And just like that, the 2010 Olympic curling season has begun.
After a busy summer, which saw various camps held in Ontario, Atlantic Canada, British Columbia, and Prague and Fuessen in Europe – plus the requisite summer bonspiel circuit – the ice is in and we’re underway.
The first event on the rebranded
Curling Champions Tour – the former World Curling Tour Europe – is underway in Baden, Switzerland. And we can see by the
Urs Raeber photo, above, that Olympic-bound
Thomas Ulsrud of Norway (in white and red) has some spiffy new uniforms, while opponent
Claudio Pescia of Switzerland is still wearing his four-year old green kit. Click to zoom in!
Actually, we love green, and we assume Team Pescia does too. However, the Norwegians pummelled the Swiss 10-3 to start the new Euroseason.
In other matches of note, Canada’s
Brad Gushue defeated Switzerland’s
Ralph Stoeckli 3-2, while Canada’s
Mark Dacey was dumped 6-2 by the defending world champions from Scotland, skipped by
David Murdoch.
Canada’s
Randy Ferbey takes to the ice in a few minutes, against Switzerland’s
Manuel Ruch.
Follow the Baden Masters 2009 results
here, and be sure to check out
The Curling News Facebook group for more action photos!
Why not join the group? It’s free, with a Facebook account.
In Canada, the Ontario Curling Tour Championships are also underway in Oakville, featuring both
men’s and
women’s draws, the latter including the Great Britain Olympic team.
Eve Muirhead’s troops took out local
Lynne Middaugh by an 8-3 score last night.
Another early result of interest saw
Alison Goring’s brand new squad upend last year’s provincial finalists – ie. her ex-teammates, now led by
Cathy Auld – by a 5-4 count. A fun bit of drawmastering from OCT chief
Gerry Geurts, we surmise.
On the men’s side, four teams are 2-0 – including
Joe Frans and the
Lobel brothers – with
Wayne Middaugh set to begin play this morning.
Game on, folks!
