Night at the Patch

by Margo Weber

EDMONTON – Last night was a good one for those that like a party, but the gist amongst the crowd was that tonight, the final night, will be the big one. Can’t wait!

Here’s some fun things you would have heard and seen if you were at the Patch last night…

• TSN talkie Ray Turnbull confirmed his departure from TV after this year, to much resounding boos from the audience. He also confirmed his homosexual relationship with Tiger Woods.

• Kari MacLean from Team Krista McCarville had a steady line-up of males waiting to talk to her.

• Kevin Koe’s wife, Carla, walked up to Wayne Middaugh and said “Wayne, I could have made those two shots with my hiking boots on.”

• Susan O’Connor of Team Cheryl Bernard promised to be the ‘drunkest girl in the patch’ after their final game tonight, regardless of outcome.

• The rest of Jason Gunnlaugson’s team wanting to get in on autographing some boobs (heavily censored photo above).

• A re-cap on the big screen from the night before when Middaugh third Jonathan Mead danced around in undershorts (his) and a black bra (some else's).

Patch it up, folks! It's always a party!

Playah: Carter Rycroft

by Margo Weber

Welcome to our first installment of Playah of the Day. We thought it would be a good idea to give props to the hard-working athletes out there and, in this forum, showcase talent both on and off the ice. Daily we will provide you, the reader, with our take on who the real superstar of the day is.

This person must be tearing up the sheets. This person must be showing mad skillz. This person must be hot enough to be the curling poster boy for The Bay’s Olympic apparel... okay, there’s only one guy that fits that description: Carter Rycroft.

The second for Kevin Koe – who are now 2-0 – rocked a stellar 94 per cent in today’s afternoon game against Jason Gunnlaugson. He makes this stuff look easy.

I knew this guy would be a curling superstar ever since we both played in the 1993 Alberta Junior provincials. Even then he had boyish charm, superb curling prowess and the desire to win.

Oh Carter, I’ll never forgive you for losing not once, not twice, but thrice to Les Sonnenberg only to send him off to the Pepsi Nationals whereupon he would be disqualified for drinking at a junior event.

Carter, we know you would have done the same thing. That’s why you’re our Playah of the Day.

[CCA photo by Michael Burns]

Middaugh a changed man?

What’s in the news today?

• TCN publisher George Karrys suggests in the Toronto Sun that Wayne Middaugh (CCA photo by Michael Burns), fresh off his qualifying run in Prince George, might want to grab some of that “piss and vinegar” that young Jason Gunnlaugson has been talking about. Is the “black hat” version of Team Middaugh ready to Roar?

• Speaking of the Gunner, a CurlingZone troll has sniped a guess at a poor won/loss record for the Beausejour, MB squad at the upcoming Olympic Trials. Does anyone remember Mike Harris in 1997? Bob Weeks certainly does...

• Sweden wins in Bern, Ulsrud captures another title, the 50th Monctonian is history; Fowler, Epping and McCarville are pumped, Mark Nichols wants to “get away from curling”, Sherri Singler speaks, the Canadian Mixed, curling academy goes green, and more. It's all on the TCN Twitter feed, that is ...

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!

Olympic curling tickets part II

Tomorrow morning some 200,000 “new” tickets to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games will go on sale... for Canadians-only, we believe. Curling tickets are included.

This story from the Vancouver Sun tells the tale... and also includes news of the ticket design, which was released yesterday. In this Canadian Press photo shown above, mascot Qatchi (left) holds the ticket designs for Curling and Ice Hockey.

That’s mascot Sumi on the right, in case you didn’t know.

Here’s the official VANOC release regarding the ticket designs.


More for a Friday:

• Do you watch the U.S. reality TV show The Bachelorette? The current wanting woman is a Canadian, Jillian Harris, and in this coming Monday night’s episode (June 8 on ABC) she takes her wanting womanizers back home to Vancouver, and an appearance on the ice at the Marpole Curling Club.

Here’s the show website, where you can view a sneak preview of the expected on-ice ridiculousness. You can also see the two-minute preview here, and a story on the Vancouver episode, plus a photo of Harris, is located here.

In addition, there’s this Vancouver Sun blogpost telling how the producers couldn’t use the Olympic curling facility for the show, although they tried ...

• As reported earlier this week, five high-school sports – including curling – were on the chopping block yesterday, but all five have been since been spared the axe ...

• Also reported recently, the Cactus Pheasant Classic WCT event in Brooks, Alberta may have lost their title sponsor... but the city of Brooks just voted to kick in a $20,000 grant to support this fall’s event ...

