Team China tours Canada

China’s defending world women’s champions were in Toronto last weekend before heading to the Shorty Jenkins Classic tour stop in Brockville, Ontario, which began last night (with an 8-4 Chinese win).

The purpose was a video shoot with the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) which took them on a jaunt to Niagara Falls, the Toronto Islands, the Bata Museum and, of course, many stores for much shopping.

And, as the Jeff Speed photo indicates, they visited the Hockey Hall of Fame, and gave the venerable Stanley Cup a giant hug. To the viewer’s left of the Cup we have Yin Liu (above) and Qingshuang Yue, and on the viewer’s right we have Yan Zhou (above) and the skipper, Bingyu “Betty” Wang.

Betty’s father, Da Jun Wang, was also flown in from China to take part in the mostly urban-exploration TV shoot.

“Our big mandate within the Olympic Games is that this really is Canada’s games,” explained the CTC’s John Parker-Jervis.

“The goal is to get this footage into key travel markets through the media. It’s a human interest story, filmed in High-Definition, and this (team China) footage will go to their state broadcaster, CCTV.”

Parker-Jervis said the campagin focusses on nine key markets: the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, France, Mexico, Japan, China, South Korea and Australia.

“We have (targeted) two countries as emerging markets, India and Brazil,” he added.

For a non-curling example, Parker-Jervis told the story of Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, the only African athlete set to compete in Vancouver. The skiier has become a celebrity in the UK, where he lives, and as such, that particular CTC footage will be sent to the BBC.

“We’re excited to have curling’s world champions travelling in Canada,” said Michele McKenzie, president and CEO of the Canadian Tourism Commission.

“They have become big stars and having them here helps spread our tourism message to their fans in China and around the world.”

As regular readers of The Curling News are aware, Chinese teams compete in Canada extensively each year from September to November, and again in January and February, prior to the major global competitions.

There are two other Chinese teams in action in Edmonton this weekend, Fengchun Wang’s men’s Olympic team and a women’s development squad skipped by Xindi Zhang.

For the official CTC news release on Team China’s visit, click here.

China upset in dual NZ Games finals

Australia’s men, led by skip Hugh Millikin, upset China in the gold medal match at the first NZ Winter Games, winning 10-6, tossing out years of recent Pacific Championships results.

Suffice to say, the Aussies are pumped.

“I think this tournament was one of the best sporting achievements we’ve had as a team,” said skip rocker Ian Palangio, in an interview with The Curling News.

“In the end we beat every country in the field at some point. China has had our number for the past couple of years so it was nice to get one back. Part of the magic of the sport of curling is that in a tournament such as this is that there’s a mix of professional and amateur teams, and all can be extremely competitive.”

Of interest was the absence of former China skip Fengchun Wang... who didn’t even make the trip to New Zealand. Rui Liu handled skip duties, as he did for a few games at the 2009 Ford Worlds in Moncton.

In the right-side half of the photo above, Liu calls a shot while Millikin (left, wearing hat) and Palangio observe. Click to zoom in.

Millikin, by the way, is not 61 years old, as many media outlets (including curling media outlets) wrote throughout the week. Only near the end of the tournament did his real age (53) come to light.

The Curling News suspects some fun-loving teammates might have sabotaged Millikin’s page in the official team biographies. But we only suspect.

In the women’s final, Japan’s Moe Meguro (delivering in left-side pic) outscored China’s defending world champions, skipped by Bingyu Wang, by an 8-5 count. More vengeance was displayed here, too, as the Chinese women have dominated their respective Pacific championships in recent years.

In the women’s bronze medal game, the Korean women defeated New Zealand 12-7 while Japan took out Korea 10-7 to win the men’s bronze.

“The Torino Olympics had 2,000 athletes from 60 countries,” Palangio noted.

“This event had 800 athletes from 40 countries, quite a good effort for an inaugural event.”

We’ll have more on this event in the first print edition of The Curling News, which comes out in October. Stay tuned.

NZ Games Playoffs

The curling competition of the first NZ Winter Games now heads into the playoffs.

China’s Olympic men’s team continues to struggle, just as they did at the Ford Worlds in Moncton. Their 4-3 record sees them limping into a tiebreaker for the fourth and final playoff spot. They will meet youthful Jerod Roland of the USA, also 4-3, on Friday morning [Adam Nathan photo above by ODT/Getty Images].

Earlier in the week, the Chinese had lost to Canada by an 7-6 count. The Canadians finished in last place with a 1-6 record, in their first international competition... but they hadn’t really played a national, either.

According to Snow, the Canadians are an invitation team made up of four petroleum engineers from the Calgary area, three of whom have played together for some 25 years and have strong connections with New Zealand curlers.

