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The Bronze Battle

by Kevin Palmer

The Curling News® photos by Anil Mungal – click on images to increase viewing size

I recall an article that showcased the relationship between football stars Peyton and Eli Manning when they were growing up.

Peyton, the older brother, would always beat Eli, the younger, at virtually every sport or game. They both remember the moment when Eli finally beat Peyton – in a basketball one-on-one – with a huge dunk on the very last play. Legend has it that Peyton wouldn’t speak to Eli for days after that.

For some reason, such a degree of sibling rivalry doesn’t easily reveal itself in curling. The closest thing we’ve seen in a while may be Manitoba’s Lyburn brothers – fiery Scotsmen, both – who played on different teams this season. As we know, they reunited once Team Rob Fowler qualified for the Brier; eldest Allan throwing third and the youngest, Willie, now along as the fifth man.

Watching the Koe brothers trade shots in Saturday’s entertaining Page playoff 3 versus 4 battle, however, made it easy to picture the two of them, age 16 and 14, throwing rocks – possibly in a game of skins – to see who buys the french fries. I wonder about the first time kid brother Jamie ever won (assuming he did) and how that must have felt (for each of them)… and whether or not eldest Kevin spoke to his brother afterwards.

Of course, there were other players on the ice Saturday, and eventually, the more talented and seasoned team won. The disappointing thing about underdog is that eventually, and more often they not, they lose. Everyone is congratulating the Territories for their great week, the playoffs, and the bronze medal game. It was a great showing and I cheered them on with every step, as most fans would. We should also be impressed with the play of Team Alberta and Kevin himself – that team had/has more expectations on their shoulders, ie. everything to lose. Anyone who’s curled enough has memories of playing games like that one, and being on the wrong end of an upset. The Albertans gutted out a fine performance and got their job done… but for Jamie, it still must still sting a little.

Brier Championship action

Ontario certainly deserves their berth in the final, but the outcome didn’t happen as easily as the Page 1 versus 2 game appeared. They played five extra-end games during the week (it could easily have been six), they had a lead on intravenous for part of the tournament, and they battled through several on-ice situations that could have gone the other way.

The semifinal between Manitoba and Alberta had plenty of drama, including some key misses at the wrong times. After the seventh end it still seemed like anyone’s game, though Alberta had stepped up their play following the break. Several MB attempts at runbacks in the sixth and seventh ends led to a key steal and a force of one. Then, in the eighth end, Alberta cracked a huge four points and it was all but decided; a key pick on Fowler’s first throw allowed Koe to split the rings and lay three, then Fowler was a little heavy and and straight on his freeze attempt – boom, an Alberta hit for four. A couple of double-takeout options had been discussed; in hindsight, perhaps that would have been the better call.

When the first Brier bronze medal game was played last year, I don’t recall if I actually watched. This year I found a reason to watch, even if it was only to shirk some husbandly duties. I agreed with those last year who suggested the game wasn’t necessary, but perhaps I was wrong. I still don’t think it’s required, I always found these events during the Olympics to seem unnecessary. Why not just give out two bronze medals? It always seems disappointing when a team gets that close then doesn’t share the podium. But on Sunday, I did enjoy the game and it appeared the MB and TER players did also. On Thursday, when many thought they would fold and miss the playoffs, the Territories squad came through with two great efforts and earned their playoff spot with an impressive 7-4 record. The Territories also handed Ontario their only loss in the competition.

The final was an obvious rematch of the 2010 Brier final in Halifax, with a lineup change for both combatants: Ontario’s Richard Hart and Alberta’s Blake McDonald replaced by Wayne Middaugh and Pat Simmons, respectively. And as this blogpost from March 15, 2010 shows, the Albertans were victorious despite being in the same Page 3 versus 4 hole that they were at the start of the 2012 playoff weekend.

Ontario – 2012 champions

Unlike the previous contest – as Jim Nantz would say, “one for the ages” – this one is soon to be forgotten. I’m certain that Glenn, Brent Laing and Craig Savill will remember it for years to come. After losing four of five Brier finals in the past six years, and an Olympic berth as well, this win must feel very special. It would have been easy to start to feel jinxed, like it’s never going to happen again, and lose your passion.  But Team Howard has continued their steady play and never wavered from the top level of the game, even after injecting new third Wayne Middaugh into the mix (okay, a pretty good third, but you never know how that’s going to turn out).

