Mosaicplace curling
Mosaic Place, normally the home of the WHL's Moose Jaw Warriors, will be the home of 14 of Canada's best curling teams this weekend (Photo: DiscoverMooseJaw.com)

Some of Canada's best curlers are in Moose Jaw this week playing for bragging rights, money, and a spot at next year's Olympic trials.

The 2012 Capital One Canada Cup of Curling starts today at Mosaic Place, and the women’s event will feature the top seven teams from across the country, including saskatchewan's Stefanie Lawton, who's looking for her third Canada Cup championship and first since winning in 2010.

"You have to make sure you bring your 'A-game' to every game, because you know that every team is going to do that as well," Lawton said. "You just go out there and know that it can be anybody's game, and so you try and do your best to make sure that you come out on top."

Joining Lawton in the women's field is Kaitlyn Lawes, who won last year's Canada Cup with the Jennifer Jones rink, but will take over as skip this year after Jones recently gave birth to her first child. Also competing are defending Scotties and World bronze-medallist Heather Nedohin and veteran skip Sherry Anderson, as well as Cathy Overton-Clapham, Chelsea Carey and Crystal Webster.

Meanwhile, on the men's side, it will be a home event for the Kevin Koe rink, despite the fact that they're out of Calgary. The foursome features Moose Jaw's Pat Simmons throwing third, which means the crowd in the Friendly City will probably be on their side.

"I'm looking forward to not travelling, and seeing all of the familiar faces," Simmons said about playing in his hometown. "I obviously know lots of people, and it should be good. I'm looking forward to it."

The Koe rink, who won the 2010 Brier and World Curling Championships, is part of a stacked men's draw which includes defending canada Cup winner and 2010 Olympic champion Kevin Martin, as well as 2006 Olympic Gold Medallist Brad Gushue, last year's Brier and World Champ Glenn Howard, and two-time World Champion Jeff Stoughton. Mike McEwen and John Epping round out the men's event.

The first draw of the event is this morning at 9:30am, and action continues through the weekend with the finals on Sunday.