Gushue makes two (Ursel, King and Homan too)

Just prior to the Shorty Jenkins Classic tour stop in Brockville, John Morris hadn’t even seen a hard copy of his new book, Fit to Curl, which we first told you about in August.

Today, Johnny Mo has seen – and autographed – lots of copies, but his Kevin Martin squad has lost their opening tourney of the season.

2006 Olympic champion Brad Gushue made it two Tour wins in a row with an 8-6 see-saw win over the Martinites in Brockville.

After Martin scored an enormous four points in the first end, the Gushues replied with a single and then a huge steal of three to tie the match.

After exchanging singles for three ends, the St. John’s foursome posted a critical deuce in the seventh end, and followed that up with another steal coming home.

The victory comes just days after the squad’s season-opening win in Switzerland.

In the semis, Gushue had upset two-time defending Shorty champion Glenn Howard by a 5-4 count, on the strength of key steals in the fifth and sixth ends. Howard grabbed a deuce in the seventh but the Newfoundlanders held the fort and scored one in the eight for the victory.

In the other semi, Martin battled Ontario’s Dale Matchett and finally prevailed 9-8 in an extra-end.

Other men’s qualifiers were Edmonton’s Kevin Koe, Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugson, Quebec’s Robert Desjardins and Sarnia’s Heath McCormick/Peter Steski tandem.

In women’s play, young Ontario phenom Rachel Homan prevailed against Quebec’s Eve Bélisle 9-4 in the final. Down 3-1 in the third end, the 2009 national junior finalists took three and then stole consecutive pairs to build an 8-3 lead.

Bélisle had upended China’s Bingyu Wang 7-5 in the semi-finals, while Homas took out Brantford’s Jo-Ann Rizzo by an 8-2 count in the other semi.

Homan’s Ottawa foursome had also beaten the Chinese 7-6 to finish atop their pool at 5-0. The world champions from Harbin finished 4-1.

In Edmonton, Kelowna’s Bob Ursel scored four points in the seventh end to shock hometown hero Randy Ferbey 5-2 in the men’s final.

Four out of the first five ends were blanked. With Ursel holding a slim 1-0 lead in the sixth, the Ferbey Four cracked a deuce to go up 2-1, before Ursel pounced for the big four-count.

Ferbey had made a comeback in the semi-final in dumping crosstown rival Jamie King 8-6. Down 5-1 after three ends, the three-time world champions scored seven points over the next five ends to reach the final.

Ursel defeated Pat Simmons of Davidson, Saskatchewan 5-3 in his semi-final.

On the women’s side, Edmonton’s Cathy King upended Calgary’s Cheryl Bernard, the 2009 Alberta champion, by a 7-3 scoreline.

Happy curling couple

BROCKVILLE – Here’s a happy curling couple that, who knows, might have actually met years ago at the very tournament they’re both competing in this weekend.

Quebec’s Dale “Whale” Ness, at left, and Allison “A.R.” Ross are both skipping teams at the Shorty Jenkins Classic in Brockville. Ness, the prototypical lead for Guy Hemmings back in their back-to-back Brier heydays, is 1-2 in a tough pool featuring Glenn Howard and Brad Jacobs (both 2-1) as well as Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugsson (3-0).

Ross is also 1-2, in a women’s pool heavy on Quebec squads – Eve Belisle and Marie-France Larouche are both 2-1.

Ness is back curling “a little bit” while Ross first returned to the sport last year, following the birth of their two daughters.

Welcome back!

Scottish Brits win Ontario Tour title

OAKVILLE, Ontario – Greg Balsdon’s 7-5 victory in the final over Rob Lobel signified a solid 2009 men’s Ontario Curling Tour Championship.

Both Greater-Toronto-Area (GTA) teams are provincial contenders, and semifinalist Wayne Middaugh is no slouch, either.

Middaugh, incidentally, lost to the Lobels – again – as has often been their head-to-head result over the past decade or so.

However, when Eve Muirhead bushwhacked Brantford’s Jo-Ann Rizzo 8-0 in just four ends to capture the women’s title (above photo by Anil Mungal), everything had seemed a bit... odd.

Not the fact that Muirhead’s highly skilled squad won the event, going 7-0 throughout the week. Just the fact that Muirhead represents the Great Britain Olympic team, who all happen to be Scottish, and who are now jetting home across the Atlantic ocean, about as far as away from Ontario, Canada as one could expect.

“We played very solid as a team,” said Muirhead, who was supported by 2002 world champion skip Jackie Lockhart, 2007 world bronze-medal skip Kelly Wood and veteran Wood front-ender Lorna Vevers.

“(Rizzo) missed a draw in the second end and that was our steal,” said the three-time world junior champion Muirhead, who nabbed four points after scoring two in the opening frame.

“We didn’t really miss a shot after that, I don’t think.”

Muirhead said she loves to come to Canada “to get in spiels like this, the opponents are quite good.

“And we’ll be back in a few months to come.”

The Olympians-to-be, who captured $5,000 for the victory, will compete in an exhibition series during the men’s Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event in Mississauga, to be followed by women’s tour events in Red Deer, Alberta and Saskatoon.

Rizzo, who earned $2,500, was as supported by U.S. skip Patti Lank (who replaced calendar girl Chrissy Cadorin), Lee Merklinger and Leigh Armstrong.

Rizzo went 3-1 in her pool before defeating Quebec’s Eve Belisle 8-3 in the quarterfinals and Thornhill’s Colleen Madonia 5-3 in the semifinal.

Muirhead had a cracker of a match in her semi, edging Hamilton’s youthful Brittney O’Neil by a 5-4 count.

On the men’s side, Balsdon earned $6,000 for the win while Lobel was consoled with $3,000.

Other men’s playoff contenders included Middaugh, Sarnia’s Jason Young, Guelph’s Rob Rumfeldt, Harriston’s Jake Higgs and Trevor Feil of Elora.

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?