The squad will no doubt remain jazzed over their experience, and particularly the win over China. “Finally our team started curling like we did back home,” said skip Cliff Butchko, “And if you are going to beat a team then (China) was the one to beat. It’s extremely special.”

Japan (6-1) awaits the tiebreaker winner in one semifinal, while second-ranked Korea (5-2) will lock horns with the Aussies (also 5-2) in the other semi. You can follow the Australian curling blog for extra tidbits.

On the women’s side, things appear more ordinary within the small field. The Aussie women threw a scare into the top-ranked Chinese before falling 10-8, which now pits Bingyu Wang’s crew against New Zealand in one semi, while Japan battles Korea in the other.

NZ Winter Games

The New Zealand Winter Games are underway today through August 30, with multiple nations from the Pacific region – plus a few others – competing in this new international sport competition.

The inclusion of curling – plus the proximity to February’s upcoming Olympic Winter Games– makes this of interest.

Five days of live curling competition – with three draws a day – will be broadcast on Sky Television in New Zealand. And Kiwi curler (by way of Canada) Hans Frauenlob has been tabbed for colour commentary duties.

“By my reckoning that’s 28 hours of live curling,” Frauenlob told The Curling News. “I’m going to need throat lozenges.”

Incidentally, Frauenlob received his “Olympic Number” this year, along with his teammates from New Zealand’s 2006 Olympic curling squad. These stories (here and here) explain the program, in which Kiwi Olympians are “numbered” according to the first Olympic Games in which they competed, and alphabetically within that team, and receive a ring commemorating their achievement.

Frauenlob is number 986.

On the ice, powerhouse women’s teams include defending world champions China, skipped by Bingyu Wang and 2007 world semifinalists Japan, skipped by Moe Meguro. They are challenged by teams from New Zealand (Bridget Becker), Australia (Kim Forge) and Korea (Min-A Park).

On the men’s side, Japan’s youthful Yusuke Morozumi is one to watch, as is 21-year-old U.S. skip Jerod Roland, who has been named captain of the entire U.S. team. China’s Fengchun Wang is a definite gold-medal threat, while Korea is represented by Min-Chan Kim, Australia is helmed by veteran Hugh Millikin, and Karel Kubeska’s Czech Republic is there, too.

Two other men’s teams of note: Canada is represented by Calgary’s Cliff Butchko, who commands a team of forty-somethings from the Huntington Hills Curling Club. It’s the first international appearance for the squad, which has been described as a decent Superleague foursome. We’ll watch these rookies with interest!

[UPDATED: a story on the Canadians has just been posted here]

Finally, the host team is skipped by Dan Mustapic, another expat Canadian and a former teammate of longtime national team skip Sean Becker, who was rejected for the Games by a selection panel earlier this month. You can read all about that controversial decision here.

Curling Camps: the HOT SHOTS

Our second posting in a series on summer curling camps focusses on the original “Fantasy” camp which has since dropped the moniker: the HOT SHOTS.

Now in it’s 15th year, the HOT SHOTS Curling Camp was the first camp to pioneer the “fantasy” concept of pairing high-performance elite competitors with the participants, who of course range anwhere from brand-new rookie to pretty accomplished competitive player (and all points in between).

The subtle name change has, in the words of veteran camp director David Gravelle, come about because “you the curlers, have demanded more from us. And, we’ve delivered.

“We’ve moved away from the celebrity participation to bring you more intense curriculum with highly qualified instructors and some of the top national and international coaches.

“This transformation has been a natural and gradual evolution of our sport with increased participation in the game but the lack of qualified instruction to keep our new curlers progressing on the path to increased enjoyment of this great game.”

There are three HOT SHOTS Curling Camps running this summer-slash-fall, and there are limited spaces available at all three.

First up is the traditional home of the HOT SHOTS, the Oakville Curling Club in Oakville, Ontario (one half-hour west of Toronto) on August 28-20. The second camp is on Ottawa, Ontario at the RA Centre on October 2-4, and the final camp is in the United States for the second consecutive year. The Utica Curling Club in Utica, New York is one of the oldest curling clubs in the USA and it hosts the HOT SHOTS from October 16-18.

Click here for the camp website and here for the registration page.

Anything else going on? But... of course...


• Those crazy Kiwis are working to launch another season of outdoor curling at Naseby, following a $200,000 rink upgrade ...

• Here’s a report on the recent Rocky Top Bonspiel held in Knoxville, Tenessee ...

• Joel Retournaz – that Italian Olympic hero from three-plus years ago – is back with a new youthful team, ie. an “ambitious project: ...

• PEI’s world junior runner-up Brett Gallant has picked up two local awards ...

