Curling Photo Feedback

This photo captures the millisecond following the moment of impact of Kevin Koe’s last-shot attempt to win the Grey Power World Cup of Curling.

The angle-runback missed by a hair, ticking a front guard, and two of Koe’s team members react with obvious dismay.

The photo was shot the stands at the Hershey Centre by Allen Hofstetter of Paris, Ontario.

Allen and his wife Lynne Gawley-Hofstetter started a little curling supply business called Hit The Broom Curling Gear about four years ago. The Paris Curling Club, just outside of Brantford, had lost its informal “supply guy” so the Hofstetters starting displaying curling equipment on tables at the club.

“The response was amazing,” said Allen.

In a contra deal for the selling space, Allen built a large trophy case for the club’s basement. Now the company supplies Paris and also travels to surrounding clubs during popular bonspiels.

The squad also befriended the victorious Team Glenn Howard around the same time. The friendship is such that Howard lead Craig Savill even mailing one of his official Brier shirts to the couple’s 13-year-old son, Tucker, in 2007.

In addition, the squad was sent this photo, which soon made its way to The Curling News Blog, where is has been published here, with thanks to the Hofstetter clan.

A full-size version of the photo will appear in the upcoming December issue of The Curling News. Got your subscription yet?

Incidentally, Howard third Richard Hart has been corresponding with TCN writer Matt Hames this week, following Hames’ awesome blog and twitter posts during the World Cup final last Sunday.

Hames, who has blogged about the Hart discussions is correct to note that “Prior to the internet, this world class player would never have been able to get this kind of feedback about (his own) game.

“True, he could have watched the tape of the final on CBC and got the commentators’ take on the game, but that’s more an official take. Mine was kind of off-the-cuff riffs on the game in general.

“(Hart) may or may not find value in the feedback, but he’s at least taking the time to acknowledge that feedback can be valuable.”

On a final note, the World Cup feedback from television is quite good. Sunday’s final scored 441,000 viewers on CBC-TV, while Saturday’s quarter-final matchup between Koe and Brad Gushue earned 483,000 viewers, which is up 83 per cent over last year’s numbers.

Brier: Day Five Update

by Margo Weber

CALGARY – Here are my thoughts – ’cause I do have thoughts – about where we are after Draw 11:

• Alberta (7-0) – These guys are good. In fact, second Marc Kennedy is so good that John Morris and Ben Hebert don’t even bother cleaning his standard peels. They feign interest until about halfway down the sheet, then save their energy. They still have a couple of tough games left, but we may see them go undefeated in the round robin once again.

• Ontario (7-0) – Still excited about The Shot... although I totally called it. I’m such a good curler from my couch! Glenn Howard and Richard Hart have the highest stat percentage and that will make them pretty tough to beat. Brent Laing and Craig Savill made our All-Star Hottie team, so their week is already made. (Big picture here: they are World Junior Champs, World Men’s Champs, Dalene and Margo’s hot list. All that is left is the Olympics.)

• Newfoundland/Labrador (5-2) – Looking good to make playoffs. Found myself cheering “Let’s Go Grey Slacks!” in the stands today.

• Manitoba (4-3) – Flying under the radar. Bad Howard Tuesday. Can definitely afford another loss if they need it, but will have to pick up the pace come playoff time. And hey. Is it just me, or does KPark in a ’Toba jacket (CCA photo by Michael Burns, above) still look weird?

• New Brunswick (4-3) – Loved the broom-bashing on Tuesday. Loved how Dalene scooped the entire media bench on it, and loved seeing Al Cameron, full of bitterness and clouded by vengeance, rush to produce a lengthy story. Not sure why we all think it’s hilarious when Russ Howard snaps a broom, but when Johnny Mo does it in Hamilton, it’s a crime. Either way – awesome. Will we see more emotion when Russ plays against his old Olympic teammies on Wednesday?

• British Columbia (3-4) – Need to win every game. Skipper Sean Geall has had to make some tough shots. Not bad for a first Brier.

• Quebec (3-4) – I’ve been taking some serious jabs from my girlfriends about my all star hottie skip Jean-Michel Ménard. He needs to kick it up a notch – and fast.

