Welcome to June, everyone.

The Capital One Celebrity Bonspiel in support of SickKids Foundation is getting closer (June 4-5) and the first celebs are due to arrive in town Wednesday night, June 2, when Scottish stars Eve Muirhead and Anna Sloan arrive at the airport.

On that same night, a special Wine Auction in support of the bonspiel and the Mike Weir Foundation will be taking place at Centro in midtown Toronto.

Bonspiel Co-Chair Peter Steski will welcome up to 40 guests for an amazing evening, and there are still a couple of table spots left. Here’s what participants are in for:

• 6:00pm – cocktails/appetizers

• 7:00 – three-course dinner with a main course of beef tenderloin, accompanied by three 95 point-plus Australian shiraz wines: 2003 Dead Arm, 2001 Elderton Command and 2002 Elderton Command (values between $225 and $275 per bottle)

• Wine Auction featuring Penfolds Grange, Solaia, Insignia and Harlan Estate

The evening also offers a $100 charitable tax receipt against the $250 cost. “It’s a great deal,” said Steski. “The minimum value alone is at least $400 a person.”

Wine appraisals are by Ken Lewis of KDL Food and Beverage Consultants Inc.

Anyone interested in Wednesday night’s winefest can contact Steski directly at 647-287-7311. RSVPs are required.

The new faces of curling in "Long Bay, Canada"

As we’ve known since last fall, and first revealed back in February, a new half-hour TV comedy based on the 2002 curling movie Men With Brooms has been brewing.

Yesterday, Canada’s CBC-TV announced their fall show lineup and MWB is one of only two new shows featuring next season.

What’s more, the new edition of Brooms stands a good chance of capturing eyeballs, as it will air Monday nights immediately following the results show of Battle Of The Blades, last season’s runaway hybrid hit of ex-hockey players in figure skates.

Incidentally, Blades is a property of iSport Media and Management, rights-holders to the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event series. But we digress.

There’s all kinds of media today on the new Brooms, such as this brief Q&A with original movie maestro Paul Gross – now executive producer, narrator and occasional cameo guy – and some of the new stars (click on photo to increase size).

The Globe and Mail also kicks in with this piece, from which we quote (with editing for accuracy):

Gross said he had an eerie sense of déjà-vu walking back into the curling rink outside Hamilton, where production took place for the pilot.

“When I first went back into the curling rink, I got this Pavlovian reaction, and I thought, God I’m exhausted … because that’s how I felt making the movie most of the time. I was exhausted,” Gross added.

“But the series has a lovely sort of charm. I thought the pilot was fantastic and the script was really funny. Funnier, actually, than the movie in parts.”

We also like these quotes from producer/writer Paul Mather, from Canadian Press:

“It’s set in the same small town, it’s got the same kind of spirit of the movie but what I keep saying is, it’s a little bit like ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’, ” says Mather.

“We’re not going out of our way to reinvent anything but we’re not matching the art design of the original film. We’re taking some license with that.”

Hmm. We smell a Photoshop contest coming on… captain Jean-Luc Picard gone curling, perhaps?

You can read much, much more from Gross, Mather and others directly from the set of Men With Brooms in our first fall print edition of The Curling News, which will be published in late October.

The Best Ever? Team Norberg in Vancouver

Two Olympic gold medals are enough.

It may not be a shock to many curling followers, but yesterday’s news conference in Sweden still managed to draw gasps of surprise as it marked the official end of the road for one of the greatest women’s curling teams in history.

Team Anette Norberg, twice world champions and also Olympic champions in 2006 and 2010, have called it quits. Eva Lund, Cathrine Lindahl (Norberg’s sister) and Anna Le Moine announced their retirement, and only skip Norberg will soldier on, although possibly in an off-ice role.

The decision came following the return of the athletes to everyday life with their families and careers.

“It takes too much energy to be on top” a teary-eyed Lund told the assembled media in Stockholm. “The energy it takes to stay on top does not seem reasonable to spend right now.”

“It’s been a very difficult decision to make,” said Le Moine, who left the door open for a future return to competition. “Right now it feels like I’ve quit, but it is possible that I can come back in the future.”

Norberg herself will continue with the sport, but she was vague on whether she would be assembling a new team or moving into a coaching role.

“I will continue to work with curling, and helping young talent,” Norberg said. She added that the age gaps in the sport are a concern to her, and the idea is to help assemble a future team which can continue on without her.

Lund and Le Moine also expressed interest in sharing the knowledge they have gained over the years. Among other things, they want to show young women who, in other sports, usually stop competing after their twenties – that it is possible to combine curling with career and family responsibilities.

As The Curling News Twitter feed revealed last week, Swiss rival Mirjam Ott and her team are not retiring, and will continue on, and target a berth at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Ott lost the gold to Norberg four years ago in Turin, and just missed a rematch with the Swedes in Vancouver when she missed her final shot of her Olympic semifinal against Canada’s Cheryl Bernard.

Lund spoke exclusively to The Curling News shortly after Monday’s news conference.

“It was a hard decision, but the right one for me,” Lund said.

“I am very grateful that I have so many favourite curling memories. Of course the two Olympic gold medals, just the fact that it is the Olympics and due to the long, and sometimes tough journey the team had along the way to get there. On top of the podium, I almost can’t believe it.

“The Continental Cup is the most fun of it all. Best teams, best ice, best format to play in. Skins… wow, we like it. And for me personally, playing mixed doubles with Paal Trulsen was so much fun. I admire him for his skills as skip.

