Norberg wins Masters

2006 Olympic champion Anette Norberg is the 2009 Re/Max Women’s Masters champion after defeating Swedish rival Stina Viktorsson by an emphatic 8-4 score in the final at Basel.

Semi-finalists were USA Olympic representatives Debbie McCormick and Switzerland’s Fabienne Fuerbringer, while the quarter-finalists included Vancouver-bound Eve Muirhead of Great Britain and Germany’s Andrea Schoepp.

The Norberg victory follows a runner-up finish two weeks earlier in Oslo, when they were defeated in the championship final by Canada’s Jennifer Jones.

Jones and an impressive group of teams – including 2006 Olympic medallists Mirjam Ott and Shannon Kleibrink – are down to their last lives at Calgary’s Trail Appliances Grand Slam event in Calgary, which wraps up on Monday.

Canadians go Curlingkanalen

by Teri Lake

OSLO, Norway – Move over Vic, Linda and Ray… Jill and Teri are in the house!

The Curling News columnist-turned-blogger (that’s me) and team have arrived in Oslo, Norway for the Radisson SAS Oslo Cup. We came all the way from Halifax to compete but this morning, skip Jill Mouzar and I got... suckered.

Perhaps it was rookie initiation – we’re Oslo Cup virgins – but we ended up in the commentator’s booth after this morning’s practice (see photo above) to kick off the Curlingkanalen internet coverage of said event. After exchanging looks that resonated a bit of WTF? we jumped into it and, a few coffees later, we couldn’t stop talking.

Alone in the booth, we talked strategy, sweeping and time clocks like old pros (and threw in a few giggles) while France’s Thomas Dufour and Switzerland’s Stefan Heilmann hammered it out. Dufour captured the win (10-4) and we captured the hearts of listeners (well, three of them anyway).

It was quite early in the morning, especially back home in Canada, but we know the camera guy and two techies liked us so much that they’ve asked us back, for as many times as we can swing it. I’m not sure when that will be but, stay tuned. Like the divas we are, we said we’d only come back if provided with telestrating capabilities… or chocolate… we really are easily bought!

I like to stick to the written word in expressing myself but Jill is no stranger to broadcasting. In fact, she’s a pro and I’m simply riding her coat-tails. Jill was a recent competitor in The Score’s Drafted reality show that is looking for Canada’s next sportscaster. You can see Jill, and her boyfriend Paul Brothers, on the website above; check out the Halifax auditions (specifically the 2:15 minute mark of Halifax Auditions Part 2) and follow the show for yourself… this broadcasting power couple kicked serious butt!

We’re on the ice soon against Russia’s Yulia Svetova, with other pool matches upcoming versus Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott, the Czech Republic’s Linda Klimova and Scotland’s Gillian Howard. Follow us!

2010 Olympic curling schedule

The World Curling Federation has released the draw for the Curling Competition at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

The draw is available via direct download at the WCF homepage, within the posting dated July 28.

Competition begins February 16 with three draws scheduled daily – alternating between men’s and women’s play – up to February 23.

Canada’s women’s team, which will be determined on December 12 in Edmonton, opens at 14:00 against Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott, the only curling athlete in history with two Olympic medals (silver in both 2002 and 2006).

Canada continues with matches against Japan on Feb. 17, Germany on Feb. 18 and Denmark’s Angelina Jensen, the 2007 world finalist, on Feb. 19.

Canada’s major crunch comes on the final three days of the round robin.

On Feb. 21, Canada battles 2003 world champion Debbie McCormick of the United States and, later, defending world champion Bingyu Wang of China.

On Feb. 22, their opponent is the defending Olympic champion and two-time world champion Anette Norberg of Sweden.

On Feb. 23, the Canadian women face another two matches, against Great Britain – most likely skipped by three-time world junior champion Eve Muirhead – followed by the round robin finale against 2006 European champions Russia.

The Canadian women do not compete on Saturday, February 20.

Canada’s men’s team, which will be determined on December 13 in Edmonton, opens with two matches on Feb. 16, against Norway (most likely 2008 and 2009 world bronze medallist Thomas Ulsrud) and Germany’s Andy Kapp, a two-time Olympian and multiple world finalist.

Following a full day off on February 17, the Canadians face two next-day opponents: Sweden (most likely the defending world university champions skipped by Niklas Edin) and then France’s Thomas Dufour.

