World Cup: Team Runback

By Matt Hames
Capital One photo by Anil Mungal

MISSISSAUGA – Holy smokes, they like runbacks.

Now, we're all for runbacks, but team Koe seems to hit first and ask questions later. This isn't a criticism, because it's hard to argue with the success. They make run backs like most teams make guards. There isn't a rock they can't or won't run back.

25 foot double? Let it roll.

In the 7th end, Howard is laying one on the wing with a center guard and he draws open. He knows that if he goes behind the guard, Koe will play the runback nut.

So he goes open. Koe beaks it, leaving Howard a simple nose hit to take the first lead of the game.

With one end to play, we'll say this: Koe deserves to win this game. They deserve a deuce and their first Grand Slam trophy. But deserving isn't enough. They have to come out and manufacture a deuce.

Our guess? They'll run back a few guards trying.

World Cup of Curling: At the Half

by Matt Hames
Capital One photo by Anil Mungal

MISSISSAUGA – So here's the skinny.

Team Koe dominates the first half of the game. We posted on Twitter that Koe was all over Howard like a cheap suit.

We don't care what the numbers say, there was never a point in this game where Koe had discomfort until Blake MacDonald's last rock in the fourth end.

Howard was down to manufacturing a deuce in the rings with three shots to come. At this level, the way these guys can throw it, that's not something that often happens. But alas, Blake MacDonald jams and gifts Howard a deuce and life.

Forget the score, the job of Koe will be to bounce back. Yes, I know. I just said bounce back. But I just watched almost four ends of domination. Howard had to throw a peel on his first rock in one and two. He has those shots, but he doesn't want to be throwing them.

Then, out of the blue, Howard gets his gimme deuce and a tie at the half.

They must be thinking that if they can come after Koe in this end, they could rattle team Koe. The history of this head to head has to be in team Koe's head.

This, ladies and gentlemen, will be the pivotal end of the game. How this end goes will go the game. Howard is going to start the second half of the this game with a halfway guard, something we talked about a couple of posts ago.

And we should be in for a cracker of a second half.

Million Dollar Button 2010

For the second consecutive season, Canadian curling fans from coast to coast have the opportunity to register for their chance to cover the button for CDN $1 million, live on CBC Television, through the Capital One Million Dollar Button contest.

And the website that is open to one and all to register at went live this morning.

This year’s finals will take place during the championship game of the BDO Classic Canadian Open, the third leg of the men’s 2009-10 Capital One Grand Slam of Curling series, on Sunday, January 24, 2010 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

During each of the first three events of the men’s 2009-10 Capital One Grand Slam of Curling series, six lucky fans who filled out a ballot on-site will be randomly selected to compete in an on-site playoff. The on-site playoff will take place during the finals of the Grey Power World Cup of Curling and The National as well as during the quarterfinals of the BDO Classic Canadian Open. During each on-site playoff, the fan who is closest to the button will win the right to compete in the semi-finals of the Capital One Million Dollar Button.

A total of six Canadian curling fans will qualify for the semi-finals of the Capital One Million Dollar Button including one representative from the Grey Power World Cup of Curling, The National and the BDO Classic Canadian Open along with three randomly selected online entrants.

The six semi-finalists will subsequently compete against each other following the semi-finals of the BDO Classic Canadian Open on Saturday, January 23. The semi-finalist who throws the rock closest to the button will earn the right to compete for $1 million in the finals of the Capital One Million Dollar Button.

The Capital One Million Dollar Button is the first curling-based contest in Canada with a grand prize of $1 million available to be won.

Last year, Ron Trottier of Osoyoos, B.C. came within 35 inches of winning $1 million after his shot slid just past the button. Trottier’s shot was good enough to earn him $10,000 (CDN) as the inaugural finalist of the Capital One Million Dollar Button.