“To all my friends from the other teams and the ‘curling family’… I will miss you all. You will always have a special place in my heart.”

Swedish readers can see a news story here, and also view video interviews with Norberg (here), Lund (here) and Le Moine (here).

Be sure to catch the next print edition of The Curling News, scheduled for late October 2010, for an in-depth review of Team Norberg’s decorated career, and their place in the pantheon of world curling and the Olympic movement. Subscribe here.

[Anil Mungal photo is copyright The Curling News 2010]

Hogtown-bound: Ferbey, Jones, Gushue and Howard

April is not only the month for various world curling championships; it’s also the traditional time of year for celebrity charity events.

Some of these events – like the House of Hearts in Duluth, MN – are still growing. Some, like the Spinal Tap, are still new to the celebrity aspect. Others are struggling a bit, and could use a refresh… and sadly, some legendary events – like the Heart to Heart in Thunder Bay – are long gone, if not forgotten.

Now there is a new event coming to metro Toronto, but it’s not slated for next April.

The event, as yet unnamed, takes place in just a month, on June 4-5 and get this: it’s almost full. A week ago there were 18 individual spots remaining, and as of last Thursday that had shrunk to just eight spots.

And all of this without much promotion. Until now, of course.

The list of celebrities is impressive. As the Facebook page indicates, current curling superstars Brad Gushue, Glenn Howard, Randy Ferbey and three-quarters of the NEW Team Jennifer Jones will be there… as well as future stars Rachel Homan, Brad Jacobs and the budding (spudding?) PEI starlets Erin Carmody and Geri-Lynn Ramsay.

And many more, of course. It’s all in support of the world-renowned Hospital for Sick Children, and specifically their SickKids Foundation. And the principals behind this effort are Toronto’s Kevin McCafferty and the Steski brothers, Peter and Jeff.

“We thought it was time for a different kind of celebrity charity curling event, held in June, after the celebs had a chance to decompress from a long season,” said Jeff.

“There’s just one day of four-end curling games. In fact, there is just as much golf and socializing as there is actual curling.”

According to older brother Peter, a former vice-president of the World Curling Players’ Association, there may be additional skip announcements coming soon.

“You nevah know,” said Peter. “It’s a nice mix of talent, but the key is how the market will react. So far we seem to be doing extremely well across the board.”

The curling component takes place at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club, and the opening dinner will be preceded by a junior clinic facilitated by the Capital One Rocks and Rings program.

So… how to get involved in this thing?

You can check out the Facebook page, or go directly to this download link for the Entry Form. You can also send an email enquiry to: sickkidsbonspiel@rogers.com

Whether you are participating or not, please consider downloading this Pledge Form and helping out with fundraising.

More info to come!

[Photo montage by Anil Mungal]

Jones (left) and Overton-Clapham in Korea

If you shut down your computer early last night, preferring to attempt – once again – to engage Season 3 of Lost, then you missed the big news.

Jennifer Jones has shaken up her curling team, again, this time dumping third stone Cathy Overton-Clapham. The official team news release is published here; the Canwest story can be seen here; and Canwest author Al Cameron blogs his thoughts here (internet mouth-breathers: HA!).

Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Sun was the first out of the gate with Overton-Clapham’s thoughts, which you can read here, closely followed by the Free Press, which called up former curling beat writer Paul Wiecek for the job.

So, what’s our view? And whom do we think will be the new third?

One can be both surprised and yet unsurprised by this development. Yes, this is the first time Jones has made such a move as current (three-time) defending Canadian champion, and there’s more than just next year’s STOH national on tap… the squad will also compete in the Canada Cup and Continental Cup competitions.

“Who we gonna get?” “Dunno, but let's keep reading...”

And yet, one wonders how things could have stayed the same. Overton-Clapham is 41 while the others are younger; she has struggled with a chronic knee injury; and the next Olympic Winter Games are four long years away.

Then there’s the uncomfortable reality of recent Team Jones performances. They are a gritty, never-say-die bunch but they can’t be too happy with their world playoff record in recent years. And forget Glenn Howard’s continuing disappointment over losing the men’s Olympic Trials final: how do you think the Jones gang has felt all season, being one of the first women’s teams to be eliminated from Olympic contention in Edmonton?

However, Overton-Clapham – the most decorated curler in Manitoba women’s history – did play like gangbusters at both the Scotties  and the Ford Worlds in Swift Current. She put in magnificent performances.

In the end, all we’re left with is the team’s final event, the Grey Power Players’ Championship in Dawson Creek, which wound up last weekend – yet another thing we need to catch up on here at ye olde TCN Blog.

Team Jones went 2-0 to start their Players’ title defense and then lost 6-2 in six ends to rival Kelly Scott. The came a crushing 9-1 loss to Stefanie Lawton in just three ends, where Jones dropped a three-ender to start the match and then a whopping six-count in the third.

Jones left the ice long before the six-end minimum game requirement, prompting a letter from the World Curling Players’ Association to be hand-delivered to her before her next match (any additional disciplinary action that may have been taken is unknown).

Could it be... Kaitlyn?

The squad then dropped a steal of two to open their C-qualifier against Winnipeg’s Kerri Flett, scored one in the second and then stole a huge three in the third end, en route to an 8-4 win.

Their quarterfinal loss (6-3) to eventual champion – and professional scoreboard manager – Cheryl Bernard proved to be their last game together.

Our view is that something had to happen – fire the coach(es), even? – but the skip-plus-two decided on making a move a third position. So, who will Team Jones welcome into the fold?

