Archive for the ‘ Curling Tips ’ Category
The 2011-12 Tim Horton’s BC Junior Curling Championships take place December 27 to 31 at the Victoria Curling Centre in Victoria, BC. Eight junior women’s and eight junior men’s teams will playoff to represent British Columbia at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors in Napanee, ON February 4 to 12.
Games start December 27th at 3:30pm with both the junior women’s and junior men’s final scheduled for 1:30pm on Saturday, December 31.
Junior Women
- Michelle Ball – Williams Lake
- Corryn Brown – Kamloops
- Falon Burkitt – Prince George
- Dezaray Hawes – Royal City
- Alyssa Kyllo – Vernon
- Brittany McAulay – Richmond
- Stephanie Prinse – Chilliwack
- Kesa Van Osch – Nanaimo
Junior Men
- Brook Calibaba – Kamloops
- Cameron DeJong – Victoria
- Brandon Emslie – Kelowna
- Chris Haynes – Nelson
- Josh Hozack – Victoria
- Tyler Klymchuk – Langley
- Patrick McEachrhan – North Shore Winter Club
- Justin Nillson – Kelowna
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
The Campbell River Curling Club plays host the Men’s Vancouver Island playdowns from December 16 to 18. Ten of the top Vancouver Island teams will be playing for two berths in Canadian Direct Insurance BC Men’s Curling Championship presented by Dundee Wealth in Parksville in February.
Games start Friday, December 16 at 9:00am. Four qualifiers from the triple-knockout will play in a Page format playoff beginning Sunday at 2:00pm.
The final spots in the BC Men’s Curling Championship will be determined at the open qualifier in Kelowna January 13 to 16.
Live scoring for the Men’s Vancouver Island playdown is available on Playdowns.com.
Playdowns.com – Curling news and playdown results
Day 1 – A-Traveling We Go
by Molly Bonner
Here's Molly – a new TCN blogstar
My alarm sounds at 4:15 a.m. Is today really here?! The three hours of sleep I got last night feels like an eternity and I am so excited to embark on this adventure with my team.
Today, we (Team Patti Lank, aka Team USA for this event) are off to Beijing to compete in the inaugural edition of the Yichun International Ladies Competition. A brief intro would prove that I am the lead for Team Lank; it would also prove that I enjoy writing and social media just about as much as I enjoy sweeping Patti’s rock to the button for the win (that means I really love it).
So, here I am blogging – from China! I plan to give you an insider’s look into what is happening “across the pond” at this new competition. I look forward to taking time each day to recap the event, and also the many entertaining off-ice moments we are sure to encounter over the next week.
While en route to Beijing via Minneapolis, my layover was in Toronto – a 5-hour layover to be exact. Okay, time for a couple of caesars to pass the time with the new friends I met on my first flight of the day.
While waiting to board the 13.5-hour flight, it’s quite clear to me that I haven’t seen this many fanny packs since our family vacation to Disneyworld in 1998. If I were claustrophobic, that would be setting in at this point as I see the hundreds upon hundreds of travellers stand in line to hop on the same flight as I.
I was able to get bumped to an aisle seat, Hallelujah! Happy as a clam, I make my way back to the nosebleeds of the airplane, row 62 to be precise. I find myself seated next to an extremely jovial Chinese man. To say the least, I am quick to learn that I should have taught myself to say “I don’t speak ANY Chinese” within the first few seconds of our interaction (twitter tag: #oops). He touches my red hair and says “flower.” I smile and nod – this is going to be a good flight.
We spent an extra two hours on the runway (post-entire flight being seated, mind you) as “A carry-on bag is being held by the bomb squad,” word for word as our lead flight attendant announced over the PA.
WHAT?!
Yichun (A) is in northern China – click image to view larger
How’s that for some comforting pre-flight communication? If communication strategies have changed that much “since I was in school,” (really not long ago enough to use the phrase) it looks like I better get back to the classroom ASAP. But, hey, you’ve always got to value honesty. Mom: now aren’t you glad I wasn’t giving you text message updates today?
With Tylenol PM at the ready, a new iTunes playlist, and my lavender-scented eye mask, I recline my seat at the earliest moment possible after take-off.