“We’re getting fans off their seats and right onto the ice with their favourite players,” said Ian Cunningham, Chief Marketing Officer, Capital One Canada. “It’s a once in a lifetime chance to shoot for $1 million and experience the excitement and pressure that the pros feel every time they play a Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event.”

In order to win the Capital One Million Dollar Button’s grand prize of a one-time payment of CDN $1 million, the contest finalist must successfully deliver a rock from the hack and have it cover the hole in the centre of the button on a regulation curling sheet. The contest finalist will have just one opportunity to execute the shot.

Should the finalist’s rock miss covering the hole in the centre of the button, but be touching a part of the button, the individual will receive CDN $100,000. Alternatively, CDN $25,000 will be awarded if the rock is touching the four-foot circle. A prize of CDN $10,000 will be awarded if the rock is touching the eight-foot circle while a rock that touches the 12-foot circle will earn CDN $5,000. Should the finalist’s rock not touch any of the circles, the individual will receive $1,000 (CDN).

Full contest details are available at the website.

To enter the Capital One Million Dollar Button contest, individuals can register online at capitalone.ca/button or on-site during the opening days of the first three men’s 2009-10 Capital One Grand Slam of Curling events.

On-site registration dates include October 22-24, 2009 during the Grey Power World Cup of Curling at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ont., January 7-9, 2010 during The National at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph, Ont. and January 21-22, 2010 during the BDO Classic Canadian Open.

Online registration began today, and ends at 11:59pm ET on January 10, 2010.

Dawson Creek gets Players' Championship

Dawson Creek in British Columbia has been awarded the hosting rights to the 2010 Grey Power Players’ Championship.

The season’s final Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event is scheduled for the EnCana Events Centre in Dawson Creek from April 13-18.

The Capital One Grand Slam of Curling, the World Curling Tour and iSport Media and Management also announced that Grande Prairie, Alberta has secured the hosting rights to the 2011 championship.

After hosting the six-day event in 2009, which attracted 40,125 spectators and featured championship wins by Edmonton’s Randy Ferbey and Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones, the 2011 Grey Power Players’ Championship will return to the Crystal Centre in Grande Prairie on April 12-17.

Dawson Creek and Grande Prairie are just 133 kilometres apart.

“We’re thrilled to be bringing the 2010 Grey Power Players’ Championship to Dawson Creek as well as returning the event to Grande Prairie in 2011,” said Wendy Kane, Executive Director of the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling.

“Last year’s tournament in Grande Prairie was a great success and we’re looking forward to putting on an even bigger show in the next two years.”

The 2010 Grey Power Players’ Championship will feature a separate men’s and women’s draw consisting of the world’s top 13 ranked teams from the 2009-10 season as well as curling’s gold, silver and bronze medallists from the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

“We’re elated that Dawson Creek was selected to host a premier international sporting event such as the Grey Power Players’ Championship,” said Dawson Creek Mayor Mike Bernier. “This is another great opportunity for Dawson Creek to showcase our great city to the rest of Canada. This world class event will have significant positive social and economic impacts to the community and is a real win-win for Dawson Creek.”

Ticket packages for the 2010 Grey Power Players’ Championship are scheduled to go on sale on November 6.

Three Nations Cup curling

There’s more bang for the curling buck available at the Grey Power World Cup of Curling, coming to the Greater Toronto Area in just a few weeks.

The women’s Three Nations Cup has been added to the opening men’s Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event of the season, October 21-25 at Mississauga’s Hershey Centre.

A total of four women’s Olympic qualifiers and hopefuls will compete in the inaugural Three Nations Cup including reigning Olympic bronze medallist Shannon Kleibrink of Calgary (in photo at right), 2009 Roar of the Rings direct qualifier Stefanie Lawton of Saskatoon (bottom left), reigning World Champion Bingyu Wang of China (left) and 2010 Olympic Winter Games entrant Eve Muirhead of Scotland (main image), who will represent Great Britain in Vancouver.

