the button" (they must throw the rock as close as possible to the centre of the rings) The "draw through the port" (the must throw the rock as close as possible to the centre of the rings, but go between two guard rocks in the process. The "raise" (they must bump a guard rock into the rings as close as possible to the centre) The "hit and roll" (they must hit a rock at the edge of the rings and roll as close as possible to the centre of the rings) The "double" (they must remove two rocks with one stone, and end up as close as possible to the centre of the rings)
Since 2017, the event included five new disciplines: The "Hackner double", replicating Al Hackner's famous double takeout at the 1985 Labatt Brier. The "Schmirler shot", replicating Sandra Schmirler's in-off at the 1997 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials to send her team to the 1998 Winter Olympics. A "straight raise to the button" A "drag-effect double takeout" An "around the horn triple takeout for two".
Scoring For each shot, where the shooter rock came to rest determined how many points were earned. A rock that ended up on the button received 5 points. A rock that ended up in the 4 foot ring got 4 points. 8 foot ring, 3; 12 foot for 2; and one point if a "shot has been to have provided some sort of positive result."
Prizes Until 2018, the winner of the Hot Shots received a 2-year lease on a Ford vehicle. First and Second runners-up received cash ($2000 and $1000 respectively). In 2009, the women's winner received a lease on a 2009 Ford Flex SEL FWD and the men's winner received a lease on a 2009 Ford F-150 XLT 4x4. In 2013 the lease vehicle was a Ford Fusion SE.
Winning women's vehicles:2017 Scotties Media Guide: Overall Records 1995: Ford Contour GL 1996: Mercury Mystique 1997: Ford Contour 1998: Mercury Mystique LS 1999: Mercury Mystique LS 2000: Ford Taurus SE 2001: Ford Taurus SE 2002: Ford Focus SE Wagon 2003: Ford Focus ZX5 2004: Ford Escape XLT FWD 2005: Ford Freestyle SEL 2006: Ford Explorer XLT 2007: Ford Edge 2008: Ford Fusion SEL V6 2009: Ford Flex SEL FWD 2010: Ford Taurus SEL FWD 2011: Ford Edge FW 2012: Ford Focus Titanium 2013: Ford Fusion SE 2.0L 2014: Ford Fusion SE 2.0L AWD 2015: Ford F-150 XLT 2016: Ford Edge Sport EcoBoost 2017: Ford Escape SE 2018: Ford Escape SE
Winners Year Women Men 1995 Kay Montgomery Ed Werenich 1996 Gerri Cooke Rick Perron 1997 Sherry Fraser Mike Coulter 1998 Allison Franey Greg McAulay 1999 Marcy Balderston Steve Gould 2000 Kelley Law Don Bartlett 2001 Kelley Law Jeff Lacey 2002 Kristy Lewis Pat Ryan 2003 Suzanne Gaudet Marc LeCocq 2004 Andrea Lawes Randy Ferbey 2005 Jenn Hanna Mark Nichols 2006 Colleen Jones Steve Gould 2007 Kelli Turpin John Morris 2008 Jill Officer Steve Laycock 2009 Cheryl Bernard Craig Savill 2010 Amber Holland Glenn Howard 2011 Jennifer Jones Richard Hart 2012 Kerry Galusha Wayne Middaugh 2013 Rachel Homan Marc Kennedy 2014 Heather Strong Kirk Muyres 2015 Heather Strong Colin Hodgson 2016 Jennifer Jones Brad Gushue 2017 Rachel Homan Brad Jacobs 2018
References
ExtraEnd Magazine, 2009-10 edition, pg 20-21