Manitoba curling veteran Resby Coutts can see only three (local) replacement candidates. We think he’s missing someone fairly obvious, although to be fair she has been hanging out in Edmonton recently.

We’re talking about Kaitlyn Lawes (WCF photo at left by Andrew Klaver). The 2008 and 2009 Canadian Junior champion skip – who took bronze and then silver at the world juniors – has been playing with veteran Cathy King. With King and Raylene Rocque now retired, Lawes has been quietly looking at team options in both Edmonton and Winnipeg, and is reportedly willing to skip or play third.

First Ferbey and Gushue (yes, another thing we need to comment on) and now this. What an interesting April this has been.

Here’s a quick rundown of Team Jennifer Jones – World Curling Tour only – for the 2009-10 season:

WINNINGS: $55,078
WCT RANKING: 1
GAMES: 59
RECORD: 45-14
EXTRA ENDS: 4W, 5L
ONE-POINT GAMES: 12W, 8L
POINTS FOR/GAME: 8.63
POINTS AGAINST/GAME: 5.82
HAMMER EFFICIENCY: 0.47
STEAL DEFENSE: 0.18
FORCE EFFICIENCY: 0.66
STEAL EFFICIENCY: 0.27

(22-6 won/loss record in CCA/WCF events)

[First two WCF photos by Lee Young Gyu]

Northern lights in faraway Chelyabinsk, Russia

Did you think it was over?

Nope, this wild 2010 Olympic season is not yet done, as there are many stones being thrown in faraway Chelyabinsk, Russia, the site of the combined World Mixed Doubles and World Seniors Championships.

The venue is a mammoth winter sport training facility, the Ural Lightning Ice Palace, and no less than 11 sheets of curling ice (!!) have been created, with an enormous long-track speed skating ring wrapped around them.

Wow.

The photos of the opening ceremonies are, as we have shown you here, quite spectacular. Head to this page for more superb images, and you can click on the ones republished here to increase size.

For the World Curling Federation and the Russian Curling Federation, this is a landmark event as it is the first time that the Russian Federation has hosted a World Curling Championships. It also paves the way to the country organizing the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi in 2014.

The event has been, sadly, kicked around by a few things. First off is the Icelandic volcano. The effects of the Europe-wide airspace freeze prevented some nations from competing in the Mixed Doubles, such as Scotland, Sweden, Norway, and Korea. On the Seniors side of things, Wales, Netherlands, and Estonia are missing and the Netherlands were forced to withdraw as they had only a partial team.

In fact, it sounds like there would have been 14 sheets of ice created (!!) if all teams had been able to make it to Siberia.

The blimp! The blimp!

There is one other team, of note, that failed to arrive in Russia for the Mixed Doubles… and that is Canada’s husband and wife team of Mark Dacey and Heather Smith-Dacey of Halifax.

Their tale is a wild one. According to this Winnipeg Sun story, the couple were sightseeing in London and arrived at Heathrow airport to head to Russia just 90 minutes after the shutdown. D’oh!

“The WCF gave us a deadline of Monday to try and make it there, and they were going to try and re-schedule missed games,” said Smith-Dacey in an e-mail. “That night we watched the news and surfed online for other ways to get from London to Moscow. The train was showing it would take about three days, so we decided not to do that thinking the ash cloud would only interrupt our travels for one or two days max.”

As it turns out, that was another oopsie.

With the airport still closed, they spent two hours on hold with Rail Europe Friday afternoon before going to their office in downtown London.

The girls! The girls!

“When we turned up at their office, it was lined up out the door, down the street, around the corner and down the other street, about 1,000 people in line,” said Smith-Dacey, who noted the line was about the same length at the train station they went to after. “Obviously we were not the only ones trying to get out of London.”

After finding out that Eurostar railway was adding trains leaving from London, the Daceys booked tickets to Brussels (Belgium) since it was on the train route to Moscow. They got there Sunday afternoon, waited two hours to speak to an agent, and by then the train they could have got on to in Cologne (Germany) would have arrived too late to catch the overnight train to Moscow.

“Our final hope was for the airspace to get clearance on Monday and we would attempt to fly from Brussels to Moscow to Chelyabinsk,” Smith-Dacey said. “But Sunday night around 9:00 pm it was announced that the airspace would be closed until at least 7:00 pm Monday night and with that we would not be able to go.”

Incidentally, do you recognize the name of the Sun writer? It’s none other than Sean Grassie, who partnered with Allison Nimik of Calgary last year to represent Canada at the World Mixed Doubles in Cortina, Italy, the site of the recent 2010 World Men’s. Grassie and Nimik won bronze. Hoe about that?

Anyway, back to those battling Daceys and their travel week-plus from hell. An earlier report out of Halifax had the couple travelling by train to Paris in hopes of finding a flight home, with planes booked out of Barcelona and London in hopes that one would work out.

“We’re fine, other than we’d rather be in Russia curling,” Smith-Dacey said Monday.

That is one big arena

Dacey said he hopes the Canadian Curling Association will consider appointing the couple to a future world mixed event. The couple are expected to arrive in Halifax today.

The second thing affecting this event is substandard internet connectivity. Email and phone contact has been a problem, which of course is a problem for the media, but the event website has found a way to update results fairly quickly, via PDF downloads. Sometimes the standings page is updated, too.

As such, we are aware that Canada’s two Seniors teams are into the playoffs with undefeated records, and the Swiss men have also qualified.