The final game showed what happens when one team is a little off and the other is simply not missing. I can’t even comment on strategy, other than to suggest the Albertans may have wanted to try food-poisoning Wayne earlier in the day; he shot 98 per cent and was awarded the Hec Gervais award as playoff MVP.

Well done Ontario and Team Howard, and good luck at the worlds in Basel, Switzerland.

The Curling News

Manitoba skip Rob Fowler (far right) slides into play

by Kevin Palmer

The Curling News® photos by Anil Mungal – Click on images to increase viewing size

SASKATOON – There was plenty at stake Wednesday night at the 2012 Brier as every game had possible playoff implications. Ontario’s Glenn Howard, the leader in the clubhouse, had the evening off, and that left the rest of the field to do battle heading into Big Thursday.

I, too, was “rested” for that draw… although I did use the stairs on two occasions (and it felt great).

Mike Gaudet of Prince Edward Island comes in at 2-6, playing for pride and trying to play spoiler. Their opponents are the Jim Cotter team from B.C., who are 4-4 after their morning loss to Ontario. PEI opens with a deuce. B.C. is held to one but then steals two in the fourth end and another in the fifth. They appear to be in control at the break, but a sixth-end PEI deuce precedes a big a steal of two in the eighth and the Kelowna squad sits at five losses, hoping for help from others.

Newfoundland came in with five losses and battles the Terry Odishaw rink from New Brunswick in the battle of “New” provinces. A tight battle which included only one critical deuce, scored by Odishaw in the seventh end. Trailing one with hammer in the last end, Brad Gushue is unable to score two to win or even the single to tie and they drop to six losses and no chance for a tiebreaker berth.

NONT skip Brad Jacobs has a big day today

Northern Ontario, at 4-4, pummels Nova Scotia 11-4 to stay at four losses. Okay, it was actually a lot closer until POW! – a four-ender in the ninth had them shaking hands and left anyone who bet on the under (total of 12 ½ points) crying in their Original 16 beer. Northern Ontario still has destiny in their own control of their fate, or something like that – anyway, it’s in their hands.

Original 16 beer. This sounds different. Wait a minute… whatever happened to Labatt, ie. Canada’s official Beer Of Curling since the first Labatt Brier in 1980?

Just asking.

The TSN game was the traditional Wednesday night contest, Manitoba versus Alberta. Quite non-traditional was the game airing on TSN2 as opposed to the main channel, which covered a Maple Leaf hockey game. Readers ie. subscribers of The Curling News knew this, as the Curling TV Guide (in the subscribers-only section of every issue) was accurate in its listing.

Key steals in the fourth and fifth ends gave Brandon’s Rob Fowler control, 5-2 at the break. And despite a rebound deuce from Calgary skip Kevin Koe, Manitoba was able to pull out an 8-5 win and keep their hopes for the first Page playoff 1 vs 2 game alive.

It was a huge loss for Alberta – only their second of the tournament – as they could have secured that Friday night playoff spot with a win.

AB third Pat Simmons missed the team photo

An interesting decision by Koe in the fourth end led to a key point: trailing 3-2 with hammer, Kevin chose a raise attempt for two rather than a draw for one. He managed to make contact with Fowler’s shot stone but jammed it onto his own in the back twelve, and surrendered the steal. This was an unfortunate break and a justifiable decision, at least mathematically. If Kevin expects to make contact at least 70 per cent of the time (and I suspect the reality is closer to 80 per cent) – even if he only gets a deuce 20 per cent of the time, his chances to win are the same as a draw for one, assuming he makes the draw  – we’ve seen a few of those missed this week.

Unlike almost a quarter of the women’s field at the Tournament of Hearts, Alberta third Pat Simmons seems to be, thus far, the only Brier competitor to be really smacked by the flu. Just minutes after my exploration of Brier fifth men was published, it appears that Alberta alternate Blake MacDonald might be needed for more than the typical coaching and housekeeping chores. We shall watch and see.

