manitobacurlingtour.com

Brad Jacobs rink from Sault Ste. Marie captured their third-straight Northern Ontario Men’s Curling championship with a 9-2 victory over Sudbury’s Mike Jakubo. The victory comes with another trip to the Tim Horton’s Brier in Saskatoon and the goal to bring a Canadian Championship back to Northern Ontario for the first time since Al Hackner did it in 1985.

In The Dominion Men’s Northern Ontario Curling Association Championship semi-final on Saturday afternoon, Jacobs team of EJ Harnden, Ryan Harnden and Scott Seabrook scored an extremely rare eight-ender in the sixth end in their 14-3 victory over Sudbury’s Tim Phillips. Eight-enders are infrequent in club curling and completely unimaginable at the highest level of curling.

Full story – The Sault Star: Jacobs rink prepares for third straight Brier appearance

Playdowns.com – Curling news and playdown results

The 2012 Canadian Direct Insurance British Columbia Men’s Curling Championship takes place Wednesday, February 8 to Sunday, February 12, 2012 at the Parksville Curling Club in Parksville, BC. Sixteen qualifiers from around the province British Columbia will compete in the provincial championship to represent British Columbia at the Tim Horton’s Brier in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from March 3 to 11, 2012.

For the first time this year, The Canadian Direct Insurance British Columbia Men’s Curling Championship is a triple-knockout event with three draws daily from, Wedneday, February 8 to Friday, February 10th. Four teams will qualify for the playoffs: one from the “A” Event, one from the “B” Event and two from the “C” Event. The Page Playoff begins Saturday, February 11th at 11:00am with the “A” and “B” Event winners playing for a spot in the final, while the two “C” Event winners playoff to advance the to semi-final at 7:30pm on Saturday night. The loser of the “A” and “B” event game will play against the winner of the two “C” event winners in the semi-final with the winner advancing to the final. The championship will take place Sunday, February 11th at 5:00pm.

Games start Wednesday, February 8 at 9:00am with triple knockout games at 2:00pm and 7:00pm from Wednesday to Friday.

Competing Teams

• Royal City C.C. – Chris Baier, Mike Johnson, Jay Wakefield, John Cullen
• Kimberley C.C. – Tom Buchy, Ken McHargue, Dave Toffolo, Darren Will
• Kelowna C.C. – Jim Cotter, Kevin Folk, Tyrel Griffith, Rick Sawatsky
• Victoria C.C. – Neil Dangerfield, Denis Sutton, Darren Boden, Glen Allen
• Penticton C.C. – Wylie Eden, Sean Matheson, Kurt Roberts, Tyler Jaeger
• Victoria C.C. – Jody Epp, Blair Cusack, James York, Brad Kocurek
• Delta C.C. – Sean Geall, Jason Montgomery, Bill Fisher, Mark Olson, Ken Maskiewich (5th)
• Vernon C.C. – Darren Heath, Dave Belway, Darin Laface, Darryl Houston
• Royal City C.C. – Ken McArdle, Doug Wilcock, Jared Bowles, Kyle Jackson, Dean Geiger (5th)
• Royal City C.C. – Jay Peachey, Ron Leach, Bryan Kedziora, Dwayne Uyede
• Royal City C.C. – Brent Pierce, Jeff Richard, Kevin Recksiedler, Grant Dezura
• Creston C.C. – Tom Shypitka, Josh Firman, Steve Tersmette, Greg Terrill, Kyle Anderson (5th)
• Victoria C.C. – Jay Tuson, Ken Tucker, Glen Jackson, Colin Mantic
• Smithers C.C. – Ron Vanderstar, Lyle Hensrud, Wade Eberle, Leonard Vanderstar
• Nanaimo C.C. – Steve Waatainen, Kevin Weinreich, Sean Krepps, Keith Clarke, Gord Twanow (5th)
• Kamloops C.C. – Brian Windsor, Brad Thompson, Mike Smith, Adam Windsor

Live scoring for The Canadian Direct Insurance British Columbia Men’s Curling Championship is available on Playdowns.com.

Playdowns.com – Curling news and playdown results

Words and images by Laura Crocker

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Don’t Stop Believin’!

KARUIZAWA, Japan – The tournament has come to a close and everyone on Team Canada is coming home with a medal!