• NWT/Yukon (2-5) – Play like they did Tuesday night we might see a few more wins out of these guys. Either way they will enjoy the festivities in the Big Four (or the locker room before they hit the Big Four). Think it’s cold here? It’s -30° Celsius back in Yellowknife.

• Nova Scotia (2-5) – No fire has been lit under Mark Dacey. Seems kinda ho-hum. Perhaps he should have kept the grey slacks he wore at his provincial. Whatever, it’s just the Brier. Have a nice flight home.

• PEI (2-5) – Hope you enjoyed your two wins – and the two ends where you were the TSN telecast game on Tuesday morning.

• Saskatchewan (2-5) – Wow, was I ever wrong about you guys. You can drive home.

• Northern Ontario (1-6) – Enjoy the Patch.

Brier: The Shot

by Dalene Heck
TSN graphic composite by Anil Mungal

CALGARY – Here’s what the people are saying about The Shot. Yes, that shot.

Click the above graphic to zoom in!

We’ll start with the athletes and then move onto the public... and some of them via Facebook!


“An angle-raise, in-off double and stick it and throw your arms in the air and run around like an idiot. It was a one-in-a-million.”
– Glenn Howard

“I’m really sorry I’m the guy who set him up to play it.”
– Joel Jordison

“Collectively we weren’t our best. I let the boys down, it was my worst game of the week and somehow miracles happen.”
– Glenn Howard

“Call it an angle-raise double re-direct.”
– Richard Hart

“Makes me want to lose some hair and grow two feet.”
– Cheryl Bernard (Pro Picker, Calgary)

“It was a pretty epic shot.”
– Tara Runquist (Alberta fan)

“What a moment...
Wouldn’t it have been fantastic to see that shot happen in the final for the championship?!?! Sure... but it is unlikely that Ontario’s opponent in the final would have allowed that moment to happen. I love witnessing great moments and unfortunately this one began with a tactical error by a top-notch team from Saskatchewan.
The real part to focus on however is that all the variables required for that moment to happen... did. The fact that the rocks were positioned perfectly, inviting perfection was appetizing. Then factor in that it was Glenn Howard in the hack. The moment requested greatness and that’s why my arms rose to the air along with Glenn’s.
What a moment...”
– Dean Joanisse (Pro Picker, Vancouver)


And now to the people... via Facebook!


Steven Lobel thinks that the Ice Man no longer owns the best shot in curling. But still the most important.
(Whitby, ONT)

Sebastien Robillard just saw the best curling shot ever! DAMN.
(Montreal, QUE)

Jesse Ruppell says nice shaaaaat!
(Ottawa, ONT)

Brian Chick can’t believe SASK left that for him... it was wired.
(Toronto, ONT)

Darryl Nodwell in/off slash raised triple for the win – wow ...
(London, ONT)

Rich Ashford I call it the Tim Horton’s shot...a double-double!
(Pittsburgh, PA)

Dean Gemmell thinks he just saw about the best shot ever to win a curling game.
(The Curling Show)

Leigh Armstrong is just witnessed the best shot in curling ever! Go Team Ontario!!
(Oakville, ONT)

Earl Andrew Washburn is OMG, craziest curling shot ever! Glenn Howard is God!
(Ottawa, ONT)

Mike Aprile I think he’s insane in the membrane after that shot!
(Whitby, ONT)

Jill Officer is holy s**t, what a shot!
(Winnipeg, MAN)

Brier: Brotherly Love

By Dalene Heck

CALGARY – In a joint interview with Peyton and Eli Manning after Eli’s historic Super Bowl win, Peyton had the following to say when asked if he would like to face his brother in the Super Bowl someday:

“Yeah, I’d love to kick his ass in the Super bowl next year. And win the MVP – league and Super Bowl – the world needs to know who the best Manning is.”

Peyton aptly ducked when Eli playfully took a swing at his head.

The only NFL contest between these two brothers saw Eli win against his older sibling in a close match. If all of the Brier predictions about Ontario’s Glenn Howard hold true, then we will also see the younger Howard beat up on his older brother, New Brunswick’s Russ Howard, Tuesday morning in a truly historic athletic contest between brothers.