• CTV News says the Banff curling rink is being torn down and a new facility is scheduled to open in late 2010 ...

• Can you guess the name of the influential curling coach who dropped this zinger on us recently...?

“I must talk far too much. Dean Gemmel put my interview into two parts.”

It’s Quebec’s Dan Rafael, of course, who is the head coach of the Chinese national curling team program. Indeed, he has a two-part show posted to The Curling Show and the occasionally blunt Canadian is always a good interview. You can listen to part one here, and we can direct you to part two here.

Rafael, by the way, has been in China for a couple of weeks already, as this is officially the start of the 2010 competitive season (say what?). Fresh from Beijing and then Harbin, Rafael is now in Qinhuangdao and will train with the teams until the inaugural New Zealand Winter Games in August. After that, Teams China head to Canada for September, October and part of November until the Pacific Curing Championships in Karuizawa, Japan ...

• And finally, there is movement within the foundations of the World Curling Players’ Association. At last.

Nominations for new board positions have closed and several new board members have been acclaimed. Now representing women on the WCPA are Calgary’s Heather Rankin and Ontario’s Sherry Middaugh, while Europe’s single position has gone to Switzerland’s Simon Struebin, who throws lead pucks for front-running Olympic hopeful Ralph Stoeckli.

Voting will decide the men’s reps. Vying for a seat at the table are the following:

• Quebec’s Pierre Charette (currently Interim President)
• Vancouver’s Brent Pierce (a former WCPA regional rep)
• Scott Pfeifer, second man for Team Randy Ferbey
• Craig Savill, the Team Glenn Howard lead
• Garth Smith, who is Kerry Burtnyk’s opening rocker
• Nolan Thiessen, yet another leadman who plays for Kevin Koe.

The United States’ position features a pair of nominees, with John Benton taking on Bill Todhunter.

The new WCPA Board will consist of eight elected members, with a minimum five positions reserved for Canadian representatives. The group of five Canadian representatives will feature three male and two female members.

Read all about the nominees, their positions and the URL to go to to vote at this link ...

Ford World Curling: Hotties part I

by Katja Kiiskinen

MONCTON – Today the bikinis and the beach towel were no longer needed, but in hope of some Caribbean atmosphere later in the evening I did bring a bottle of piña colada.

The drop in the air temperature is definitely good news for the players, and the ice. When asked about the condistions after Saturday’s final draw, Finland’s second player Jani Sullanmaa seemed slightly miffed when he stated: “Well, gimme a f***ing shovel and I’ll sweep.” I took it to mean there was a bit of frost.

Now to the really important things – hot players! After careful consideration, the jury has chosen the candidates for the “Hottest Player of Worlds 2009”. If you disagree with our choices, then I can’t really help you. No, but seriously, if you are adamant that there is an impossibly gorgeous and charismatic player who didn’t make it to our list, you can vote for him and we may consider your point – if it is well argued.

It is necessary to note that I personally was struggling with the choice because there is such an abundance of charismatic men on the ice. So, players, if you are not on our list, it’s all gk’s fault.

In my opinion, we ladies, as the smarter sex (just admit it, boys) look beyond the first impression. Whereas men would choose their candidates based on the tightest pants and the best sports bra, we ladies consider various different factors, such as charisma, eyes, smile, tightest pants and the best sports bra.

To be fair, we have chosen one player from each country. Today we will introduce the first six candidates and the rest will follow in tomorrow’s blog post.

Click on the photo montage above (featuring CCA images from Michael Burns) to view the pics a little larger.

And, the first six nominees are:

1. CZECH REPUBLIC

In case you were wondering, the looker with the poetic beard is Jiri Snitil, the chief of the Czech team.

Besides his curling abilities – and his unfailing devotion to the sport – this charismatic skip is also an excellent icemaker.

2. CHINA

Our chinese piece of hot stuff is second man Xiaoming Xu. He’s got some spiky fuzz atop his head and some sass in his smile. Some of you might also remember this talented player from the Continental Cup 2008 world team.

3. CANADA

Perhaps a little unsurprisingly, our option for the Canadian hunk is John Morris.

Mentioning his occupation would be unfair towards the rest of the guys, since it is one of those jobs that seem to give women all sorts of ideas.

In fact, Johnny Mo may have such an advantage over the field, we should find and use an unflattering photo. We’ll leave it to gk to try and post something that paints the normal JMo portrait in a different light.

How did he do, folks?

4. FINLAND

My personal choice for the Finnish representative would naturally be Kalle Kiiskinen, because he is just the bestest person in the whole wide world.

However, the idea of complimenting his fanny seemed somehow disturbing, so we decided to go with another spud of a man: Teemu Salo.

