Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Skate with Stoughton























Tons of stuff today on John Morris vs Northern Ontario, cheap airline tickets to SoC events, one year out to 2010, the Alberta men’s preview, cuties in helmets and much more, but first...

Attention Winnipeggers: you and Jeff Stoughton (above) can skate together at the MTS Centre tonight, along with a pile of Olympians from other sports. It’s all part of Canada’s “Countdown Celebration Week” to the one-year-out celebrations of Vancouver 2010... which is, technically, tomorrow!

You can also wine and cheese with Stoughton, Jennifer Jones and others on Thursday night at McPhillips Street Station.


And here’s that much more we were talking about...

• Going to the major Canadian championship events this year? There’s nothing like live curling to boost your spirits in these economic times. You deserve it, and there are some cool airline seat sales on now to ease your pocketbook.

The info below assumes, of course, that the reader is based in Canada. There’s nothing to stop international visitors from going to a Brier or Worlds... in fact, we hear rumours of some high-profile women’s teams possibly making a jaunt through western Canada, should things go their way in national playdowns.

Anyway, we surfed the major Canadian air carrier websites and punched in a Toronto-Moncton flight for the opening weekend of the 50th anniversary (Ford) world men’s championship in April... cost each way: only 109 bucks in Canadian dollars.

Then we tried Ottawa-Calgary for the final weekend of the Tim Hortons Brier in March... $154 each way.

Then, just for fun, we checked out an event coming up way fast – the Scotties in Victoria, starting in a couple of weeks – and chose a quick, tricky, mid-week, three-day trip from Edmonton. True, the only direct flight offered was tagged at $460 each way. But, if one is willing to stop over in Vancouver along the way, the price plummets to a stunning $94 for each flight!

So here you go, people: go to the Season of Champions website to get your event tickets, and then visit either these guys or these guys to grab some cheap airfare.

Live curling (and partying) rocks!

Al Cameron has the best preview available on the Alberta men’s provincial, which starts today in Wainwright – a triple-knockout format. Oh, and here’s the link to his Calgary Herald print story, in which John Morris puts his head in the lion’s jaws and suggests that it’s time for a Team Canada at the Brier, at the expense of Northern Ontario.

Hoo boy. Here we go again ...

• According to Lyndon Little there’s a bit of a youth movement underway at the B.C. provincial. However, Kent Gilchrist points out that 58-year-old legend Rick Folk is currently leading the field, with fellow ancient mariner Dennis Graber close behind. Er, which is it, boys?

Meanwhile, here’s a story from yesterday on father beating son ...

• The Nova Scotia Tankard – er, rather, the new Molson Scotia Cup – is underway today. And in these two preview stories from the Chronicle-Herald and Metro News, it’s all about the 2007 and 2008 runner-up, Shawn Adams ...

Martin Ferland is another big name gunning for the Quebec title ...

• Some Swiss stories for you today; this one talks about a journalist’s first go at the sport, and this one summarizes the anniversary bonspiel at Wildhaus ...

• Last week we told you about Rocks and Rings. This week, two very curling-committed people at Scarboro Golf Club – Judy Conquer and all-star seniors thrower Roy Weigand – arranged the first of five on-ice programs for local kids, and we’ve got the video, here and here... man, we love cuties in helmets!

• Speaking of cuties, a news story on Little Rockers winning a tournament? Doesn’t happen very often, but we like it ...

• Japan’s big Karuizawa International bonspiel – summary here – was won by BC’s Bob Ursel, while Quebec’s Eve Belisle finished fourth. There was tons of media there, but of course, they focussed solely on their beloved Japanese national women’s team ...

• Whad’Ya Know? This Wisconsin Public Radio show went curling in Stevens Point, the hometown club of USA Curling (curling segment starts at 18:15) ...

• Organizers of the 2010 Scotties are pushing various levels of government for event support, but local city council has rejected a planned expansion to the venue in time for next year’s shootout ...

• And finally, they want your ice plant! Yes, it’s true, the Dallas/Fort Worth Curling Club is looking for a used “ice plant chiller thing”... so can anyone help these folks out?

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