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Curler Jerry Muzika among PEI Sports Hall of Fame Inductees
Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 by derekm

Jerry Muzika of Charlottetown is among four upcoming inductees into the PEI Sports Hall of Fame.

Charlottetown’s Jerry Muzika has had a distinguished career in curling, one which has seen him become a member of the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame, to which he was inducted in 1989 in the builder category.

A fine player in his own right, Jerry had three trips to nationals, including a trip to the Brier with Bob Dillon in 1974, and two Senior Championships in 1990 and 1993. It was as an administrator however that he has made the most contribution - starting with positions at the Charlottetown Curling Club, he worked his way up to become provincial president, before taking on important roles with the national body.

From 1982 to 1988 Jerry held most of the key positions in Canadian curling, including that of President from 1986/87. He also served on many organizing committees on major events, and in addition he has played an important role with the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame and Museum, serving three terms as president.

Muzika’s passion for the history of the sport has seen him chronicle the story of curling in the province, and he achieved his ambition of setting up the P.E.I Curling Hall of Fame, with the first inductions taking place in 2007.

A life member of both the Charlottetown Club and the Canadian Curling Association, Muzika received one of the sport’s highest honours in 2003 when he was inducted into the Governor General’s Curling Club, recognizing those who have contributed to the growth and promotion of curling in Canada and elsewhere.

The induction ceremony is scheduled for the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside on Sept. 20. beginning at 7 pm. Tickets at $10 each are available from both the Silver Fox in Summerside, and Sport P.E.I. in Charlottetown (phone 368-4547).

Other inductees will include legendary Mi'kmaq distance runner John Paul, who raced for almost three decades, hockey builder and coach John (Jake) Milford, the only Island born member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, and Earl Ross, the only Canadian to win a NASCAR Winston Cup race.

CurlTV ready to roll for season 4. Events include Sobeys Slam
Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008 by derekm

CurlTV are in the process of planning their schedule for the year. Here is a sneak peek:
Our journey will begin at the world renowned Saville Sports Centre in Edmonton, Alberta for the Boston Pizza Shootout that will start September 18th and finish on the 29th.
Later on in October, our top notch road crew will be broadcasting live from the Cactus Pheasant Classic in Brooks, AB which was named the Men's Event of the Year last year at the 2007-08 World Curling Tour Players' Awards Banquet.
We will also have women's grand slam action live this November from last year's Women's Event of the Year; The Sobeys Slam in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.
CurlTV.com is also pleased to announce our NEW MEMBERSHIP RATES for the upcoming season that will provide you with exclusive curling coverage from over 150 games at 20+ planned events. Our Annual Membership is $59.95 CDN and Trial Membership (2 months) is $32.95 CDN. Not a member? Click here to sign up now!
CurlTV.com's Broadcast schedule
September 18-21 - Boston Pizza Shootout - Edmonton, AB
September 26-29 - CUETS Schmirler Curling Classic - Regina, SK
October 10-13 - Trail Appliances Curling Classic - Calgary, AB
October 24-27 - Flint Energy Curling Classic - Bonnyville, AB
October 30 - November 2 - Cactus Pheasant Classic - Brooks, AB
November 27-30 - Sobeys Slam - New Glasgow, NS
December 11-15 - Canada Cup Qualifier - Edmonton, AB
- Schedule is subject to change without notice
- Schedule will be updated shortly as more events are added to the lineup

2011 Canada Games Selection Process
Posted Thursday, September 11, 2008 by derekm

The 2011 Canada Winter Games will be held in Halifax NS Feb. 11-17, 2011. Curlers born after January 1, 1993 and prior to December 31, 1998 are eligible to try out for the Games.

Identification camps will be held in Summerside on October 13, 2008 and Charlottetown on December 21, 2008. The cost is $10 per curler and the camps are open to all Canada Games age-eligible curlers.

There will be an open competition in Cornwall on March 22, 2009 for all age-eligible Canada Games teams.

In November 2009, an open "Qualifier" competition will be held to determine 8 Qualifiers; 4 mens and 4 womens teams.
These 8 Qualifiers will compete in the Final Selection Trial in December 2009. The winners of the mens and womens Trials will represent PEI at the Canada Games in 2011.

The 2010-11 curling season will be the training and rehearsal year for the two teams representing PEI.

COACHES NOTE: Coaches of teams playing in the Qualifier (Nov. 2009) and the Final Selection Trial (Dec. 2009) must have completed their Level 2 Certification.
Coaches of the winning teams from the Final Selection Trial must complete their Level 3 certification by three months prior to the start of the Games.
Selection Committee members are Nancy Yeo, Marilyn Sutherland and Don Vickerson.

Brett Gallant sweeps up Canada Games grant
Posted Tuesday, September 9, 2008 by derekm

Annual Junior Cashspiel set for Cornwall
Posted Wednesday, August 20, 2008 by derekm

The annual Pizza Delight/Subway/Howard Johnson Dutch Inn Junior Men's and Women's Curling Cashspiel takes place November 21-23 at the Cornwall Curling Club. Defending champions are Erin Carmody and Brett Gallant of PEI. Entry fee is $150 per team.

Entry deadline is Oct. 31. Mail entry and fee to BRENDA MACMILLAN, P.O. BOX 191, CORNWALL, P.E.I. COA 1HO.

Curl Atlantic and the PEI Curling Association are holding a Junior High Performance Curling Camp on Oct. 4 and 5, for competitive junior teams (primarily ages 20 and under, and 17 and under). The camp will be held at the Charlottetown Curling Club. Cost is $250 per team and entry is limited to the first 10 paid teams, with entry deadline of Sept. 24.

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada, August 2008 – The Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company (The Dominion) is taking Canadian curling to another level with the launch of a national curling event, “The Dominion Curling Club Championship”, set to benefit Canadian club curlers and charities.

“The Dominion Curling Club Championship, funded by The Dominion, will be an annual event for men’s and women’s curling teams who have won their respective local club championships,” says Leigh Armstrong of The Dominion. “The Championship provides the first ever opportunity for winning club teams to represent their club at the zone, provincial or territory level, and ultimately offers them the opportunity to rank nationally. Teams from all 10 provinces and 3 territories, plus a separate entry for Northern Ontario, will compete at the National Championships.” The premier event will bring this season’s club champs together to compete at St. George’s Golf and Country Club, Etobicoke, Ontario in late November of 2009. The national championship will move to other clubs across Canada in future years.

“The Dominion is a proud supporter of Canadian curling and of Canadian athletes,” states George Cooke, President and CEO of The Dominion. “We look forward to working with curlers and curling organizations across Canada.” “This is a fantastic opportunity for all Canadian curlers,” adds Greg Stremlaw, CEO of the Canadian Curling Association, “a unique partnering of sport and business that supports charity and strengthens local communities across the country; it is a winning situation for everyone.”

Any profit generated from The Dominion Curling Club Championship will be directed to charities including the Canadian Paraplegic Association (CPA), as well as developmental curling initiatives in communities across Canada. “Having The Dominion as CPA’s first National Sponsor means that we are always involved in unique opportunities like this championship,” adds Bill Adair, Executive Director, CPA Ontario. “We thank The Dominion for their vision, leadership and continued commitment.”

About The Dominion

Canadian owned and operated, The Dominion has been insuring the cars, homes and businesses of Canadians since 1887. Today, The Dominion is one of the country’s largest property and casualty insurers, distributing its insurance products solely through independent insurance brokers. The Dominion’s priority is earning and maintaining the trust and loyalty of policyholders, employees and business partners. Visit www.thedominion.ca.

About The Dominion and Curling

Along with being the official insurer of the Canadian Curling Association, the CCA Season of Champions events and Ontario Curling Association, The Dominion is the title sponsor of over a dozen curling championships and fundraisers including the Northern Ontario Men’s Provincials, Ontario Senior Men’s and Women’s Provincials and a bonspiel which has raised more than $800,000 in the last 7 years, with 100% of proceeds going to the CPA. The Dominion recently committed to the title sponsorship of the Toronto Curling Association Junior Bonspiel (TCA).

Sobeys Slam entries reveal new Gaudet lineup
Posted Friday, August 1, 2008 by derekm

Reigning PEI women's champion Suzanne Gaudet, recently married to Trevor Birt, will be bringing a new team into the 2008-2009 season. Gone are Robyn MacPhee and Carol Webb, with veterans Shelly Bradley joining the rink at third, and Leslie MacDougall playing second. Stefanie Clark remains on the team in the lead position.

Gaudet's new team is entered in the Sobeys Slam, November 27-30 in New Glasgow NS. Other entries in this star-studded event include Jennifer Jones, Shannon Kleibrink, Kelly Scott, Stefanie Lawton, Sherry Middaugh, Cheryl Bernard, Cathy King, Mary Anne Arsenault, two US teams, and the silver medallists in last year`s World championship, Team China (Bingyu Wang), Event website: www.sobeysslam.ca/

Curler Jerry Muzika among PEI Sports Hall of Fame Inductees
Posted Thursday, July 31, 2008 by derekm

Canadian Curling Hall of Fame member and former Canadian Curling Association President Jerry Muzika of Charlottetown is among four upcoming inductees into the PEI Sports Hall of Fame.

The induction ceremony is scheduled for the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside on Sept. 20. Tickets will be available shortly from both the Hall of Fame in Summerside, and Sport P.E.I. in Charlottetown.

Coaching Conference introduces new award and sponsor
Posted Thursday, July 24, 2008 by derekm

The 2008 Atlantic Curling Coaching Conference, set for August 8-10 at the Mayflower Curling Club in Halifax, welcomes the Investors Group as its new sponsor. Part of this sponsorship is the awarding of the "Investors Group Volunteer Sport Administrator Award", which will recognize the contribution to community sport programs made by a dedicated volunteer who demonstrates outstanding commitment and service in an administrative capacity for a club, organization, or event, resulting in a strong impact on the community for coaches and athletes. The coaching conference organizing committee will select the award recipient. The 2008 Atlantic Coaching Conference Organizing Committee is comprised of Jean Blackie - Chair, Helen Radford - Technical Advisor, Leslie Ann Walsh - Volunteer Coordinator and Karen Ouellette - Staff Liaison.

