Heard about the Vernon break-in?

There’s a video report here, too.

Some good news, however (although RCMP haven’t caught the thief yet) in that the community has banded together to offer not one but three vehicles by which people can make contributions to the athletes and coaches affected by the crime.

The 2008 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship Host Committee has announced that a trust account has been set up at three local banks to allow the many people who have called asking how they can help the teams affected by the hotel break-ins.

“Our phone lines have been receiving many inquiries from concerned Vernon citizens, event volunteers and curling fans throughout the Okanagan who want to show their support to the teams affected by the hotel break-in on Sunday,” said Rob Pringle, Chair of the 2008 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship.

“This community has invited the world into their homes and residents have been saddened by this unfortunate incident. They have stepped up to demonstrate the true nature of this caring and welcoming community,” Pringle concluded.

Event sponsor National Bank Financial, as well as Vantage One and CIBC Vernon have all set up trust fund accounts under the name 2008 Women’s Curling to allow for contributions from the community.

Contributions will go to replace monies and property the affected teams have lost. All contributions in excess of the amounts lost will be forwarded to the Sandra Schmirler Foundation.

Bank locations are:

National Bank – #101 – 3100 – 30th Avenue

Vantage One, Main Branch – 3108 33rd Avenue, #120, 5301 25th Avenue (Okanagan Landing Rd.) and in Armstrong, #1, 3300 Smith Drive

CIBC, Downtown Vernon on 3201 – 30th Avenue, and in the Village Green Mall

“The teams are overwhelmed by the coming together of the community and the support they have received, and will remember the warmth of our community for a lifetime,” said event coordinator Toby Oswald-Felker.

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]

VERNON – So, have you heard about WCSN?

They are the new online partner to NBCOlympics.com, and they are webstreaming some of the 2008 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship matches across America, free of charge. They’ll also be doing same for the 2008 World Men’s in Grand Forks, North Dakota, starting in early April.

So click here, and start watching!

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]

VERNON – Remember Carmen of Curling?

The “new” third for Swiss skip Mirjam Ott is getting it done at the Ford Worlds. She is tied for first in shooting percentage (81 per cent) with Canada’s Cathy Overton-Clapham heading into big Switzerland/China bout.

Carmen, on the right in this CCA photo (courtesy Michael Burns), had better keep it up, lest she get popped in the kisser by her skip (left). Turns out Ott has one helluva left hook, and could drop the gloves if things don’t go her way.

OK, we’re being silly, but as this story tells, the Swiss skip knows her way around a boxing ring.

Cool.

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]

VERNON – Nice freakout pic from CCA shooter Michael Burns.

This is Chinese lead Yan Zhou, with teammate Yin Liu in the background, screaming for the sweep during this morning’s action at the 2008 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship.

Canada’s Jennifer Jones was heavy with her winning draw – right from the get-go – and China stole two to win 9-7.

This is getting interesting.

UPDATE: Now China is kicking the United States – who were 4-1 coming in here – by the score of 8-1. Ouch.

Definitely interesting.

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]

VERNON – First she ran wild on this here TCN Blog during the Winnipeg Brier. Now she’s ripping it up on the ice for Canada here at the Vernon Multiplex.

Either way, Canadian second Jill Officer clearly ain’t going away. So here’s a magnificent pic of Jill pumping it up last night against Germany (CCA photo by the one and only Michael Burns).

Right now the Jennifer Jones quartet is battling Italy, and the teams just swapped field goals for a 5-4 Canada lead after five. Well, the Italians have been playing well… they’ve just struggled with the last few rocks a couple of times.

Geez. Everyone – and we mean everyone – has been asking about our next blogpost (this one). Even Jill’s teammate, Cathy O, who corralled us after last night’s game.

“You gotta get Jilly off there,” Cathy said with a smile. “She’s been up there for a week. Get someone else on there.”

Sorry O. For now, it’s time to get yer Jill Fill. But at least it’s a new photo, and a new event. The Ford World Women’s in the beautiful Okanagan.

Until we find our sea legs, here’s a catchup of some fun links for you…

• Townie Bastard hopes to see an all-Nunavut team at next year’s Canadian Mixed, and we echo his call. And speaking of TB, he wonders if CBC mailed it in on their final big show of the year, the disappointing Brier final …

• AOL Sports’ Fanhouse just loved the fact that Canadian curling broadcasters are willing to let the occasional “F-bomb” onto the air …

• Torontoist visited the Leaside CC recently, and took some portrait-style photos of typical curlers. One of them, Jennie Norman, has been a local dynamo trying to inspire a new Toronto curling club, that would rise from the ashes of Avonlea …

• Let’s talk scrapbooking! Cathy O is a fan, and we’ll have to tell her about this …

• Curling is Canadian! And so there!

