Special report in December 2008 issue

A cool little newspaper called The Curling News has an exclusive on the cover of its new December issue.

A new study by the City of Toronto has numbered the amount of “lost” curlers through club closures over the years. That shocking number is over 8,000.

However, the city is making a new kind of commitment to the sport, through the Toronto Curling Association.

National Curling Development guy Danny Lamoureux weighs in, among others.

You don’t have to be a resident of Canada’s largest city to see how important these developments are – both the acknowledgment of a disaster-in-the-making, and the promise of some real solutions. Toronto stands alone with rather unique curling problems as compared to other urban markets, which are all allegedly “booming” in terms of development. As such, this story is a big one for each and every curling fan.

This story is only available in the print edition of the December issue. You can try to grab a copy at your local club, but as most of you are aware, we don’t send many club “complimentary” copies out. The key is to subscribe.

When you subscribe to The Curling News, you get your copy first – ahead of any other comp copies – and you get it via first-class mail, and in a protective polybag. That’s premium service.

Subscribe today and you will get this December issue, which also includes:

• Brazil? Shmazil... Spain is just one European round-robin away from the Ford Worlds

• The TCN Book Sale: just in time for Christmas, we are offering five classic titles at awesome prices

• Report: The Masters of Curling

• The Dominion Club Corner: Windsor rebuilds in the east; Monsanto offers cash for clubs in the west

• Al Cameron ponders eight separate subjects, including a Kleibrink/Bernard combination

• The Curling News TV Guide for December/January

• Can you hit the Million Dollar Button? You might be able to, by registering online ...

• Larry Wood mulls December’s “final” Continental Cup in Camrose

• Capital One Grand Slam Star of the Future: Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers

• Québec City is ready for The National

• Rodd Odds and Sods from Teri Lake of Halifax

• Young Canadian artist uses curling in Acadian imagery

• Katja Kiiskinen picks up at the Masters

• 2010 championships: Juniors to Québec; Scotties to the Soo; Brier to Halifax

• Manitoba wins Arctic Mixed

• TCN Photo Contest update – with samples!

• 30 Years Ago: an exclusive report on Paul Gowsell’s infamous on-ice pizza delivery

AND MORE!

In addition, be sure to check out our website for a link to order the 2009 Women of Curling Calendar (club edition), as well as the latest TCN Top 15 rankings.

It’s pretty clear who is number one among the men, but the Top four women is an honest-to-goodness crapshoot ...

Wuthrich, Merk at Vancouver 2010

The World Curling Federation has announced that two Canadian veterans have been selected as curling ice technicians for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

Hans Wuthrich of Gimli, Manitoba has been named Head Ice Technician and Dave Merklinger of Vernon, British Columbia has been named Assistant Head Ice Technician for the XXI Olympic Winter Games, taking place February 12-28.

The pair will also team up to test the competition surface a year earlier. The 2009 World Junior Curling Championship will be staged at the Hillcrest/Nat Bailey Stadium Park and will serve as an official test event.

Wuthrich is generally acknowledged to be the world’s leading ice technician. Last year he steered the playing conditions of various major events, including the 2006 Le Gruyère European Championships in Basel, Switzerland and the 2007 World Women’s Championship in Aomori, Japan.

“I've done so many events, I don’t know the actual number,” said the 50-year-old Wuthrich. “I started keeping track of them in 1993, after I did my first big one, the men’s worlds in Geneva in 1992.

“Just the prestige of doing the Olympics will make it different from anything I’ve experienced.”

Wuthrich already serves as a consultant to the 2010 Olympic process, as a technical advisor to the The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). Wuthrich will continue to serve in this role, a position he considers critical to the success of the eventual playing surface.

“The only concern is going to be the building itself,” said Wuthrich. “It’s a temporary curling facility, so we have to be careful about every step in the process.”

After the 2010 Winter Games, the curling venue will become a multi-purpose community recreation centre that will include an ice hockey rink, gymnasium, library and the new eight-sheet Vancouver Curling Club. In addition, an aquatic centre with a 50-metre pool and leisure pool will be attached and will be managed by the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation.

In the 52-year-old Merklinger, Wuthrich sees a familiar face. The two have worked together on more than 10 major curling events over the years, both overseas and within Canada. Merklinger has recently headed the ice crew at the 2007 Canadian men’s championship and the 2007 Ford World Men’s Championship at Edmonton’s Rexall Place.

“I pebbled my first sheet of ice in 1969,” said Merklinger, who also competed at the 1985 Canadian championship at second position. “My first head ice job was in 1974. But I’ve been hoping for the Olympic job for the past few years.

“I've always said, once I get to do the Olympics, I’ve done it all.”

Merklinger will move to Vernon from Vancouver next month to become the head ice technician and club manager at the Vernon Curling Club. He will also lead the ice crew when that city hosts the 2008 Ford World Women’s Championship in March.

Elsewhere:

• Here’s a mildly amusing tale from Alaska, by way of Scotland ...

• Speaking of the motherland, there could be mucho trouble looming as the new Scottish government has pledged to mothball sportscotland, which is disbursing some £600m to sport and athletes all the way up to the 2012 Olympic Games in London ...

• Finally, two curling teams will be inducted tonight into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and Museum: the 2003 double world junior champions, skipped by Steve Laycock (men) and Marliese Miller (now Kasner) ...

Mead on the move – to Ontario squad

Almost one year ago The Curling News, to the embarassment of the Manitoba sports media scene, broke the news of Jon Mead’s departure from the sport of curling.

Today, the Winnipeg Sun has the scoop that Mead (photo) is on his way back to the sport, on a three-year plan to win the Olympic Trials with... guess who...

Wayne Middaugh.

Yep, no playdowns for Mead, and no physical upheaval from his Winnipeg base; just an eye on buckets of cash and CTRS points en route to Vancouver 2010. Via the province of Ontario, that is.

Welcome back Jonny. It’s not the first time you were considered for a spot on an Ontario team (any guesses folks?) but this full-time commitment is another matter.

Welcome back to Graeme “Crackers” McCarrel too, although it’s really no surprise.

Next up... who Middaugh might have played with next year, had the deal gone through. And if you thought today’s news is pretty wild, just wait until you read this.

But you’ll have to wait a bit for that.