Nominators must provide the following information:

- name, address and phone number of the nominee and the nominator
- the history of service to community sport programs reflecting the commitment and service of the nominee
- list of other awards or recognition received
- description of any outstanding qualities or contributions that the nominator feels would be of interest to the selection committee.

The presentation to the award recipient will be made at the 2008 Atlantic Coaching Conference. The recipient will automatically become eligible for the Investors Group National Volunteer Sport Administrator Award, which is presented at the annual Sport Leadership Awards Dinner.

All nominations are due by 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 31, 2008. Nominations can be emailed to karen@curlatlantic or fax to the Curl Atlantic office at (902) 864-3187. Entry deadline for the conference itself has been extended to August 1st.

John Likely foursome looking to defend at Hub City Shootout
Posted Tuesday, July 15, 2008 by derekm

The 2nd Annual Hub City Shootout takes place at the Beaver Curling Club in Moncton from November 20-23, 2008. Charlottetown's John Likely rink are defending champs, and are already entered for this year's event. Likely's team includes Phil Gorveatt, Mark Butler, and Mike Dillon. Also in the entry stack for this year is the PEI team of Kevin Champion, Andrew Robinson, Mark O'Rourke, Rod MacDonald, and Peter MacDonald. For complete info, visit the event website at:

curling.monctonut.com/

World and Olympic champions headline 2008 Continental Cup
Posted Tuesday, July 15, 2008 by derekm

CAMROSE, ALBERTA…The rosters for the 2008 Continental Cup of Curling, presented by Monsanto, are now confirmed.

Now in its sixth edition, the Continental Cup, featuring Team World (formerly Team Europe) versus Team North America, will be staged December 18-21 at the 2,300-seat EnCana Arena in the Edgeworth Centre in Camrose, Alberta. Among the skips slated to compete are the reigning world champions, Canada’s Kevin Martin and Jennifer Jones, and 2006 Olympic gold medallist Anette Norberg of Sweden.

North America holds a 3-2 edge over the ‘World’, after winning last year’s Continental Cup in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The unique event, patterned somewhat after golf’s Ryder Cup, will offer a purse of $88,400, with each member of the winning team receiving $2,000, while each losing team member gets $1,400.

Team North America consists of four teams from Canada and two teams from the United States. The Canadian contingent comprises teams skipped by Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, Stefanie Lawton of Saskatoon, Edmonton’s Kevin Martin and Kevin Koe. The American teams will be skipped by current national champions Debbie McCormick and Craig Brown of Madison, Wisconsin.

Jones and Martin earned Cup berths by winning the 2008 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Regina and 2008 Tim Hortons Brier in Winnipeg, respectively. Both then went on to claim world titles, as Jones captured the Ford world women’s in Vernon, British Columbia, while Martin took the world men’s crown in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Jones, a two-time Canadian champion, was a member of the winning North America side at the 2007 Cup, while Martin, a three-time Brier winner and 2002 Olympic silver medallist, played in the inaugural Continental Cup in Regina in 2002, when North America scored a dramatic, last rock victory over the World in the final men’s skins game between Martin and Sweden’s Peja Lindholm.

Lawton and Koe earned their first Continental Cup berths by winning the 2008 Strauss Canada Cup in Kamloops, British Columbia.

McCormick, the 2003 world champion, will be making her fourth Cup appearance for North America, after competing in 2003, 2006 and 2007, while Brown will be playing in his first Cup.

Russ Howard, the 2006 Olympic gold medallist and two-time (1987, 1993) world champion, will be the captain for North America while Jim Waite will be the coach.
Team World is headlined by reigning Le Gruyère European champions Anette Norberg of Sweden and David Murdoch of Scotland.

In addition to her Olympic gold medal in Turin (Pinerolo), Italy, Norberg won back-to-back world titles in 2005 and 2006. She’s also competed in three previous Cups, winning in 2003 in Thunder Bay, Ontario and 2006 in Chilliwack, British Columbia. Murdoch, who won the 2006 world men’s title in Lowell, Massachusetts and was runner-up in 2005 and 2008, will also be making his fourth Cup appearance, winning in 2006.

Coming on the heels of remarkable international success in 2008, two teams from China will join Team World….skipped by Bingyu Wang, who earned a silver medal at the Ford world women’s and Fengchun Wang, who finished fourth at the 2008 world men’s, while making his country’s debut in the championship.

The other World skips are Switzerland’s 2002 and 2006 Olympic silver medallist and 2008 world bronze medallist Mirjam Ott, who was also a member of Team Europe when winning the 2006 Continental Cup, and Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud, bronze medallist at the 2006 and 2008 world men’s and runner-up to Murdoch at the 2007 European championship.

The coach will be Sweden’s three-time (1997, 2001, 2004) world champion Peja Lindholm, while 2002 Olympic gold medallist Pål Trulsen of Norway will be the World captain. Lindholm played in the first three Cups, winning in 2003, while Trulsen also participated in three Cups, winning in 2003 and 2006.

The Continental Cup is a four-day competition involving Team games (72 points), Mixed Doubles (36 points), Singles (32 points) and Skins (Men’s, Women’s and Mixed, worth a total of 260 points). The first side to score 201 points is declared the winner.

In 2002, Team North America edged Team World at the inaugural Continental Cup in Regina, Saskatchewan, 207-193, but Europe evened the score in 2003, winning 208-179 in Thunder Bay. In 2004, North America recaptured the title with a 228-172 tally in Medicine Hat, before a record four-day crowd of 42,317.

In 2006 in Chilliwack, Europe emerged victorious, 229-171, as all of the curling medallists from the 2006 Olympic Winter Games participated. Last year in Medicine Hat, North America wound up with a 290-110 advantage, clinching the competition, for the first time ever, on Saturday night, before the women’s and men’s final Skins games were played on Sunday.

This year, TSN will provide extensive national coverage (28 hours) of the competition, similar to what The Sports Network did for the first three Continental Cups from 2002-2004.

The Continental Divide, the event’s entertainment centre, will be located in the adjacent Border Paving Arena.

The world’s best curlers have competed in the Continental Cup. In addition to this year’s line-up, previous participants include teams skipped by Canada’s Brad Gushue, Randy Ferbey, Glenn Howard, Kelly Scott, Kelley Law and Colleen Jones, Norway’s Dordi Nordby, Sweden’s Elisabet Gustafson, Scotland’s Rhona Martin, Jackie Lockhart and Hammy McMillan, Germany’s Andrea Schöpp and Andy Kapp and Finland’s Markku Uusipaavalniemi.

Full event passes (includes all draws) are on sale through Ticketmaster (780-451-8000 or Ticketmaster.ca). For more event information, visit Seasonofchampions.ca.

The Continental Cup is a joint venture of the Canadian Curling Association, the United States Curling Association and the World Curling Federation.

PEI Curling Life Memberships given out at ADL Awards (version with picture)
Posted Friday, June 13, 2008 by derekm

Photo L-R: Ray McCourt - President PEICA, Brenda MacMIllan, Wendy Reid - President, Sport PEI, Kaye MacFadyen, Barbara Currie, Dave Murphy - PEICA Past President and Master of Ceremonies

Barb began her volunteer work in the curling community in 1974 serving as the secretary of the Summerside Curling Club Ladies Branch and continued in that capacity until 1977. She became President of the Summerside Curling Club Ladies Branch for the 1977-78 season and the following year she co-chaired the games committee.

Barb was the Curl Canada Coordinator for the PEI Ladies Curling Association from 1987 to 1990. After the Ladies’ and Men’s Curling Associations amalgamated in 1990, she became the PEI Technical Director of the Prince Edward Island Curling Association. She held this position for seven years. During this time she also served as the Summerside Curling Club delegate to the PEI Curling Association in 1991-92 and 1993-94.

During the 1987 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, Barb was an on-ice official, a statistician at the Karcher Canadian Juniors Championship in 2002, and an on-ice official at the Canadian Seniors Championship in 2006. All events took place in Summerside.

She organized the opening reception for the Maritime Masters Championship held in Summerside in 2008 and she started the Quality Inn /Brothers Two Ladies Cashspiel in 1987. This annual event is now called the Foxy Lady.

Currently, she is a valuable founding member of the PEI Curling Hall of Fame and Museum, which inducted the first curlers into the Hall in October 2007.

Kaye MacFadyen has been involved in the business of curling since 1983 when she co-chaired the First PEI Junior Elite Curling Camp at Belvedere Curling Club.

Since then she has held a long list of positions within the curling community, beginning as Treasurer of the Fund Raising Committee for the Scott Tournament of Hearts held in Charlottetown in 1984.

In 1987-88 she was Secretary-Treasurer of the PEI Ladies Curling Association. She also served as the Second Vice President in 1989-90, and as Third Vice President in 1990-91.

Kaye was the Charlottetown Curling Club’s delegate to the PEI Curling Association in 1995-96 and she served as Treasurer of the PEI Curling Association in 2004-06.

In 1995-96, she chaired the Hosting Committee for the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship held at the Charlottetown Curling Club in March 1996.

In 1996-97 she became Vice-President of the Charlottetown Curling Club, serving as the President in 1997-98 and Past-President in 1998-99.

She is a long-standing Committee member of the Annual Curl for Cancer Fund Raiser, participating from 1998 to 2004.

Kaye has a Level I Ice Technician Course and has completed Phase One of the Cancurl Business of Curling Club Marketing and Management Program.

Brenda MacMillan has given 13 years as a dedicated volunteer to curling on Prince Edward Island –as a certified Level III Curling Coach, a junior coordinator and a founder and organizer of events that promote junior curling.

She coached the 2003 Canada Games Junior Women’s PEI Champions (the Meaghan Hughes team) during the provincial playoffs and as they went on to represent our province in Bathurst, New Brunswick at the Canada Winter Games.

Also in 2003, she coached the Meaghan Hughes team during the Prince Edward Island Junior Women’s Championship and at the Canadian Junior Women’s Championship in Ottawa. She continued to coach the girls in 2004 as they represented PEI in Victoria at the Canadian Juniors; again in 2005 in Fredericton, and in Thunder Bay in 2006.