• Uh, it’s a year late in celebrating, but… happy 50th, Florenceville!

• Well, this sure looked like strange, bizarre fun …

• Robyn Roste learned quite a bit about Brier boys Bubba and “Goo” …

• This Detroit Red Wings hockey blog hopped on some comments Brad Gushue made in Winnipeg about second Chris Schille, an Alberta boy, not being accepted on The Rock …

• Sorry, not funny. Not even a nice try…

• We think this U.S. take on the Brier final is interesting …

• Check out this kid: he does the Stoughton Spinerama, then he sweeps his own puck into the four-foot. Nice.

• This guy hates ‘rock’ tag references…

• And finally, Steve Bain has perspective: Instead of watching the Ford Worlds and “wishing it was more” he is now “looking at it realizing it could be much less” …

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]

WINNIPEG – As I was down at ice level shooting some pics of the celebration, I noticed a brief grimace on the faces of Ben and Marc after they thought for a second that they had over swept their skipper’s final shot, but then the celebration began.

And so with my first perspective of a national championship through the eyes of the media, here are some of my final thoughts on this week’s Brier at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg…

• First, I loved doing media stuff this week; a totally new perspective for me, but one that I thought was great.

• It’s not easy being a media person at the Brier. Trying to watch four games at a time during the round robin and write blogs and columns and do interviews is more than a handful worth of work.

• So, you thought Alberta’s Ben and Marc were awesome sweepers to watch on TV? You should see them in person.

• Johnny Mo proved you can curl with a broken finger… and be really good at it! Morris received the Brier MVP award.

• Women’s curling closed the gap on men’s curling this year… I think the Scotties’ level of play was better than ever in 2007-08, and perhaps even out-curled the Brier this year. And no, I’m not just saying that because my own team was in it, and won the thing.

• Nova Scotia’s Brian Rafuse was oh-so-close to beating a number of the top teams here this week, and sent a message to everyone that their team will be one to watch at the Canadian Seniors in Prince Albert in a couple of weeks.

• Winnipeg’s Brier was the seventh most attended in history with 165,075 people coming out. Yesterday’s final had 9,223 fans in the stands.

• Happy Freakin’ Birthday to Ben Hebert… that’s one heck of a present!

• It was an awesome sight to see… a very long embrace by curling buddies Marc Kennedy, and Newfoundland and Labrador second Chris Schille. Schille was down at ice level after the ceremonies were over and the ice was being torn apart, and he was obviously very happy for his good friend.

So I wrap this up feeling somewhat sad that the excitement is over, glad that the work is done and, of course, congratulations Team Alberta for a well-deserved Brier championship. And thanks to editor gk for letting me run wild on the TCN Blog!

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]

WINNIPEG – There was a buzz in the building as people filed in for this Brier finale between the top two teams in the world.

Too bad the game was a stinker.

There will be lots of news in tomorrow’s media on exactly what plagued the player’s skills – and confidence – down at ice level at the MTS Centre.

Soft ice? The melted ring marks left by a stone in the house – well before the 10th end, by the way – would indicate that.

Stuff from the ceiling? Specifically, the air vents, or so the speculation went.

All we know is this was the second time in two years of Brier finals that Ontario’s Glenn Howard was surprised by the ice. His team never latched on to the conditions at the start the 2006 final and Jean-Michel Ménard, the eventual champ, jumped out to a big lead.

This time around, the problems also confounded Howard’s opponent, Alberta’s Kevin Martin. But Martin made a few more shots than the Ontarians did, and that proved to be the difference.

There were some Alberta fans here that were body-painted from the waist up and cheering loudly. Alberta lead Ben Hebert’s brother Chris and his buddies were stirring things up here at the MTS Centre. Chris was hoping brother Ben won the big game today so he might get away with not buying his brother a birthday present. The Brier Tankard would be a gift enough for Ben, who celebrated his 25th b-day today!

It was also a final for CBC today… the broadcaster’s final Brier telecast.

What do Mike Harris and Joan McCusker think about that? Turns out, not a lot. They both said they still feel like there is still so much to do this season – the Ford World Women’s in Vernon, the Players’ Championship in St. John’s in April, and they still get to do all the Grand Slam events next year.