Will an Ontario win over New Brunswick show the world who the best Howard is? Will Russ take his loss gracefully as opposed to vowing vengeance? Can we count on fists flying at the end of tomorrow’s match?

No.

Probably.

Probably not. But you never know with brothers.

This battle has been talked about. The media here in Calgary have gone to great lengths to point out that the last time two brothers faced off as skips at the Brier was way back in 1942.

But The Curling News – a dandy little newspaper if I’ve ever seen one – has scooped everybody with a couple of key points, as published in the March Brier issue that came out last week, and which is in some supply – but dwindling fast – here at the Saddledome.

The first is that the last time brothers faced off at the Brier – including non-skips – the year was 1995, the place, Halifax. Jeff Ryan played third for the victorious Manitoba team skipped by Kerry Burtnyk. Pat Ryan, now country music superstar, played third for Rick Folk’s defending champions from Kelowna. Burtnyk finished with a 12-2 record while Folk was 6-5. In their 11th-draw collision, Burtnyk shaded Folk 7-6 in 11 ends.

The second TCN scoop is that the only other known Brier brotherly debate – apart from them Campbells, Gordon of Hamilton and Don of Vancouver, in ’42 – transpired at the 1970 Brier in Winnipeg. Hap Mabey of Moncton skipped the New Brunswick entry and brother Roger played lead for Les Bowering’s Newfoundland squad. Neither team was a title threat.

The third and final TCN chapter actually researches the various head to head battles that Russ and Glenn have had in the past decade or so. Thanks to this, additional context is available for those of you making picks on whom will whack whom. That makes this stuff gold!

And it’s not even a finite science, as curling record-keeping tends to falter out of the CCA domain. The TCN editor tells me Glenn Howard and Richard Hart were both sourced for info on these recent tilts… and that they both imagined a game against Russ – at a Slam in Port Hawkesbury – that never actually happened. I kid you not.

So here’s the excerpt from the story in the March 2009 issue The Curling News concerning recent Howard battles, some of which also made its way into Sunday’s daily Tankard Times.

And good luck with your picks…

For the record, there have been seven “recent” battles between the brothers since 2001.

Three occurred at the Players’ Championship (Russ winning twice in 2001 and Glenn winning in 2005 (photo above by Ted Richards, click to zoom in) and two took place at the former Gander, NL stop on the Asham World Curling Tour, the Don Bartlett Classic, in ’02 and ’04 (split results).

There was also a battle at the 2002 TSN Skins Game in Grande Prairie, and an instance in 2007 where Russ jetted to a spiel in Portage to spare for Randy Ferbey (both won by Glenn).

So the youngster holds a 4-3 advantage heading into the Saddledome.

Brier: So much fun I forgot to eat

by Margo Weber

Like seriously.

When I weighed myself this morning I was three pounds lighter than I was yesterday morning. My intake for the day included one large malt, one piece of Hawaiian pizza and about 15 vodka and diet cokes.

Ugh.

So this is my post-patch update. I wish I could tell you I remembered it all. But I can’t… I started off the night playing “flips” with some friends. For those of you not familiar with this game, it’s a Brier Patch favorite.

Four people play odd-man-out coin flipping until there is only one person left. That person buys the round. I played five times and lost four. Do the math, people.

At $6.00 a drink that’s $96.00. My $80.00 budget for the night was no longer sufficient and I found myself at the Patch bank machine in no time. Needless to say, I stopped flipping and starting buying two drinks at a time for myself.

Fellow blogger Dalene Heck and I spent some time with Ontario’s classy Richard Hart (I think I’m coming around to cheering for Team Ontario, ha ha!) We also threw in a couple high fives with Craig Savill who looked like he was having a great time.

And we had a couple minutes to buy Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories a Bud Light or two... he needed it after yesterday’s 0-2.

I ditched the morning draw in favour of hanging out with my family, but am on site at today’s action. Might make another Patch appearance tonight, although I can pretty much guarantee it will not be a do-over. Ouch.

