Gabby Wood says her curling team is ready for anything this season after facing the No. 1 women’s team in the world.

The Canadian women’s college champions took on Rachel Homan in the opening draw of the single-knockout PointsBet Invitational on Wednesday in Calgary.

Wood’s Edmonton foursome took their lumps in an 11-2 loss, and will also take the experience of playing on arena ice and on television against the reigning Canadian and world champions.

“It’s a crazy first game of the season, so honestly, none of our opponents after this are going to seem that scary,” said the 20-year-old Wood.

The PointsBet Invitational that unofficially kicks off the Canadian curling season offers a purse of over $350,000, including $50,000 each to the men’s and women’s victors, to an eclectic field of 32 teams.

There’s a soccer FA Cup element as underdog junior, college, university, under-25 and club champions attempt to upset, and send home early, the likes of Homan and reigning Canadian men’s champion Brad Gushue.

Kaitlyn Lawes, who ranked fourth in Canada at the end of last season, beat recently crowned national women’s under-25 champion Taylor Reese-Hansen 5-2.

National No. 8 Corryn Brown doubled university women’s champion Serena Gray Withers 8-4 in the opening draw.

Selena Sturmay edged Ashley Thevenot 8-7 in the other women’s game to kick off the five-day cashspiel at WinSport Arena.

Men’s draw

In the first men’s draw later Wednesday, Gushue was to take on Canadian men’s club champ Dan Sherrard and four-time national champ Kevin Koe was to meet university men’s champion Josh Bryden.

National women’s under-21 champion Allyson MacNutt squares off against four-time Canadian champ Kerri Einarson, and men’s under-21 champion Kenan Wipf faces 2024 Brier runner-up Mike McEwen on Thursday.

“We are just so grateful that they include the college champions, the university champions,” Wood said. “We don’t get a ton of opportunities to play on arena ice, and so that makes a huge difference developmentally.

“Having a chance, other than our nationals, to play on arena ice, on this big stage, to get to experience just a little bit of what the pros experience is just really exciting and really inspiring.”

Homan scores 4 in 2nd end

Seven months after claiming the Scotties Tournament of Hearts title on the same WinSport ice, Ottawa’s Homan opened defence of her PointsBet crown by scoring four in the second end.

The skip tossed a triple takeout in the third to negate a multi-point setup by Wood, whose team then struggled with changing ice conditions in a warm building.

“It’s great to get them on this kind of stage, on a national platform and getting some arena ice experience is really key for next gen to get as much experience as possible,” Homan said.

“There’s lots they can take out of it for sure. Lots of great throws and I thought they communicated well.”

The only major upset in the first two years of the PointsBet was national under-25 men’s champion Ryan Kleiter toppling fourth-seed Koe 10-6 last year in Oakville, Ont.

The odds are against the underdogs, who will take what they can from a loss.

“Every time we get to play on arena ice, we’re really excited, and playing against a top team, that’s what we want to do. That’s where we want to be,” said Reese-Hansen. “These are the teams that we want to play against and see how we stack up, so it’s super valuable.”

Added Gray-Withers: “It just makes us hungrier for more, to be honest, because we’re just super blessed with great ice, great rocks and great conditions here, so we just want to be back for more.”

Keeping young teams in the sport

A PointsBet berth for less experienced teams is one carrot to keep young teams in competitive curling.

Curlers often fall into the gap between junior and elite curling as school and jobs can knock the sport down life’s priority list.

“My mentality when I played against more experienced teams when I was in juniors or early in my career, was you have nothing to lose and you can learn so much,” Lawes said.

“So the fact that they’re here and they’re competitive and willing to learn, I think that’s going to help keep teams in the game.”