So… in the end, a great shot was made by Martin, John Morris, Marc Kennedy and Hebert, with the latter two sweeping Martin’s rock perfectly to the button for the win.

Tune in tomorrow morning for my final thoughts on Brier 2008.

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]

WINNIPEG – After missing a runback, Ontario’s Glenn Howard left a hit for three for Saskatchewan’s Pat Simmons in the 8th end.

The green machine took full advantage of the miss from Howard and stuck for three. The funny thing about the shot was that the crowd here at the MTS Centre yelled at the Saskatchewan sweepers to clean the rock! Obviously they were trying to help prevent any mishaps again today.

So, although they tied it up after eight, in the end, Ontario just couldn’t be beat.

You can’t help but to feel badly for Simmons and his team. Although the boys had a chance to put their game away against Alberta’s Kevin Martin last night, they still had a chance to win if it wasn’t for that pick on the last brick.

Even Howard said after today’s game that “Simmons didn’t deserve to be in that game.”

And so, with Saskatchewan being eliminated here, many people are wondering what might have happened had Sask won the game last night.

It also answers the question of whether or not the team would recover from such a disappointing loss last night. There were moments where the team was quite sharp, but although they made a case for themselves from the 8th end on, they really just weren’t quite as precise as they had been during the week.

Simmons had tears in eyes during the post-game media scrum. He also said he didn’t get much sleep last night, but he and his teammates were really proud of the way they came out to play tonight.

And so Ontario’s Howard will meet Alberta’s Martin in the final, pretty much what everyone predicted coming into this 2008 Brier.

After the game, both skips (photo) said that they expect tomorrow’s finale to come down to the last rock. Both skips agreed that their teams have been 50-50 against each other this year, and that each will have to play their best.

And what a great way for CBC to end 60-odd years of Brier TV coverage… bittersweet, to be sure, but this one is sure to go down in history.

Game on!

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]

WINNIPEG – The family members of Team Ontario are decked out in the pink cheering today. They said they were nervous, but that’s usually a good sign, isn’t it?

There are many fans cheering for Ontario today, but not to be outdone, Saskatchewan fans have travelled to this neighbouring province to cheer on their boys.

It’s midway through Brier Semifinal Saturday and although the game has been close, it looks like Ontario has more control than Saskatchewan.

The big question on the media bench today was whether the green machine would recover from last night’s game, where skip Pat Simmons had an open hit for the win only to have his rock pick something, causing him to flash. Everybody had something to say about it!

Fifth-end break today featured a couple of presentations, with one to the late CBC commentator Don Wittman’s family, which included a video tribute on the big screen. Witt was a Manitoba boy, you see. TCN’s own Doug Maxwell was also honoured, as was original CBC curling voice Don Chevrier.

Don Duguid, former CBC colour commentator and two-time world champion from Winnipeg, was also given special recognition for his years with CBC.

Okay, the players are just filing back out on the ice for the second half of the game… stay tuned!

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]

WINNIPEG – First of all, Savs can relax. No way is editor gk giving up that photo, he says. And I agree. Serious athletes are going for serious peak performances today and tomorrow, and its time for everyone to focus.

Having said that, we just can’t stop talking about the fun stuff!

Emcee Stu Brown has been entertaining fans here all week in the Keith’s Patch, but for the playoff games he has been entertaining fans with his antics in the crowd.

In between the fourth and fifth ends of the 1 vs 2 playoff game, Stu had the in-house camera focusing on couples in the crowd while he commentated. The funniest reaction, by far, occurred when the camera zoomed in on Alberta third John Morris and lead-slash-curling commentator Ben Hebert, who at the time were both at ice level watching the Jumbotron.

Ben proceeded to grab Johnny Mo and show him some love. They pretended to kiss, they hugged and the crowd cheered.

During fifth-end break tonight, the Canadian Curling Association featured an on-ice demonstration from both the Manitoba visually-impaired curling team and the Manitoba Wheelchair curling team (see photo). “The Wheelies” as they call themselves will be competing in the national championships later this month at the West Kildonan Curling Club right here in Winnipeg.

And finally, to the big story. Wasn’t Saskatchewan’s Pat Simmons looking great early on last night, stealing not one, but two deuces from Kevin Martin and Alberta during the 1 vs 2 Page playoff game?

The stunning disaster that followed, culminating in the open hit for the win which picked some debris, left the men in green absolutely shattered, and needing a serious pickup before meeting defending champions Ontario in today’s semi.