She has coached other junior teams at the club level as well as coaching and chaperoning juniors to ensure they had the opportunity to play in events in other clubs.

Brenda has also assisted course conductor Marilyn Sutherland instructing Level I Technical courses at PEI curling clubs and, during the 1996-1997 season, she shared Junior Club Coordinator duties with Marilyn at the Belvedere Curling Club.

From 1997 to 2004, Brenda served as the PEI Junior Coordinator for the Prince Edward Island Curling Association, and represented the Association at National Championship meetings.

In 1999, in Kelowna, she was one of the four Atlantic Provincial Junior Coordinators instrumental in initiating the Atlantic Junior 17 and Under Curling Championships. Subsequently, and with the approval of the four Atlantic Provinces’ curling associations, the Championship was formed. The goal was to expose junior curlers to a competitive format similar to national events and use the experience in their preparations towards participating in provincial championships and possibly at a Canadian Junior Curling Championship. This program continues to be successful today.

Brenda implemented the first Skills Award Program on PEI in 1999 under the auspices of the PEI Curling Association. All clubs were provided with training manuals and guidelines from the Association. The junior curlers were tested and depending on their skill levels received badges. This program was well received in all the clubs and the curlers enjoyed the process.

In 1994, Brenda founded and chaired the first Cornwall Junior Cashspiel. Her vision was to give PEI junior teams the opportunity to play against competitive teams from other provinces and gain valuable experience prior to provincial playdowns. She also organized the first junior funspiel sponsored by McCains. In its tenth year, it is now hosted at the Charlottetown Curling Club with many young teams participating.

In 2001 she organized the Tim Horton’s Little Rock program in the PEI curling clubs. She was successful in securing Tim Horton’s sponsorship, supplying vests and curling brooms to the teams so that when they went to other clubs for Little Rock spiels that they would be dressed as teams.

Brenda served as the Junior Club Coordinator at the Cornwall Curling Club from 1998 to 2003 and was the Cornwall Curling Club’s delegate to the PEI Curling Association in 1995-96. She also served on the board of the PEI Coaches Association from 1999 to 2003.

Curlers honoured at 2nd annual ADL Awards Night (new version with pictures)
Posted Friday, June 13, 2008 by derekm

The second annual 2^nd Amalgamated Dairies Limited/PEI Curling Association Curling Awards were held Thursday night at the Charlottetown Curling Club, with PEICA Past President Dave Murphy as Master of Ceremonies.

Dave started the evening by congratulating all the provincial winners from the past season, along with the clubs and volunteers who helped make the provincial championships a success.

He thanked sponsor ADL, Sport PEI and the PEI Government's Community, Cultural Affairs and Labour department for their support throughout the year.

The following are the categories, nominees and winners, along with a brief description of each winner's accomplishments over the past season:

Spencer Pitre skipped a his team to the runner up position at the 2008 Pepsi Juniors, losing to 3 time champion Brett Gallant Rink. Spencer then went on to win the A final at the Sylvan Learning 17 and Under Championships where he finished second to hot Sam Ramsay rink. Coached by Roger Gavin, Spencer has been the ultimate leader on and off the ice and is one of the more competitive junior curlers we have today. Out of the Western Community Curling Club, your 2008 Junior Curler of the Year, Spencer Pitre.

Michelle McQuaid has been mate on a very good Sarah Fullerton team for the past few years and deserves all recognition coming her way.

Michelle was on the winning team for the 17 & Under Provincial Championships this year and then went on to win the Under 18 Atlantic Championships in Truro, NS. Michelle with the team were in the running in all their events this year as well .

Very well respected in the curling clubs and community, out of the Cornwall Curling Club your 2008 Junior Female of the Year, Michelle McQuaid.

He first skipped his team to a final 8 berth at the 2008 Labatt Tankard Playdowns. He then led his team to his 6^th title at the PEI Credit Union Senior Championships, where he lost his second game in the draw and then won out the remainder to win the title. Out of the Ch'town Curling Club, the 2008 Adult Male of the year winner is Ted MacFadyen.

Barb Currie out of the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club had another good year on the Senior's circuit, Being on the Senior Mixed winning team abd then winning her 3^rd Credit Union Senior Championships in 4 years and 4^th overall by winning an exciting 7-6 game in the final over 2-time champion Shirley Berry. Currie went to finish with a 5-6 record at the National Seniors Curling Championships, finishing 8^th overall.

Al Ledgerwood has been very active over the years coaching at all levels; however 2008 Al really stood out with some great results. First he coached the Shelley Bradley rink to a runner up finish at the 2008 Provincial Scotties, and then coached the Ted MacFadyen rink that made the final 8 Men's Play downs at the Provincial Labatt Tankard. He then coached that same team to winning their 6^th provincial title at the Credit Union Senior Championships. Not only did he do that but also coached the Barb Currie rink to her 4^th title at the same event. With these results Al is well deserved of the award.

Gloria Wood has had a busy year officiating for the Prince Edward Island Curling Association. She started the season off in Summerside where she officiated at the Credit union Provincial Seniors. Gloria then was the head official at the Intermediate Provincial Championships in O'leary, and finally finished up with officiating at the 15 and under event in Crapaud. Gloria very dedicated to helping out as much as she can and is very deserving of this award. Your 2008 Official of the year, Gloria Wood.

The Crapaud Curling club has benefited greatly from the work of Ron Matters, ably assisted by his family. Ron was a tremendous help in running the Labatt Tankard, our premiere men's event of the PEICA. He also was a huge influence on the success of the 15 and 12 and under events. Ron contributes his time and support in every area required for the club, and was a source of sound advice when asked. Your 2008 Volunteer of the year is Ron Matters.

Sarah Fullerton, Michelle McQuaid, Madeline Campbell/Whitney Young, Sara MacRae, Rebecca Jean MacPhee (coach)

Sam Ramsay, Neil Gallant, Eric Pidgeon/Brett Gallant, Justin Richard, Peter Pidgeon (coach)

The co-winners of the year, Sam Ramsay and Sarah Fullerton rinks, both had outstanding seasons. The Ramsay rink, coached by Peter Pidgeon, showed a lot of hard work and dedication this season, winning back-to-back provincial 17 & under titles and going to Truro to win the Atlantic event. The Fullerton team had the same kind of season, winning their second 17 & Under Provincial title in 3 years, and along with coach Rebecca Jean MacPhee went on to win at the Atlantic event n Truro, to complete the sweep for the PEI rinks.

Photo L-R: Dave Murphy - PEICA Past-President and Master of Ceremonies, Michelle McQuaid - Junior Female winner, Ted MacFadyen, Adult Male Winner, Barb Currie, Adult Female Winner, Barrie MacWilliams - ADL

Photo L-R: Dave Murphy - PEICA Past President and Master of Ceremonies, Sam Ramsay, Eric Pidgeon, Peter Pidgeon, Barrie MacWilliams - ADL

Dave Murphy, PEICA Past-President and Master of Ceremonies, Sarah Fullerton, Michelle McQuaid, Sara MacRae, Barrie MacWilliams

Sounds Fantastic Early Bird Challenge
Posted Saturday, May 31, 2008 by derekm

Early Bird Challenge
September 19-21, 2008
Open to: Men’s, Ladies’, Mixed, Junior and Senior Teams

This is an invitation to the Fourth annual Sounds Fantastic Early Bird Challenge Prize Spiel, which will run from Sept. 19-21, 2008 at Curling Beausejour in Moncton, N.B. Teams which participated in the event last year will have a spot held for them until July 15TH. After this date entries will be accepted on a first received basis. This event is open to Men’s, Ladies’, Mixed, Junior, and Senior teams. We are accepting 20 teams, and will guarantee a minimum of 5 games each.

The format will be a 4 division round-robin to qualify 8 teams (top two teams in each division). The entry fee is $535 (ACT fees) for all Men’s and Jr. Men’s teams & $500 for all other teams. Based on a full 20 team field we will be playing for a total value of $12,500 in electronic prizes, with the winner of the Sounds Fantastic Early Bird Challenge receiving $4000.00 in electronic prizes, qualifier’s guaranteed to receive $720 in electronic prizes.

For team entries please make a cheque payable to: Curling Beausejour Inc. A postdated (full entry fee) cheque dated Aug. 20th, 2008 must accompany entry.

CCA President Al Forsythe welcomes Ray McCourt as incoming PEICA Pres.
Posted Saturday, May 31, 2008 by derekm

Photo L-R: Al Forsythe, President, Canadian Curling Association, Ray McCourt, incoming President, PEI Curling Association

Ray McCourt of Summerside was elected President of the PEI Curling Association at its Annual General Meeting, held this week in Crapaud. McCourt is a former president of the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, and chaired the fundraising committee for the 2006 Canadian Seniors Curling Championships in Summerside. Canadian Curling Association President Al Forsythe was on hand to congratulate McCourt on his new post. In his remarks, McCourt told the attendees that, as President, he will not try to reinvent the wheel, but will do his best to ensure a smooth operation next year.

Forsythe, from Moncton, was an invited guest for the meeting, and remarked that there was a lot going on in the Maritimes. He mentioned that a past-president of the PEI Curling Association, Shirley Lank, is running for membership on the Canadian Curling Association Board of Directors at their Annual General Meeting in mid-June, that he is personally involved with the organization of the World Men's Curling Championships in Moncton in 2009, and that the Scotties Tournament of Hearts will be held "somewhere in the Maritimes" within the next few years (Charlottetown is putting in a bid to host the 2011 Scotties). He also mentioned the 2009 Canadian Seniors in Summerside, and remarked that curling is doing well at the local level, with he and members of his family having recently participated in the successful "Meltdown" bonspiel at the Crapaud Community Curling Club.

On the national front, Forsythe said that the CCA, which had financial difficulties last season, is hard at work with its new governance model, under the financial helm of new CEO Greg Stremlaw, and have had a "really good year" financially, with a projected $2.6 million turnaround over last season, with over $1.5 million realized by selling the TV rights to the Olympic pre-trials and trials. In the upcoming season they are also hosting the first national sporting championship north of the Arctic Circle, the Canadian Mixed in Nunavut, and, thanks to sponsors, will be able to do it for less cost there than elsewhere. Forsythe's term as CCA president ends on June 22nd.