We started our day yesterday with the semifinal against China, who came out strong right from the start. We gave up steals in the second and third ends to go down 2-0 playing the fourth. That end was looking good for us when two uncharacteristic misses by skip Bingyu Wang left us with a shot to lie four. Another missed shot by Wang led to a huge steal of four and put us up 8-2 at the break.

However, the game was far from over. A well-played end by the Chinese paired with a bad end by us led to a three-count for China and put them within three points of our score. They continued to play strong and we weren’t quite at our best, and we ended up playing the 10th end up one with the hammer. We held on, and scored our single for the win… and we were off to the final!

The gold medal game was a rematch of our first loss of the tournament against a strong Swiss team. Before we started, a group of young Japanese cheerleaders, anywhere from about age five to 10 years old, came out and did a routine to Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ on the backboards! It was absolutely adorable… and such a fun way to start the championship game.

We played pretty well right from the start, but we were having a tough time holding them to single points… and as a result, we found ourselves tied without the hammer playing the ninth end. I was a bit heavy on a freeze with my last rock, leaving her a double for three… and the Swiss were now up three coming home.

Best dressed? Of course!

We were pretty discouraged, but we stepped up and put everything we had into the last end, throwing guards in great places so that their double peels were extremely difficult. A great come-around on our third’s last stone was followed by an attempt by Silvana Tirinzoni to chip it out, which ended up a little wide and missed the stone entirely. Another come-around on my first of two final throws (absolutely pounded by my sweepers – thanks girls!) left her a similar shot, a small piece of the rock exposed that she tried to chip out. She just touched it, without removing it, and left us with a draw to the rings for our third and tying point… and we were off to an extra-end!

We played a great 11th-end but by this point the ice was getting really tricky. It was tough to play the right weight on draws, as all the paths were quite different. In the end we left her a draw to pretty much cover the pin, but she had a bit of backing… but her stone hit a slower path at the end and stopped a bit short, and suddenly, we were gold medallists.

Two crazy playoff games for certain, but we hung in there as a team, persevered, and never gave up. And we won!

The boys lost a tough one in their final – down one with in the 10th end and they found themselves with a shot to win. Unfortunately it was a bit heavy and they were sent to an extra-end, where the lead from the Japan Selection team made two perfect “tick” shots. They made every peel from there and the Canadian men never really had a chance; just another example of how leads can win you games! It was a close match that could have gone either way, and we’re all so proud of their silver medal finish.

Drumming with Bingyu Wang

The finals were followed by the awards ceremony, and hearing our national anthem while standing on top of the podium was the sweetest song I have ever heard. The medals are absolutely beautiful, featuring a small emblem of the Olympic rings on the front. And such a nice colour, too!

Once we finished up at the rink it was time for the banquet, and I must say Team Canada just might have won the best-dressed award! The closing night was a ton of fun – they had a Japanese drum show, which was incredible and so interesting to watch. When they finished their numbers they passed out a bunch of hand drums, and we all joined in…but I don’t think any of us should quit our day jobs!

This morning we had a last breakfast at our hotel, struggled to pack everything – you should see all of the gifts we have received throughout the week – and were off to the train station. We were sad to leave Karuizawa, the people there were so nice and welcoming and they made our experience absolutely amazing. Thank you to the town of Karuizawa, and all those involved in putting on such an incredible championship… we were so impressed and we couldn’t be happier to have been a part of this event.

Sayōnara Japan!

After saying goodbye to our hotel and our wonderful interpreters, we’re now on the incredibly fast (and incredibly clean) bullet train, and I’m looking out the window at a gorgeous view of the mountains. This view is definitely one of the things I’ll miss the most about Japan.

The boys are heading home quickly as some of them are representing Newfoundland and Labrador at the Canadian Juniors this coming weekend, but us girls are off to Tokyo for a few days! We have lots of fun touristy things planned, and the Canadian Ambassador has invited us to the embassy for lunch. We’re looking forward to leaving our curling shoes in our bags for a while, and experiencing more of Japan.

I would like to close this final blogpost with a huge thank you to everyone who has been supporting us, both in the lead up to Karuizawa and throughout the event itself. The Japanese people, first of all, who came to watch on a daily basis – never without some kind of gift for us – were so much fun and we loved having them as Canadian fans. 軽井沢ありがとう!  あなたの日本に感謝!