On Feb. 19, Canada challenges Denmark’s Ulrik Schmidt.

On Feb. 20, Canada faces Great Britain’s David Murdoch, the two-time and defending world champion, in the evening draw. Murdoch defeated Canada’s Kevin Martin three consecutive times to win last April’s 2009 Ford World Men’s Championship in Moncton, and as reported by The Curling News, has been training specifically to defeat Canada for Olympic gold at Vancouver.

Canada then battles Switzerland on Feb. 21. The Swiss defeated Canada for Olympic gold at Nagano in 1998 and captured bronze at Salt Lake in 2002, and also scored demonstration gold at the 1992 Games in Albertville.

On Feb. 22 the Canadians meet John Shuster of the United States. Shuster was a member of the 2006 U.S. Olympic curling team, skipped by Pete Fenson, which scored the bronze medal.

On Feb. 23, Canada concludes the round robin with an afternoon match against China’s Fengchun Wang, the surprise fourth-place finisher at the 2008 world championship. This will mark the fourth consecutive day in which the Canadian men’s team competes only once.

February 24 is reserved for tiebreakers with the semifinals scheduled for February 25.

The Women’s Final takes place February 26 and the Men’s Final on February 27.

Canada has never missed the podium in Olympic medal-status competition, winning gold in 1998 (women’s) and 2006 (men’s) while scoring two silver medals in men’s play and two bronze medals in women’s play.

Venue photo by the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation

Swiss curling update

It’s all things Swiss in today’s The Curling News Blogpost.

Why?

Well... why not?

1. Team Mirjam Ott made some waves at the end of the 2008-09 season by replacing second Valeria Spaelty with team alternate Carmen Kueng. Spaelty was the last remaining member of Ott’s 2006 Olympic silver medallist foursome, and Kung had been the squad’s dedicated alternate the last couple of seasons.

A photo of the new Team Ott, who are pretty much confirmed to represent Switzerland at Vancouver 2010, is located here. The accompanying update states the squad will be taking a full six-month leave of absence from work to focus on the drive to Vancouver, which will include six weeks of training/touring in Canada.

2. Team Ralph Stoeckli, fourth-place finishers at the Ford Worlds in Moncton, need to win a special best-of-seven playoff against 2008 European rep Stefan Karnusian to book their tickets to Vancouver. But should they win, they will not be heading to the Games with team coach Russ Howard.

Russ has confirmed his gig with the CTV Olympic broadcast consortium – which of course features the TSN curling crew – and will be doing the suit and tie thing in Vancouver. Howard might still be jetting to Switzerland in September to do some work with the squad – this is still TBD – but he definitely won’t be wearing the white cross in February.

Here’s a photo of Howard in his Swiss duds, consulting with Stoeckli and lead Simon Struebin, who just happens to be Europe’s representative on the board of the new World Curling Players’ Association (as we revealed last month).

Back in November, you may recall that TCN scored the first photo of Russ in his new coaching career.

Speaking of photos, the CCA image above (shot by Michael Burns) shows Stoeckli in a huge fist pump just as his final throw settles into the button for a big win in Moncton.

3. But there’s another Canadian coaching saga in Switzerland... two, in fact. The husband and wife team of Lorne and Chris Hamblin have been hired as Swiss Curling’s new national team coaches.

According to the Winnipeg Free Press story, Hamblin said he and his wife only wanted a chance to coach at a high level and the Swiss opportunity came along before any other. “If there had been similar opportunities in Canada," said Hamblin, “we would have pursued that. But there weren’t.”

4. Andreas “Andi” Schwaller has hung up his boots... for now. The man who rivalled Stoeckli for Swiss skipping honours throughout this decade – winning world silver in 2001 and Olympic bronze in 2002 – has retired from competition... but perhaps only for a year, as this story would indicate.

You can also listen to a radio interview with Schwaller – in German, of course – on this page.


So, there you go. Anything else for the rest of this North American holiday week?

• CTV’s retrospective Olympic features titled “Where Are They Now?” includes Joan McCusker, and that famed 1998 Olympic championship squad ...

• Sudbury, Ontario is currently hosting its annual Dominion Amethyst Curling Camp, which is previewed here and also featured here ...

• Three-quarters of Team Jennifer Jones made an appearance last weekend in Blackfalds, Alberta ...

• Kansas City, USA curling action takes place on Monday nights through August 31 ...

• And finally, the New Zealand curling championships started today, with the finals set to wrap up on Sunday ...