Other PEICA officers for the 2008-2009 season are: 1st Vice-President Melody Beck from the Cornwall Curling Club, 2nd Vice-President Audrey Callaghan from the Western Community Curling Club in Alberton, Secretary Derek MacEwen from the Cornwall Curling Club, and Past President David Murphy, from the Charlottetown and Cornwall clubs. The Treasurer position is an appointment, to be approved at the next PEICA meeting. Bev McCormick of Cornwall is the incumbent. Greg Lucas is Executive Director of the Association.

PEI Curling Association sets Ch'ship dates and locations for 2008-2009 Season
Posted Saturday, May 31, 2008 by derekm

At its Annual General Meeting this week in Crapaud, the PEI Curling Association announced the following provincial championships venues and dates for the 2008-2009 season:

Senior Mixed (50 & Over):   Western Community Curling Club in Alberton,    Dec 11-14
Junior Mixed (20 & Under):   Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside,        Dec. 27-30
Pepsi Junior (20 & Under):    Charlottetown Curling Club,     Jan 2-6
PEI Credit Unions Seniors (50 and over):  Cornwall Curling Club, Jan 15-19
Scotties Tournament of Hearts (women's) : Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside, Jan 22-26
Masters (60 & Over): Maple Leaf Curling Club in  O’Leary ,   Jan 26-29
Labatt Tankard Men’s Open: Western Community Curling Club in  Alberton,      Jan 29-Feb 3
Labatt Tankard Men's Final 8:  Montague,           Feb 10-15
Sylvan Learning 17 & Under: Western Community Curling Club in Alberton,              Feb 19-23
M&M Meat Shops 15 & Under:   Montague Curling Club,    Feb. 26-Mar 1
M&M Meat Shops Mixed: Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary, Feb 26-Mar 1
Stick Curling: Cornwall Curling Club, Mar 2-4
KFC 12 & Under: Montague Curling Club, Mar 5-8
Intermediate: Crapaud Community Curling Club, Mar 13-15|

Note that start and end dates may vary by a day or two, depending on number of teams participating.
The Junior Mixed, for mixed teams age 20 and under, is a new event, subject to sufficient signup and to obtaining a sponsor.

In recent round table discussions held in Summerside and Charlottetown, a new playoff format, which combines a triple knockout draw with a Page playdown, was discussed. It is planned to pilot this format at the Senior Mixed in December. If it is successful, it may be used in other events.

Other changes for the upcoming season will include the addition of an online signup and payment option for events. Entry fees will remain the same, with the exception of the Pepsi Juniors, which will increase from $30 to $35 per player to ensure that the event covers expenses. Fees for the new Junior Mixed were set at $25 per player.

Jennifer Jones to play men's rinks at TSN Skins
Posted Wednesday, May 28, 2008 by derekm

(tsn.ca) Toronto, ON - TSN has announced its star-studded lineup for the second annual Casino Rama Curling Skins Game, in which reigning women's World champion, Jennifer Jones, will compete against reigning men's World champion Kevin Martin, and former World champs Glenn Howard and Randy Ferbey.

The Casino Rama Curling Skins Game takes place January 10 and 11, 2009 and will air live on TSN and TSN HD.

This marks the first time a woman's rink will compete against men's rinks in a TSN Skins game.

"Jennifer Jones captivated an entire nation this year with her outstanding performances at the Canadian and World championships. She is an extremely competitive curler and her talents and accomplishments could not be overlooked as an invitee for this year's Skins game," said Phil King, President, TSN. "Along with Martin, Howard and Ferbey, this year's competition is stronger than ever."

The four competing skips boast an impressive list of achievements consisting of a combined eight World championships and 12 Canadian titles.

The Casino Rama Curling Skins Game is coming off a highly successful inaugural season in 2007, whereby Martin defeated Wayne Middaugh to win the title and $61,000, bringing Martin's career TSN Skins winnings to $346,350 (all figures Cdn). The made-for-TV original TSN production is an annual all-Canadian event featuring four Canadian rinks competing for a total cash purse of $100,000 (Cdn). The event consists of two semifinals on Saturday, Jan. 10, with the winners advancing to the final on Sunday, Jan. 11.

"The Skins game format rewards aggressive play and great execution. The four teams participating this year all utilize the perfect game plan for Skins and have made big shots en route to winning World titles. The only question now is which team can remain confident and perform these skills under immense pressure as the cash grows," said Linda Moore, TSN curling analyst for 19 years.

The Casino Rama Curling Skins Game uses a single-elimination format whereby anything can happen, as the winner is decided by total prize money and not total points.

Beginning in 2008/09, TSN will be the exclusive Canadian home of all Season of Champions curling events. The deal between the network and the Canadian Curling Association runs through the 2013/14 season, and includes the semifinals and finals, as well as morning, afternoon and evening draws.

The PEICA is accepting award nominations for its upcoming ADL awards for the following categories: Jr male/female, Sr male/female, Volunteer, Coach, Official and Team of the year. Please pass on all nominations with 2-3 reasons why you nominated them to glucas@sportpei.pe.ca or call Greg Lucas at 902-368-4986 for more information. Deadline for nominations is Friday, May 23^rd.

Silver Fox preparing for national Senior curling ch'ships
Posted Wednesday, May 14, 2008 by derekm

The Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside is preparing to host its fourth Canadian Curling Association championship.

The 2009 Canadian senior curling championships will be held March 21-29 and marks the second time this event will be staged at The Fox and the third time on PEI.

The 19th Annual Summer Spud Fun Mixed Curling Bonspiel takes place August 7-10 at the Crapaud Community Curling Club, and includes four days of summer “fun” curling, a lobster extravaganza, a companion 18-hole golf tournament, and many other off-ice activities, including:
                        -            Pool party, Thursday afternoon
                        -            Barbeque Reception and Golf Awards, Thursday evening
                        -            Entertainment, Friday and Saturday evenings
                        -            Mussel Bake, Sunday

The bonspiel will consist of 56 local and off-Island teams. All teams are guaranteed at least three games, with prizes awarded to the winner and runner-up in the championship and other divisions. The golf tournament is scheduled for Thursday, August 7^th. Curling will begin on Friday, August 8^th.

Entry fee is $320 per team, plus $40 per non-curling guest, $35 per person for golf, and $25 per golf cart (first come, first served).

For more information, contact Andrew Robinson at (902)367-5778 (h). (902)437-6666 (w) or email andrew@robinsons.pe.ca.

Silver Fox to host 2009 Canadian Seniors.
Posted Monday, April 21, 2008 by derekm

OTTAWA, April 21, 2008…The Canadian Curling Association today announced the dates and sites for the 2009 Canadian Seniors, 2009 Canadian Wheelchair and the 2010 Canadian Mixed curling championships.
The 2009 Canadian senior men’s and women’s championships will be held, once again, at the Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, March 22-29.

Prince Edward Island previously hosted the 1976 Canadian senior women’s and 1982 Canadian senior men’s, both in Charlottetown, before Summerside staged the 2006 Canadian Seniors, won that year by Ontario’s Anne Dunn and Northern Ontario’s Al Hackner, who then represented Canada at the 2007 world seniors in Edmonton, where both finished second.

Manitoba has won a leading 10 Canadian senior men’s crowns since the event began in 1965 in Port Arthur, Ontario. Prince Edward Island has three victories, all by skip Dr. Wen MacDonald. Ontario has won a leading 10 women’s titles since the inaugural championship in 1973 in Ottawa, while ‘The Island’ has yet to win one, though. The men’s and women’s events were held separately until being combined in 1985 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan.

The 2009 winners will then represent Canada at the 2010 world seniors, at a site and date to be announced. This year’s Canadian Seniors winners, Saskatchewan’s Eugene Hritzuk and British Columbia’s Pat Sanders, who earned their titles in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in March, will carry Canada’s colours at the 2009 world seniors, scheduled for April 24-May 3, 2009 in Dunedin, New Zealand.

The 2007 Canadian senior champions, Alberta’s Pat Ryan and Diane Foster, both won gold medals at the 2008 world seniors in March in Vierumäki, Finland.

The 2009 Canadian Wheelchair championship will be held March 23-28 at the Lakeshore Curling Club in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. Last month, British Columbia, skipped by Jim Armstrong, retained its national crown by edging Ontario, 8-6 in the final, held at the West Kildonan Curling Club in Winnipeg, where eight teams competed for the Canadian title.

The 2010 Canadian Mixed will be hosted by the Burlington Golf & Country Club in Burlington, Ontario, November 15-22, 2009. Beginning with the 2004-05 season, The Mixed was no longer part of curling’s televised Season of Champions. As such, its annual championship was moved to November of the previous year.

The 2008 Canadian Mixed was held in Calgary last November and won by Alberta’s Dean Ross, a leading ninth time for the province since the championship began in 1964 in Toronto. Ontario has won the Mixed twice, in 1986 by skip Dave Van Dine in Kamloops and by skip John Epping at the 2006 renewal in Whitehorse.
The 2009 Canadian Mixed will be played this November in Iqaluit, Nunavut, marking the first time a national sport championship has been staged in the Territory.

2009 Canadian Mixed - November 9-16, 2008, Iqaluit, Nunavut
2008 Continental Cup - December 18-21, 2008, Camrose, Alberta
2009 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors - January 31-February 8, Salmon Arm, British Columbia
2009 World Wheelchair - February 21-28, Vancouver, British Columbia
2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts - February 21-March 1, Victoria, British Columbia
2009 World Juniors - March 5-15, Vancouver, British Columbia
2009 Tim Hortons Brier - March 7-15, Calgary, Alberta
2009 Canada Cup - March 18-22, Yorkton, Saskatchewan
2009 World Women’s - March 21-29, Gangneung, Korea
2009 Canadian Seniors - March 22-29, Summerside, Prince Edward Island
2009 Canadian Wheelchair - March 23-28, Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia
2009 Ford World Men’s - April 4-12, Moncton, New Brunswick
2009 World Mixed Doubles - April 18-26, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
2009 World Seniors - April 24-May 3, Dunedin, New Zealand

Brett Gallant rink wins Team of the Year at Sport PEI awards
Posted Thursday, April 17, 2008 by derekm

The Brett Gallant rink were named as the Island Petroleum Team of the Year at the 34th annual Sport PEI awards banquet last night at the Rodd Royalty Inn in Charlottetown.