In Mixed Doubles, Russia have qualifed for the playoffs with an impressive 6-0 mark, while Russia and China are engaged in a Pacific battle in that group. In the second of three WMD groups Switzerland are undefeated at 2-0, and that’s not too surprising given that the squad of Toni Mueller and Irene Schori are the two-time defending world champions, and in fact have never lost a game at the Worlds. Yeesh.

In the third and final group, all eyes are on Spain as the pint-sized brother and sister combination of  Irantzu Garcia and Sergio Vez are at 3-1 and gunning for a playoff spot.

Only 13 and 15 years of age when they first debuted at the inaugural WMD championship two years ago, they lost last year’s Spanish final to their parents, who managed to, like their children, win a game at last year’s event, garnering a flurry of Spanish media coverage in the process.

Now, The Kids Are Alright in Chelyabinsk, and we wish them good luck the rest of the way.

Jim Armstrong (left) and Darryl Neighbour vs Germany

Jim Armstrong, the six-time Brier competitor who won Paralympic gold for Canada at the recent Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games is facing charges in Seattle, WA on allegations he tried to smuggle thousands of counterfeit erectile dysfunction pills into British Columbia.

A story published late Tuesday in seattlepi details the U.S. federal criminal complaint, in which authorities say customs agents intercepted a package of counterfeit pills meant for of Richmond, B.C. resident Armstrong on April 7. Armstrong was arrested a week later retrieving a package from a Blaine, WA post office box.

Charged with trafficking in counterfeit goods, Armstrong is accused of helping to distribute the Chinese-made pills labeled as Viagra and Cialis.

Writing the court, a Food and Drug Administration special agent based in Seattle said customs officers intercepted a box containing 2,544 tablets of fake Viagra and 260 pills of knockoff Cialis. The package was to be delivered to a private mailbox business in Blaine, located just south of the Canadian border.

The agent noted in court documents that the package had been shipped from Hyyuan, China. The drugs and packaging appeared nearly identical to the genuine article.

“Viagra and Cialis are also some of the most common drugs targeted by counterfeiters,” the agent told the court. “Many, if not most, counterfeited drugs are made in the People’s Republic of China.”

Speaking with staff at the mailbox business, investigators were told Armstrong arrived weekly to pick up boxes shipped to the address. The FDA agent concluded that Armstrong received “a very large number of parcels or boxes arriving… from various foreign countries including China and India.”

Armstrong is a retired dentist, whose debilitating knee injuries forced him to leave his practice, and his accomplished curling career. Over the past three years, he has gone from a wheelchair curling rookie to world champion (2009) and eventual 2010 Paralympic champion.

Speaking with investigators, Armstrong allegedly admitted to bringing multiple shipments of the drugs into Canada. He is alleged to have claimed he provided the drugs to another man, who in turn sold them at clubs in the Vancouver area.

Jailed following his arrest, Armstrong was released after posting bond on $20,000 bail. He is expected to return to U.S. District Court on April 30 for a preliminary hearing.

Ryan Durham is a fundraising chair for the Canadian Spinal Research Organization’s Shoot For A Cure campaign, which aims to raise awareness of wheelchair curling and find a cure for spinal paralysis. Durham’s The Dominion Spinal Tap Charity Mixed Bonspiel has raised over $350,000 over the past 19 years.

“These drugs add a quality of life for people with spinal cord injuries that they otherwise would not have,” said Durham. “Previous treatments for erectile dysfunction were quite dangerous and invasive, and the ability to feel like a normal person, to put it bluntly, cannot be understated.”

“However, it sounds like there may have been an eventual intent to traffic to able-bodied people, in bars and clubs. If that’s true, and he wasn’t duped or something, then I for one would be quite disappointed.”

[CCA photo by John Sims]

New boss Kate Caithness (WCF photo)

by Rodger Schmidt

After having quite a lot to say for most of last week about the World Curling Federation and their activities – I don’t have much to say about it today.

The World of Curling is probably going to be surprised that this organization took out their President in a well-orchestrated fix, but to anyone who has been watching this group operate over the past years what happened on that Wednesday in Cortina was not such a surprise.

It has been clear since the planes landed at the beginning of the competition that enough delegates had managed to get their knives through security. What has been less clear is why this nasty business – that quite frankly should not have been necessary – was, in fact, necessary.

One would think that an organization such as the WCF would require more than just a strong President, but also a strong Executive Committee to function effectively. The only knock on Les Harrison that has come out in discussions (in which I was present) is that he was too close to Canadian interests, and not particularly good at dealing with the IOC. Who really knows, and what this really means, is an unknown… to me, anyway.

Also sketchy in my world is the direction that the new team powered by president Kate Caithness and vice president Patrick Huerlimann intend to steer the good ship WCF, although these quotes here would indicate a new focus on bricks and mortar, ie. actual curling facilities…? A collision course with North America – and particularly Canada – in respect to marketing and the distribution of the next millions is rumored by some, but only time will tell.

My editor points me to the only quotes Harrison has given on the situation, from his home town newspaper in Moncton.

I had her (Caithness) support in December but a couple of months later she decided to run for president. It’s politics … they banded together and it was all about more European control.

More surprising in those WCF happenings was what didn’t happen. Remember all those wacky rule changes that the WCF had been proposing and pitching to their delegates over the past two years? The vote on this hefty list took place and… nothing happened. “Just kidding”, they seemed to say, “it wasn’t really as important as we thought, maybe we didn’t think is all through to the extent that is required. Sorry about all that time we wasted, we’ll try to waste less time next time”.

Of course, that was me editorializing.