“We’re thrilled to be adding this elite, international women’s event as part of the festivities surrounding the Grey Power World Cup of Curling,” said Kevin Albrecht, Chief Executive Officer of iSport Media and Management. “Featuring four of the top women’s teams in the world, the Three Nations Cup will provide fans with a snapshot of the competition heading into the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.”

This latest curling Cup begins October 22 and concludes with the championship game on October 25.

“Curling fans in the GTA have been waiting more than 20 years for an elite international event to take place in our region, and now we have two outstanding tournaments joined together,” said Elizabeth Woolnough, President of the Toronto Curling Association.

“The Three Nations Cup will provide even more excitement for the GTA’s passionate curling fans.”

Tickets – both for packages and single draws – are now on sale from Ticketmaster and at the Hershey Centre box office.

For more on the impressive, Olympic men’s field at the Grey Power World Cup, check out this previous blogpost.

Got your tickets yet?

Scots aim for Olympic splash

You’re the world champion. You’re expected to get a medal.

This was one of the first questions directed to Vancouver 2010 golden hopeful David Murdoch, during his recent radio interview with BBC Radio 5.

We note that this wasn’t really a question. But “Muddy” handled it with his typical media smoothness.

The interview highlights his team’s training schedule, and Murdoch makes particular mention of his appearance at the Capital One Grand Slam at Mississauga (Toronto) in October.

The two-time world champion also points to his summer training, in which both the men’s and women’s UK Olympic teams cross-trained at a camp in Cyprus.

Sure, the weather was lovely... but the training was somewhat rocky, as this video of the women’s team shows.

The Murdoch interview is posted here.

NOTE: the GB women, skipped by Eve Muirhead, are in Canada far earlier than the men... this week, in fact. They start Thursday at the Ontario Curling Tour Championships in Oakville, with a match against Lynne Middaugh of Orillia.

Curling Zombies on the road

Remember those loveable Curling Zombies?

They took to the streets, which is what zombies do.

They hung out at The Beer Store, which was something new.

They infatuated the Rogers TV folks during last February’s Ontario Tankard.

And believe it or not, they are still groaning their way around the country.

Fresh off this past Saturday’s screening at the CFC’s Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto, our favourite undead curlers are off to St. John’s in Newfoundland. Deadspiel will make its Eastern Canadian premier at the Nickel Independent Film Festival (June 23-27) with a show date of Thursday June 25, part of the 10:00pm Late Night Horror Show.

The film is also appearing at this week’s Detroit Windsor Film Fest, on Friday, June 26, and then in west-end Toronto at the Mississauga Independent Film Festival in early July.

Another showing will take place at Montreal’s famed Fantasia Festival next month.

We’ve got a recent feature from Independent Scene right here, and a brief trailer teaser was also recently released, which you can see here.

For more on the film, consult the Deadspiel website.


Other stuff...

• Some news from Norway. First, the country has produced its first DVD on curling, a 29-minute how-to which features Pal Trulsen and Thomas Ulsrud. Second, coach Thoralf Hognestad is stepping down from the Norwegian wheelchair curling team, which he guided to two world championships in 2007 and 2008 ...

• Sweden has confirmed Team Anette Norberg as their women’s Olympic rep for Vancouver 2010. Meanwhile, young hopeful Niklas Edin is still in limbo, but feels his men’s team will get the nod sometime during or after December. You can see the formal announcements here ...

• According to the Vernon Morning Star, the B.C. town will host a Capital One Grand Slam of Curling men’s event in December of 2010 ...

• Saskatchewan curling legends Sam Richardson and Jan Betker both make appearances in this short (1:23) video promoting Saskatchewan curling, part of the federal government’s Travel Canada promotion ...

• For those of you who are suspicious of clicking on game links that we provide here – and we don’t necessarily blame you for your caution – the developers of the infamous “Brown Cow Curing” videogame (a web-based freebie) have posted some video of their effort ...