Let’s look at the possibilities for today, Thursday, the big climax of the round-robin… and the potential tiebreakers…

• Ontario has qualified for the 1-2 game, making Howard the No. 1 or 2 guy in five of the last seven Brier RRs.
• Koe can secure top spot with two wins today or can drop to as far as a tiebreaker with two losses.
• Two wins by Manitoba today, combined with a loss by AB, will give MB second place. Two Ls could mean they’re out.
• Jamie Koe (TER) has had some recent problems. Two wins and he’s in, one loss and his squad need some help.
• Northern Ontario is currently tied with the Territories boys at 5-4. Two wins gets them into at least a tiebreaker.
• New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and B.C. (five losses) all need to win their games and also get some help from Manitoba.
• Saskatchewan can play spoiler. Their last games are against Manitoba and Northern Ontario.
• NL, Quebec and PEI will battle Sask to see who would be demoted next year – if they change the Brier format.

Could Team Canada – and the concept of relegation – be coming to the Brier?

That’s right – relegation. If you’re a Canadian curling follower you’ve been hearing about this since the fall, and if you read The Curling News you learned all about relegation in action at the Canadian Mixed, which was played at Sudbury back in November. There’s talk at this event of possible additions to the Brier field, which would require relegation for the bottom two provinces. A team from Nunavut would be added, plus the infamous Team Canada as found in the women’s Tournament of Hearts, while the Territories would be split into two teams, Northwest Territories and Yukon.

With 14 teams in play, speculation says there would be a new Brier pre-event or qualifier featuring a four-team playoff to see which two provinces/territories becomes part of the traditional 12-team round robin. The losers would then get to hang around and watch curling all week – what fun! Needless to say, this plan makes no sense for any number of reasons although, as a fair representation of the strange and politically correct Dominion of Canada, the concept seems to fit. Sort of, or somehow.

In my opinion, giving a berth to the defending champion, aka Team Canada, just plain stinks. It undermines the traditional concept of winning your province, it gives the winner an unfair advantage over their Brier competitors and, dammit, it just doesn’t feel right. Team Canada has won the women’s STOH 30 per cent of the time since they started this nonsense, and six times in the last 11 years. Somewhere, someone is looking at a marketing plan to ensure that an extra Kevin Martin, Howard or Jeff Stoughton gets on Brier TV every year, but at what point is the sport considered above the dollar? (Hasn’t curling’s soul already been sold to television? Might as well sell out straight to the green, they might make more money that way –Ed.)

Okay, rant over – back to this Brier.

Like any fan, I’m hoping for a few tiebreakers to make Friday interesting. I only hope they don’t use the classic technique deployed during the 1992 Tournament of Hearts. Some may recall that a three-way tie was broken by each skip pulling a number out of the buttocks bottom of a stuffed Scotties puppet (the mascot). Team Canada, skipped by British Columbia’s Julie Sutton, was awarded a bye to the final thanks to her adept veterinary skills… another great marketing idea from many years ago.

As the Brier tension mounts, my stomach is churning – from too many media donuts plus a lack of vegetables. Only two more days (for me) and it’s time for the Post-Brier Cleanse, with wine and fruit in replace of beer and poutine. I can already see the pounds falling off.

The Curling News

Host skip Scott Manners basks in the adulation of a really weird group of Saskatchewan fans

by Kevin Palmer

The Curling News® photos by Anil Mungal – click on image to increase viewing size

SASKATOON – What other sport is as strange as this?

I was struck with that thought yesterday, watching Draw 4 of the 2012 Brier. By strange I don’t mean the game itself: I grew up in Winnipeg, watching grown men sweep with brooms while sliding on one foot. The odd part is that the event itself, the Brier, is still arguably (along with the Olympic Winter Games) the most important event in this old Scottish game.

Oh… and those fans in the all-green body suits, too. That was/is strange.

For Sunday afternoon, the 15,500 seat arena was well-stocked with Saskatchewanians and other visitors who came from all across this vast country. In what other sport do three or four of the elite teams in the world compete against eight or so average teams? In many cases, these elite squads do fierce battle in their respective province to gain entry, hopefully every few years, while some average teams with average players show up year after year, almost as if this is an annual bonspiel, travel plans made in August. It’s as if the Lakers, Heat, Celtics and Bulls played a basketball tournament against Canadian University teams, and attendance was 10 times that of the NBA finals.