Canada's Koe (crouching) vs Norway's Nergard

It was a very special world men’s curling championship in 2010. And in this Olympic year, we found some comparisons to February’s curling Games in Vancouver.

The magnificent mountain town of Cortina d’Ampezzo was the setting, high up in the Italian alps, about a two hour drive (most of it vertical) from Venice. Physical comparisons to another popular ski destination – Vancouver’s twin, Whistler – would prompt endless debate, so we won’t bother with that one.

As our correspondent Rodger Schmidt told us, the opening day of the worlds met with disaster, as a performer fell some 50 feet to the ground, and was hospitalized. As all are well aware by now, the Olympics started off on a terrible note with the death of a Georgian luger.

As in Vancouver, however, Cortina rose above the shaky start and hosted a tremendous event.

Canadian national team coach, Jim Waite, has been accompanying and advising since the early 1990s. In this QMI story by Terry Jones, Waite declares “… this has been 10 out of 10.”

“This one has been terrific. There’s nothing to complain about,” said Waite. “And it’s just gorgeous. It couldn’t get any better than this. We’ve been to the top of two mountains and we were having lunch on one of them when one of the guys said, ‘Where would you rather be? Here or Regina?’ ”

And now to the most obvious comparison.

CAN, incl. Jamie King (left) and Nolan Thiessen (right)

Edmonton’s Kevin Koe won gold in Cortina, after city rival Kevin Martin grabbed his long-awaited gold in Vancouver. Koe lost two games in the round-robin and finished second overall but, as happened in the Brier playoff round, he and his mates excelled when they had to deliver.

Blake MacDonald’s perfect corner-freeze, around a corner-guard in the very first end, set up a 3-0 lead for the Canadians, and they never looked back. It was a magnificent shot from a player who would go on to shoot in the 90s, a dominant performance that was in face equalled by his skipper.

The fact that Norwegian skip Torger Nergard struggled with his weight was almost irrelevant. The match might have been much closer, but no one was going to beat the Canadians that day.

Scotland’s David Smith – the 1991 world champion – stole the bronze medal from Pete Fenson of the United States. It was a good result for the Scots, who played only so-so overall (with the exception of Warwick Smith) and it had to be a disappointment for the Yanks, despite their need of a six-game win streak just to make the playoffs.

There are other comparisons, too. The crowds in Cortina were far less zealous than those in Vancouver – of course! – and they were smaller, too… but not poor, by any means.

“Everybody is quite shocked. It’s quite loud and exciting,” said second man Carter Rycroft.

"Come down mountain, cheer curling. Urgh."

And a few of these fans dared to dress up, with an approach not seen anywhere near Vancouver… or possibly at any Olympic Games, save for fans of Mongolia (WCF photo at left by Urs Raeber).

Canadian fans watching from overseas were treated to an excellent final show from TSN’s venerable broadcast crew of Vic, Ray and Linda. As many are aware, this was Ray Turnbull’s retirement show, and this QMI column from TCN boss gk paints a nice picture.

The game, incidentally, is available for viewing on the TSN website, through Video-On-Demand (VOD). Be sure to indulge, before it disappears from view.

There are three major events left to play, by the way. The World Mixed Doubles and World Seniors are underway this weekend in Chelyabinsk, Russia, and the final Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event, the Grey Power Players’ Championship, starts tonight – yes, tonight – in Dawson Creek, BC, and wraps up on Sunday.

The latter event is available online via CBC.ca – every draw! – with the men’s and women’s playoff draws also appearing on CBC-TV.

[First two WCF photos by Mario Facchini/Newspower.it]

Celebrate an amazing Olympic curling season with us

The April 2010 issue of The Curling News (click cover to view larger) has been out and about for well over a week now, and continues the in-depth look at Vancouver 2010 following the March publication. Plus a whole bunch more.

Did you know that most of our back issues are available for purchase? Simply head to our Issue Archives area, locate the issue you want, and click on “Order Back Issue” at the bottom of each issue description to send us an email with your request.

You can also subscribe here and hey, if you do so in the next couple of weeks and if you send us a note after doing so, you just might find us mailing you those issues as a comp. Now is that a deal, or what?

Just say you read about this deal at The Curling News Blog!

IN THIS ISSUE:

• What A Season: we wrap up the 2009-2010 season, in worlds and pictures

• Vancouver 2010: Curling’s Finest Hours: A remarkable wheelchair curling competition closed the Paralympic Games, and the Vancouver chapter

• The Dominion Club Corner: Playdowns are already underway in advance of Canada’s second recreational championship

• The Curling News TV Guide: Think TV curling is over? There’s lots more on the tube and your computer in the month ahead

• Cortina d’Ampezzo and Dawson Creek: Two huge events cap the month of April, in the Italian alps and the Gateway to Alaska

• The Halifax Brier: Larry Wood was there for one of the greatest championship games in Brier history

• Team Koe and the future: They are supposed to split up. But will Team Kevin Koe stick around and take advantage of all that awaits the Brier champions?

• Czech This Out: Another Canadian visitor gets caught up in Brier curling fever

• Grey Power Players’ Championship: Stellar field of 32 men’s and women’s teams battle for some $270,000 in total prize money

• So Long Senior: Michael Burns Sr. passes away, but his legendary curling imagery will live forever

• So Long Ray: TSN and a grateful nation say farewell to Ray Turnbull, who is leaving the TV airwaves after 25 years

• Start Curling Campaign Hits Peak: Post-Olympic interest booming as curling tries to corner a new market

• World Curling Kerfuffle: Canada and the world are headed for a showdown in Cortina over critical event marketing rights

• TCN Book Sale: You’re still buying, so we’re still selling these two classic titles

• and MORE!