• And finally, 2008 world champion Jennifer Jones teamed with new Edmonton Oliers hockey coach Pat Quinn for a recent appearance in Thunder Bay, Ontario ...

A Curling Soap Opera

Here’s Glenn Howard in action at the Grey Power Players’ Championship in Grande Prairie, whihc wraps up this weekend on CBC Sports (Capital One photo by Anil Mungal).

What is Glenn indicating...?

a) Uh, Richie... you left something here in the hack
b) Follow my finger. This is the Grand Slam, people
c) Hi there, excuse me. Remember me? I’m Glenn Howard. That means I’m not Kevin Martin.

True dat, Cliffy.

KMart’s boondoggle in the 10th end of Sunday’s Ford Worlds finale is still being talked about. Again and again.

It may end up being the most talked-about world final since that memorable hoof by Boots Labonte.

Here’s a rundown of some of the stuff that is out there:

• This awesome CurlingZone thread has discussion galore, including image graphics of the 10th end scenario with Martin’s teammates’ telestrated thoughts of what they would have preferred to throw! Coolio.

• 42 comments posted to this Glob & Flail story ...

• TCN’s own Matt Hames, from his own blog ...

• Comments from Martin himself, and more from some of his peers currently competing in Grande Prairie.

Finally, why not join the hundreds of thousands who have watched the replay of the 10th end on TSN’s Video On Demand Player? Click here and join in the speculation.

You can also check out the highlights here ...

February 2009 issue: all killer, no filler

We have lots of newslinks for you today, but first, the February 2009 issue of The Curling News is now in the mail.

Inside you will find a plethora of curling goodies not seen on this blog, which you would do well to seek out. All killer, no filler.

Stuff like:

• The Curling News TV Guide: only TCN gives you all the regional and national curling TV listings in one shot: provincials, Scotties, Super Leagues, you name it!

• The Wrench Speaks: in the first of a multi-part TCN exclusive, living legend Ed Werenich speaks to The Curling News about absolutely everything... growing up in small-town Manitoba, the problems with women’s curling, the Olympic weight fiasco, Marilyn Bodogh, his crowning achievements (and regrets), his brief stint in the TV booth, Sandra Schmirler... and more!

• Our humungous cover story on the race for berths into Canadian Olympic Trials – who has the inside track in qualifying; how the CTRS system works; and which curlers are sick and tired of the whole thing ...

• Larry Wood opines that the previous Olympic qualifying system was just fine as it was, thank-you-very-much ...

• Letters: readers spout off on the TSN commentators, the number of curlers in Scotland and why women can’t beat men ...

• Battle of the Sexes Redux: inspired by a powerful Letter to the Editor, we examine criticism of the Casino Rama Skins experiment and explore the history of the Battle, which now sees the men tied with women at three wins apiece – yes, believe it or not – dating back to the first Battle in November 1973 ...

• What’s in his wallet? Kevin Martin stars in a new Capital One TV commercial ...

• The Dominion Club Corner: a tale of Trillium grant dollars in Mitchell, Ontario and a golden 50th anniversary in Comox, BC ...

• Capital One Grand Slam Stars of the Future: Craig Savill is in the spotlight, although he’s pretty much a star right now ...

• The Ultimate Curling Rankings Primer: not only do we list all the men’s and women’s Gold Trail, CTRS, AWCT and Order of Merit standings, we try and explain just what the heck it all means ...

And more!

Trust us, you don’t want to miss this one, folks. Make sure you subscribe today.


What else is happening? Geez, what isn’t?

• Marla Mallett is the surprise 2009 B.C. STOH champion ...

• It was standing-room only at the Nova Scotia Scotties as Nancy McConnery became the surprise Nova Scotia champion, upsetting TCN’s own Mary-Anne Arsenault in the final. TCN’s own Teri Lake lost the tiebreaker with Team Jill Mouzar.

• Newfoundland is no surprise as Heather Strong has captured another title, her fifth in a row ...