I’m not complaining, I’m just observing.

WHAT THE…? Is Glenn Howard getting heckled by the green spacemen? His aunt? Who knows?

It’s the 30th Anniversary of the Brier Patch. I know this because it’s available on a T-Shirt. This led me to wonder if beer was consumed at these events before 1982 – and I’d suspect it was. The logo for Brier Bear adorns the T-shirts that are available for children. But the Bear, in the logo, is wearing skates. So far, no one has been able to explain the reason why, but it will be a quest for this week to find the answer.  Another quest-like question: what is the maximum number of logos that can appear on the ice surface? (I lost count at 74).

In other logo-related news, Saskatchewan third Tyler Lang, was seen photographed wearing a Toronto Blue Jays cap after his team’s come-from-behind win in the provincial final (steals in both 10 and 11 against Bruce Korte). I know this because it was a widely-circulated photo, with the four guys clutching the Sask trophy, and it also appeared on the cover of the March issue of The Curling News, owner of this here website blog. Thanks to this widely-circulated photo, Tyler has apparently received a plethora of Jays-related SWAG from the baseball team itself, which he unfortunately cannot wear at the Brier due to even rules on logos (he’s now sporting a nifty green cap adorned with “SASK”, see bottom photo). His is one of five caps I counted on the heads of curling athletes during the Sunday evening draw – of seven in total, I believe. Tyler gets my vote for “Best Cap” award at this year’s Brier, with BC’s Jim Cotter and his plain, ordinary blue cap clearly in last place.

In actual curling news, Newfoundland skip Brad Gushue starts out 0-3 and their locker room cannot be a happy place. They can take solace that these losses came at the hands of other contenders and, of the heavy favourites, only Alberta and Kevin Koe remains on their schedule. In 2007, Gushue started 1-3 and then came within one brain-fart call in the ninth end of the final to possibly leaving Ontario’s Glenn Howard with an 0-5 mark on their Brier finals resume, instead of 1-4.

Koe looks strong so far, and not just Kevin. The Territories’ Jamie Koe, Kevin’s kid brother, sits at 2-1 after an upset win over Ontario.  The favourite coming in, Howard and new/old teammate Wayne Middaugh haven’t looked sharp (photo above) and were lucky that Gushue threw a draw against them on his ninth-end hit on Sunday night. The steal of two helped Ontario to an extra-end win and the avoidance of a 1-2 start. Nova Scotia started 3-0 but they dropped a game to New Brunswick in the evening draw and have yet to play Manitoba, Alberta, Newfoundland or Ontario.

Ladies and gentlemen: your Best Cap award winner

Sask skip Scott Manners (top photo), the “tweener” from Lloydminster who’s spent most of his curling days battling in Alberta, has looked calm and relaxed, as has his rookie squad. The crowd is clearly behind them, though I expect come Sunday’s final they’ll be cheering for another Saskatchewan native, playing in the blue and yellow of Alberta. Pat Simmons represented Saskatchewan five times at the Brier and now throws third stones for Kevin Koe. Pat will be looking for history to repeat this week: the last Saskatoon Brier was won by Mark Dacey, a Saskatchewan guy wearing a different uniform (Nova Scotia).

Saskatoon appears to be a great host so far, as I would expect. I’m not sure if it’s been made public, but we appear to have a Brier “rotation” similar to the way the Royal & Ancient manages the (British) Open Golf Championship. A five-city tour: Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg combines with  two or three other locations (Halifax, Ottawa and London in recent years) to round out a seven-year cycle. This makes economic sense, I expect, but I’d love to see them attempt a Toronto or Montreal Brier. Perhaps one day, but for now, I’ll celebrate with Saskatoon.

The Curling News

The Dominion Men’s 2012 Northern Ontario Provincial Championship takes place Sunnday, February 5 to Sunday, February 12, 2012 at the Soo Curling Association in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Twelve of the best Men’s teams from across Northern Ontario will compete in the provincial championship to represent Northern Ontario at the Tim Horton’s Brier in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from March 3 to 11, 2012.