Le Gruyère European Championships 08

ÖRNSKÖLDSVIK, Sweden – Two great final games, one an up-and-down rollercoaster, the other a tightly-wound study of tactical maneuvering, have brought the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2008 to a stunning conclusion.

Scotland’s David Murdoch won an improbable second straight men’s victory with a shocking comeback win over Norway. On the women’s side, Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott buried some five years of frustration by finally defeating the mighty Anette Norberg of Sweden not once, not twice, but thrice in as many days... and in Sweden, no less.

That’s Swiss third Carmen Schaefer – you know her as Carmen of Curling, versions one and also two – celebrating upon the impact of her skip’s final takeout. Swedish third Eva Lund (background) knows what’s coming, Swiss third Valeria Spaelty (left) is rapidly getting airborne and of course WCTV cameras are right in there (WCF photo by Urs Raeber).

Another great photo of Swiss elation can be found here, taken by AFP.

Did you know that in just four days Ott and Norberg will become teammates, together with Bingyu Wang of China, as Team World takes on Team North America at the Continental Cup of Curling in Camrose, Alberta, Canada?

The men from Finland are back in the Worlds – Ford edition, coming up in Moncton – but without M-15, aka Markku Uusipaavalniemi, of course. The 2008 Eurohosts are thus out of the worlds, and Sweden’s men’s program is in complete disarray. Spain and Ireland are back down to next year’s B-Pool in Aberdeen, Scotland.

England’s women stay in the A-Pool and send the Dutch down next year, along with the Czech Republic. Norway’s women, finally minus Dordi Nordby and also missing the elusive Linn Githmark, are back in the Worlds (courtesy of skip Marianne Rorvik) and shall book their tickets to Gangneung, Korea.

Home, James. We’ll catch you next week ...

Golden Ford Worlds tickets

As this advert shows, tomorrow, Oct. 31 is last day to get top-choice full-event passes for the 2009 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship in Moncton.

Click the image to zoom in.

These are the “gold” end-zone seats available as nine-day event passes, saving you upwards of $150.00.

There’s another ticket announcement coming later today concerning the two “Champs” packages: “Weekend Champs” (Thursday through Sunday) and “Weekday Champs” (Monday through Wednesday and then Friday through Sunday).

Watch for all news and ticket announcements on the event webpage, with the ticketing page located here.

This year’s Ford Worlds is a very big deal, as it celebrated 50 years of world men’s curling. You do not want to miss this one, folks.

To conclude today’s brief blogpost, here’s a rundown of last weekend’s event winners. Watch tomorrow’s blogpost for still more awesome curling news and info ...


• Mirjam Ott and surprising Stefan Karnusian will represent Switzerland at December’s European Championships while the unsurprising Scottish results see Kelly Wood and David Murdoch also returning to defend their 2007 medals ....

• The impressive junior skip Kaitlyn Lawes was the real story of the second women’s Slam, won by Michelle Englot ...

• Team Glenn Howard is pretty in pink after winning their third straight Brandon tour event ...

• Victoire pour Guy!

• To no one’s surprise, Kevin Martin won in Bonnyville ...

• And finally, Suzanne “No Longer Gaudet” Birt won the Lady Monctonian ...

Rocking the boat

What an interesting Canadian women’s championship that was.

One year ago, a curling journalist summed up the women’s game by tearing an unexpected strip off virtually the entire gender. This was most surprising given the writer wasn’t really a writer... he was a competitor, a peer beloved by virtually all who play this roaring game. And he’s the last person we would expect to see “rock the boat.”

He said:

Ladies teams have coaches, psychologists, nutritionists et cetera. Fire them all and take responsibility for your own results and nothing is better than throwing a ton of granite.

I am sick of hearing that the men have better sweeping and are more powerful at clearing the guards out front. That is a fact, but you ladies have great deliveries and flexibility. You don’t have to be able to make triples and have your rocks swept 12 feet to win at this game. You should, however, be willing and able to make the simple shots with confidence.

I am so tired of hearing the pet phrases “risk and reward.” You are going to be in games where if you miss a certain shot, you are going to lose and if you make a certain shot, you are going to win. It can be that simple.

You ladies have to toughen up. How many times do you hear after a complete miss... “That’s okay.” “Nice try.” Geez Louise! It is not okay!