• Also advancing to the Scotties in Victoria is Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche, who beat arch-rival Eve Belisle in the Quebec final ...

• On Prince Edward Island, Kim Dolan is through to tonight’s final ...

• Sherry Middaugh and Ontario – including calendar girl Chrissy Cadorin – are underway today through Sunday, as are a whack of other provincial Scotties championships this week ...

• In men’s play, Glenn Howard beat Kevin Martin in a very interesting Canadian Open Slam finale yesterday. It was a game of great shots and stupefying misses – though not as stupefying as those in last year’s Brier final – which helped make it a thoroughly entertaining affair.

Capital One contest winner Ron Trottier almost won a million bucks, but 10 grand ain’t too shabby.

Almost as entertaining – not really – has been the major-league whingeing over foul language dished out by the athletes.

What-ever.

• Don Bartlett is back in the Alberta provincials, as is former two-time provincial finalist Jamie King. So is a fellow named Mike Hutchings, after winning the C-berth yesterday. As the story tells, the Peace district will be repped by Jeff Ginter and Kurt Balderston.

• In the south part of the province, Steve Petryk grabbed the A-berth, Rob Armitage took the B and the C-side finale goes tonight ...

• In New Brunwick, names like Odishaw and Kennedy have made it through to the upcoming provincial finale ...

• In nothern Sask, three pretty big names from the past are into the Tankard, while here’s the southern qualifiers ...

• CurlBC is looking for a Team Leader for their squad at the Wheelchair nationals in late March. Deadline for applications is January 30 ...

• Question of the day: is Idaho Statesman writer Bethann Stewart disdainful toward curling, or just a rookie? His story, located here, starts with the zinger “curling, a sport that requires little or no athletic ability. And that’s just part of the charm.”

• And finally, what have our pals at The Curling Show podcast been up to? Well, they’ve recently posted Q7As with Dave Nedohin and John Morris, that’s what ...

KMart in a box

What, you thought we were lying?

Or just using some sort of analogy?

Like we said, that’s world champion curling skip Kevin Martin, above, in a box – well, just out of a box, anyway – as portrayed in a new Capital One commercial spot airing this weekend on CBC.

It’s all part of the latest Capital One Grand Slam event, the 2009 BDO Classic Canadian Open, which we highlighted on Wednesday.

You’ll want to check out the upcoming February issue of The Curling News, in which we expose all the details behind the new TV spot.

On the Slam ice, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen apparently shot 100 per cent in besting Glenn Howard on his final stone last night. Impressive, young Skywalker... but you are not a Jedi. Yet.

And Jet Boots is back online... and he’s doing some live chatting from the MTS Centre. Just head to CurlingZone and click on Live Curling Chat in the upper right hand corner, in the USER CENTRE.

But make sure your surfing corresponds with the draw times... eh?

Meanwhile...


• Two more STOH provincials are wrapping up this weekend, in British Columbia and also in PEI... meanwhile, the veterans are up on the kids in Nova Scotia and here’s a preview of next week’s Saskabush shootout ...

• The host club of the B.C. STOH – Parksville Curling Club – is an unusual beast. You can cheak out the story here ...

• On the B.C. men’s side, there’s a cool pic of Vanouver’s Sean Geall featured with this story ...

• It’s the Last Chance weekend for Northern Alberta men ...

• Apparently some people in Medicine Hat, Alberta are somewhat cheesed that the 2010 Ford World Women’s went to Swift Current, Saskatchewan ...

• Following a disappointing Skins game and a super-comeback weekend in Scotland, world champ Jennifer Jones will be in the Golden Horseshoe – that’s just outside the southwestern edge of Toronto – for two appearances on February 7, to help raise funds for local youth leagues ...

• Speaking of Jones, is Toronto FC’s new soccer hero Dwayne de Rosario the next JJ – or CJ? Um, talk about comparing apples and oranges ...

• Canada’s national magazine, Macleans, has a rare offering on curling in its latest issue ...