Also, some of our parents were here with us and the rest were awake in the middle of the night at home, watching online streams. We’ve had so many kind messages of encouragement and congratulations from our friends and family, and even strangers who were behind us the whole way. We are incredibly thankful and couldn’t have done any of this without the support of so many of you.

Arigato – thank you – and for one last time, Sayōnara!

The Curling News

Join us in the chat room for the final at the Scotties BC Women’s Curling Championship presented by Best Western live from the North Shore Winter Cub in North Vancouver, BC. We will be giving live updates and answering your questions about the action on the ice.

The linescores are available as always on Playdowns.com for the Scotties BC Women’s Curling Championship.

• Final – Sunday, January 29 at 4:30pm

Playdowns.com – Curling news and playdown results

EDITOR’S NOTE: Laura Crocker has quite a curling resume for such a young lass. Her Wilfrid Laurier squad from Kitchener, Ont. are the defending CIS University women’s champions; she won world junior silver with Rachel Homan in 2010; and she also appears as Miss October in the 2012 Women of Curling Calendar!

Crocker and Co. have teamed up with the CIS men’s champions, the Colin Thomas squad from Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador and are competing – and blogging – from Japan! The Karuizawa International is a legacy tournament created after the 1998 Olympic Winter Games, where curling was hosted in Karuizawa, a small resort town near Nagano.

Over to you, Laura!

Olympic rings greet you at the entrance

Words and pictures by Laura Crocker

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KARUIZAWA, Japan –We made it through two full days in Karuizawa… after it took a while to get here!

After a weekend of training in Edmonton (and of course a little visit to the West Edmonton Mall) we started our Japanese journey. We first flew to Vancouver, and then arrived in Japan around 5:30 pm local time – after almost 23 hours spent in planes, trains, cars, stations and airports.

After a bit of a wait we hopped on a bullet train (where I immediately fell asleep) that runs at speeds of about 300 km/h and which took us to another train station in Tokyo. We got there a little after 8:00 pm, well after rush hour in any Canadian city, and it was the busiest station I’ve ever seen – everyone was either running or walking (or race-walking) at a pace that was way too fast for 18 slow Canadians weighed down with luggage. We once had to cross the main stream of people charging through the station – that was almost a death sentence.

While waiting for our next train, we witnessed the extreme cleanliness of Japanese society. A bunch of cleaning people were waiting outside the doors of our train, and when everyone got off they gave a signal, then ran on to pick up garbage, disinfect the tray table of every single seat, change the napkins behind people’s heads, and of course switch the direction of the chairs – because facing the wrong way would be far too stressful!

The Friendship Match!

After finally leaving our last train we were met at the Karuizawa station by our hotel escort, and headed there. The hotel is really nice; the building itself is beautiful, and we’re told that our rooms are very spacious for Japan standards – a good thing if you’ve ever seen the room that Sarah and I share after a few days! We slept as best we could but we all woke up pretty early, but with just enough sleep to get us through the day.

Of interest: each night our hotel asks us what time we want breakfast, and then has everything ready for us the next morning. For our debut Japanese sunrise we had salad, French fries, croissants, eggs, ham, fruit, cornflakes, tea and pear juice. It was incredible!

On practice day we played a “friendship match” against a local Japanese team in connection with their earthquake relief fund and awareness campaign. We played against one of the most animated and dramatic skips I have ever seen – so it was a ton of fun. Their faces were covered with Canada tattoos and they all seemed quite happy to be here… and we were definitely glad to be a part of it!

After that game we taught a curling clinic to a group of school kids from grades 3-5 (thankfully with an interpreter on our sheet). These were some of the best curling kids I have ever seen, it was unreal! They all made origami for us to say thank you, they in turn were ecstatic to receive the Canada flags, tattoos, pencils, chocolate loonies etc. that we gave to them. They were so polite, and such a pleasure to spend time with.

Our first day ended with a welcome dinner that was also attended by the local teams from the friendship matchups. There were lots of different foods, and what we all thought was a meatball turned out to be… octopus. Jen, who has an irrational fear of anything even remotely octopus-like (calamari, for example), ate half of it and is now scarred for life.

The Junior Clinic: this kids were good!

During the dinner an auction was held to raise money for the Japanese earthquake relief fund, and while it was hard for us to know exactly what was going on, it was really fun to watch. The most expensive item at the auction, worth about 20,000 yen, was a pair of those crazy Norwegian curling pants… and I have never seen anyone as excited as the man who won them!