Perhaps curling politicians should try The Pants?

by Rodger Schmidt

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – Before I jump into “more on that later” let me report on the on ice games.

Scotland – Smith and Smith, Warwick and David – moved out front on the standing table with their fourth win while giving China their second loss. Norway kept Japan winless, moving to 3-1 on the chart and similar to Germany (3-1) which handed France their third Ouch.

The most exciting game on the draw was a Swedish comeback against the young Italians: trailing by two on end 10, Sweden’s team – The Family Carlsen – managed to tie, and then steal in an extra-end. It was Sweden’s first win and Italy’s second defeat.

It would have been good for the event had Italy run their start to 3-1, for Italians are good at jumping on a bandwagon, and the event excitement would have jumped up a decibel or two – but alas they are 2-2 now and facing Canada this afternoon.

In off-ice competition at the WCF meetings, discussion opened on future rule changes which will be voted on – and either approved or defeated – on Wednesday. There were no winners or losers yet, just more questions… and few answers.

There are some big issues on the docket, such as extra-ends, choosing 8 or 10 ends, and the fate of tiebreakers. Measured purely by discussions, it would seem that extras will stay, 10 ends will stay, and tiebreakers will take the bullet – even though hardly anyone agrees that there is an adequate, fair or workable alternative once the burial is completed. However, there were a lot of delegates who will vote who did not speak – thus giving no indication of whether today’s discussion will in fact resemble the vote.

And then there is the biggest enemy of us all – time. All agree that game times should be shortened, so what is the problem, you may ask? Well, the problem may be that in the sweeping path of shortening the time the WCF advisors and communicators seem to be using this leverage to wipe out other elements of the game that don’t necessarily need to add time to the game… such as elements that relate to technology, communication and even coaching. But… “more on that later.”

Further to time and the timing of games: for a few years now it seemed that measuring “thinking time” and not “playing time” was a logical, and easy, change to implement. Well, not anymore. The WCF declared today that the timing of games is just perfect the way it is, and they see no reason to change.

In fact the change, they proclaim, is too difficult to administer, albeit without going into any significant reasons… and also without  acknowledging that the Grand Slams have been doing this for some time now, and with no great difficulty as far as I am aware, and with full buy-in from the athletes

Definitely “more on this later.”

On a side note, the Italians are working tirelessly and are hosting this event in grand fashion. Not an easy task in such a small community, and in such a small curling nation. So, when is the World Curling Federation finally going to acknowledge the contribution, made over decades, by the big chief of Italian Curling, Franco Zumofen?

I don’t have enough blogspace to list all he has done for not just Italian curling, but for World and European curling as well. Suffice to point out that there would be no World University Games without his astuteness and diligence (he pioneered and hosted two events in Italy), the Torino Olympics, the World Juniors, European Championships of all sorts and on and on.

Every year the WCF seems to find someone to give an award to, and I mean no disrespect to the recipients, but most of them have not delivered to curling what Franco has. Not even close. This should have been done years ago. So do it now while he is still alive to receive it himself.

Hopefully, no more is required on this later.

[WCF photo by Urs Raeber]

Italy: remember the glasses?

by Rodger Schmidt

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – We are midway into Day 2 of competition  in Cortina, where this morning saw only two games on ice. Both were not very competitive, however, as Norway smashed France and Scotland bashed Sweden. That does not, however, dim the competitiveness of this competition.

The World Curling Federation and their delegates are conducting their own off-ice Olympics at the splendid Savoia Hotel and the events that they have put on the program are, frankly, pretty intense. One would think that this collection of international curling representatives would sit down and discuss issues pertinent to our games operation and administration in a calm and studious environmentm and come to some logical common contentions – and that would be pretty much that.

But no! No, it seems, because the stakes – and the lust for power – have become too appetizing to resist.

You see, once the games on ice begin, so do the games behind the scenes, which pit one international coalition against some other international coalition. While the games begin at 09:00, 14:00 and 19:00, there is another schedule, with a lot of other agendas, going on in meetings at 09:00 and 14:00… followed by an evening of lobbying and strategizing that is the World Curling Federation Annual Meetings. A kind of sport called WCFAM.

These meetings have been conducted for decades and until now they have not attracted this much international intrigue and mystery. So what has changed?

Curling has changed, as a sport, actually. Twenty years ago this game was virtually bankrupt and was played seriously in only a handful of countries. Fast forward to today, and you have a large contingent of nations aware of, and eager to bite into, the anticipated USD $15 million that will soon come to the WCF as a result of the Vancouver Olympics.

You see, some of the delegates have finally tuned in to the fact that every four years the WCF takes in an increasing amount of millions and then blows it all out over the next three… and some feel that they have not yet partaken in their share of the cake. Some may even wonder where that money has gone, and don’t feel that the trail is as visible as they would like. They don’t see the bricks and mortar.

As a result of all of this, curling finds itself in a unique and unprecedented situation amongst its political representatives. Confusion reigns on a lot of levels and within a vast number of executive disciplines.

But more on that later. This afternoon, on the ice, the young Italy squad skipped by Joel Retornaz – remember the eyeglasses of Turin 2006? – gave Germany their first defeat, leaving both teams at 2-1. Canada sits 2-0, equal with Scotland, after thrashing Denmark, while China won the battle of the Pacific over Japan and the USA got win number one by handing Switzerland loss number two.