The Dominion Men’s Northern Ontario provincial championship is a round-robin event with two draws daily from Sunday, February 5 to Thursday, February 9th. The final draw of the round-robin takes place on Friday, February 10th. If tie-breakers are necessary, they will be played on Friday afternoon and evening. The championship will end with a four team Page Playoff beginning Saturday, February 11th.

Games start Sunday, February 5 at 2:30pm with round-robin games at 2:00pm and 7:30pm from Monday to Thursday. The final round-robin game is at 9:30am on Friday, February 10. The Page Playoffs begin on Saturday, February 11 at 2:00pm. The final is scheduled for 9:00am on Sunday, February 12.

Competing Teams

• Stratton C.C. – Trevor Bonot, Scott McCallum, Tim Jewett, Andrew McCormick, Al Macsemchuk (5th)
• Fort William C.C. – Colin Koivula, Eric Theriault, Justin Whitehurst, Jordan Potts
• Fort William C.C. – Joe Scharf, Mike McCarville, Rob Champagne, Gary Champagne
• Fort William C.C. – Mike Assad, Al Hackner, Kory Carr, Jamie Childs
• Fort William C.C. – Jeff Currie, Dylan Johnston, Cody Johnston, Mike Badiuk
• Soo Curler’s Assn. – Brad Jacobs, E.J. Harnden, Ryan Harnden, Scott Seabrook
• Soo Curler’s Assn. – Tim Phillips, Charlie Robert, Dan Lemieux, Rob Thomas
• Voyageur C. C. (Mattawa) – Pat Gelinas, Art Trudel, Luc Gelinas, Louis Gelinas
• Sudbury C.C. – Robbie Gordon, Ron Henderson, Dion Dumontelle, Doug Hong, Mark Borgogelli (5th)
• Sudbury C.C. – Jordan Chandler, Kyle Chandler, Gavan Jamieson, Tom Cull, Matt Dumontelle (5th)
• Copper Cliff C.C. – Mike Jakubo, Matt Seabrook, Sandy MacEwen, Lee Toner
• MacIntyre C.C. (Timmins) – Dave MacInnis, Claude Lapointe, Roddy Lapointe, Ryan Dinesen

Live scoring for The Dominion Men’s 2012 Northern Ontario Provincial Championship is available on Playdowns.com.

Playdowns.com – Curling news and playdown results

Team Canada – off to the playoffs

Words and images by Laura Crocker

KARUIZAWA, Japan – The completion of the round robin finds both Canadian teams in the playoffs!

We finished with a 5-2 record, as did Korea, but our win against them puts us in first place. The boys also had a 5-2 record and finished third overall. A successful round robin for Team Canada!

Yesterday our lone game was against a very defensive Japan Selection team. We tried to get something going almost every end, but their strategy made it really tough. We were tied at one playing the sixth end when a bad miss on my last one gave them a steal of two. We couldn’t continue our take-two-steal-one pattern, and an otherwise well-played game turned into our second loss.

The boys, on the other hand, had a great game and finished their day with a 4-1 record.

With that being our only game of the day, we took the time to visit the Olympic museum. There was a big display of curling: some pictures of Sandra Schmirler‘s team, a case of pins from Canadian curling clubs, and of course the 1998 Olympic medals. It was a really neat little place to visit!

Nagano Olympic medals on display

Later in the day we headed to a gigantic outlet strip mall and did some exploring. Usually this would be just our thing, but with the currency conversions and the numerous store clerks speaking so much Japanese and staring at your every move, we were a little overwhelmed. Aside from Chris, the men’s second, who bought a baby pink “party sweater” (as he calls it), we didn’t make any big purchases.

After that it was time for dinner, which was definitely my favourite part of the day. We tried out a Japanese barbecue place, and the meat we got there was melt-in-your-mouth delicious. It was the perfect way to help us get over a tough loss and feel better for the following day.

This morning we had an early start with an 8:00am game against China. A steal of two in the second end gave us momentum that we hung on to until the game ended in the sixth with a score of 6-2.

To pass the time in between games both teams went out for lunch, again to the restaurant we discovered the other day (with the incredible pizza). Lots of laughs and a delicious meal put us all in a good place for our last round-robin game.

Pikachuuuuu!