I think you are due for a little information on what exactly is happening on the ice in China. This is, after all, a curling blog, right? So here’s the scoop…
The Chinese Curling Association (CCA) has established the Yichun International Ladies Competition. This is Yichun’s first international curling tournament, and the city and CCA are extremely exciting to host teams as they work to further develop the sport of curling.
This is an eight-team, 10-end round robin bonspiel that “officially” begins on December 15… however, the Organizing Committee has done a great job in terms of scheduling sufficient travel and practice time for the participating teams.
The eight participating nations (teams) are as follows: Canada (Team Shannon Kleibrink of Calgary), China, China Juniors, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, United States and Yichun. The 10-end games will be are held at 10:00 am and 4:00 pm daily and, needless to say, for those that qualify (hopefully that’s us!) nine games in a five-day timeframe will be great training for the U.S. playdowns that will be arriving before we know it.
Keith Wendorf, the Director of Competitions for the World Curling Federation, is the Chief Umpire of the event, and I must say that the Chinese have done a rather impressive job of putting this all together.
The next 14 hours become a blur of turbulence, my affable neighbor taking up way too much space, clock-watching, and rice and noodles. In just a couple of hours we will land in Beijing, where it will be 5:00 pm. I very eager to get sightseeing and interact with the Chinese people. Likewise, I am also looking forward to seeing our hotel (in downtown Beijing) … and my bed.
After three days in Beijing we’ll travel to Yichun on Wednesday, after a stop in Harbin – the home of most of China’s top-level curlers. Again, I am excited to bring you photos and stories throughout this adventure… stay tuned for an update after some sightseeing ventures!
Molly Bonner is way too indecisive to give a few descriptors of herself, but will try. She is an eternal optimist; big fan of health, wellness, and all things sports; and is currently deciding which one of her two-dozen passions should be turned into her dream job. Follow her Chinese adventure here, and also on Twitter: @mollbon
The Curling News
What happened? She "went Canadian"
What’s this? Our website has a blog? One that used to be quite popular?
Yes, we’re back… and we’ll have more on where the heck we’ve been in a little while. For now, we must explain that odd headline.
The curling Twitterverse suffered a slight eruption last night after another episode of the popular U.S. TV sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Apparently, one of the characters let fly with a curling zinger:
“I’m as serious as a poutine shortage in Chicoutimi during a curling bonspiel.”
This is no surprise to us. Back in late 2009, the HIMYM show writers lobbed their first curling bomb at their millions of fans, and we ran a brief TCN Newsdesk feature on it.
This was previously available only in the December 2009 print edition of The Curling News, but here it is for you now. Along with another reminder that if you don’t subscribe to The Curling News, you are missing out on tons of monthly curling news bits and bites – serious and offbeat, modern and historical, cultural and pop-cultural.
Just sayin’ …
A recent episode of the CBS TV comedy How I Met Your Mother was titled “Duel Citizenship” and poked fun at both Canadians and curling.
Robin (Cobie Smulders) is a Canadian in New York City, and finds herself slightly out of sync with U.S. cultural customs. Even her American friends have never quite understood her Canadian colloquialisms or the horrifying sports fan that hockey brings out in her. After one particularly stellar performance in a bar, a U.S. citizen presses assault charges against her for throwing the chair that broke his nose (photo above by Karen Neal/Fox). The legal charges force Robin to contemplate becoming an American citizen in order to avoid deportation. Her boyfriend Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) does his best to help her prepare for U.S. citizenship… and eventually shows her a picture of people curling.
Barney: “What’s taking place in this picture?”
Robin: “Oh, that’s curling. It’s a sport where…”
Barney: “Wrong! The answer we were looking for is: ‘I don’t care. It’s dumb.’ Now let’s go buy something that’s bad for us, and then sue the people who made it. That’s American, Robin.”
The night before the test Robin decides to visit the Hoser Hut, a Canadian bar in New York City, for one last beer. She gets drunk – with a women’s curling team – and Barney wakes her up in a wrecked hotel room in Toronto, where she was sleeping on the floor, amid curling brushes, cuddling a curling stone.
“What happened last night?” she asks.
“You … went Canadian,” Barney replies.
“Since we poke fun at Canada every chance we get, it was only a matter of time that curling got a shout out,” quipped Beth Haiken of CBS Television to The Curling News.
The episode scored a 5.2 rating, worth 8.07 million viewers.