• DID YOU KNOW: that a Canadian Idol finalist will be singing at the Saskatchewan men’s Tankard? Woot!

• DID YOU KNOW II: that curling is “sort of like playing golf with Tiger Woods”? Well, now you do ...

• Anyone want to buy a 10-foot long, 1950s-era tabletop curling game?

• Howard lead Craig Savill received an Ottawa sports award on Wednesday night ...

• For the first time since 1989, there will be no live men’s Tankard coverage on TV in Saskatchewan. As a consolation, sponsor SaskTel and a local on-demand channel have teamed up and stepped up... but it’s just not the same ...

• Speaking of Sask men, look at this team: Glen Despins, Brian Derbowka and Chris Haichert are back, and rather suddenly ...

• We finally have evidence of a coach entering a game, after an injury. It happened in Scotland; check it out here (fifth paragraph onward) ...

• Belleview, Ontario curling scribe Alex McNaught takes us through the old virtues of curling, from 1956 ...

• This fall’s Prince George Canadian Olympic Pre-Trials qualifier has received a $15,000 grant ...

• And finally, yet another former curling “hater” has decided that curling “doesn’t suck”. Gee, thanks for the enthusiasm ...

Another Slam, the Bender Cam and more

There’s lots going on as we put the finishing touches on the February issue of The Curling News – have you subscribed yet? – so here’s a linkfest to keep you going. Crack knuckles... now...

• Jeff Stoughton (above) is on home ice as the third Capital One Grand Slam, the BDO Classic Canadian Open, gets underway tonight at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. The event website is located here.

Local blatster Jim Bender sets up the CTRS chase and also talks to Kerry Burtnyk about the recent Brier memories, while Freepman Chris Cariou spotlights young gun Mike McEwen.

Three playoff games will be televised on CBC this weekend, and don’t forget the Capital One “Million Dollar Button” contest, which will be a part of the TV package. They’re jetting in from across Canada for this one – like this gal from Fergus, Ontario – and two people were also selected from 3,300 online entries submitted over the last few months... like this fellow from B.C.

Didn’t know about this? Quit whining; we showed you the link weeks ago ...

• The Manitoba men’s field looks to be almost complete and... but... good lord... Sun Media has given Bender a videocamera, and told him to get out there and file moving pictures, in addition to words. What is this world coming to?

• Meanwhile, the manitoba gals are all set, as are the Ontario men’s and women’s provincial fields (that was a news story, here’s the OCA draw page) ...

• The Nova Scotia women’s Scotties are already underway, and here’s a quick preview ...

• The Ontario Seniors are over and done, with Bruce Delaney and Cheryl McBain taking the 2009 titles. What this summary story fails to tell you is that multiple Canadian and World senior champion Anne Dunn lost the women’s final. Of course, Joe Pavia has that tidbit in his latest column... meanwhile, over on PEI, the 2009 Senior champs are Mel Bernard and Shirley Berry ...

• Here’s a southern Alberta update, leading off with men’s playdowns this coming weekend ...

• Speaking of Burtnyk, he will be speaking about his past cancer battles at a luncheon in April, which is affiliated with the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers football team ...

• Former Brier skip Jim Armstrong won his second straight B.C. wheelchair curling championship last weekend, but has already been named skip of Team Canada at next month’s 2009 World Wheelchair Championship in Vancouver. 2006 Paralympic champion Sonja Gaudet, who was on Gerry Austgarden’s runner-up team, was named as the alternate. There’s a recent feature on Gaudet located here ...

• Back in Ontario, the city of Kingston beat out 2008 hosts Collingwood to win the bid to host the 2010 Ontario ParaSport Winter Games, which will include wheelchair curling at the Royal Kingston Curling Club ...

• And Napanee, which is only some 40 kilometres west of Kingston, will be hosting the 2010 Ontario men’s provincial Tankard ...