More on just how shocking last night’s result was can be found here and here.

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]

WINNIPEG – Here’s a photo I snapped of fun-lovin’ Ontario lead Craig Savill. Tonight he and his defending champs are smiling, as they eliminated red-hot B.C. and skip Bob Ursel 9-7 and are into tomorrow’s Brier semifinal.

Savill might not be smiling so broadly, should he happen to come across this blogpost. Read on – you won’t believe your curling eyes.

The first reveal came from today’s Tankard Times, the “daily blat” produced at the Brier here in the ’Peg.

Our trusty Getting to know feature spotlights the two event favourites this week, Ontario and Alberta.

Ontario third man Richard Hart tells us that “Craig is known to wear women’s underwear.”

And I, Jill Officer, can even confirm this one.

For anyone who was in the Patch at the Continental Cup in Medicine Hat or the Canada Cup in Kamloops, you will also be able to confirm this.

Ontario lead Savill is known for a little something that goes on after hours. Stu Brown, the emcee extraordinaire of the various curling Patch parties, borrows a woman’s bra for Savill to sport while he puts on show… a sexy little dance, to be exact.

Now, Savs might be a little perturbed that not only did his teammate sell him out, but I have now sold him out online. Truth is, I owed him one anyway for yelling out during a Canada Cup presentation this year; Savs asked in front of a hundred people if I still had “pee on my hands” because I had made that comment to some media folk after a doping test after we won the Scotties. Let’s just call it even, huh pal?

Oh. My. Goodness.

I had sent editor gk a sample of this here blog as it was being constructed, and he just messaged (from Finland!) that he actually has a photo of Craig Savill doing his Patch dance… dressed in a women’s undergarment.

No. Freaking. Way.

I have now begged him for this foto, but I have yet to see anything on my screen… or on this here blog, for that matter.

As I’ve mentioned in previous postings this week, Alberta second Marc Kennedy has had an outstanding week shooting above 90 percent in 8 out of the 11 games played thus far. Kennedy has actually set a record for the highest average percentage for a second – ever! His average this week was 93 per cent, and that just nudges out the record held by both Ontario’s Ian Tetley (2001) and Quebec’s Eric Sylvain (2000). No wonder Alberta went undefeated! It’s all about the seconds, you know.

Still no photo from Finland. Will he or won’t he? That is the question!

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]

WINNIPEG – It’s finally official. The Canadian Curling Association announced today that Edmonton will host the 2009 the Tim Hortons Canadian (Olympic) Curling Trials at Rexall Place, December 6-13, 2009 at the 15,000-seat arena.

The CCA also announced that the pre-trials qualifier – the last chance for those teams that haven’t earned a direct Trials berth – will be held in Prince George, British Columbia in November of 2009. The dates have only been tentatively set for this event.

The format for the Trials will be an eight-team round robin with only three teams making the playoff round, unlike the usual four-team page-playoff that you see at all of our national championships. Moreover, the Trials used to feature 10 men’s and women’s teams, but that’s been chopped down to eight.

And for the pre-trials qualifier, it will be a triple-knockout: the A and B winners and C finalists will all qualify for the Trials in Edmonton.

Back to the Brier and the on-ice action!

British Columbia’s Bob Ursel defeated Olympic Gold Medallist and 2007 Brier finalist Brad Gushue of Newfoundland this morning in a tiebreaker. So that sets up our first round of playoffs… they’re in the first end right now, with B.C. taking on Ontario’s Glenn Howard in the 3 vs 4 playoff game. This is also a sudden-death match that could eliminate the defending champs if the Lotuslanders – who are now 8-1 after a poor start to the Brier – have anything to say about it.

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]

WINNIPEG – There must be something about Thursday at the Brier. It’s the last day of the round-robin and everyone seems to come out to play their best… including the teams already out of contention.

Northern Ontario’s Eric Harnden, who has allowed fifth man Brad Jacobs to step in at skip position for the latter half of this week, defeated Saskatchewan’s Pat Simmons in the afternoon, and it’s a good thing Simmons had two chances to clinch a spot in the 1 vs 2 playoff game… for he did just that with a 8-2 drubbing of Manitoba. That killed any home team hopes of making a tiebreaker.

It was a tough week for former world champion Kerry Burtnyk and his young curling team, but the hometown crowd gave the boys a terrific cheer as they left the ice Thursday evening.