Our final match against Denmark was big – a win meant first place and a loss would put us into tiebreakers. We came out strong right from the start, with a steal of two in the second end, followed by another two in the third. After a blank in four and a force in five, we scored a deuce in the sixth to put an end to the game. The boys won their final game against Germany, also needing only six ends, leaving us both with identical 5-2 records.

On the way home from the rink the mountains looked so beautiful that we asked our driver to stop, and it just so happened that he stopped beside three random Pikachus playing musical instruments. Of course, we had to get a picture with them too!

Now that both teams had accomplished the goal of making the playoffs, we had the evening off. We went out for a big team dinner followed by a trip to the arcade for the boys plus Sarah and I. This place was unreal – the four-person air hockey game had an electronic tabletop that would randomly shoot “dummy pucks” around, and put swimming whales on the table to confuse you. There was also a whole section of photo booths with a variety of sayings on them, such as “memorize your beauty and fashion at this luminous place”.

Caption suggestions are welcom

Of course, we had to check it out. They would give you examples of photos with Japanese girls in various poses, and we tried our best to replicate them. Once the computer added make-up to all our eyes (including Steve’s) we got to decorate them as we wished. We ended up with some pretty ridiculous pictures!

The finale of our arcade trip came when Colin, the skip of the men’s team, was trying over and over to win a Mickey Mouse pocket watch from a game where you had to move a pole around, and drop it into a target hole. After several close tries, we all thought he had given up. Of course then he went back to the change machine, got some coins, and got back at it.

Finally, he found the spot to get the pole to drop right in the middle of the target, and everyone went wild. A fist pump from Colin followed by some hugs with his teammates and we were finally leaving the arcade. On our way out, a Japanese man working there made sure he took the time to mock me saying “Oh my God!” after seeing the boys’ winnings, and was beyond grateful to receive the tiny Canada pin we gave him. On our way back to the bus, we realized that in the frenzy of the big win Colin had left 900 yen on the machine. But according to him, it was totally worth it.

We play our semifinal tomorrow morning at 9:00am, but our opponent is still being determined as China and Japan Selection are battling it out in a tiebreaker for the last playoff spot. We’re prepared and excited to hit the ice and can’t wait to get out there. Now it’s time to get some rest for a long day tomorrow… sayōnara!

The Curling News

Go Canada!

Words and images by Laura Crocker

(Click on image to increase viewing size)

KARUIZAWA, Japan – Six games and six wins for Team Canada today!

We started early with a 7:00 am breakfast (which was delicious again, of course) and then we were off to the rink for Game 1 of our busy day. When arrived at to the rink we saw that a huge group of school kids had come out to watch, so I gave a couple of them little Canada flags… and before I knew it, I had hundreds of little hands reachingwildly to get a hold of anything Canadian!

We handed out more flags, tattoos and pencils, which made us the automatic favourite amongst the crowd. Every time I came down the ice to throw a stone they would wave their flags and cheer; even the kids who had Korean flags tattooed on their faces!

Korea was our first opponent of the day and the game was a real nail-biter. A shaky sixth end led to a Korean three-spot and put us down two playing the seventh of the eight-end game… however, we rallied for our deuce in seven and in the eighth, we forced the other skip to try to pick out our rock on the pin, of which she could see less than a quarter. She ticked the guard, and that gave us our first W.

We had a quick turnaround before our next match, just enough time to sit down for a bit and make peanut butter and banana sandwiches (yes!).  Our second game was against Japan, who played really well and made it another really close finish. We were again down two playing the seventh… got our two back… and then found a way to steal the eighth. A bit of a pattern was shaping up for us and, to be honest, it was one we wanted to break – stealing the last end is tough work against such good teams!

Japanese newspaper story

We had a bit more time before our third game, so we made our way back to the hotel to relax for a while. We caught up with our family and friends back home online and then turned on the TV for some cheap entertainment. Today we watched what we think was a Japanese version of CSI, and it was definitely good for a few laughs.

Our third and final game of the day was against the Nagano Selection team, and this was the best performance we’ve strung together so far. A bit more of a cushion in the later ends made it not-so-stressful on those watching us! A four-point lead after the sixth put us in great shape to finish the game off. The boys’ team also had three very close games today, stealing an extra-end in their first game and playing the eighth end up one with in both of their other games. Overall, it a great day to be Canadian in Karuizawa!

