The annual event, first held in 1959, has never taken place in the maritime province but has been held in Atlantic Canada on three previous occasions, most recently in Moncton, New Brunswick in 2009.

Twelve teams will be competing, with an experienced home squad, winners of the gold medal at last year's Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, keen for similar success this time around.

They will also be hoping to avenge their female counterparts, who lost last week's World Championships final against Switzerland in Sapporo.

Pat Simmons, who skippered Canada to fourth place at last year's event in Beijing, will lead the team again, which also contains three former world champions, in 2008 winner Josh Morris and 2010 gold medallists Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen.

The three teams who finished on the podium in Beijing - Norway, Sweden and Switzerland - will be among the sternest challengers.

Pacific-Asia champions China will also compete, along with Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Japan, Russia, Scotland and the United States.

Canada will be looking to add to their Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic title on home ice
©Getty Images





Defending champions Norway are represented by last year's title-winning team, led by veteran Thomas Ulsrud who, at the age of 42, is both the oldest skip and oldest athlete competing at this year's event.

This compares to Russian counterpart Evgeny Arkhipov, who is the youngest at only 23. 

Niklas Edin, who led Sweden to the 2013 world crown, leads the Scandinavian big hitters, who will be looking for revenge on neighbours Norway for last years defeat, while three-time world champion Ewan MacDonald will skip Scotland.  

Tomorrow's Opening Ceremony will be followed by 17 sessions of round-robin play until April 2, with the top four teams progressing to the semi-finals.

The final is then scheduled for April 6 at the Scotiabank Centre.

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