Patch entertainment tonight? The Ryans, aka three-time Brier champion skip Pat Ryan (photo above) and his hawtie daughter Lynsay Ryan, who is an orginal Women of Curling calendar girl, too.

All Howard, all the time

A roundup of event results, and more, starting with the Ontario men.

In Woodstock it was pretty much all Glenn Howard, all the time. His one loss in the round-robin came on a sweeping error, and then – slightly miffed – he proceeded to win his next two matches by a combined score of 18-0.

Peter Corner’s gang of impressive part-timers kept things interesting in the Page 1-2 game, taking Cliffy down to last stone, but the championship final was a debacle – 3-nil out of the gate, 6-nil and then 7-nil. It mercifully ended well in advance of the requested TV minimum number of ends... actually in five, we think.

Speaking of Rogers TV, they continue to improve each year on what is a comprehensive level of event coverage. There are still some shocking mistakes, of course... such as immediately after the Page playoff, when host Matt McCooey explained that Corner would go on to face “the Lobels” in the semifinal (it was actually Joe Frans) and then Marilyn Bodogh opened her winner’s interview by calling Glenn “Russ Howard” at point-blank range. Sadly for Glenn, he must be used to it by now, because he carried on like a trooper, without even a blink.

Of note is the record Howard set: his 11th provincial title (fourth as a skip), breaking the record he had previously tied with Ed Werenich. It was also the fourth straight title for his squad of Richard Hart, Brent Laing and Craig Savill, tying a record for the most consecutive titles by a foursome.

That’s right, Richie... that’s actually four, not two (TCN photo by Anil Mungal).

Howard set that original mark with his older brother Russ, Wayne Middaugh and – of course – Corner, from 1991-94.

There’s some rocky editing involved, but here’s some audio – plus pics – from Howard, Hart and Corner... and here’s some thoughts on Woodstock’s hosting job, crowd numbers etc.

Finally, here’s a nifty innovation: an online write-in poll asking “What Dream Team of any curlers could beat Team Howard?” ...


Elsewhere:

• Brad Gushue is back into the Brier, and this piece from mid-competition has some, er, interesting public comments posted below the story ...

• Pat Simmons couldn’t make it five in a row, and accomplished rookie Joel Jordison is off to the Brier. Saskatchewan scribe Murray McCormick dubbed it a strange Tankard ...

• The Kirkness sisters are back in the Scotties representing Manitoba, and this completes the field for Victoria ...

• PEI’s Brett Gallant and Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes are off to Vancouver for the World Juniors... and so is Scotland’s Eve Muirhead, the two-time and defending world junior women’s champ. Graeme Black will represent the Scottish men. Scot story and pics here and more pics here, and here’s a bit more on Lawes, who won world bronze last year ...

• CTV’s Olympic website went live today, which includes a curling page ...

• The B.C. men’s provincial starts today, and here’s a preview ...

• Likewise for Quebec, which starts today, too ...

• Bob Weeks has some weekend thoughts plus a new column today ...

• This story on Saskatoon’s application to host another Brier might be interesting 10-15 years ago. The truth these days is that the Brier rotates among only seven Canadian cities anyway, and Saskatoon is one of them ...

• DID YOU KNOW: the Hope Classic in Thunder Bay raised more money in its first five or six years than the Heart to Heart Bonspiel ever did?

• First Guelph, then Welland, as the Jennifer Jones tour of Ontario continued ...

• Last year Laurier’s men and women swept the Ontario University Athletics curling championship; this year it was the Stangs, whose coach was named top gun of the year before the championships had even finished ...

• For a moment, we thought the “Camp Trillium” that received $10,000 in this bonspiel fundraiser was the famed Trillium Junior Curling Camp...

• Krista McCarville is the latest to appear on The Curling Show ...

• And finally... to the most awesome background music of Journey’s classic Caddyshack song, some really cute Little Rockers took to the ice between the Canadian Junior semifinals ...

More curling sons and daughters

Lots today. There’s a big Ontario player meeting tomorrow; some Seinfeld mischief; Jennifer Jones in Guelph; many hugs in Moncton; a Polish flame; Soo tickets already; the death of Gordie Weber and more.

