2-0 at Olympic Pre-Trials

The action has been intense at the CN Centre in Prince George, with lots of late steals throwing the “Road to the Roar” pre-Trials race wide open.

Another example was yesterday’s show from 2007 world champion Kelly Scott. Her Kelowna team took two in the 10th end and then stole the extra frame to shock Cathy King of Edmonton by an 8-7 count.

Top seeds are falling left and right, and as a result you’ve got teams like Calgary’s Crystal Webster, Saskatchewan’s Sherry Anderson and Pat Simmons, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen and Ottawa’s youthful Rachel Homan all sharing the lead at 2-0... and only two wins away from a berth in the Canadian Olympic Trials.

Other big names at 2-0 include Jeff Stoughton and Brad Gushue, the finalists from the 2005 Olympic Trials in Halifax.

Homan, the junior phenom we first profiled two years ago, is shown above in yesterday’s action (CCA photo by Michael Burns). In her second match, Homan gave a quick three-spot to Marie-France Larouche of Quebec but roared back to score a 7-4 win. She won her first one 8-6 over Quebec’s Eve Bélisle.

You can also see more Road to the Roar pics on The Curling News Facebook Group page – join the group!

Meanwhile, yesterday’s TCN Twitterfeed was belching smoke, as we posted 36 times, 17 of them retweets from CurlingZone’s excellent live game coverage.

Today’s Twitterroll so far includes:

• news from Wawa, Brighton, Guelph and Chatham, Ontario
• a former WCF prez is to unveil war memorial
• two Canadian Mixed preview spotlights
• viral video mixes hockey and curling (previous blogpost)
• a new Canadian athlete Twitter list has three curlers included
• a quickee look at pre-Trials co-leader Crystal Webster

And there is much, much more curling news to come throughout the day! Go to the TCN Twitter page and click on “Follow” at top right...

Curling team sponsors rock

The Continental Cup is back. For three years, starting in 2011.

And while that is a great story, we like one of the underlying themes even better. Read on.

Turns out the rumours of the Cup demise were premature. The Canadian Curling Association and World Curling Federation have agreed on the relaunch after this year’s hiatus – there is no Cup event held during Olympic seasons – and their decision was no doubt made easier with the news that World Financial Group will be the title sponsor.

“We are most happy to welcome World Financial Group into our partnership with the CCA, allowing us to continue the Continental Cup in a stronger financial position, thanks to their support,” said Les Harrison, WCF President. “This competition has been an important showcase of the world's most talented curlers in a very unique format, which has enabled us to develop and promote our sport through a variety of disciplines.”

Indeed, the Ryder Cup-esque feel of the event, which features Team World versus Team North America in a variety of curling disciplines, has led to the creation of the World Mixed Doubles format, which may become an Olympic discipline in time for Sochi 2014.

But our favourite line in the CCA news release is this one, from World Financial Group of Canada president Rick Williams.

“Our commitment to sponsor the Continental Cup is an example of our commitment to supporting curling in Canada, which began four years ago with our sponsorship of the Randy Ferbey team,” said Williams.

“The participation of curling teams from across the globe parallels our reach as a global financial distributor - to help individuals and families become financially independent. We look forward to working with the Canadian Curling Association and the World Curling Federation to make this a very successful event.”

What’s our point? Simply that curling team sponsors can grow from “smaller” industry contributors into larger national partners; from issuing grassroots, slap-on-the-back support to cutting some very big cheques. And this new reality is something that curling sales experts used to scoff at.

They’d best not be scoffin any more. World Financial Group now joins The Dominion and M&M Meat Shops as major players in the CCA Season of Champions stable, and all three started the same way... as lowly curling team sponsors.

The revolution continues.

Worlds to Esbjerg, Gruyère is back

Some newbytes today from The Fed, otherwise known as the World Curling Federation.

WCF has announced that the City of Esbjerg, Demark (photo by Galen R. Frysinger) will host the Capital One World Women’s Curling Championship in 2011.

The event will be staged in the heart of the North Sea harbour city, Denmark’s fifth-largest, in an ice arena complex from March 19-27 in 2011.

“The World Curling Federation is delighted to announce that the Capital One World Women’s Curling Championship 2011 will take place in Denmark” said Les Harrison, WCF President.

Speaking on the fringe of the Olympic Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark where the official announcement was made, Harrison added: “The choice of Esbjerg is recognition of the outstanding achievements and contributions made by Danish curlers and the Danish Curling Association to the development of curling at an international level in recent years.”

The Danish women’s team, skipped by Angelina Jensen, won the bronze medal at the Mount Titlis World Women’s Curling Championship 2009 in Gangneung, Korea and also scored silver at the 2007 Worlds in Aomori, Japan. Denmark has qualified to send men’s and women’s curling teams to the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver in February 2010.

Meanwhile, Swiss-based cheese titan Le Gruyère has renewed its WCF partnership, and will continue to sponsor the Le Gruyère European Championships over the next two years, starting with the 2009 shootout in Aberdeen, Scotland in December and the 2010 competition in Champéry, Switzerland.

Bruno Marty, representing the WCF agency Infront, said: “The partnership between WCF and Infront is proving itself to the satisfaction of both parties. In our first year of involvement, all sponsorship inventories have been sold and television coverage is increasing. We are pleased at this convincing demonstration of the value of working with an experienced sports marketing company – the WCF is assured of financial stability to support future growth in the sport.”

The Gruyère announcement can be read here, while the Danish Worlds announcement can be seen here.

Denmark curling history

VANCOUVER – The unprecedented continued at the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic curling venue as Denmark’s men, skipped by Rasmus Stjerne (far left in photo) overturned a previous playoff thrashing from Canada to deliver a smackdown of their own to the hosts in the gold medal match.

This gives Denmark its first world title in men’s play – ever. And that includes adult men’s competition, too.

The WCF writeup also tells the story of Stjerne’s victory drawing... no, not the one on the ice, but the one with pen and paper. Check it out.

Here are the history makers. WCF photo by Andrew Klaver.

Lyndon Little has the view from Canada here, and they’re already celebrating the women’s gold in Scotland ...

World Curling Federation summer camps and courses

The Fed – the World Curling Federation – has announced its lineup of 2009 summer curling camps and courses, and online registration is now underway.

Click here to see the essential info on each of the five symposiums which are on tap, and to register online.

And move fast, because these weeks and weekends fill up pretty quickly.

There is serious curling tech stuff – the Ice Technicians Course, an Umpire Course/Rules Seminar, plus a Level 1 Technical Instructor Course.

And then there is the wildly popular stuff for kids of all ages.

The Füssen Junior Curling Camp is now in its 11th year, and some 120 kids from around the world will gather in Germany along with 18 instructors for a week of curling mayhem.

The photo above shows the “Green” team at the Füssen Junior Camp in 2006. Yippee!

And don’t get us started on the Adult Curling Camp, which will host its third edition in gorgeous Prague, in the Czech Republic. And you thought only the kids can have fun?

64 participants mix with hardcore curling coaches and real-life curling superstars, and the result is, along with all the camps and courses, a serious upward bell curve in curling skills, comprehension and motivation for the 2010 Olympic season. At any and all levels of play, of course.

Plus great food and wine. But we’re just guessing about that.

There’s a pile of Canadians involved in these seminars, of course. From ice maestro Hans Wuthrich (the Ice Tech course) to coaching wizards Dick Henderson, Scott Arnold and Brian Chick – to competitive throwers like former Sherry Middaugh second Kate Hamer – there’s a little bit of Canuckism in every event category.