The team, which includes third Adam Casey, second Anson Carmody, and lead Alex MacFadyen, and is coached by Kathie Gallant, won two national medals in 2007.

Sunday, April 13, 2008 | Source: Canadian Curling Association

GRAND FORKS, North Dakota, April 13…Canada’s Kevin Martin finally won his first world title, defeating Scotland’s David Murdoch, 6-3 in the gold medal final of the world men’s curling championship, Sunday at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

It was the 41-year-old Martin’s first world crown, after years of disappointment, while settling for silver at the 1986 world juniors, 1991 worlds and 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

“It feels great,” said Martin, a three-time Canadian men’s champion, about now being called a ‘world champion’. “We felt we had to come up in the low 90’s (shooting percentage) to have a chance against those guys. It was a good effort by everybody. It certainly does (lift a weight off my shoulders). No question about that. It feels good. I sure appreciated the emails, all the letters, the phone calls from all the people around Canada the last week. We felt, if we just kept our emotions in check, we thought we’d have a good chance and we did.”

It’s the 31st world men’s title for Canada since the championship began in 1959. The victory also gave Canada a sweep of the women’s and men’s crowns this year, following Jennifer Jones’s triumph in Vernon, British Columbia on March 30. Last year, Canada swept the world titles as well, with Kelly Scott winning the women’s in Aomori, Japan and Glenn Howard taking the men’s in Edmonton.

In addition, the win gave Martin’s team an automatic berth into the 2009 Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials, which will be held in Edmonton, December 6-13, to determine Canada’s representatives for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The world men’s was the third qualifying event he’s won, after taking last year’s Players’ Championship and this year’s Brier.

Martin’s Edmonton team of third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert took control early in the match, even without hammer, courtesy of a couple of Murdoch misses.

After a blanked first end, Murdoch missed a runback double, allowing Martin to steal one. In the third, the 29-year-old Scottish skip hit and rolled too far with his last, counting only one instead of a possible deuce.

Martin then blanked the fourth end, before taking a pair in the fifth with a nifty angle raise, chipping out a Murdoch counter, for a 3-1 lead at the break. The sixth end was blanked before another Martin steal in the seventh made it 4-1. In the eighth end, Murdoch was able to score a deuce to tighten the contest, 4-3.

But in the ninth, Martin made a nose hit double to count two, after a measure, for a commanding 6-3 lead coming home, before running Murdoch out of rocks in the 10th.

Today’s final was a far cry from the Page 1-2 game on Friday night, when Murdoch stole singles in the seventh, ninth and 10th ends to stun Canada, 7-6. In fact, it was only Martin doing the stealing today, swiping singles in the second and seventh ends.

Shooting percentages also told the story, as once again, Canada was on fire. Martin held an 89%-78% edge over Murdoch, Morris and Kennedy both recorded 95% while Hebert registered 85% for a team average of 91%, six points better than Scotland’s 85%.

It was a bit disappointed the way we played, actually,” said Murdoch, who won the 2006 world men’s title in Lowell, Massachusetts and has now added another silver to his résume, after finishing the runner-up to Canada’s Randy Ferbey in 2005 as well. “We had a lot of chances, especially early on. A bit of hard luck and some tough breaks. But those guys (Canada) played well all week so they deserved it.”

Martin wound up with a 12-2 overall record, losing only to China during the round robin, then to Scotland in the Page 1-2 game, before winning the semi-final on Saturday over Norway, prior to today’s triumph.

An attendance record for a United States city hosting a world curling championship was also set, with a final tally of 48,699 fans.

Saturday, April 12, 2008 | Source: Canadian Curling Association

GRAND FORKS, North Dakota, April 12…Norway won a bronze medal at the world men’s curling championship Saturday evening at Ralph Engelstad Arena, defeating China, 8-3.

Skipped by Oslo’s Thomas Ulsrud, Norway, coming off a 5-4 loss to Canada’s Kevin Martin in the semi-final Saturday afternoon, rebounded to defeat Fengchun Wang’s Harbin team for the second consecutive time.

Tied 2-2 after five ends, Ulsrud counted three in the sixth, then put the game away with a steal of a deuce in the seventh.

It was the second bronze medal for Ulsrud at the world men’s championship. In 2006, at Lowell, Massachusetts, he also won bronze after losing the semi-final to eventual gold medallist, Scotland’s David Murdoch.

“It's a big deal for Norway,” said Ulsrud. “I think people are happy back home. We had a new team and a good week. Maybe we can get some good funding (with the bronze). Third place? I would take that, if you asked me before the week.”

Despite the loss, China enjoyed a tremendous week itself, in its world men’s curling championship debut. It finished third after the round robin, with a 7-4 mark, before losing the Page 3-4 game to Norway 7-5 Friday afternoon and tonight’s bronze medal affair.

But the week’s highlights included a 6-5 extra end win over Canada on Wednesday, handing skip Kevin Martin his only loss during the round robin, as China strung together a five-game win streak to make the playoffs.

Coming on the heels of China’s Bingyu Wang’s silver medal at the Ford world women’s last month in Vernon, British Columbia, it’s been quite a ride for the country in the curling world in the past three weeks.

Its fourth place finish here was also worth nine Olympic qualifying points, likely more than enough to earn China a berth in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

On Sunday, Scotland’s David Murdoch of Lockerbie faces Canada’s Kevin Martin of Edmonton for the gold medal, live at 2:30 pm on CBC-TV and cbcsports.ca.

Canada has won 30 world men’s championships since 1959 while Scotland has captured four. Murdoch won the 2006 world men’s in Lowell while Martin is still seeking his first world title.

Canada earns rematch with Scotland in world men�s final
Posted Saturday, April 12, 2008 by derekm

Saturday, April 12, 2008 | Source: Canadian Curling Association

GRAND FORKS, North Dakota, April 12…Canada’s Kevin Martin will get a chance to settle the score with Scotland’s David Murdoch, when the top two teams of the week clash Sunday in the world men’s curling championship final at Ralph Engelstad Arena (live on CBC-TV and cbcsports.ca at 3:30 pm AT).

Saturday afternoon, Martin advanced to the final by defeating Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud, 5-4 in the semi-final, when the Oslo skip was only able to steal a meaningless single in the 10th end after Martin hit and stayed with his last, eliminating another Norwegian counter.

There wasn’t a whole lot of action in the semi-final after Martin took his second deuce in the third end for a 4-1 lead. The next three ends were blanked until Ulsrud was forced to take one in the seventh.

Martin responded with a single in the eighth, before Ulsrud was forced to make a draw to the button for one in the ninth.

Now, Martin will get another chance to win a world title, after earning silver medals at the 1986 world juniors (losing to Scotland), 1991 worlds (losing to Scotland) and 2002 Olympic Winter Games (losing to Norway’s Pål Trulsen).

He also finished fourth in his last appearance at the worlds in 1997 in Berne, losing one of the semi-finals to eventual winner, Sweden’s Peja Lindholm, before dropping the bronze medal game to Scotland’s Hammy McMillan. It’s the only hole in a spectacular résume for the three-time Canadian men’s champion.

“We just wanted to get back on the horse (after last night’s loss),” said Martin. “The boys responded well. That’s what it’s all about…trying to get experience here with this new team and be ready for 2010. We’re in the final again and hopefully we can finish one off. But I don’t look in the rear view mirror very often. We’ll give her a go tomorrow.”

The entire Martin team shot the light outs today. Lead Ben Hebert was 92%, second Marc Kennedy, 95%, third John Morris, 91% and Martin 94% for a 93% team average.

Martin’s Edmonton team finished the round robin in first place with a 10-1 record, including a victory over Scotland, 6-5. But in Friday night’s Page 1-2 game, it was Murdoch’s time to turn the tables, as the Scots literally stole the victory, 7-6, with single thefts in the seventh, ninth and 10th ends, to advance to the final.

Thus, Martin had to play in today’s semi-final and win in order to get another crack at Scotland in the gold medal rubber-match.

Since Martin lost the Page 1-2 game, Scotland had choice of hammer or colour for the final and chose hammer. Martin selected red rocks, which he won with today.

“The red rocks are definitely superior in the building, so it will be good to have them,” Martin continued. “We played well all week, just stumbled on one shot yesterday and bounced back good today. We’ll go right after them (Scotland). We outplayed them for two hours and 45 minutes yesterday.”

With the loss, Ulsrud must now regroup and get ready for the bronze medal game tonight at 8:00 pm ET against China’s Fengchun Wang of Harbin (live on CBC’s digital channel, bold). Norway beat China, 7-5 in yesterday’s Page 3-4 game.

“In the first end, we had a pretty good chance, but I was a bit heavy with my shot and gave Kevin quite an easy shot for a deuce,” explained Ulsrud. “In the third, I was a bit heavy again, touching the guard. From there on, we were struggling. For sure, I think they showed today why they are the number one team in the world. If you get down to them, like we did today, you’ve got to be really lucky to get back.”

Canada has won a leading 30 world men’s titles since 1959, including last year’s victory by Glenn Howard at the Ford world men's in Edmonton. Sweden is next with five titles.

Murdoch, who defeated Canada’s Jean-Michel Ménard in 2006 in Lowell, Massachusetts to win his first world men’s championship, will be seeking a fifth title for Scotland.

Scotland rallies to defeat Canada and advances to world men�s final
Posted Saturday, April 12, 2008 by derekm

Friday, April 11, 2008 | Source: Canadian Curling Association

GRAND FORKS, North Dakota, April 11…Scotland’s David Murdoch fashioned a tremendous second half rally to edge Canada’s Kevin Martin, 7-6 in the Page Playoff 1 vs 2 game Friday evening at Ralph Engelstad Arena and advance to Sunday’s final of the world men’s curling championship.

Murdoch, who won the 2006 world men’s title in Lowell, Massachusetts, was down 6-2 at the fifth end break, after coughing up a pair of three’s to Martin’s Edmonton squad in the second and fourth ends.