This Olympic medallist is known for being “cool” enough to wear a toque in any playing conditions.

5. FRANCE

Le Stud of the tournament is definitely Thomas Dufour, the long-time skip of the French team. He has been wooing the European crowds already for years, so it’s about time to introduce him to a wider audience.

He is also a ski instructor, in the beautiful snow-capped mountains of Chamonix. Ooh la la.

6. DENMARK

Our choice for the Danish lion man is the legendary Ulrik Schmidt. The veteran, who was off the ice and merely coaching this team two years ago, will definitely be the number one choice for the more mature female crowd.

Be sure to cast your ballot and check out the remaining six tomorrow! You can also have more than one favourite...

China, Sweden take Universiade gold

by Paul Webster

HARBIN, China – Hats off to the Chinese women, skipped by Bingyu Wang, who pulled off the win in the gold medal game here in Harbin, China. They are the 2009 World University Games champions and met the expectations of their top ranked status!

Likewise to the Swedish men’s team, led by Niklas “I’m Not Scottish” Edin. Great team all week, and a great finish.

For the match details, head to this great WCF page.

I want to acknowledge the unbelievable accomplishment of the Canadian women’s team, skipped by Hollie Nicol, who earned the silver. To take the top seeding into the playoffs (with an undefeated record), win the semifinal and then take the world number two team to the 10th end in a world championship is remarkable, and something these five ladies and coach John Nicol should be extremely proud of.

I know the result is perhaps not the storybook ending they were dreaming about, however in the years to come it will be pretty cool for them to know that they competed toe-to-toe against the world’s best.

The game had its share of big shots and big misses and Canada seemed to want to recreate their comeback in the semifinal, but the Chinese simply kept pressing and eventually out-shot their opponents.

I want to congratulate this team and their coaches for the amount of work they have put into this team, and this tournament.

The ice conditions were fantastic, again, and now we thank the icemakers : Scott Henderson of Scotland and Doug Wright of Canada. After a chat with Doug during the final it was amazing to hear some of the difficulties they experienced during this championship that we simply didn’t realize – everything from a dripping roof to broken windows?! – when everything had been promised to be “okay”. They even ended up tarping the ice the night before the finals, to ensure no water would drip onto it.

I want to take this opportunity, as well, to apologize for my somewhat shortsighted comments regarding practicing with new sets of rocks prior to the finals (see above link). Keith Wendorf, the WCF Technical Consultant to this FISU championship, informed me that this has never been the case at a world championship and I simply had my facts wrong. Okay!

As well, adding one to two hours of additional ice time at night would definitely put a stress on our ice technicians and officials. Now, if given the chance, I would still love the opportunity to take a new set of rocks and practice with them... Keith, if you’re reading...? We will simply have to do a better job of matching stones next time.

This is China’s first big international competition and they have done a fantastic job. A competition like this defiitely starts at the top and kudos to Li Dongyang, General Secretary of the Chinese Curling Association (the CCA of China!). I also want to thank Scotland’s Jeannette Johnson, FISU Representative, who has a tremendous amount of experience with world curling events and was able to guide a new organizing committee with, what seemed from the outside, a degree of strong success. Of course we will never know all the hard work – and headaches – that went on behind the scenes.

Thanks as well to Keith, who is also the Director of Competitions for the WCF, for his hard work behind the scenes. I have known Keith since 1993 and I think his schedule gets busier every year. His work supporting the officials and organizing committee definitely brings some professionalism and player/coach background to every event, and I know this is appreciated by the coaches and athletes alike.

Donna Stadzell and her crew of Mary Pat and Urs ensured everything was looked after on the offciating side of things, and we really didn’t have a hiccup all week. They took a rookie force of officials and made it look like a veteran squad (see photo).

Hey, can anyone see Keith in that photo? Even if you click to zoom in? :-)

We have a couple of days left here in Harbin, which will see the entire Canadian contingent head to the Harbin Tiger Zoo. A rumoured four hundred tigers await, and livestock that is sent in for feeding... all while you stare from a safari bus.

Not sure I’ll be blogging about that!

World Wheelchair curling playoffs

VANCOUVER – So your curling fandom revolves around the Scotties, does it?

Did you know there is a Canadian team battling in a world championship right now? And in relative obscurity? And in British Columbia, not far from the Victoria STOH?

The last time we saw Jim Armstrong he was teaching some poor patsy the three-man lift, a gimmick that has been carried on in fine fashion by famous lead players Jamie Korab (Team Brad Gushue), Ben Hebert (Team Kevin Martin) and others.

It was right around his days as president of the World Curling Players’ Association, and somewhat far removed from his playing career which saw him compete in six Briers, losing the 1987 final to Russ Howard.