I am not advocating dirty looks and broom slamming, but quit celebrating misses. When players miss, they should be less than happy with themselves and the way to show it is by bearing down and making their next shot.

This year, if Neil “Harry” Harrison were still scribbing for SWEEP!, we suspect he would now be nodding his head in some satisfaction. Generally speaking, the bulk of the field seemed to play a better game of curling this time around. More rocks in play, a little more killer instinct, a style based more on winning than the fear of losing.

And that meant a better show, whether you were yelling in person from the Brandt Centre seats, crouched over your computer screen at work, or settled into the sofa watching plasma.

That’s a very general comment. Of course there were episodes of sheer madness – one writer shook his head all week over some suspect Quebec strategy – and over a nine-day rockfest everybody has an opinion. Winnipeg’s Jim Bender mused Saturday about eventual champ Jennifer Jones (Kruger Products photo by Andrew Klaver, above) possibly scaling things back, and, well, look where she is today (coming in to land right about now, actually). As for quantification, we certainly did not bother to look up CurlingZone’s in-depth numbers to analyze the differences between Lethbridge 07 and Regina 08.

But overall, we think Harry would be happy. Perhaps we’ll ring him up and find out..?

Some final Scotties thoughts – at least until you read the March issue of TCN:

– Is there a more up-and-down Canadian women’s skip than Suzanne Gaudet?

– News Talk 980’s Mitchell Blair was a busy fellow, but still wonders “Why didn’t I?”

– It looks like Regina organizers can relax for a while, but Victoria dare not ...

– Did you know that the closing Scotties banquet, the “social event of the curling season”, didn’t happen?

– And here’s a blog devoted to Michelle Englot, who made it through a rolling sea of emotions at the STOH.

And furthermore ...


• Something new for the debate about curling’s TV commentators. A Canadian amateur sport bigwig, Diana Davis Duerkop, was thoroughly unimpressed with CBC’s Mike Harris during Saturday’s semifinal telecast, and likewise during the final.

After accusing Harris of favouring Ontario in the semi, she herself shows favouratism to Joan McCusker. Meanwhile, the majority of curling fans we regularly hear from – including Bob Weeks – seem to prefer, or at least tend to agree with, Mr. Harris.

So does sports media observer Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star, the fellow who broke the reality-TV curling hullaballoo. Zelko seems to like everything that both commentators have to offer, and believes they both hush up at the right times.

Interesting.

Davis Duerkop also takes CBC to task for ignoring the Albertans once the final rock was thrown. And we agree with that criticism.

• Townie Bastard isn’t strong on the Scotties Newfoundland skip, but he is himself a curling champion this morning. Now is that the legitimately big curling news, or is there more to come?

• Speaking of the hullaballoo, Jef Spaleta is begging for a Rockstar Curling audition in Fairbanks, Alaska ...

• The Montreal Gazette came out with a strong review for Doug Clark’s book, The Roaring Game ...

• Six other international champions were declared over the weekend. In the United States, Craig Brown won his first American men’s title in eight years while Deb McCormick made history by capturing her third women’s crown in a row.

In Scotland, it was Euroking David Murdoch over defending champ Warwick Smith in men’s play but the women’s side produced a surprise in new champion Gail Munroe. Who is Gail, you might ask? Well, apart from riding a grand streak of wins over the past month or so – including a 4-0 record over the vanquished Kelly Wood in recent times – she happens to be Hammy McMillan’s sister!

And in Switzerland, Mirjam Ott clubbed former Olympic skip Luzia Ebnoether 12-5 in the women’s final, while the brand-new pairing of Claudio Pescia and 1998 Olympic champ Patrick Huerlimann – playing third – shocked Ralph Stoeckli 7-6 in the men’s final. To see a video report, click here and again on the blue “News” box.

Watch for an unusual photo of the Swiss champs in the March issue of The Curling News!

• Outdoor curling gets a third feature treatment in the aforementioned March issue (subscribe today!). Today’s Rochester Democrat & Chronicle throws a spotlight on 200 happy outdoor rockers, and there’s this video, too ...

• Amanda went ...

• We, too salute this curling hero, Jack Lockhart of North Bay, Ontario ...

• And finally, the memory of Sandra Schmirler – very topical given the recent 10th anniversary of the first women’s Olympic gold – is often disconnected from her husband and their children... who are now old enough to ask questions about mom and her legacy. Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post goes in depth with widower Shannon England, and it results in a lengthy but facinating read ...