Curling poster boys (and girls)

The Asham World Curling Tour has a new poster heading out to all of Canada’s 1,100 curling clubs today, listing all 57 events, including 31 for women, nine Grand Slams (five for women!) and 15 events located outside of Canada.

The remaining two Grand Slam announcements will take place later this month, regarding the men’s Masters of Curling (Saskatoon in January) and the Tylenol Players’ Championship (St. John’s in April).

Look for this poster on ye olde bristel board wall near you.

Other stuff:

• A reminder that today is apparently the day we hear that the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the Canadian women’s championship, will be hosted in Victoria, B.C. The newish Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre played host to its first big curling event in 2005, when it hosted the men’s Ford Worlds ...

• The Curling News and Calgary Herald scoopster Al Cameron is also speculating on a 2009 Tim Hortons Brier announcement taking place in the next couple of weeks, with Calgary set to host ...

• Just a year after hosting a successful Masters of Curling Grand Slam, the Ontario city of Kitchener-Waterloo is on tap to host another event, the 2008 TSC Stores Tankard, otherwise known as the Ontario men’s championship. The event website is up (see link above) and offers 20 bucks off a weekly pass up to mid-January (which was only $99 before the discount). Glenn Howard has a bye thanks to his Brier victory, meaning a field of 11 teams will battle it out in February ...

• Wales’ last-rock Euro Mixed victory is up on YouTube, as is the preceding shot... a catastophic miss by the star of the tourney, Danish skip Joel Ostrowski ...

• Lewiston, NY may be the hometown of former U.S. women’s champ Patti Lank, but now they’re curling in Lewiston, Michigan ...

• Joe says the Ottawa scene is booming, and that’s no surprise: the city is truly the capital of curling in southern Ontario ...

• However, the scene is somewhat sluggish way up in the Territories ...

• The Milwaukee CC has some promo on the About.com website ...

• Ever tried Human Curling? Neither have we ...

• The Mayerthorpe CC needs volunteers, and it needs them right now ...

• There’s a curling theme to this not-a-webcomic ...

• Did You Know: the Ailsa Craig is knows as the “bun”...?

• Finally, Three-time world champ Ian Tetley is on The Curling Show ...

Grand Slam to Quebec

Make that le “Grand Chelem”...

One of the four Grand Slam of Curling events will take place in Quebec City Nov. 28-Dec 2, as announced this week at a glitzy news conference at the famed Chateau Frontenac.

Curl Quebec, one of the more dynamic member associations of the CCA, is heavily involved, as is Tourism Quebec, and of course the usual suspects: the Asham World Curling Tour and World Curling Players’ Association (that’s chief Paul Boutilier in photo), and series management company Insight Sports.

Check out Curl Quebec’s video coverage of the announcement via their curlquebec.tv portal, located here.

For a nifty promotional video, go to the .tv mainpage.

The $100,000 tourney will be contested at the Pavillon de la jeunesse, part of ExpoCité. The Pavillion recently underwent a massive renovation and now boasts 5,000 seats plus a modern design update, which Boutilier said “made it (Quebec hosting) a very easy decision.”

“This is a golden opportunity to showcase the sport of curling in Quebec,” said Curl Quebec honcho Marco Berthelot.

“We hope to seize this opportunity to demonstrate that Quebeckers are poised to host a successful major curling event.”

This is Quebec’s first big event since the 1988 Chicoutimi Brier, the site of Pat Ryan’s first of two back-to-back Brier wins, which also featured the infamous “Hritzuk” shot in the last end of the championship final.

According to press reports, the planned team lineup includes two Quebec teams, two international teams – once from France – and a U.S. team.

It’s about time a major was hosted in Quebec, and the Grand Slam was a logical place for Curl Quebec to look, following the disappointment of the failed – and controversial – 2008 Scotties bid. Reports say Quebec City is also pushing to host a national championship in the Olympic year of 2010.

Finally:

• Nova Scotia is looking for a High Performance coach ...

• Is Kevin Martin really “the people’s champion”, as this fellow has gushed?

Skins Game squads

We kinda knew this a while ago, but we... er... forgot to pass it along (honest!), and TSN has made it official today: the four men’s teams confirmed for the Casino Rama Curling Skins Game this coming December are skipped by Glenn Howard, Kevin Martin, Wayne Middaugh and Brad Gushue.

Any bets on who plays whom in the December 8 semis? We’re not telling ...