Our second day in Karuizawa meant our first day of official competition! For Sarah and I, it started with a 5:30 am wake up call… we are not fans of this whole jet lag thing! Our breakfast this morning was, again, incredible – we enjoyed yogurt, buns, croissants, fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, salad, and something that tasted like a tomato pasta sauce with zucchini and green peppers. Our hotel spoils us!

After breakfast we were off to the rink for pre-competition practice followed by the opening ceremonies. The mayor of Karuizawa and some other important person threw the ceremonial first rocks, and neither one of them looked like they had curled before. They just got out there in their dress shirts and ties, grabbed a Canadian broom from the backboards, and off they went in their sneakers. And both pulled off half-decent shots!

After the ceremonies we had a bit of time to relax at the hotel, and then went out for lunch. We found a place with “Fromage” in the name and thought that sounded pretty promising, so we decided to check it out… and we are certainly glad we did! Just as we were struggling with the menu and attempting to communicate with the waitress, an English-speaking Japanese man from the organizing committee walked in. He explained the menu items and ordered for us – this was such a helpful coincidence! We ate salad and some pizza, but the pizza…! It had the thinnest crust imaginable, and was so light and delicious, and nothing like the heavy, greasy pizzas we have in Canada. No wonder everyone here is skinny!

The Scarf Trade

After lunch it was time for our first game of the competition against Switzerland, while the Canadian men took on Norway. Unfortunately the event didn’t start the way we wanted, and both our teams came up a little short in our games. The ice was a bit trickier today and our opponents, who were skipped by Silvana Tirinzoni, managed it better than we did. They were the better team on the ice this afternoon, but we took a lot away from it and we are going to use that going forward. Tomorrow we have a busy day: three matches against Korea, Japan and the “Nagano Selection” team… and we’re ready to get ourselves back in the win column!

Today at the rink a Japanese man approached us and gave us each a piece of origami, and we engaged in a nice conversation with him – both parties doing the the best they could, of course. Later on, this same fellow later traded with Sarah’s dad – a kimono for a Canada scarf – explaining that the scarf would be given to his daughter (photo at left). Meanwhile, the kimono was such a beautiful piece of clothing… everyone here is just so nice and polite and happy all the time; western society could learn a thing or two from these people.

After cheering ourselves up with a bit of Japanese TV – extravagant pop concerts and ridiculous game shows – we’re off to rest up for our early start tomorrow. Hopefully we can all sleep well and not wake up five times through the night… like I have been doing! Thanks to all who are following along back home – sayōnara!

The Curling News

Words by TSN, Image by Anil Mungal

Kevin Koe (foreground) defeated KMart

RAMA, Ont. – Kevin Koe scored ,300 and a spot in the final of the of the 2012 TSN Curling Skins Game with a win over last year’s champion Kevin Martin earlier this afternoon at Casino Rama The highly-anticipated final gets underway tomorrow at 1:00 pm ET live on TSN and also on TSN Mobile TV. Curling fans can also watch the game on-demand at TSN.ca.

Koe and his Calgary foursome will face off against the winner of tonight’s Semifinal #2 at 8:00 pm ET live on TSN, as world champion Jeff Stoughton of Winnipeg takes on accomplished Ontario skip Glenn Howard.

In front of a packed house at Casino Rama’s world-class Entertainment Centre, Koe pocketed five skins, securing a place for his team in tomorrow’s final. Edmonton’s Martin won three skins plus the pre-event draw to the button and takes home ,700. Martin remains the TSN Skins Game all-time leader in prize money with 9,850 won over 13 career appearances.

Koe was in control for the entire game, making a big shot with the hammer in the sixth end to take a decisive ,300 to ,700 lead over Martin.  With last rock, Martin made it close by winning the ,000 skin in the seventh end, but Koe came back in the eighth and final end to make a double-angle raise to score two and take home the last skin worth ,000.

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The Curling News

Martin, Koe, Howard, and Stoughton face off at Casino Rama.

RAMA, Ontario – A solitary sheet of ice on the floor of the Casino Rama Entertainment Centre is ready for a weekend of top notch curling. This year the invited teams represent the four most recent Canadian skips to win the World Championships.