[WCF photo by Urs Raeber]

And they're off!

Readers of the print edition of The Curling News are familiar with the musings of Rodger Schmidt, our European columnist. As a man of all things curling throughout his life – as a competitor (including World Men’s finalist in 1987), coach and consultant (including Italy, Austria and most recently the U.S.) – the Canadian-born Schmidt knows of what he speaks. And now he is in Italy, at the 2010 Capital One World Men’s Championship.

by Rodger Schmidt

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – It took a little time to change the mood here in Cortina following the near fatal fall of a professional rock climber who challenged the enormous roof of this 1956 Olympic Stadium.

Stefano Dimai, the president of the local climbing club, was carrying the ceremonial opening curling stone that was going to be thrown by longtime curling builder and Cortina Hoteliere Ivo Lorenzi. Ivo, whom I know well – and he is one of the classiest, kindest men in Italy – is in his eighties and was quite excited to be throwing the opening stone. He had even been practicing!

Two other climbers had come down their ropes – from up in the arena rafters –  to deliver the two brushes to be used by the ceremonial first-stone sweepers. They landed successfully with their much lighter loads and were all were waiting for the man with the rock in his backpack to deliver. But horribly, Stefano made a tragic error in his rope adjustment and when the rope released, he fell some 20 metres and landed on the stone – and on the carpet – just behind the ice surface.

There were gasps, and stunned silence, for the singer had stopped singing. The announcement came within minutes – which seemed like hours – that the opening ceremony would be terminated. The curling world, here at these Worlds, was praying for the life of this 32-year-old, and all were relieved to learn, some hours later, that he was alive and would survive… albeit with two broken hips. Everyone is extremely grateful that the injuries, though severe enough, will heal.

So far there has been no news of Stefano taking up curling once he recovered, and learning to deliver stones in a more conventional manner.  This is surely one for the curling history books, and a record achieved with a curling stone that no one will, or should ever, attempt to duplicate. Stefano will  forever hold the record for the high hard one, and everyone here wishes him a speedy recovery,  as painless as possible.

Two rounds have been played on ice and the atmosphere in this building was quite boisterous, as the Cortina fans did their best to duplicate that metal foot-stomping music that was used so loudly in Vancouver.

For the record, hosts Italy scored the first point of this championship – a single point on end one – as all the other games were blanked in the opening frame. I suppose it will much more interesting – and important – to see which team will score the last point of this event.

Scotland has enlisted David Murdoch as their fifth player, and entrusted him with late-night stone-testing duties. He is a professional curler by vocation, so hopefully he can handle the job. He is probably the most accomplished stone tester on the ice as I write this.

Three teams are here, mostly intact from the Vancouver Olympic Games. Norway are one of the three, and a favourite for gold, but they are not intact due to the forced turn-around at the Venice airport of their skip, Thomas Ulsrud (due to family ilness). The Norwegians just as quickly flew in Thomas Loevold – while Ulsrud was skyward in the opposite direction – and now the talented Loevold has finally moved up from stone tester to actual competitor in a Championship. He has been waiting in the shadows of Ulsrud and Pal Trulsen for some time, so this could be a golden moment for him, one way or another.

Germany and Denmark, both teams intact from Vancouver, have in one day won almost as many games as they did over two weeks in Vancouver, and more importantly are both undefeated after day one.

[WCF photo by Urs Raeber]

And on the ninth day, Coach Rainer rested. Zzzzzz.

SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. – Oh Andrea. What are we to do about you?

The CCA/Michael Burns photo at left shows all the medallists who made the 2010 Ford World Curling Championship such a smashing success (click image to increase size). In summary:

• Canada’s Jennifer Jones fought off more playoff disappointment to reach out and grab the bronze medal which eluded her last year, and had some choice words for the media along the way (video here). As one Winnipeg Free Press headline writer noted, JJ wants some R-E-S-P-E-C-T, people.

• Scotland’s Lady Eve Muirhead is more than the curling “it” girl right now: she’s a talented shooter and leader, and will no doubt have her choice of domestic (non-Olympic) teammates for many years to come. One only hopes she doesn’t get too distracted by golf – another sport in which she excels – and chooses to continue testing her curling skills at the highest level.

• There were non-podium stars, too. Latvia made their first appearance, won their first game, and inspired the TSN TV guys to build a wonderful video highlight. Norway’s Linn Githmark wore more crazy pants, shook her thang and captured hearts, as this local blat clearly states. The Swedish girls, who finished fourth, look like an exciting young generation that is basically right here, right now.

And now for the new champions, Germany, and their skip.

Norway's Linn Githmark (NOT Schoepp!)

Andrea Schoepp has had quite the curling season, winning European and now World gold like she did some 22 years ago, back when she was new to the scene and did a fine job of shaking up the staid, reserved world of women’s curling.

Canada’s Marilyn Darte (Bodogh) had first shaken things up a couple of years earlier, in 1986, but she and her gang of gorgeous, kilted ice maidens would soon be ousted in the determination department by this young German.

And she hasn’t changed much. Schoepp glowers. She glares. She growls. She stomps and berates. Her sweeping calls sound like a bobcat meeting a buzz saw.

She’s been kicked out of curling, by her own national federation (for disobedience, as we recall) and had to miss the 2002 Olympics and worlds. After a couple of years away she then returned, declaring her love for the sport and her new attitude, which focuses on fun.

Well.