Our day ended with some Mr. Noodles and relaxation before heading to bed. Sarah poured the remainder of her noodles down the toilet, and in the process knocked the ashtray off the wall and into the toilet bowl. Fishing around in there was her nightmare but she managed to find it without flushing it down. Crisis averted!

Today we saw our faces on the front page of a Japanese newspaper, along with the group of children we taught a clinic to on Wednesday. It’s pretty neat, seeing your picture surrounded by mysterious text of a completely different language!

Tomorrow is a somewhat calmer day with only one game scheduled for us, around lunchtime. As always, I’m extremely excited for another amazing breakfast and ready for another well-played game, this time against the Japan Selection team. After that match we’re hoping to go to the local Olympic museum, and then hot the shops at an awesome strip mall located not far from our hotel. Until then – sayōnara!

The Curling News

Curling Beauséjour in Moncton plays host the Molson Canadian Men’s Preliminary Playdown from January 12 to 15. 17 of the top New Brunswick teams will be playing for 3 berths in the Molson Canadian New Brunswick Men’s Final 8 Curling Championship in St. John at the Thistle St. Andrews Curling Club in February.

Games are underway all weekend with the final two qualifiers being determined on Sunday

The final spots in the New Brunswick Men’s Curling Championship will be determined at the Wildcard in Campbelton next weekend.

Live scoring for the Molson Canadian Men’s Preliminary playdown is available on Playdowns.com.

Playdowns.com – Curling news and playdown results

Words and Image by Anil Mungal

Is that guy on the left a "sellout"?

RAMA, Ont. – According to my boss, The Editor, our status as the world’s greatest curling newspaper and overall source of curling news often results in people emailing or calling us with all kinds of questions or comments about the Roaring Game… and often these questions or comments are completely unrelated to anything we have published, tweeted etc.

Apparently, when major TV curling events are broadcast, our toll-free telephone line gets blasted by curling fans who either don’t like this, or don’t understand that, or whatever.

Back in the 2000s, most phone calls concerned women’s curling superstar skip Colleen Jones and WHY CAN’T SHE STOP CHEWING HER GUM IN SUCH AN UNDIGNIFIED FASHION??

NOTE: At this point, The Editor would like to point out that The Curling News has to pay for all of these long-distance calls you are making to our phone line, so folks, please do one of three things before calling us:

1) SUBSCRIBE. FOR GOD’S SAKE. It’s the least you can do, and you should be a subscriber anyway – because you love curling.

2) Please consider calling someone else. Like, for example, the Canadian Curling Association (you can find their toll-free number at curling.ca) or the World Curling Federation (you can find their really expensive not-toll-free number at worldcurling.org)

3) Send us a “free” message through our website. This very website, in fact. Just go to the “CONTACT” tab near the top of any page.

One such message was sent and received last night, sent from a curling fan to none other than Skins competitor Glenn Howard. Ordinarily we might not publish the message, but in keeping with the theme of this posting, and assuming that the writer was actually looking for a way to pose his question/comment/etc. to Glenn Howard himself, and because the message is not impolite in any fashion, The Editor has decided to publish it, in its entirety.

Here it is:

hey Glenn… you guys are so good at your sport & appear to be really nice individuals but “really” those sponsor shirts – they’re atrocious & make it look like your team really sold out….either tone them down or better yet get a new “dignified” sponsor…it can’t always be about the money….mark ward

Well now! With that message, The Curling News is now cleared to post yet ANOTHER image of Team Howard’s Green Machine jersey from yesterday’s action – just click on the image to increase its viewing size.

But we also want to ask you, the reader, some questions: do you agree with the writer that the jerseys are atrocious? Are they ugly? Are they indicitive of a sellout? Or do you think the jersey is attractive… perhaps even beautiful? Is it effective? is it necessary?

Let us know what you think via the “Comments” area below…

The Curling News

Words by George Karrys

RAMA, Ont. – As learned earlier today by The Curling News, TSN is making a live television announcement – right now – that The Dominion will become the title sponsor of the 2013 Curling Skins Game, and will radically revamp the way the four teams are selected for the competition.

We’ve heard that FAN VOTING will determine the four skips, but that’s not all… there is speculation that those skips will then DRAFT THEIR PLAYERS from another three teams (to be specified, somehow) to fill out their lineups.