So it is initially, admittedly, a bit shocking to see the big man wheeling round the brand new Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre, wearing the Maple Leaf for the first time as skip for Team Canada at the 2009 World Wheelchair Curling Championship (WCF photo by Dallas Bittle, click to zoom).

But we get used to seeing this. Armstrong looks comfortable – enough – and patient in his chair. Only playing for two years, after first being invited to “hang out” with Team Canada at a training camp, Armstrong is now the skip of a national team that has been rebuilding ever since 2006 Paralympic champion skip Chris Daw left the scene.

We asked Jim if he’s ever tempted to just stand up, get out of that chair and walk over to the stone he wants to freeze to, or hit, or draw around.

“Yeah,” said Army.

“But that first step would be ugly.”

Was he initially nervous, playing for Canada for the first time in his career?

“Yeah I was, a little bit,” said Armstrong.

“I think anytime you’re in this setting, if you’re not getting the butterflies there’s something wrong.”

There are some colourful characters in wheelchair curling. German skip Jens Jaeger lets out occasional whoops and likes to take mock, exaggerated bows to his coaches and fans with every victory.

Jaeger hasn’t been in the worlds since 2005 – when he finished in 13th place – but he smoked everybody at the Worlds Qualifier in Prague, and he is pretty much smoking everybody here in Vancouver – he’s through to the Page 1/2 game Friday night, against Sweden. He’s certainly come a long way.

Canada plays another colourful team, the United States, in the Page 3/4 game, also Friday night at 8:00pm. They finished third, Canada fourth. They also won bronze last year. And they have a few wild childs on that team, let us tell you.

Then there’s China and Korea – two teams among five that finished just one game out of the playoffs – which are the loudest teams around. Both squads like to yell at the rocks, from release to finish, as if they want to just stand up, get out of those chairs and run over to the stones to sweep them. Chinese skip Haitao Wang has a particularly brutish, gutteral baritone... which you can hear from the players’ lounge.

These guys – and gals – can shoot, too. And they’re incredibly pleasant, funny and grounded, even compared to the majority of able-bodied curlers.

“There are no asses in this game,” says Armstrong.

“And I’m guessing its because they’ve all got a story about how they got here.”

You got that right, Army.

Here’s hoping that Vancouverites come out and support the wheelies, support Team Canada. There’s only a handful of draws left: Frday night (8:00pm), Saturday morning (9:00am) and the Gold and Bronze Medal games on Saturday at 2:30pm.

Admission is just five bucks.

So get down here. Here’s the event website.

For those outside Vancouver, you can follow the results here... and read a ton of draw summaries here... but best of all is some live blogging, focussing on Team Canada games, going on at the popular Wheelchair Curling Blog.

If you can get out of your chair – unlike these athletes – then come on down. Otherwise, get online and check it out.

China, Canada into Harbin finals

by Paul Webster

HARBIN, China – After starting the day slowly – and seeing themselves in a 5-1 deficit at the fifth-end break – Canada turned up the heat on Great Britain and managed to pull off a huge win in the semifinals of the 24th Winter Universiade.

Playing in their first ever world playoff game, Canada – skipped by Wilfred Laurier University’s Hollie Nicol – looked a veteran team in both composure and the consistency of their pressure on the Great Britain squad.

The Scottish girls – well, they are Scottish after all – have three World Junior Champions on their team, and they definitely let their guard down in the second half, and didn’t react well to the pressure the Canadian were applying. A number of key misses by their third Kay Adams did not present many great options for skip Sarah Reid.

The Canadians have simply played great all week. With the win, the girls have ensured our Canadian University Team a medal - they simply have to play the final to decide the medal’s colour! And the ladies will be playing none other than hometown heroes China in the gold medal match.

In the other semi, the Chinese demolished Russia 11-2 - not even close. China, ranked as the number one team, now has the chance to confirm that expectation. After all, the skip is Bingyu Wang, and she has two members of her 2008 world runner-up team on board.

In men’s action Sweden beat the Chinese men’s team and they certainly have been the class of the field all week. Norway will play Sweden in the final after having beaten the upstart Koreans in the other semi.

Some interesting notes:

• For Russia this was the first of three straight world championships - here, then at the World Juniors in Vancouver, and then at the World Women’s in Korea. They have elements of their national women’s squad on each team and rotate amongst younger and older players depending on the event.

I have to say, however, that skip Liudmila Privivkova (photo above) looks extremely burnt out. I’ve seen her play in numerous events and she definitely had her worst event of the last few years right here in Harbin. And now it’s off to North America, then rigt back to Asia!