It was definitely Angry Andrea, the fiery competitor, who showed up in Swift Current after going 3-6 at the Olympics… which, by the way, is an event she would rather not compete in at all. As we noted in the supercharged post-Olympic March issue of The Curling News, Schoepp gave an interview to Germany’s ZDF before Vancouver 2010 that had many shaking their heads. In this rough translation, she said things like:

I wouldn’t mind if all this crap were cancelled… The Olympics are just annoying… I feel zero excitement.

Scotland's Lady Eve (STILL not Schoepp!)

As TV viewers couldn’t help but notice, Schoepp exploded at her team, which features 17-year-old Stella Heiss, rotating lead Corinne Scholz, Canadian-born Melanie Robillard and, of course, “Moni”, the long-suffering Monika Wagner who has been with her skipper through some 17 years of Schoeppdom. The eruption took place after the skip’s last shot of the game, which unfortunately settled into an auto-freeze position, basically turning a guaranteed stolen victory into a combination-runback for Scotland to score one, and force an extra end.

Schoepp continued berating her team until coach and brother Rainer Schoepp – who teamed with his sister and Robillard to win European Mixed gold two years ago – came out and calmed her down. Schoepp reportedly apologized to her teammates, and did so again after throwing her winning shot some 20 minutes later. In fact, Schoepp apologized repeatedly amid the victory hugs.

Schoepp is an enigma. It’s easy to see how it would be a challenge to compete with her, just as much as to compete against her. But Schoepp is also funny and witty. She has a great smile, although she doesn’t share it on the ice. She gives great media quotes about an apparent love/hate relationship with her sport, expressing exasperation that she needs to go out and recruit young girls to try curling and then mould them – almost immediately – into teammates for world play.

Here’s another media zinger from this past week, which was hinted at in that ZDF story above:

I wasn’t looking forward to the Olympics, but the whole season I was looking forward to this event. I know I’m not normal and maybe a little bit crazy and different, but that’s the way I’m feeling.

This event you play just for you. You are the main sport, you are the people where everything is all about (you). The Olympics, as a curler, you are kind of in the background.

However, her 10th end meltdown was enough to send Canadian curling fans into a tizzy, as the Comments section below this online story indicates.

Here she is, Andrea Schoepp. Golden again!

Schoepp definitely struck gold this season, in terms of her teammates. Heiss doesn’t have much experience, but is well-trained in what her skip expects from lead stone. She ranked dead last for leads dueing the round robin, but stepped it up for the playoffs. The addition of Scholz this season was a great move, as she is a priceless curling gem in Germany: a hard-working curling talent who attended WCF camps for years, on her own, in order to improve her game. Schoepp didn’t recruit her: curling did.

The real key was Robillard. The Canadian who actually lives in Belgium and is now reportedly moving to Spain first replaced Wagner at third stone near the tail end of last year’s worlds in Korea… and the results have been spectacular. Wagner’s game as a third had fallen off in recent years, and she replied to the change with stellar play at her new front-end position. Robillard simply offers more to Schoepp as a third shooter, and then sweeps skip stones.

It was a strange final. After playing so well to convincingly beat Canada earlier in the playoffs, both Schoepp and Muirhead – and their teammates – struggled. In the end, the winning skip fired a 67 per cent shooting average, compared to the loser’s 77 per cent.

So many questions. If Schoepp were  male, would people be so quick to judge her temper, her judgement, her intensity? Hey, we’re just asking.

Here’s a quick quote from Robillard, after the victory: “She (Schoepp) is becoming a legend. She’s never going to give up. I have a lot of respect for her.”

So. Andrea… what about you, who seems to rub so many people the wrong way? What are we to do about you?

Today, we can all agree on one word: congratulations!

[All Canadian Curling Association photos by Michael Burns. Click on images to increase size]

by Teri Lake

HALIFAX – The 50/50 frenzy has hit the Halifax Metro Centre.

This year’s Brier is taking 50/50 draws to new heights. Each draw has featured the classic curling prize lottery using a new electronic system developed by 50/50 Central, a company based in Summerside, P.E.I.

50/50 Central technology shot to stardom at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship held in Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan.

Organizers there had to beef up both the number of fixed sales locations and handheld devices mid-event because they just couldn’t meet the purchase demand – not to mention the ATMs were perpetually empty.

The 50/50 frenzy culminated in the Canada vs. US final game, which awarded $149,700 to one Saskatoon-based fan!

Here at the Brier we haven’t seen pots that crazy… yet. But here’s how easy it is to get caught up in the fun. What makes the electronic system so unique is that fans can see the running total, up to the second (!), of the 50/50 pool on the arena’s big screen and in the Keith’s Patch. As soon as someone buys a ticket, you can literally see the numbers go up… and up… and up!

Tom Brockway from Bedford, NS (photo) took home $18,075 – his half of the cash collected during Friday night’s 1 vs. 2 game featuring Ontario’s Glenn Howard and Northern O’s Brad Jacobs. This was a record prize awarded at the Metro Centre and beat out the previous top spot held since the venue hosted IIHF World Juniors in 2003.

There isn’t any data available yet on how the big picture looks for comparing this Brier’s 50/50 earnings to previous years, but Ken Myers of the host committee confirmed that the opening draw “more than doubled” the same draw of our ’03 Brier.

And this isn’t just good news for fans – it’s great for the curling community too. Any net profits will be used for the development of curling with the majority of these funds staying within the province of Nova Scotia.

There you have it. The 50/50 is a win/win. So keep buying, Halifax… your next-to-last chance is right now, as we get ready for the Brier semi: ALTA vs NONT.