But things tightened up after that, as Lockerbie’s Murdoch took a deuce in the sixth, then stole one in the seventh to narrow the gap to 6-5.

After a blanked eighth end, Martin tried to chip out a Murdoch stone biting the button to count three in the ninth, but was a little heavy, giving up another steal to the Scots, as the game was now tied at 6 heading to the 10th end.

Canada was able to keep the house clean for most of the final frame. Then, it all came down to a Martin staple, drawing the full four while staring at a couple of Murdoch counters.

However, inexplicably, this time he failed to make it, as his last stone didn’t curl enough, just nudging the Murdoch counter biting the four-foot, before sliding by. Thus, another steal for Scotland and a surprising 7-6 win.

“I thought it was perfect, really,” said a perplexed Martin, about his final draw. “Wasn’t worried at all, I thought it was bang on.”

While Canada held an 88%-85% team shooting percentage advantage, Murdoch actually outcurled Martin, 80%-74%.

"That showed the true character of our team," said the 29-year-old Murdoch, who is also the reigning European champion. "We're Scots, and we don't give up. We just hung in there. We knew they were going to go defensive on us... and it just worked out for us."

Martin must now play Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud in Saturday’s semi-final at 3:30 pm AT (live on CBC-TV), with the winner facing Scotland for all the marbles on Sunday, also live on CBC-TV at 3:30 pm AT.

Earlier on Friday, Ulsrud defeated China’s Fengchun Wang, 7-5 in the Page 3-4 game to advance to the semi-final. China goes to Saturday evening’s bronze medal game at 9:00 pm AT (live on CBC’s digital channel, bold), to await the loser of the semi-final.

Martin, a three-time Canadian men’s champion who is still looking for his first world title after settling for silver at the 1986 world juniors, 1991 worlds and 2002 Olympic Winter Games, finished the round robin with a sterling 10-1 mark, losing only to China. He also had defeated Scotland, 6-5 last Monday in Draw 8.

Now, he faces the prospect of having to win two games in a row in order to claim that elusive first world crown and a leading 31st title for Canada since 1959.

Murdoch’s record at the world men’s is pretty impressive. In his 2005 debut, he finished second to Canada’s Randy Ferbey in Victoria, British Columbia. In 2006, he defeated Canada’s Jean-Michel Ménard in the final in Lowell.

Now, after an 8-3 round robin record and a win in the Page 1-2 game, he awaits either another Canadian foe, Martin, or Norway’s Ulsrud, whom he defeated in the 2006 semi-final, in seeking a fifth world title for Scotland.

Playoff pairings set at world men�s
Posted Friday, April 11, 2008 by derekm

Thursday, April 10, 2008 | Source: Canadian Curling Association

GRAND FORKS, North Dakota, April 10…The playoff pairings have been established at the world men’s curling championship, after Draw 17 concluded in dramatic fashion Thursday evening at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

It appeared at one point that there would be two tiebreakers needed to determine the fourth place finisher, after Australia, skipped by Hugh Millikin of Sydney, suddenly rallied to go in front of Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud of Oslo, 7-5, heading into the 10th end.

But Ulsrud not only counted a deuce to tie the game, he eventually won it, 9-7, by stealing a pair in the 11th, crushing any tiebreaker hopes of not only Australia, but also France.

Thus, with no tiebreakers required, the top four teams are set for the Page Playoffs.

Canada, skipped by Kevin Martin of Edmonton, finished in top spot with a 10-1 record after humbling the United States, 10-4 in its final game. Scotland (David Murdoch of Lockerbie) wound up second with an 8-3 mark, after beating Denmark, 7-4.

China (Fengchun Wang of Harbin), which had a bye, and Norway finished tied for third with 7-4 records, but since China had defeated Norway, 8-7 Thursday afternoon, it was placed third, Norway fourth.

In the other Draw 17 game, Sweden counted three in the 10th end to defeat Czech Republic, 8-6.

Thus, Canada will face Scotland in the Page Playoff 1 vs 2 game, Friday at 9:00 pm AT. The game will be webstreamed at cbcsports.ca. Canada defeated Scotland, 6-5 in Draw 8 on Monday night.

The winner will advance directly to Sunday’s final at 3:30 pm AT,while the loser goes to Saturday’s semi-final at 3:30 pm AT.. Both the semi-final and final will be televised live in Canada on CBC-TV.

China, making its world men’s debut, will once again meet Norway in the Page 3 vs 4 game Friday afternoon at 4:00 pm AT. The winner will also advance to Saturday afternoon’s semi-final. The loser will go to the bronze medal game, scheduled for 8:00 pm AT on Saturday, to await the loser of the semi-final.

Behind the top four came France (Thomas Dufour of Chamonix) at 6-5, followed by Australia (Hugh Millikin of Sydney), United States (Craig Brown of Madison, Wisconsin) and Germany (Andy Kapp of Füssen), all at 5-6.

Denmark (Johnny Frederiksen of Hvidovre) and Sweden (Anders Kraupp of Danderyd) were next at 4-7, with Switzerland (Claudio Pescia of Zurich) at 3-8 and Czech Republic (Jiri Snitil of Prague), 2-9. After starting 2-0 in their world men’s debut, the Czechs lost nine straight.

In addition to world honours, the 12 competing countries are also battling for qualifying points for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

Canada has won a leading 30 world men’s titles since 1959, including last year’s victory by Glenn Howard. Sweden is next with five titles, followed by Scotland and United States with four wins apiece.

Playoff picture taking shape at world men�s
Posted Thursday, April 10, 2008 by derekm

Wednesday, April 09, 2008 | Source: Canadian Curling Association

GRAND FORKS, North Dakota, April 9…With three draws remaining in the round robin of the world men’s curling championship, the playoff picture is coming more into focus.

Canada, skipped by Kevin Martin of Edmonton, has clinched first place, even though it still has to play Switzerland and the United States on Thursday at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Currently 8-1, with its only loss coming, shockingly, at the hands of China on Wednesday morning, Canada could finish 8-3 at worst. Only Scotland and/or Norway, presently at 6-3, could tie that mark, but since Canada has beaten them both, it would be awarded top spot anyway.

That means Canada will play in the Page Playoff 1 vs 2 game Friday afternoon, live at 3:00 pm ET on CBC-TV’s digital channel, bold. All Canadian games are also being webstreamed at cbcsports.ca.

Norway and Scotland are now tied for second with 6-3 records. Norway, skipped by Thomas Ulsrud of Oslo, won a huge battle against France (Thomas Dufour of Chamonix), 6-4 in Draw 14 Wednesday evening, breaking open a tight affair with three in the seventh end. Norway finishes up with two tough games against China and Australia.

Meanwhile, Scotland’s David Murdoch of Lockerbie took care of Switzerland’s Claudio Pescia, 6-4 but faces Germany and Denmark on Thursday.

Australia (Hugh Millikin of Sydney), China, France and United States are deadlocked at 5-4. China (Fengchun Wang of Harbin), coming off a startling upset of Canada, 6-5 in Draw 12, whipped Czech Republic (2-7), 7-3, while United States (Craig Brown of Madison, Wisconsin) proved an 8-5 winner over Germany’s Andy Kapp, last year’s world silver medallist, who suffered his fifth consecutive defeat to fall to 4-5.

Thursday’s final round robin draws are at 11:00 am, 4:00 pm and 9:00 pm Atlantic. At the conclusion of the round robin, the top four teams advance to the playoffs. Under the Page Playoff system, the first and second place teams meet in one game, with the winner advancing to Sunday’s gold medal final, the loser to Saturday’s semi-final. Both the semi-final and final can be seen live in Canada on CBC-TV.

The third and fourth place teams clash in the other game, with the winner also advancing to the semi-final. Resurrected this year is the bronze medal game on Saturday evening, which will pair the loser of the semi-final against the loser of the Page 3-4 game.

Twelve countries are battling for world honours in Grand Forks, in addition to earning qualifying points for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

Canada widens margin at world men�s
Posted Wednesday, April 9, 2008 by derekm

Tuesday, April 08, 2008 | Source: Canadian Curling Association

GRAND FORKS, North Dakota, April 8….There just seems to be no stopping the Martin Express, at least so far, through 11 draws of the 50th edition of the world men’s curling championship at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Tuesday evening, Canada’s Kevin Martin dismantled Germany’s Andy Kapp, 9-4 to improve his unblemished record to 7-0 and widen the lead to three games over a pack of pursuers.

Martin came out guns ablazing, counting three in the first end, before taking a deuce in the third and a quick 5-1 lead over the Füssen veteran, who won a silver medal at last year’s Ford world men’s in Edmonton.

It was 7-2 after six ends and after another Martin deuce in the ninth, Kapp called it quits. It was the second loss of the day for Germany, which dropped to 4-3 and into a monstrous six-way tie for second with Australia, Denmark, France, Norway and Scotland.

Seeing some brief action again tonight was the alternate for Canada, Adam Enright, who replaced lead Ben Hebert for a few ends, similar to what he did in Draw 5, while playing alongside Saville Sports Centre teammates Marc Kennedy at second and John Morris at third.

Martin is not only seeking his first world title in a storied curling career to date, but he also has a chance to become the first Canadian skip to go unbeaten at a Brier and worlds in the same year. His team was a perfect 13-0 at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men’s curling championship in Winnipeg last month.

In other games, China’s Fengchun Wang thumped Sweden’s Anders Kraupp, 8-2, its third win of the week in its world men’s debut. China is now tied with the United States (Craig Brown) for eighth spot, each with 3-4 records, while Sweden falls to 1-6.

Denmark’s Johnny Frederiksen continued his hot play of late with a 7-4 victory over Switzerland’s Claudio Pescia to join the logjam for second, while the Swiss, after a two-game win streak, are now 2-5, the same record as idle Czech Republic (Jiri Snitil).

In the other game, France’s Thomas Dufour of Chamonix stole a deuce in the ninth end and a single in the 10th to best Australia’s Hugh Millikin of Sydney, 6-4. The result also catapulted the French into the six-way tie for second.

Round robin play continues through Thursday, with draws at 11:00 am, 4:00 pm and 9:00 pm AT.