The Curling News
Wow! That’s crazy!
by Jill Officer
REGINA – Too bad the 3-4 game wasn’t much of a match. Poor Swedish skip Niklas Edin struggled with the ice which has become straighter during the playoffs.
They still managed to have a bit of fun in the eighth and final end. Third Sebastian Kraupp showed off his crazy good balance and delivered his two rocks in a one-legged squat of sorts (see photo at left). The crowd loved it! Then Edin tried to duplicate Team Canada’s Jeff Stoughton with a flat-foot spin-o-rama… and while it wasn’t as sharp as Stoughton’s, it was still awesome to watch.
And so it was Norway versus Scotland in the semifinal. Norway was gaining speed and confidence – 7-0 and throwing some 86 per cent as a team after a poor start to the competition – and Scotland is coming off a loss to Canada.
Kim Brewster!
I noticed that Scottish Skip Tom Brewster is in the building well in advance of his games. I’m not sure if he’s done this all week, but before the 1-2 page playoff game and again before last night’s semi, he was in the building a couple of hours before game time. So what does he do? Basically, I’ve seen him wandering the halls in the bowels of the building, both inside the arena and on the concourse amongst the crowds. Interesting. I guess everyone has his or her own pre-game routine!
Did you know that Tom Brewster’s wife is Canadian? Yes, Kim Brewster was born in Edmonton and Tom simply wooed her to go to Scotland for him. And she was an original curling Calendar Girl, too!
Not only that, but her brother is Sean Morris, the husband of 2010 Olympic Silver Medallist Cori Morris, who played with Cheryl Bernard in Vancouver. Sean and Cori arrived in Regina yesterday to cheer on their brother-in-law.
So my week on the media bench is coming to an end, and I thought I’d share some reflections on how exhausting it is to be on the bench verses the exhaustion you feel when you actually play in an event such as the worlds.
Viewing the games from the tribune is great. You have front row seats; the internet is comfortably at your fingertips and you can still watch live and hear the TSN broadcast – so you get the benefits of live curling and broadcast TV. Sure, there is some writing and interviewing to do here and there, but it’s a good gig. How can you complain with all that… and all you can eat Tim Horton’s donuts.
Let's get pumped again!
However, for some reason, it is almost MORE exhausting than playing in an event like this! On Wednesday night, when Canada had the night off, I took the night off, too. By 8:00pm, I could hardly keep my eyes open!
Being up here is mentally exhausting. Perhaps it’s the lack of exercise to provide you with some energy; perhaps it’s the lack of pressure to perform. All I know is that it is very tiring. Competing in an event is very tiring as well, but when you’re out on the ice, you have to be energized, focused and ready to go and there is much less opportunity to zone out.
Team Scotland was much more zoned in during the semi-final against Norway than they were against Canada last night. Zoned in enough that they will again face Canada in tonight’s gold medal Game. What an accomplishment for Brewster and his young lads, because the Norwegians had simply been on fire.
Mr. Stoughton, by the way, has an interesting history with Scotland. He defeated a Scottish team in the final of the 1996 worlds, then lost to them in 1999, in that famous match against Hammy “Let’s Get Pumped” MacMillan (be sure to view starting at around at 1:10).
It could be a dandy today!
Crazy Kraupp photo by Anil Mungal, copyright The Curling News®
Kim Brewster photo by Ana Arce
Let’s Get Pumped Again photo by Michael Burns / CCA
The Curling News
Middaugh to replace the man who played for just two skips in a 21-year career
Richard Hart embraces Craig Savill at the 2011 Brier
by George Karrys
TORONTO – Richard Hart has retired from high-performance curling by announcing his departure from Team Glenn Howard, one of the most successful high-performance foursomes to ever play The Roaring Game.
The 2007 world champion and 1998 Olympic silver medallist had already taken a partial step back from the sport this past season, dropping his commitment to Team Howard’s World Curling Tour schedule by three tournaments. While not necessarily unexpected to some, his decision will nevertheless send shock waves throughout the sport.
Consistently ranked in the top three teams in the world – or pretty much the the top two alongside Alberta’s Kevin Martin – Team Howard has been a veritable curling machine for the past seven years. Heavily backed by sponsorship dollars and virtually unparalleled in their consistency of winning, the foursome are all charter members of the National Team program; they own and operate a profitable Fantasy Curling Camp; and they even have a professional video documentary set for release late in 2011 or early in 2012.