But first – this nice photo of proud papas Neil Harrison (far left) and Paul Savage (far right) and their sons, Sean Harrison (inside left) and Brad Savage.

Sean toils for Team Chris Gardner, a fine young squad competing at the 2009 Ontario Tankard which is also off to China very shortly, for the 2009 Winter Universiade, otherwise known as the World University Games.

Brad throws lead for Team Peter Corner, currently in second place and confirmed for the Tankard playoffs this weekend.

The original Harrison and Savage, of course, are curling legends... and their old skipper, Eddie “The Wrench” Werenich was also at Woodstock yesterday.

You can read this story and much more by downloading the various editions of the daily event newsletter, the Bull Roar, from this webpage.

And don’t forget the first of our huge, multi-part interviews with The Wrench which is in the current February print edition of The Curling News. It’s typically controversial stuff, and you can’t read it online, so why not subscribe?

Believe us, you’ll be glad you did.

Anyway, this continues yesterday’s father/daughter theme starring Russ and Ashley Howard. And, although we’ve told you this already – come on, people – we are compelled to point out that still yet another Howard, Scott Howard, lost the Ontario junior men’s championship final on the same day his dad – Glenn Howard – lost the Casino Rama skins final to Randy Ferbey. You can see a photo of Scott Howard in action in the story link, too.

And now for the hard news.

The Ontario Curling Association will be present – with no less than six high-powered suits in attendance – at an Open Forum meeting with athletes Saturday morning in Woodstock.

The goal is to attempt to thrash out long-discussed changes to Ontario’s archaic playdown system.

The meeting is no surprise. The usually disorganized athletes have been united in recent weeks, and from the OCA perspective, the absence of a fellow like Wayne Middaugh – who wilfully chose to compete in a Grand Slam event instead of his last chance provincial playdown – tends to get people’s attention. As in fans, sponsors, et cetera.

“Let’s not do (zones and regional qualifying) in curling clubs in January on crappy ice with nobody watching,” says a rather blunt Richard Hart in today’s Toronto Star. “Bring all the best teams to one location at the provincial and then bring the fans in to watch it. It’s a great show.”

“Love him or hate him, Wayne should be here,” said Peter Steski. “Everybody wins if you have the best teams here – the curlers win, the OCA wins, the host committee wins, the fans win.

“I don’t see how anyone can lose.”

And what is the OCA attitude heading into the meeting?

“We don’t really care what the format is as long as the host committee’s needs are met and the sponsors’ needs are met,” said OCA exec Doug Bakes.

Okay, then... that certainly sounds promising.

Incidentally, the original version of this story, located here, concludes with more Steski hijinks – make that George Costanza of Seinfeld fame – and a washroom incident starring the event mascot.

Must be a Friday.

And on that note, here’s your Friday linkfest ...


• Moncton celebrated 60 “sweeps” before the Ford Worlds yesterday. The event included an outdoor rink set up right in front of city hall and the World Curling Federation mascot, Skip, engaged in a massive hug-a-thon ...

• Speaking of outdoor curling, you can do that tomorrow at Winterfest in Surrey, British Columbia ...

• Jennifer Jones did her corporate/charity thing yesterday in Guelph, Ontario ...

• Chelsea Carey is 4-0 in Manitoba STOH play, and we like the cool “downtown” squad photos on her team website ...

• Pat Simmons and Joel Jordison are headed for an A-side showdown at the Saskatchewan men’s Tankard ...

• Given the Canadian Juniors currently going on, you might expect that a new website which focusses on junior and university curling would be very active this week. You would be correct ...

• Speaking of youths, Trent University is hosting OUA curling action this weekend... and here are last year’s award winners ...

• Still with young people, the big flame in Poland has been lit for the 2009 European Youth Olympic festival. Yes, it will feature curling, but more on that later ...

• Early bird tickets are on sale for the 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario... and while CCA’s Warren Hansen notes that “Right now, people in the Sault are the only ones aware of it,”... uh, whoops, it looks like we’ve just taken the news around the world!

Anyway, be sure to note the early bird event dates, due to the Vancouver Olympics: January 30 to February 7 ...