• The Toronto Curling Association has a new sponsor (top news story) for the venerable men’s bonspiel ...

• DID YOU KNOW: that both of Canada’s teams in the upcoming 2009 Winter Universiade (World University Games) in China are from Wildfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario?

• Finally, Cold-FX has joined the Vancouver Olympic sponsor family. And those of you who remember just how bad 1998 Canadian Olympic men’s skip Mike Harris had it in the gold-medal final will note the company’s opening tagline:

Colds and flu were a big problem for Canada at the Nagano 1998 Winter Games. Thirty-six Canadian athletes, coaches and trainers, including figure skater Elvis Stojko, long track speed skater Neal Marshall, as well as the curling team, came down with colds or flu.

Movember Curling

Movember, the month of moustaches, is back in full force. Curling men are asked to not shave for the entire month, beginning tomorrow, to show support for the fight against prostate cancer. BalancePlus chief – and the coach of Team Glenn Howard – is Mr. Scott Taylor, and he is the prime mover behind this campaign, which you can read about in the October 29 posting at the SWEEP! magazine site.

You may recall our promotion of this thing last year. And yes, that’s them Howards (photo above by Tae) after winning Brantford’s SunLife cashspiel last Movember. Wonderfully cheesy, and all for a great cause.

What else is going on, you ask?


• The 2010 “Olympic Brier” is bound for Halifax, and will be announced there next week. Another story is located here, and another here ...

• They’re looking for more Tim Hortons Brier volunteers in Calgary, stories here and here ...

• As yesterday’s post indicated, today is the last day for one kind of tickets to the Ford Worlds in Moncton and tomorrow launches another series of ticket packages ...

• Bismark, North Dakota will host the Brazil/USA Worlds challenge on January 30 to February 1. Background info located here ...

• The Chinese have left Canada and are in New Zealand, preparing for the Pacific Championships which start on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Aussies – who had a productive yet somewhat disappointing performance in Grand Forks – are looking for more success ...

• The new $1.5M curling centre in Midland, Michigan is ready to open, as ABC-12, WNEM TV and NBC-25 all show us. The debut opening is November 8 ...

• The A-division draw is up for the 2008 Le Gruyère European Curling Championships ...

• CONTEST ALERT: This one is for readers in the Kitchener-Waterloo area of Ontario, as the local blat if offering up six pairs of Event Passes to the first Capital One Grand Slam of the season, the Masters of Curling ...

• Amy Nixon is on The Curling Show, and other recents have been KPark, B.C.’s Bob Ursel and everyone’s favourite, mrnn ...

• We are now 496 days away from Vancouver’s other major sports doo-dah, the Paralympic Winter Games ...

• 2002 Olympic bronze medallist and 2000 world champion skip Kelley Law surfaced last week, and as this story tells, she is content with her life away from the curling ice ...

• Nerdsopolis has returned our recent shout-out: grazie ...

• The dark side of curling? Bring it on, baby! After all, this is the Halloween weekend ...

• This Dutch blog likes the Women of Kurling and their Kalendar ...

• There may be hope for northern Ontario’s Rainy River club following their critical meeting last Friday ...

• California’s Wine Country Curling Club will learn its fate at a Vacaville city council meeting on November 11 ...

• 29 years of writing about local women’s curling? Wow ...

• Rookies tossed some “22kg stone thingys” at Fenton’s the other day ...

• Don Gordon of Lake Cowichan, B.C. quotes a curling story in talking tough about supporting a local arena upgrade plan ...

• We have more curling tales from Schenectady, NY and also from Greg in Hollywood ...

• The site of the original “Callie” was set ablaze on Wednesday ...

• Melfort, SK needs an icemaker ...

• Kamloops city councillor Arjun Singh has blogged about a local curling club asking for funding ...

• Finally, we like this definition of curling posted by the Kalamazoo CC:

CURLING: The difference between a great winter and a crappy, not-enough-snow-to-really-ski winter!

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?