Yet Hart has chosen to walk away.
Team Howard does "Movember" to fight cancer in 2008
The 42-year-old lefthander informed longtime teammates Howard, Brent Laing and Craig Savill of his decision on Wednesday. He spoke exclusively with The Curling News late Thursday morning.
“Man, has this been a tough decision,” said Hart. “This is something (wife) Margaret and I have been thinking about and talking about for the last four or five months. I mean, I don’t think a day’s gone by when we haven’t discussed it. We tried to figure it out, tried to figure out a way that we could somehow continue on, but we just couldn’t come up with it.
“I am permanently retired from high-performance curling,” Hart continued.
“With the way the game’s changed over the last 10 years, to compete at that level you have to be willing to make that time commitment… and I just couldn’t. If you want to be the best… it’s not just a matter of signing up for a bonspiel and throwing a few rocks anymore.”
“I’m definitely looking forward to taking a full season off.”
Gosh, those guys were colourful!
Inevitably, Hart’s decision centered around his career. As a project manager and vice president of his family-owned electrical engineering firm based in Pickering, Ontario, increased work responsibilities had become a factor. With a senior partner in the firm set to retire this year, the pressure had climbed a notch.
Just a few short weeks ago, Team Kevin Koe lost third Blake MacDonald to his busy work schedule plus family commitments. MacDonald, who has been replaced by Saskatchewan’s Pat Simmons, actually planned to quit the highest levels of the sport a year ago, but postponed his decision by a year after Team Koe won the 2010 Brier and world championship.
Just prior to the London Brier in March, longtime Team Brad Gushue third Mark Nichols announced he was taking a hiatus from the sport, although he stressed that he was not retiring.
“I’ve been going through it in my mind for so long now, and it’s just that there was nothing else I could do,” said Hart. “My two options were to basically turn pro as a curler, and leave my work as I know it right now, or the other way… to leave curling and start focussing more on work.
“We talked a little bit on the weekend (at the Players’ Championship in Grande Prairie), but not too much,” Hart revealed. “I basically left it that I would call the guys next week, as there were a couple more things I wanted to look into. But I called them all yesterday, and told them I couldn’t continue.
“It’s emotional for me, for sure. It’s really hard. One of the things that I considered in this decision – and it’s nothing you can really control – but one of the toughest things that I’m afraid of giving up is my friendship with the guys, because you just don’t know how it’s going to all play out.
“When it’s all said and done, Team Howard’s record in terms of win-losses is right there for everybody to see, but that’s not really how I evaluate our team. It was so much more than that for me, and for the guys as well. It was about four great friends who played the game the way we wanted to play it.
“That’s what I’m going to miss. We’ll still be friends obviously, but now for half the year they’re going to be unavailable, they’ll be busy competing, and I now won’t be. So I look forward to spending some time with them this summer, and playing some golf, but at the end of the day I spent half my year… probably spending as much time with those guys as I did with my family. And it will never be the same, just because of that.”
Hart has definitely left the door open to play the game he loves in the future – just not at the elite level.
Hart with the 1998 Mike Harris Olympic team (Edmonton 09)
“The stuff I love about curling is still there, so if I were to get back into it I would be looking into playing in local bonspiels with good friends,” said Hart. “After I told Glenn (my decision) I mentioned that when he’s finished with this next Olympic run, if he wants to get together play for some fun I’d be up for that.
“I find it hard to believe I won’t be throwing rocks at all, even once in a while by myself, after practicing almost every day for 20 years.”
Hart, who plans to spend more time with his bantam-aged sons and their budding curling careers, also believes his ex-teammates will soldier on.
“They’re disappointed for sure, but they totally understand where I’m coming from,” said Hart. “And Team Howard’s success will continue, with whoever they decide to pick up and replace me with. There’s no doubt in my mind that they’re going to continue on and do great things.”
The early frontrunner for Hart’s spot was always going to be ex-Howard teammate Wayne Middaugh, who replaced Hart three times on the WCT this season. Middaugh shone in one particular event, the Canada Cup, in which the modified Team Howard won the title with a classic victory over Martin (remember Hart ♥ Middaugh?)
Indeed, as word began to spread around the curling world, Middaugh confirmed that he had signed up to replace Hart on Team Howard.