The teams will battle for a cash purse worth up to ,000. The game format is “Skins” … and no, this does not mean that Johnny Mo will be playing without a shirt. In Skins curling, a “Skin” is awarded for each end won, with the Skin value for each end increasing as the game progresses. A Skin is awarded if the team with the hammer scores two or more points or the opposing team steals the end. If neither of these occur the Skin is carried over to the next end and the total value at stake grows. At the completion of eight ends the team with the most Skin value wins the game.

The 1pm (ET) match on Saturday features 2008 World Champions and returning Skins Champions Team Kevin Martin vs. 2010 World Champions Team Kevin Koe. The 8pm match features 2011 World Champions Team Jeff Stoughton vs. 2007 World Champions Team Glenn Howard. The winners of these two matches will advance to the final on Sunday at 1pm.

Friday consists of on-ice practice, and an evening cocktail reception where the players get a chance to socialize.

The Curling News will be blogging all of the games live from Casino Rama, rght here on these pages, and tweeting (@curling) as well, so stay tuned folks!

For a look at previous Skins Game blog postings, why not browse around our pages? Pick a search term, such as “TSN Skins”, type it into the search bar near the top right of this page and bingo… you are now exploring past Skins curling content. Enjoy while we await the start of the 2012 edition!

The Curling News

The 2011-12 Northern Ontario Junior Men’s and Women’s Provincial Championships take place Thursday, January 5 to Sunday, January 8. The Atikokan Curling Club will be hosting the Junior Men while the Sioux Lookout Golf and Curling Club will host the Junior Women. Eight Men’s and Women’s teams are playing in this weekend’s competition after qualifying through playdowns in their respective areas. Both the Men’s and Women’s teams are competing for one spot each in the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors in Napanee, ON February 4 to 12, 2012.

Games start Thursday, January 5 at 2:00pm with both the Junior Men’s and Junior Women’s final scheduled for 9:00am on Sunday, January 8. If tiebreakers are necessary, the final will take place at 1:00pm.

Junior Women

• Beaudry – Idylwylde
• Gordon – Copper Cliff
• Jones – Thunder Bay
• Keffer – Thunder Bay
• Lilly – Idylwylde
• Ouellet – Longlac
• Poirier – Sioux Lookout
• Szajewski – Keewatin

Junior Men

• Dawson – Sault Ste. Marie
• Glibota - Sault Ste. Marie
• Gravel – Smooth Rock Falls
• Montpellier – Sudbury
• Potter – Thunder Bay
• Smith – Keewatin
• Trottier – Geraldton
• Wark – Thunder Bay

Live scoring for both the Junior Women’s Provincial Championship and the Junior Men’s Provincial Championship are available on Playdowns.com

Playdowns.com – Curling news and playdown results

Molly throws with Caitlin Moroldo (L) and Mackenzie Lank

My coffee buddy Katherine, in her volunteer jacket

Denmark carbs up with noodles before the final

I also learned that the city does have a fleet of vehicles that perform snow and ice removal duties; however, they are not used because the free labor is most cost-efficient, so not only does this reduce fuel costs, it also limits air pollution.

That’s quite a scoreline, SUI!

Switzerland won a thrilling semi before falling in the final

As for the winners of the first Yichun International Ladies Competition…? It was the Danes, who walloped Switzerland 11-4 in a one-sided finale, while China took one in the 10th end to win the bronze medal, 6-5 over Sweden. Denmark had leads of 6-0 and 10-2 but, this being a high-profile exhibition tournament, there were no thoughts of early concession until mathematical elimination!

The Curling News

China vs Canada (photo by Chinese Curling Association)

YICHUN, China – This trip certainly has two sides to it. Initially, we were tourists in an overwhelmingly chaotic (controlled, however) city, enjoying many historic sights and structures. Now, we are in the full curling swing of competition, located in a much smaller, quieter (and colder!) town.

Our dining building in Yichun

We are quite lucky to be staying in the best hotel in Yichun – the Forest Capital Hotel. This hotel is where any and probably all foreign diplomats stay when they’re in town.

Skipper Patti at the market

We asked our two translators (somewhat jokingly, but with extreme optimism) when the dessert would be served.  Thoughts of chocolate, ice cream, cookies, and cheesecake danced in our heads. Lily informed us that fruit is their dessert; this may explain some cross-cultural physique differences.

My hotel room

On that note, friends and fans of other teams (Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and Canada) can stay tuned for messages from your country’s players coming soon… right here, on this blog!

The Curling News