Ford Hot Shots

The Ford Hot Shots is 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.^[1]

History

When Ford became a sponsor of the World Curling Championships in 1995, it also began a tradition of the skills competition preceding Canada's national championships.

Disciplines

There are six disciplines that each competitor must 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)

Scoring

In each shot, where the shooter rock comes to rest determines how many points are earned. A rock that ends up on the button receives 5 points. A rock that ends up in the 4 foot gets 4 points. 8 foot, 3, 12 foot 2 and one point if a "shot has been to have provided some sort of positive result"

Prizes

The winner of the Hot Shots receives a 2 year lease on a Ford vehicle. First and second runners-up receive 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.^[1]

Winners

Year	Women	Men
1995	Kay Montgomery	Ed Werenich
1996	Gerri Cooke	Rick Perron
1997	Sherry Fraser	Mike Coulter (N. Ont.)
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	Mark 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

References

• ExtraEnd Magazine, 2009-10 edition, pg 20-21