All of Canada’s games are being webstreamed at cbcsports.ca. CBC’s digital channel, bold, will also show Wednesday afternoon’s clash with the Czech Republic. Canada faces China in the morning.

Twelve countries are battling for world honours in Grand Forks, in addition to country qualifying points for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. At the conclusion of the round robin on Thursday, the top four teams advance to the playoffs.

Under the Page Playoff system, the first and second place teams meet in one game, with the winner advancing to Sunday’s gold medal final, the loser to Saturday’s semi-final. The third and fourth place teams clash in the other game, with the winner also advancing to the semi-final.

Resurrected this year is the bronze medal game on Saturday evening, which will pair the loser of the semi-final against the loser of the Page 3-4 game,

Increased TV Coverage and Free Access to CBC-bold during world mens
Posted Wednesday, April 9, 2008 by derekm

In response to the demand for more coverage, CBC-bold has increased their coverage of the 2008 World Men's Curling Championship and CBC-Bold is available for free to Digital Cable and Satellite subscribers until April 29th.

Monday, April 07, 2008 | Source: Canadian Curling Association

GRAND FORKS, North Dakota, April 7�Canada�s Kevin Martin continues to roll at the 2008 world men�s curling championship.

Monday evening, in a much-anticipated battle with Scotland�s David Murdoch, Martin emerged victorious, but just barely, 6-5, to remain perfect at 5-0 and alone in first place after three days of competition.

The marquee matchup was a defensive struggle between the 2002 Olympic silver medallist and the 2006 world champion, as the teams were tied 3-3 after five ends. After a blanked sixth, Martin managed to steal singles in the seventh and eighth ends to go up 5-3.

However, Lockerbie�s Murdoch responded with a deuce in the ninth to tie it at five, before Martin was able to count one in the 10th for the hard-fought decision. With the loss, Scotland fell to 2-3, tied for sixth place with four other countries.

Edmonton�s Martin was undefeated at the Alberta provincial championship in February, then went 13-0 at the Tim Hortons Brier in Winnipeg in March and now has yet to taste defeat at Ralph Engelstad Arena. No Canadian team has ever gone unbeaten at the Brier and the worlds in the same year.

Meanwhile, the United States, skipped by Craig Brown of Madison, Wisconsin, missed a golden opportunity to move into a tie for second with Germany�s idle Andy Kapp, losing 7-6 to Denmark�s Johnny Frederiksen of Hvidovre. Brown was up 6-5 with the hammer playing nine, but gave up steals in the ninth and 10th ends for the bitter defeat, which dropped the United States to 3-2, a game behind Germany (4-1) and now tied with Australia and Norway. With the win, Denmark improved to 2-3.

In other Draw 8 games, Norway�s Thomas Ulsrud of Oslo improved to 3-2 by edging rival Sweden (Anders Kraupp of Danderyd), 7-5 in an extra end. The Swedes dropped to 1-4, the same record as idle Switzerland (Claudio Pescia of Zurich).

Australia (Hugh Millikin of Sydney) also went to 3-2 by defeating Czech Republic (Jiri Snitil of Prague), 8-5. For the Czechs, it was their third consecutive loss, dropping them to 2-3, the same record as Denmark and Scotland, as well as China and France, who enjoyed evening byes.

Round robin play continues Tuesday through Thursday, with draws at 11:00 am, 4:00 pm and 9:00 pm Atlantic.

All of Canada�s games are being webstreamed at cbcsports.ca. In addition, CBC�s digital channel, bold, has added two Canadian games to its schedule - Tuesday evening�s match against Germany and Wednesday afternoon�s clash with the Czech Republic.

Canada has won a leading 30 world men�s titles since 1959, including last year�s victory by Glenn Howard at the Ford world men�s in Edmonton. Sweden is next with five titles, followed by Scotland and United States with four wins apiece.

It's never too early to sign up! Junior Cashspiels at the Fox next season
Posted Monday, April 7, 2008 by derekm

While you are sitting around watching the curling ice melt and waiting for the golf courses to open, it's time to plan for next curling season.

The following Junior (age 20 and under) cashspiels are set for next season at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club. A number of entries have already been received for the Fall Fling. Sign up now and avoid the last-minute rush!

The 3rd Fall Fling Junior Cashspiel takes place Nov. 14-16, 2008 at the Silver Fox. Entry fee is $100 per team. The 24 teams accepted are each guaranteed five games. Please post-date cheques to the entry deadline of November 1st.
Poster and Entry Form

The 7th annual Jingle Bell Junior Cashspiel takes place Dec. 12-14, 2008, at the Silver Fox. Entry fee is $100 per team. The 24 teams accepted are each guaranteed five games. Please post-date cheques to the entry deadline of December 1st.
Poster and Entry Form

The 3rd annual Spring Thaw Junior Cashspiel takes place Feb. 20-22, 2009 at the Silver Fox. Entry fee is $100 per team. The 24 teams accepted are each guaranteed five games. Please post-date cheques to the entry deadline of February 1st.
Poster and Entry Form

Canada, Germany share lead at world men�s. CBC bold channel adds 2 games.
Posted Monday, April 7, 2008 by derekm

Sunday, April 06, 2008 | Source: Canadian Curling Association

GRAND FORKS, North Dakota, April 6� Canada�s Kevin Martin has climbed into a tie with Germany�s Andy Kapp for top spot at the world men�s curling championship, after five draws at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Sunday evening, Martin disposed of Australia, skipped by North Vancouver native Hugh Millikin, 9-3, to improve to 3-0 in the 12-nation competition. Martin held a slim 4-2 margin after five ends, but counted three in the sixth, then stole a deuce in the seventh for a 9-2 lead. Millikin came back with a single in the eighth before calling it quits.

Representing the Saville Sports Centre in Edmonton, Martin has been on quite a roll on the Canadian and international stage this year. His team went unbeaten at the Tim Hortons Brier in Winnipeg last month, finishing with a 13-0 mark. Now, the 41-year-old renowned skip, whose only hole in a brilliant curling resume is a world title, remains unbeaten at the world men�s. No Canadian team has gone undefeated in both in the same year.

The Cinderella Czechs, 2-0 entering the evening contest, were brought back to earth with an 8-4 loss to Norway�s previously winless Thomas Ulsrud. This one got out of hand early for Jiri Snitil�s Prague foursome, as Ulsrud counted three in the first end, then stole one in the second for a commanding 4-0 lead.

In other games, host United States, skipped by Craig Brown of Madison, Wisconsin, rallied with a single in the ninth end and a steal of two in the 10th to shock Scotland�s 2006 world champion David Murdoch, 7-6, while Denmark�s Johnny Frederiksen also notched his first win, a 9-5 victory of Sweden�s Anders Kraupp.

The results left Canada and idle Germany at 3-0, Czech Republic, France and United States at 2-1, Australia, China (Fengchun Wang), Denmark, Norway, Scotland and Sweden all at 1-2, with Switzerland (Claudio Pescia) the only winless squad at 0-3.

Round robin play continues Monday through Thursday, with draw times at 11:00 am, 4:00 pm and 9:00 pm Atlantic time.

Canada plays France (Thomas Dufour of Chamonix) on Monday afternoon before facing Scotland in the evening.

All of Canada�s games are being webstreamed at cbcsports.ca. In Canada, CBC-TV will televise Saturday�s semi-final and Sunday�s gold medal final, while CBC�s digital channel, bold, has added several Canadian games to its schedule - Tuesday evening�s match against Germany and Wednesday afternoon�s clash with the Czech Republic.

Martin opens World Championships with win
Posted Sunday, April 6, 2008 by derekm
total team effort got Canada off to a winning start at the Men's World Curling Championship.

Kevin Martin was quick to praise his front-end sweepers in Canada's 9-3 win over Johnny Frederiksen's Denmark rink in nine ends, with lead Ben Hebert, second Marc Kennedy, and third John Morris all making key contributions in the win.

Czech Republic shocks Scotland in opener at world men�s
Posted Sunday, April 6, 2008 by derekm

Saturday, April 05, 2008 | Source: Canadian Curling Association

GRAND FORKS, North Dakota, April 5�.The 2008 world men�s curling championship got underway Saturday afternoon at the opulent Ralph Engelstad Arena with one of the biggest upsets in curling history.

Czech Republic, making its world men�s debut under skip Jiri Snitil of Prague, shocked Scotland�s David Murdoch, the 2006 world and reigning European champion, 7-5.

The Czechs counted two in the third end, then stole a crucial pair in the fourth to go up 5-1 over Murdoch�s Lockerbie foursome. Murdoch took a deuce in the ninth end to close the gap to 7-5, but that was as close as he could get in the opening draw stunner.

In other games, host United States, with skip Craig Brown of Madison, Wisconsin, got off to a good start, upending Norway�s Thomas Ulsrud of Oslo, 8-6. Brown�s only previous appearance at the world men�s came in 2000 in Glasgow when finishing fourth to Canada�s Greg McAulay, while Ulsrud earned a bronze medal at the 2006 world men�s in Lowell.

France, skipped by Thomas Dufour of Chamonix, scored a pair of three�s in the sixth and eighth ends en route to a 7-2 victory over China (Fengchun Wang of Harbin), which was making its world men�s debut as well.

Germany�s Andy Kapp of F�ssen outlasted Switzerland�s Claudio Pescia of Zurich, 9-8. Kapp is a two-time world silver medallist, having finished the runner-up in 1997 in Berne to Sweden�s Peja Lindholm, then second again last year to Canada�s Glenn Howard at the Ford world men�s in Edmonton.

World Men's starts today. Martin, Murdoch headline the event
Posted Saturday, April 5, 2008 by derekm

Source: Canadian Curling Association

The 2008 world men�s curling championship gets underway today at the luxurious Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Twelve countries, led by Canada�s Kevin Martin and Scotland�s David Murdoch, are set to battle for the world title from April 5-13 in the 50th edition of this historic championship.

Australia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States will compete in a round robin format, leading to the Page Playoffs, whereby the first and second place teams meet in one game, with the winner advancing directly to the gold medal final on Sunday, April 13, while the loser goes to the semi-final on April 12. The third and fourth place teams will also meet, with the winner advancing to the semi-final as well.