Hart’s legacy may well be unmatched as the ultimate third; a man who never chose to move up and skip a team himself.
“It’s been seven years with this team, 11 years with Glenn overall and 10 years with Mike (Harris),” said Hart. “21 years of curling and I’ve played for just two skips. I’m pretty proud of that, and of all that those teams accomplished.”
Anil Mungal photos copyright Capital One and/or The Curling News • Olympic Team 1998 photo by Michael Burns – click images to increase size
The Curling News
Canada votes; our political curling notes
Subscribe now! I command thee! Oh, and go vote.
Good day curling fans. We have something intensely Canadian today.
We have talked politics before – Canadian, American and international – and always with some degree of a curling angle.
The most notorious was our Curling Politics post from September of 2008, which essentially endorsed Prime Minister and curling-mad Conservative leader Stephen Harper (photo). This garnered a few critical comments, including a scolding from one reader who declared “There’s no place for politics in the the curling magazines of the nation.”
Oh, please.
Another reader hoped that our “choice of the Conservatives (had) a little more depth to it than the quality of curling-related press releases.”
Okay, fair point.
Within a month, our Curling Politics II posting attempted to quantify our support for, quite simply, all things curling. When we compared two different government curling grants, for example, we suggested that:
The question now seems to centre around identifying ‘good’ pork from ‘bad’ pork. When it comes to curling, says us, it’s all good.
We shall not spend much time on the issue of today’s Canadian federal election, which is the third in the last six years and fourth since 2004 (sigh). But in the spirit of the above, we decided to see if there were any recent and substantive “curling” reasons to support one party over another… with that word – substantive – not including personal appearances at curling championships (sorry, PMH).
Indeed, we might have found something. According to the website for Canada’s Economic Action Plan, often referred to as the stimulus spending spree that followed the recent U.S.-driven economic recession, the search term “curling” returns a whopping 11 pages of results. Apparently the ruling Conservatives haven’t ignored The Roaring Game, as this results sample indicates:
Upgrades to Capital Winter Club (NB)… Replace the roofing at the North Grenville Curling Club (ON)… St. Benedict (SK) curling rink upgrades… Rehabilitation of the Rideau Curling Club (ON)… Construction of a three-rink curling arena connected to the recreational centre in Chapais (PQ)… Modernization of the twin arenas and curling rink in Whitecourt (AB)… Upgrade to the Victoria Curling Club (BC)… London Curling Club (ON) – Replacement of windows and lighting… Upgrades to Granite and Fort Rouge Curling Clubs (MB)… Start of construction on Maniwaki multipurpose curling centre (PQ)… Upgrades to the Cornwall and Montague Curling Clubs (PEI)…
The list goes on and on, and this might be food for thought, Canadian curling fans… but that’s all. This year The Curling News will not endorse any political party, although we will urge all Canadian citizens to do their civic duty and go vote.
In the words of one of the country’s better political writers, “it is better to risk buyer’s remorse than to let others do the shopping in your place.”
The Curling News
Canada votes; our political curling notes
Subscribe now! I command thee! Oh, and go vote.
Good day curling fans. We have something intensely Canadian today.
We have talked politics before – Canadian, American and international – and always with some degree of a curling angle.
The most notorious was our Curling Politics post from September of 2008, which essentially endorsed Prime Minister and curling-mad Conservative leader Stephen Harper (photo). This garnered a few critical comments, including a scolding from one reader who declared “There’s no place for politics in the the curling magazines of the nation.”
Oh, please.
Another reader hoped that our “choice of the Conservatives (had) a little more depth to it than the quality of curling-related press releases.”
Okay, fair point.
Within a month, our Curling Politics II posting attempted to quantify our support for, quite simply, all things curling. When we compared two different government curling grants, for example, we suggested that:
The question now seems to centre around identifying ‘good’ pork from ‘bad’ pork. When it comes to curling, says us, it’s all good.
We shall not spend much time on the issue of today’s Canadian federal election, which is the third in the last six years and fourth since 2004 (sigh). But in the spirit of the above, we decided to see if there were any recent and substantive “curling” reasons to support one party over another… with that word – substantive – not including personal appearances at curling championships (sorry, PMH).