• With the win Canada had choice of hammer or rocks.... we chose the hammer. We then got to select rocks from any sheet for the final. Normally teams will select from a few sets to make, what they feel, is a perfect set. These will then be moved to the championship sheet and the teams will get to practice to see how this new set, on the new sheet react.

However, this is not an option at this championship. I’m not sure why, nor is Norwegian coach Ole Ingvaldsen. Ole has attended hundreds of championships and he is quite sure that this is the first time a team cannot practice with their selected rocks prior to a final.

It was suggested that the team simply selects one entire sheet of rocks... which of course defeats the purpose of being able to take certain rocks from certain sheets.

Jut my two cents, but it’s interesting that nothing ever remains consistent from championship to championship. It woudn’t take much time out of the schedule to provide a 30-min team practice tonight and this afternoon. Ensuring the best playing conditions should be a priority, shouldn’t it?

China update: CAN in semis

by Paul Webster

HARBIN, China – Our girls team, the Wilfred Laurier team skipped by Hollie Nicol, has secured the top spot in the playoff round (9-0) and will face Great Britain in the semifinal (6-4) of the WUG – the World University Games.

Playing in the other semi are pre-tournament favourites Russia (6-3) and China (7-2).

The GB girls had to win a tiebreaker against the Czech Republic this morning and despite a rough start (down 5-1 after three ends) the ladies from Scotland pulled it off in 10 ends, winning 8-5.

I’m writing this blog as our girls get ready to hit the ice for a 12:00pm practice. It’s an interesting situation as they get to practice on the semifinal sheet but the GB team will not be given this option.

Of course, we haven’t complained.

The girls chose hammer over rocks and we’ll find out soon what rocks they’ll be given.

The Canadian men’s team, the Laurier squad skipped by Mike Anderson, has been relegated to the position of number one fans! They had a disappointing tournament, to choose their own words, finishing in the middle of the pack at 4-5, and definitely struggled to find their A-game all week. I have to say, however, that they have definitely done our country proud in how they represented themselves both on and off the ice. Victories against Great Britain and USA made the tournament result a little sweeter. This is a funny game sometimes.

We met up with the men's team from Great Britain last night in the residence bar and had a few beers – truly only a few, as the supply ran out! Our Canadian men’s hockey team had a table full of empties and really got the jump on us.

It was really cool to sit down with your fellow competitors and talk about the game – any game, any sport. We really don't know how lucky we are in Canada to have a such a strong base of athletes. When people find out that the teams we have sent are our 38th-ranked women’s team and 86th-ranked men’s team, they just shake their heads.

Men’s playoffs: Sweden verus China in the 1 vs 4 game, and Norway vs Korea in the 2 vs 4 match. Sweden has simply been the class of the tournament, and China are the surprise team in the other direction; the y squeaked through a tiebreaker (over Switzerland) after leading the pack the majority of the week.

Both Chinese teams are looking like they are having trouble with the pressure of being the top teams in an event hosted on their home soil.

Today will hold a lot of... shopping. I have been instructed from afar to look for cheap Coach purses... and the girls have promised to help me out.

Canadian women lock up first place

by Paul Webster

HARBIN, China – After beating China in yesterday morning’s draw, and watching the Czech team lose to Japan, the Canadian women, skipped by Hollie Nicole, are on their way to the number one seed position seed going into the playoffs of the World University Games.

With a 7-0 record and two games left, Canada can finish with a maximum two losses and if that were to happen, the teams they would be tied with (assuming other assumptions!) are China and Russia.

Having beaten both those, Canada would be awarded the first seeding going into the semis. Not bad for Canada’s 38th-ranked women’s team!

While I spend most of my time with our boys’ team, I had the opportunity to come and watch the gals play China. Our team played well, with an exceptional performance from our back end. This was in stark contrast to a extremely shaky Bingyu Wang who, you will recall, beat Jennifer Jones twice (but lost the final) at the 2008 Ford Worlds.

Having lost their previous game to Japan yesterday – which is like us Canadians competing the USA! – this does not look like the second-best women’s team in the world. One can only surmise that the pressure of playing at home, with such high expectations, is getting to this Chinese squad.

Congrats to our girls. More later!

Canadian women undefeated

by Paul Webster

HARBIN, China – Our women are definitely doing us proud here at the Winter Universiade, and it paid off for them as they were rewarded with a dinner at Pizza Hut tonight – the true heaven of restaurants. They agreed with our boys that hot food can really win your over... particularly when you haven’t had it for seven days!

The girls are sitting at a perfect 6-0 with a few big games still to come, namely China, and the Czech Republic. The Czechs have been somewhat of a surprise at only two losses, however, they are making a lot of shots and are deserving of their wins. China had a big loss today versus Japan, but their skip was rotated out for the game. China did the same with their men’s skip in tonight’s (Feb 22) game after a loss earlier today versus Sweden.