The Curling News will confirm and post the details as soon as we receive them, and those details just might be online now, as you’re reading these words. Just click or re-click on the “BLOG” tab near the top of any page…

The Curling News

By Molly Bonner [click on images to increase size]

Molly practicing for the Opening Ceremonies

YICHUN, China – My apologies for the delay. After an eventful day full of travel and a busy, exciting first day of practice the competition is about to begin… and we are back in action on the blog train!

adventure | ad
’ven ch ər; əd- |
(noun)
• an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity
• daring and exciting activity calling for enterprise and enthusiasm

To say that Wednesday was an adventure would be an understatement, and then some. Our Beijing comrades were right: the weather can be very treacherous in a Yichun winter – so treacherous, in fact, that our flight from Harbin to Yichun was cancelled. Oops.

After we debarked the plane in Harbin we were notified of the cancellation, and it was comforting to have familiar curling faces with us, knowing that we were all in the same boat (bus, in this case). Three of the international teams – Canada’s Shannon Kleibrink, Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg and Silvana Tirinzoni’s foursome from Switzerland were all aboard our Harbin flight, along with Keith Wendorf and his wife, Susan – the World Curling Federation emissaries and official umpires of the event.

View from the icy arctic Chinese bus trip

So there we sat in the “Flavor Tang” (the Chinese version of a food court), next to the Swiss team, passing time prior to the much-anticipated (sarcasm) six-hour bus ride on roads that are likely to be icy, dangerous, snow-covered etc… and they were.

After the two-hour wait in Harbin and some pre-boarding chaos, there we were: bus full, luggage that wouldn’t fit in storage piled in the middle walkway, some of us equipped with beer or chocolate to pass the time.

“You just can’t make this (stuff) up,” we kept thinking, as we finally got underway.

While some of us preferred to keep our eyes closed others stayed at the utmost attention, hoping for any sign of Yichun in the distance.

Our destination reminded me of a summer resort combined with an old planation in the southern United States, which made us all the more grateful to be “home” for the next week.

After our first night’s rest and conversations with our translators, we learn of a Chinese belief: that sleeping on a very hard bed will keep women slim!  Let’s just say that many of the competitors are expecting quick results after no less than seven nights of sleep in Yichun!

Thursday, finally, was our first day seeing and curling inside the new venue – after all, the ice was created only a week ago. Each team was allotted two hour-long practices in preparation for the Friday morning start of competition.

Canada’s CTV visited Yichun a week ago: link at right

Yichun – the “Forest City” – is considered a town or small city by the Chinese people. After all, there are “only” 1.3 million people here.

Speaking of million: a sports network (is it CCTV 5? – Ed.)  will be broadcasting every draw of this event, and expects over four million viewers for the final.

It’s fun to see all of the hard work that has gone into this event, and to think of the massive effort required to make  Yichun become the curling capital of China. Watch this online video from Canada’s CTV (screen shot at left) for a report on just how big the sport investment is in this area.

The Chinese people are full of excitement and are showering the foreigners with assistance and gratitude. Our translators, Amy and Lily (English names of course) are true problem-solvers and go-getters, something that seems to be a common theme among the Chinese – they make things happen quick if a situation arises.

As Keith stated at the team meeting, it’s time to “christen the venue, make new friends, and enjoy the competition.” The spirit of curling is now alive and well here in Yichun.

Calgary skip Shannon Kleibrink enjoys Keith’s, er, gift

Last night we sat with Team Canada at the “Welcome Reception.” It was a traditional Chinese meal in which all items are placed on a “Lazy Susan” and circled about the table… quite similar to what one might consider “family-style” dining back in North America.

A few of us American competitors were more adventurous than others (can you guess who wasn’t?) and a couple of those people are feeling a bit ill – be it the food, climate, jet lag or whatever.

Friday brings the Opening Ceremonies, for which the organizers held a two-hour practice session. It is sure to be a great show as local politicians and other dignitaries join us on stage.

Day one of the Yichun International Ladies Competition is next: and I can’t wait to play! Now to dream about things like pizza and chocolate as we go to rest on our “get-slim” mattresses. Cheers!

The Curling News