Indeed, we might have found something. According to the website for Canada’s Economic Action Plan, often referred to as the stimulus spending spree that followed the recent U.S.-driven economic recession, the search term “curling” returns a whopping 11 pages of results. Apparently the ruling Conservatives haven’t ignored The Roaring Game, as this results sample indicates:
Upgrades to Capital Winter Club (NB)… Replace the roofing at the North Grenville Curling Club (ON)… St. Benedict (SK) curling rink upgrades… Rehabilitation of the Rideau Curling Club (ON)… Construction of a three-rink curling arena connected to the recreational centre in Chapais (PQ)… Modernization of the twin arenas and curling rink in Whitecourt (AB)… Upgrade to the Victoria Curling Club (BC)… London Curling Club (ON) – Replacement of windows and lighting… Upgrades to Granite and Fort Rouge Curling Clubs (MB)… Start of construction on Maniwaki multipurpose curling centre (PQ)… Upgrades to the Cornwall and Montague Curling Clubs (PEI)…
The list goes on and on, and this might be food for thought, Canadian curling fans… but that’s all. This year The Curling News will not endorse any political party, although we will urge all Canadian citizens to do their civic duty and go vote.
In the words of one of the country’s better political writers, “it is better to risk buyer’s remorse than to let others do the shopping in your place.”
The Curling News
NOR vs CAN by Leslie Ingram-Brown
by Jill Officer
REGINA – Wow, that was one wild end-of-round-robin-Thursday.
It was no surprise to me that Team China gave Canada a game in the morning. Although I’m not totally sure how that happened because the Chinese didn’t exactly play “lights out”. I think there were just a few fine shots made, here and there, that kept China in the game. But make no mistake, Jeff Stoughton and his team really did have control of the match despite being tied coming home, before Stoughton made his draw for the win.
The skipper said after the game that he felt his opponents were trying to keep the game close. But one of the biggest questions in the game came when the Chinese, without last rock, threw their lead’s first stone into the house in the ninth end. No one is really sure what the strategical thinking was on that call, but the Canadians were obviously happy they could blank it out. On Stoughton’s last rock of the ninth end, he had to opportunity to do his famous spin-o-rama, but he didn’t… and the crowd booed him for it! Even lead Steve Gould apparently booed him!
Speaking of Gould, he had some harsh thoughts after the match on Team China’s on-ice tactics, and the big c-word was mentioned (cheating)… which you can read about by clicking here. What do you think?
Stoughton was asked after the game if (hypothetically) he was one of the other teams playing against his team, how would he have played that ninth end? Stoughton responded by saying “very well.” And after a brief silence in the scrum, he added “I’m not going to tell you! They (opposition) read the papers too!”
Who are you calling a cheater!?
I’m getting the sense that many curlers won’t admit if they have any superstitions before their games. They call them “routines.” I did a little story for Global Regina today on whether there are some players that have any superstitions, but few would admit to any.
Scottish Skip Tom Brewster acknowledged a couple; he said that if he found a lucky penny before the event he is sure to carry in his pocket, and that he doesn’t change his socks! Meanwhile, Swedish third Sebastian Kraupp said that he has a lucky pair of underwear that he wears for championship games. Unfortunately for him, he spent 40 minutes the other day searching his bags looking for them, with no success, so he’s sure he left them back home in Sweden. Oops.
I don’t really blame any athletes for declining to acknowledge superstitions. I’ve recently wondered if my pre-game and overall event routines actually are superstitions… but I also don’t want to admit it!
Hats versus Pants! Who wins?
Did you know that Neil Houston, 1986 world men’s champion (with skip Ed Lukowich) and current Event Manager of the Ford Worlds was the mind behind the invention of the sensored hog-line handles? During an Up Close and Personal session in the Patch yesterday, Houston talked about the idea. He said he remembers the year that Randy Ferbey was playing in the Worlds in Switzerland and his team suffered three hogline violations in one game. After that, Houston thought “Enough! Something has to be done to remove the human error.” He pursued the idea, which included discussions with Canadian cross-country ski officials, as they use a similar technology in their sport. Then, a group of students from the University of Saskatchewan took it on as a project and it ended up being manufactured by a Saskatchewan-based company. The first time the handles were used? The Continental Cup, in December of 2001… just nine months after Ferbey’s hogline problems in Switzerland.