Our girls are guaranteed a tiebreaker spot but they are setting their sights on a top spot in one of the semifinals. The FISU/WCF runs a traditional double semifinal with the winners going to the gold medal match and the semi-final losers going to the bronze medal match. Win the semi and you can breathe a sigh of relief, as you have just won a medal!

Our girls are definitely playing like they deserve it so far!

Now let’s talk about the boys... have you ever had a string of games where you and your teammates simply can’t get on a run? Well that is where this team is right now. A lot of head scratching and soul searching is underway, with the team trying to find that magical formula, or simply that magical moment, like they had during the Norway game, when they would make all eight shots in one end. How sweet a feeling that is. We’ve lost that shooting feeling.....woahoh, that shooting feeling.... sing it with me, please!

Seriously... any hints, please send them my way. Trust that Coach Ken McCormack and I are doing our best to try to get these boys back on track.

A little bit about China: it has snowed while we are here and I challenge you to find either a snow plow or shovel... they send out groups of shovellers across the city and they clean up everything. I kid you not. It is an amazing sight, groups of 20 or so on on the main roads shovelling and scraping, and then the next crew cleans up their piles and puts them into trucks, and out of the city it goes!

If we only had 30-40 million more people in Canada this may be a way to save some money on snowplowing... while providing jobs for Canadians. Heck, I know our street in Calgary could use the help!

Off to a team meeting. Girls are in bed as they have a two game day tomorrow. China in the morning – I'll update everyone right after that game.

Curling picks in China

by Paul Webster

HARBIN, China – Sometimes this game of curling is absolutely crazy and can keep you on the edge of your seat.

I was witness to a back-and-forth Winter Universiade curling game tonight between Great Britain and our Canadian Men’s team and let me tell you, that is three hours of my life I may never get back! Our boys came out of the gates playing well but definitely struggling with the ice a bit... luckily for us, the Great Britain squad under skip John Hamilton struggled a touch more, and we found ourselves with a 6-1 lead after five ends.

What I find nice about a lead like that is that you can play quite conservatively and usually make the other team put the pressure on themselves. Usually. I will not go into details... however I will let you in on the fact that we won in an extra-end!

The story of the game was some curious ice on Sheet A and what has to be a record number of picks. I go back to my previous blogpost, referencing the lack of control that the ice crew has over this, and the lack of importance this seems to have in the eyes of the organizing committee.

It is hard to control... however, a vacuum right before the draw would make a lot of sense. Sheet A, where we played, hosts the main entrance into the rink, and has been witness to three or four up-and-down games so far. We thought we were ready for it... however, we had a number of rocks pick even while cleaning the path!

Check out the photo of a gripper from the side of one of the sheets – no wonder the ice technicians ask players to ensure their equipment is clean! Come on guys, this is a global curling competition!

See my blogpost at curling.ca where I jump into this topic a little more.

Luckily we pulled out the win and sit with a 3-1 record, tied for second. Sweden and China continue to dominate the competition and are both undefeated. Canada faces a tough day tomorrow with Korea and Switzerland, with the Koreans at 3-1 and the Swiss at 2-2. The battle for top spot will take place tomorrow morning between Sweden and China. You can bet that the team that wins this game will be the number one squad at the end of the week.

We enjoyed the morning off and I believe our boys are on a regular sleep schedule. We had planned to go to Pizza Hut after the game today and we had an amazing meal. It’s funny how hot, fresh food makes you smile after spending the last five days going to the Twilight Zone Dining Hall... same stuff, practically, for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

But the really unfortunate part of it is that the Twilight food has been sitting there for a while and can be cold when you go to bite into it. Mmmm, yummy!

Teams Canada at 5-1

by Paul Webster

The Canadian teams are 5-1 combined!

HARBIN, China – The Lady Canucks are definitely setting a tough road for the boys to follow so far in these World University Games... not only are they undefeated, they have so far scored at least 12 points in their three wins. The boys are falling a wee bit short of that, averaging around eight points a game, and are sitting at two wins and one loss.

The girls won a big one against Japan 12-2. I know the score seems like we knew what was coming but, seriously, we didn’t. Japan has an extremely great record in women’s play and we didn’t want to take them lightly... and it was, in the words of their coach, John Nicol, “the girls’ best game so far”... and the scoreboard was indicative of that.

The boys won a big game against pre-tournament favourite Norway, by a 10-2 count. Beginning with a point in the first and then a point in the second, Canada got off to an early 2-0 lead. Forcing Norway to one in the third end on a unbelievable shot by Norwegian skip Thomas Lovold, Canada broke open the game with a four-ender in the fourth... and the rest was history.