In the photo above, you can see that the victorious cornhuskers waited further up the sheet so the Manitobans could take their farewell walk alone. Simmons himself, a little further back from his team, is also applauding.

Nova Scotia stayed tough against the defending champs from Ontario and the Territories kept it close against Kevin Martin and his Alberta squad until the seventh end.

But in the end, things played out as expected, so here’s the confirmed playoff picture:

Newfoundland and B.C. will play in a tiebreaker at 9:00am local time today. You read it right here first, yesterday afternoon, ahead of anybody else (except perhaps the TSN guys).

The winner of that game will play against Ontario in the 3 vs 4 Page playoff game at 2:00pm local time.

And… your feature matchup will be Alberta and Saskatchewan in the 1 vs 2 game on Friday evening, starting at 7:00pm local time.

As I mentioned, Brad Jacobs has stepped in to play for Harnden, but there have been a number of fifth players thrown into the lineups this week…whether for an entire game, a few games, or just a few shots.

Ontario fifth Steve Bice also threw a few bricks, and Alberta alternate Adam Enright did same. So did Mark Butler of Prince Edward Island, Doug Gee of the Territories, Dave Slauenwhite from Nova Scotia and Philippe Menard of Quebec.

Most notably though, after Quebec was out of contention, skip Jean-Michel Ménard switched positions with third man Martin Crete. The former skip – Crete set a record for consecutive appearances as a skip at the Canadian Juniors two years ago – returned to his former haunts and Ménard proceeded to sweep his team’s front-end stones!

Also, in a game that had no bearing on the playoffs, Quebec and Northern Ontario played not one, but two extra ends in the final round-robin draw!

Quebec had last rock in the 11th, but hit and rolled out to go to the 12th. Crete drew to the four foot in the 12th for the win… and perhaps it was better this time that he threw a a draw!

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]

WINNIPEG – No, not the house rings on a sheet of curling ice. We’re talking about the bling on your finger.

I’ll have just a bit to say about Northern Ontario and skip Eric Harnden in the following blogpost, but did you know that Harnden has an official license with the Canadian Curling Association to sell championship competitor rings?

It’s a great concept, which reaches out to any curler who wants a ring to celebrate his or her participation in a Canadian championship. It’s great for curlers who won a lower-profile championship – like the Mixed, Juniors or Seniors – which doesn’t provide rings to the winners, but it’s also great to have something for everyone who has experienced the joy of representing their province, regardless of how they finished in the standings.

This is also cool for curlers from past eras when there were no rings given out to the champions… not to forget anyone from recent ring eras who happened to lose theirs along the cold cashspiel or playdown road. Anyone going to fess up to that?

I didn’t think so!

The official Season of Champions Participant Ring programme offers a couple of varieties and also different gemstones inlaid to the ring, signifying the event (Brier, Scotties etc.).

In addition to the CCA webpage above, you can contact Eric Harnden directly through his website, located here.

Hopefully Eric will have a few emails and phone calls to plow through upon his return to Sault Ste. Marie!

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]

WINNIPEG – It’s been the best draw to watch so far this week at the Brier with four curling teams – one on each sheet this afternoon – fighting for their lives.

• B.C. fighting for their life against N.B…
• NFLD/LAB fighting against P.E.I;
• Saskatchewan fighting (er, OK, not quite for their lives) against Northern Ontario;
• Manitoba fighting against Quebec!

Each game was a one-point match heading into the 10th end with the exception of the Manitoba game, where Quebec conceded after nine.

And so…

• B.C. won, meaning they are guaranteed a tiebreaker;
• Newfoundland won, meaning they are in the same position as B.C…
• Saskatchewan lost, meaning Pat Simmons (photo above) and co. have to win tonight if they really want to be in that all-important Page playoff 1 vs 2 game… it means you get two legs in the playoffs, you know!

So here’s the deal for tonight’s games:

If Manitoba wins, they will be in a three-way tie with the Newfies and B.C. But with Manitoba playing against Saskatchewan, it could mean the difference between the 1 vs 2 game or the 3 vs 4 game for the Green Machine.

And this is what we know:

• Alberta is in the 1 vs 2 game.
• Saskatchewan and Ontario are into the playoffs.
• B.C. and Newfoundland will battle each other in a tiebreaker, and you could add Manitoba to that mix if the Kerry Burtnyk squad can win tonight.

Got your head around this yet? I’m not sure I do… but it’s gonna be a whale of a curling show tonight on Brier Thursday Night!

VN:F [1.7.9_1023]