• 2006 U.S. Olympic bronze-winning curler Joe Polo will be marching alongside those Kalamazoo, Michigan curling fanatics at the annual Doo-Dah parade today.

You remember this Doo-Dah story from Ohio last year, right?

• One representative from each of the 32 teams competing in either this fall’s pre-Olympic Trials qualifier or the Trials themselves are on their way to Vancouver this weekend for a CCA-hosted orientation.

The reps will be advised on what to expect in terms of the competitions, the media, and how to prepare now to represent Canada at Vancouver 2010.

Word is that most teams are sending their coaches, but we have heard of a couple of skips who are attending on behalf of their teams: Manitoba young gunners Jason Gunnlaugson and Mike McEwen.

The full list of 32 teams can be found here ...

• The 2009 Australian Championships are underway in Dunedin, New Zealand today with the finals slated for Sunday. You can follow results via the Aussie Curling Blog ...

• The Huntsville Curling Club, located in the prime cottage country north of Toronto, wants a new building (who doesn’t?) ...

• The Moncton Coliseum, host of the recent Ford Worlds, has been ripped in the local media – again – for its inadequacies ...

• And final, thanks to C. Fraser and the Canadian Fermentation blog for using amoebas to explain curling for the uninitiated. In other words, thanks for providing a serious head-shake on a Friday morning!

Curling Camps: the Glenn Howard Fantasy

In today’s post: the first in a camp series, Kelly Scott’s new lead, Kevin Martin writes his own press and the weirdest curling music video EVER.

So... here’s a first in a series of posts on some of the various “curling camps” available in the off-season. Today, we spotlight the last such camp on the calendar before the “start” of the 2010 Olympic season: the Team Glenn Howard Fantasy Camp.

The second-annual camp takes place in Guelph, Ontario from September 11-13. By all reports, last year’s inaugural camp was a smash hit, complete with a special appearance from 2007 world champion women’s skip Jennifer Jones. The camp even attracted the attention of Team Brazil (photo above), who of course went on to challenge the United States for a spot in April’s Ford Worlds in Moncton.

The 2009 edition promises more for curlers of every skill level. The registration form is available from this page and there’s a special offer available from team sponsor BalancePlus.

Register by June 15 and your name will be entered in a draw to win a new pair of BP 500 Series curling shoes!

Still with the Howards, front-enders Brent Laing and Craig Savill will be teaming up with former teammates Heath McCormick and Andy Ormsby for a four-man charity hike from July 24-26.

Here’s the catch (there are two). First, the entire distance must be covered on foot and all four team members must reach the checkpoints and the finish line together, and within 48 hours.

The second challenge, and the most important part, is for each team to raise a minimum of $2,500 for designated charity Oxfam Canada. But this team, named The Hacks, wants to raise double that amount.

To contribute, head to the Oxfam Trailwalker page and click on “sponsor a hiker”, type in The Hacks, and then choose on of the four team member names to make your donation.


In other news...

• Kelly Scott has announced the name of her new lead player. If you missed the news of the dismissal of former teammate Renee Simons, here’s two links to catch up on: the first and the second. Note the 22 comments posted from readers ...

• DID YOU KNOW: that Brooks may lose the Pheasant Classic, the two-year-old Tour event that has been declared the best event on said Tour?

• The final pieces of the 2009-2010 Season of Champions calendar have fallen into place, with the news that the Canadian Seniors will be in Ottawa; the CIS/CCA University Championships, presented by The Dominion, will take place at the Saville Sports Centre in Edmonton; and that the 2010 TSX Canadian Wheelchairs will be hosted by Kelowna ...

• Did you catch the final CBC Sports curling blogpost of the season from Grand Slam host Scott Russell? Well, there you go ...

• DID YOU KNOW II: that Winnipeg heat-thrower Jason Gunnlaugson has found a player for next season? The young team is into the Road to the Roar, aka the Olympic Pre-Trials qualifying spiel in Prince George, but contrary to public expectations, the Gunner did not pick up an experienced skip ...

• Who loves curling? Alfaj0r loves curling ...

• And so does new fan Hannah, a grade eight student in Moncton ...

• And so does Jamie Jay Singh, who asks, “Say do you like curling?” And we ask: “Uh, say what?”

• Have you voted for the Curling emoticon yet?

• And finally, DID YOU KNOW III: that Kevin Martin is now a journalist? It’s true. He wrote a story about himself in the Mississauga News, check out the byline ...