Norwegian third, Christoffer Svae, better known as second man for Norway’s national men’s team skipped by Thomas Ulsrud, left the game after six ends due to an injury, and we can only hope he gets better for a run at the Ford Worlds in Moncton.

So in the standings, the Canadian women sit in top spot with the Chinese team; in men’s action China and Sweden are tied with undefeated records of 3-0 and Canada is tied for second place, at 2-1, with Korea and Switzerland.

The guys have a big one-game day coming up against Great Britain. We have to say a big thank you to Great Britain – Scotland, really, but you know what I mean – for bringing back our third, Bill Francis, from the rink tonight... it seems that our buddy system didn’t work... or at least that is the excuse Bill would like us to use. Rumour has it he was hoping the Great Britain women’s team Alternate was on the bus and that, well, it would be a great chance to meet her!

Canada’s women’s team has two big games coming up, against Sweden and Poland.

If anyone associated with the Grand Slams knows the maker of the sticky mats that they are using at a number of high profile curling events nowadays, please email me at pwebster@curling.ca ... and let me just that say I’m quite amazed about the lack of concern here in regards to footwear worn onto the ice surface.

A number of teams, ours included, are wearing their street shoes out around the back of the scoreboards and changing into our curling shoes there... a number of officials, volunteers etc. are
simply walking in and around the building and then coming onto the ice-level carpet, and it is no wonder there have been a increasing number of picks in each of the games we have played.

I have ensured the guys check their equipement, but I hate seeing this become a non-issue for an event of this stature, as they have spent a lot of time and money ensuring the ice is top notch... and it continues to be so (thanks Scott and Doug!). But let’s take some time and ensure clean shoes are worn by all who enter the ice surface.

Off to bed!

Photo of Canada vs Japan (men) by Paul Webster

2009 Universiade curling

Last March, Canadian Curling Association National Development Coach Paul Webster did some TCN Blogging from Vierumaki, Finland at the first-ever World Mixed Doubles Championship.

Webster – and Team Canada – are now in Harbin, China at the 24th Winter Universiade, aka the World University Games. And they’re off and running (er, curling) ...

by Paul Webster

HARBIN, China – China here we come.... actually we are here! It was a bumpy travel road but things worked out in our favour and we made it in time for our first practice!

But not before curling – or some wild form of it – was included in an amazing opening ceremony (photo above).

The round robin features 10 men’s and 10 women’s teams, and this is the third time that curling has featured as a medal sport at the Winter Universiade. Other sports include ice hockey, figure skating, speedskating, alpine skiing, Nordic combined, snowboarding, free-style skiing, cross country skiing, biathlon and ski jumping.

As this is for The Curling News Blog, I’ll stick to curling updates! We are now two games into both the women’s and men’s round robin competitions. Currently China is topping the list for both events with a perfect 2-0 record... which should be no surprise to anyone here. When the decision was made to send their top two squads, the possibility of double-gold on their home soil became exactly that... a definite possibility.

There may be an argument about these Games being a great tool to help develop curling in countries around the world... but there are a few here who are not messing around, and have simply sent their best teams – with China and Russia leading the pack. Other countries, ours included, see this age group as a target market that we want to keep involved in the sport throughout their studies... and the lure of an international event has created some great teams across our country.

Our Canadian men, skipped by Mike Anderson, are currently 1-1 after winning their game this morning against the Japanese. We lost our opener against an extremely tough Swedish team with Scottish import Niklas Edin skipping the team (and if you watched December’s Continental Cup, you will understand the joke!). These boys have a very strong squad and should be somewhere on the podium at the end of the week.

China is doing what they should be doing... and winning! Korea has to be the surprise team so far, with a couple of very strong wins and arguably the all star skip of the event at this early stage..... young Kim C M is on fire!

On the girls’ side of things, our ladies – skipped by Hollie Nicol – are 2-0 and tied for top spot. They had a great comeback victory with an extra-end steal in their first game... against mighty Russia! The Russians have sent four-fifths of their Olympic women’s team here, to see if they can avenge the loss of the 2007 Winter Universiade final in Torino. I’m not sure if they have have a second team as these girls have played in just about everything, and definitely feel at home in an arena setting. They looked a little shaky to start the event... but then so did everyone else... and I’d expect to see them in the top of the standings at the end of the event

Hats off to FISU for organizing a great competition. Scotland’s Jeannette Johnson and her Chinese organizing committee have done an outstanding job covering all the bases. The best decision they have made was bringing in icemakers Scott Henderson and Doug Wright... conditions have been amazing and continue to impress all of the teams.

I will update more often, now that the internet has been hooked up at the venue and in the village!