• DID YOU KNOW: that just a few days after dumping two-time world junior champ Charley Thomas from his men’s team, Calgary’s Chris Schille won a WCT-E event at Prague, in the Czech Republic? Well, now you do ...

• In this nice piece by Cookie Gilchrist, we discover that legendary Labatt sponsor liaison Gord Weber has passed away. Weber was instrumental in delivering Labatt Beweries into the Brier sponsorship in 1980, and was also a big booster of other sport and community endeavours ...

• The Associated Press has picked up on Pete Fenson’s defeat in the race for the U.S. 2010 Olympic berth, and scored some quotes from the disappointed skip ...

• Awright you Slave Lakers! Lots of pics and a video accompany this story on their men’s bonspiel ...

• Spain has their national mixed and mixed doubles playdowns this weekend ...

• Come on Robert, your pal Arnold expects more than this ...

• And finally, more images of Bob’s Birthday Cake, posted to a different blog. Geez, this guy is pretty popular. Or perhaps it’s the cake ...

Careful With That Axe, Eugene

OK... does anyone know this yahoo?

According to police in Vernon, British Columbia, this nitwit took a few chunks out of the Vernon Curling Club with an axe. Of all the noive!

You can read the brief story here, which includes another photo.

Turns out this happened on March 18, just before the start of the most awesome
2008 Ford World Women’s Championship. Of course, you recall what happened during that tourney – more crime!

There was a happy ending to that tale, however, as the Vernon community raised over $10,000 to reimburse the affected teams. Now, hopefully this axe-wielding dingbat will get what’s coming to him.

Still with B.C., the CCA has opened its 2009 Scotties TOH office in Victoria; the story is here and another photo can be found here.

What else is happening, you ask?


• One of our favourites, The Weakerthans, have made a video for their curling song, Tournament of Hearts. It’s an odd work of art shot in black and white which mixes genuine ancient curling footage with modern fakery. Watch for lovelorn curlers standing on tables at your club this coming fall, yelling “Why?” ...

• The Capital One Grand Slam event schedule has been released, and Richard Hart from Team Glenn Howard is pumped.

“It’s a great schedule,” Hart told The Curling News Blog. “Quebec last year hosted an amazing Slam, and Winnipeg has been a great Slam market the last couple of years. We won the Slam when it was held in Waterloo, so that will be great for us. And I hear the women’s worlds in Grande Prairie was awesome a few years ago, so bring it on.”

• Remember Rockstar Curling? Sure you do.

There was some general moping when the proposed curling reality show delayed tryout announcements until the coming fall, but the project still seems to be a go. A new official-looking YouTube membership was recently taken out, with not one but two videos posted in the last 24 hours. PS: have you signed up yet?

• Not one but two former WCF presidents have fallen: Dr. Don Barcome Sr. in the United States, and Canada’s Clif Thompson ...

• Team World at December’s Continental Cup will feature Chinese teams for the first time, plus two rather big names behind the bench, as coach and captain ...

• The 2009 World Mixed Doubles Championships will take place in Cortina, Italy, the site of the 2010 World Men’s. The event runs late, in mid-April ...

• John Morris – and many, many others - beware: Scotland is making a move to punish the elite of the sport for leaning, grabbing and otherwise flopping on the ice after throwing. Other countries are sure to follow suit ...

• In curling club news, they’ve broken ground for the new Windsor CC in Nova Scotia; Quebec’s CC Lanaudiere is in trouble; and The Oshawa will survive: following last month’s ominous news, an extremely well-attended meeting has produced a new president and also a new plan of action.

“We’ll be putting together an aggressive membership campaign and are looking forward to another season of terrific curling on great ice!” said past president Rob Faulds.

We also hear the Toronto Curling Association has been helpful... but what of the Ontario Curling Association?

• And finally, the Quote of the Week comes from 1998 Olympic champ and CBC curling commentator Joan McCusker, regarding the influx of volunteers and sports fans from Saskatchewan who are expected during the upcoming winter Olympics:

“You know what that means – a lot of watermelon helmets going on in Vancouver 2010.”