Canada’s one-dimensional support team
Last night there was still the possibility that five losses could make it into the playoffs, and officials dropped off a big fat booklet outlining all the scenarios. Crazy. In the end, Stoughton missed his last shot in a colourful battle with the Norwegians and France beat the U.S. meaning that Sweden gets third place, and it’s NOR vs FRA today in a tiebreaker for fourth place!
Canada, of course, finished first and Scotland second, meaning those two teams will clash in the Page 1 vs 2 game for a spot in the final.
There was more craziness, between Norway’s pants (of course) and Team Canada’s stovepipe hats… and of course the Canadian coaching staff, which brought out some life-size cardboard cutouts of themselves in the fourth end, so that they could take some popcorn into the stands with a rowdy group of fans. I went up and asked the coaches whose idea this was, and while they all pointed at coach Norm Gould (who refused to take credit for the idea). They had the cutouts printed here in Regina through an event sponsor.
But the best part came between the ninth and 10th ends of the game when Coach Norm, along with alternate Garth Smith and National Coach Rick Lang began yelling and cheering, which caught the attention of the squad down on the ice. Turns out there was a group of nine of them – the team, coaching staff, national coach Paul Webster plus the team’s driver) that had purchased 50/50 tickets… and lo and behold, they won the ,840 pot!
Are you kidding me?!
Photos 2 through 4 by Anil Mungal copyright The Curling News® – click on all images to increase size
The Curling News
Who will you root for, curling fan?
From a curling perspective, Vancouver 2010 was always going to be the Olympic sport’s high-water mark.
In just under three years, the world will gather in Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games and boy, we were surprised when they won that bid!
Shortly thereafter, we gave you a sneak peek on the cities that were assembling a bid for the 2018 Winter Games.
The list of 2018 candidate cities has been whittled down to just three – Annecy in France, Munich (Germany) and PyeongChang, South Korea – and the big decision will be made in less than three months, on July 6.
All three cities just finished selling themselves at today’s session of SportAccord, the massive international sport conference in Monaco. How massive is this annual gathering? Well, it’s big enough to attract World Curling Federation Secretary-General Colin Grahamslaw who would otherwise be in attendance at his organization’s flagship event in Regina, wouldn’t you think?
Here’s the lowdown on the candidates – from that curling perspective…
Was ist los? Schwimmensstockschießen?
ANNECY – The last time a tiny French town hosted the Winter Games was Albertville in 1992. Although curling was only a demonstration sport that year, The Roaring Game was tossed into an even smaller town – Pralognon-La-Vanoise – and it was a complete disaster. Nobody showed up to watch – and we mean nobody – and two of the four sheets of ice melted and were unusable for the entire tournament. Yes, France desperately needs a curling boost and yes, it is great to see the wonderfully stubborn Thomas Dufour playing so well in Regina, but who is to say that a decent curling showcase in Annecy will make any difference to the sport’s shameful level of domestic ignorance?
MUNICH – The German city lost out on a chance to host next year’s world men’s curling shootout (to Basel, Switzerland) but they just might land the Olympic Winter Games. The event would be hosted in the same European time zone as Annecy and the Germans, like the French, are also desperate for grassroots curling growth. Based on what we’ve seen to date, Munich would be great for curling; the organizing committee has shown some dynamic creativity in including the sport throughout its marketing activities (see the photo at left). And something tells us the German people would be more enthusiastic for our grand game than our Gallic friends.
PYEONGCHANG – A betting man would pick the Koreans to win this one, hands down. This is their third consecutive bid to host the Winter Games (they finished a surprisingly strong second to Vancouver in 2010 and they also lost the 2014 vote to The Vlad Putin Show) and they are determined to win this one. Plus, Sochi is pretty close to Europe, which could be a negative for both Annecy and Munich, and 2018 will mark the 10th annniversary of the Beijing 2008 Olympic (Summer) Games.
From a curling perspective, the Koreans have done their share of winning at the annual Pacific Championships to qualify for various worlds over the years. This year alone, Korea qualified for both the worlds in Esbjerg (women’s) and Regina. Moreover, Korea hosted the last Asian worlds – the 2009 world women’s in Gangneung, located fairly close to PyeongChang – so they have a venue ready to go.
So there you go. If you were an International Olympic Committee bigwig – and a curling fan – which candidate city would you vote for?
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The Curling News