Similar to the recently-concluded Ford world women�s in Vernon, British Columbia, a bronze medal game has been re-introduced this year and will feature the loser of the semi-final against the loser of the Page 3-4 game.

Canada�s Kevin Martin, the undefeated winner of the Tim Hortons Brier last month in Winnipeg, once again will attempt to win his first world title, after finishing second to Scotland�s David Smith in 1991 in Winnipeg and fourth to Sweden�s Peja Lindholm in 1997 in Berne. The 41-year-old Martin was also an Olympic silver medallist in 2002, losing the final to Norway�s P�l Trulsen and was runner-up at the 1986 world juniors.

Martin and his Saville Sports Centre team from Edmonton will be seeking a leading 31st title for Canada since the championship began in 1959.   He�ll also be trying to give Canada a second consecutive sweep of the men�s and women�s events, joining Manitoba�s Jennifer Jones, who won the 2008 world women�s title last Sunday. Last year, British Columbia�s Kelly Scott won the world women�s crown in Aomori, Japan while Ontario�s Glenn Howard took the Ford world men�s title in Edmonton.

A Martin victory would also give his team a berth directly into the 2009 Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials, December 6-13 in Edmonton, as it would be his third win in qualifying events, after taking the 2007 Players� Championship and 2008 Canadian men�s curling championship.

Scotland skip David Murdoch of Lockerbie makes only his third appearance at the world men�s. In 2006, he won gold in Lowell, Massachusetts, defeating Canada�s Jean-Michel M�nard in the final, after finishing second to Canada�s Randy Ferbey in 2005 in Victoria, British Columbia.   Murdoch is also a two-time European champion, having won in 2003 and 2007.

Germany�s Andy Kapp of F�ssen, a two-time European champion (1992, 1997), two-time silver medallist (1997, 2007) and three-time bronze medallist (1994, 1995, 2005) at the worlds, returns for a 10th time as skip, while Norway will be represented by Thomas Ulsrud of Oslo, who finished third at the 2006 world men�s, losing to Murdoch in the semi-final. He also lost to Murdoch in the final of the 2007 Le Gruy�re European championship last December in F�ssen.

Completing the field are Australia, skipped by Hugh Millikin, a North Vancouver native who will be making his 11th worlds appearance, China (Fengchun Wang), Czech Republic (Jiri Snitil), Denmark (Johnny Frederiksen), France (Thomas Dufour), Sweden (Anders Kraupp), Switzerland (Claudio Pescia) and United States (Craig Brown).

China will be making its world men�s debut, following on the heels of a very successful performance by China at the 2008 Ford world women�s, when skip Bingyu Wang won a silver medal, losing the final to Canada�s Jennifer Jones.   Czech Republic is also making its world men�s debut.

In Canada, CBC-TV will provide live coverage of the semi-final, Saturday April 12, beginning with a special half-hour pre-game show at 2:00 pm ET prior to the game at 2:30 pm, and the gold medal final on Sunday, April 13 at 2:30 pm ET.

CBC�s digital channel bold (formerly Country Canada) will also carry several games�Canada�s opener against Denmark at 8:00 pm ET on Saturday, April 5, a Page playoff game on Friday, April 11 at 3:00 pm ET and the bronze medal match on April 12 at 8:00 pm ET. In addition, all of Canada�s round robin games and all playoff games will be web-streamed, live at www.cbcsports.ca.

WCTV, the television arm of the World Curling Federation, is providing daily game feeds and highlight packages for Eurosport and other international networks, while CurlTV (www.curltv.com <http://www.curltv.com> ) is offering extensive event coverage to its subscribers as well.

Draw results will be instantly available on the World Curling Federation (www.worldcurling.org <http://www.worldcurling.org> ) and Canadian Curling Association (www.curling.ca) websites.   The event website is www.worldmenscurling2008.com.

In addition to a world title, Olympic qualifying points are on the line, on a 14-12-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis, as nations continue to build up points over a three-year period (2007-2009) in order to qualify for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, when 10 countries, including host Canada, will compete.

This marks the third time this decade that the United States has hosted the world men�s championship. In 2002, the Ford world men�s and women�s championships were staged in Bismarck, North Dakota and won by Canada�s Randy Ferbey and Scotland�s Jackie Lockhart, respectively. In 2006, Scotland�s David Murdoch won the world men�s in Lowell, Massachusetts.

It�s also the fourth consecutive year that the men�s and women�s championships have been conducted separately, after being held jointly from 1989-2004.

Behind Canada�s leading 30 men�s titles come Sweden, with five, then Scotland and the United States, with four victories each.   Host USA�s last win, however, was back in 1978 by Bob Nichols, when the championship was played in Winnipeg.

For additional media information throughout the championship, contact Jayson Hajdu, Host Committee media chair or George Karrys, World Curling Federation Media Relations Officer, in the Arena media room at 701-777-6765, as of Friday, April 4.

Here are the team rosters for the 2008 world men�s curling championship.

2008 WORLD MEN�S CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP
April 5-13, Ralph Engelstad Arena
Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA

Roster (listed in order of skip, third, second, lead, alternate and coach)

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Harbour Curling Club, Sydney
Hugh Millikin (third stones)
Ian Palangio (fourth stones)
Sean Hall
Steve Johns
Steve Hewitt
Earle Morris

CANADA
Saville Sports Centre, Edmonton, Alberta
Kevin Martin
John Morris
Marc Kennedy
Ben Hebert
Adam Enright
Jules Owchar

CHINA
Harbin Curling Club, Harbin
Fengchun Wang
Rui Liu
Xiaoming Xu
Jialiang Zang
Dongyan Li
Daniel Rafael

CZECH REPUBLIC
CK Brno, Prague
Jiri Snitil
Martin Snitil
Jindrich Kitzberger
Marek Vydra
Milos Hoferka
Sune Frederiksen

DENMARK
Hvidovre Curling Club, Hvidovre
Johnny Frederiksen
Lars Vilandt
Bo Jensen
Ulrik Schmidt
Mikkel Poulsen
John Helston

FRANCE
Chamonix Curling Club, Chamonix
Thomas Dufour
Tony Angiboust
Jan Ducroz
Richard Ducroz
Raphael Mathieu
Andre Ferland

GERMANY
CC F�ssen, F�ssen
Andy Kapp
Andreas Lang
Holger H�hne
Andreas Kempf
Felix Schulze
Oliver Axnick

NORWAY
Snaroya CC, Oslo
Thomas Ulsrud
Torger Nerg�rd
Christoffer Svae
H�vard Vad Petersson
Thomas Due
Ole Ingvaldsen

SCOTLAND
Lockerbie Curling Club, Lockerbie
David Murdoch
Graeme Connal
Peter Smith
Euan Byers
Peter Loudon
David Hay

SWEDEN
CK Stocksunds, Danderyd
Anders Kraupp
Peder Folke
Bj�rn Brandberg
Anton Sandstr�m
Mats Nyberg
Stefan Hasselborg

SWITZERLAND
CC St. Galler B�r, Zurich
Claudio Pescia
Patrick H�rlimann
Pascal Sieber
Marco Battilana
Toni M�ller
Heinz Schmid

UNITED STATES
Madison Curling Club, Madison, Wisconsin
Craig Brown
Rich Ruohonen
John Dunlop
Peter Annis
Kevin Kakela
Steve Brown

KFC 12 and Under website - now with pictures
Posted Thursday, April 3, 2008 by derekm

The KFC Provincial 12 and Under Curling Championships website has now been updated with photos of the winners and runners-up, along with a photo album from the event.

The 2008 World Men's Curling Championship takes place in Grand Forks North Dakota April 5-13.

Round robin games featuring Canada will be available on the Internet at CBCSports.ca. The opening game will also be shown on CBC bold (formerly Country Canada).

The semi-final and final will be on the main CBC network, while the bronze medal game will be available on bold and on the Internet only.

Monday, April 7

Tuesday, April 8

Wednesday, April 9

Thursday, April 10

Friday, April 11

On bold & CBCSports.ca

Sunday, April 13

On CBC Television & CBCSports.ca

CBC attracts record audience for curling final
Posted Tuesday, April 1, 2008 by derekm

A record audience of 1.118 million viewers tuned in to CBC on Sunday to watch Canada's Jennifer Jones win her first world women's curling championship.

Cornwall's Smith, Fullerton, Schut win 12 and Under Ch'ships
Posted Sunday, March 30, 2008 by derekm

The KFC Provincial 12 and Under Curling Championships wrapped up today at the Crapaud Community Curling Club, with teams from the Cornwall Curling Club sweeping all three divisions.

In the four team boys division, Tyler Smith of Cornwall edged Charlottetown's Kyle Hughes by a 5-4 score in the sudden-death final. Hughes had lead the round robin with a 5-1 record, while Smith, and Montague's Evan O'Brien were 3-3. Smith beat O'Brien 7-3 in the tiebreaker game, taking five points in the fourth end, to advance to the final. Other members of the winning Smith foursome are Parker O'Connor, Noah O'Connor and Tyson Smith, with coach Kevin Smith. The runner-up Hughes rink includes Tony Nabuurs, Keith Nabuurs, Kip Ready, and coach Robbie Doherty. Johnathan MacDonald, Chandler Matheson, Mark Morrison and coach Barry MacDonald round out the third place O'Brien foursome.

In the five team girls division, the Katie Fullerton rink from the Cornwall Curling Club went undefeated, winning all four round robin games, and winning the best of three final round against Heather Drake (3-1 win-loss) of Montague by 5-2 and 9-3 scores, making the third game unnecessary. A triple, followed by a steal of five and another steal of a single point in the second through fourth ends brought the second game to a quick close. Other members of the Fullerton foursome are Sabrina Smith, Chloe McCloskey, and Rachel O'Connor. Paul Smith is coach. Amy Purchase, Emma Nabuurs, Shana Morrison, and coach David Nabuurs complete the runner-up Drake rink. Three members of the Fullerton rink were on last year's winning Veronica Smith team, with O'Connor joining the rink at lead, and the other three members advancing one position.

Both the boys and girls divisions played six-end games throughout the event, while the seven-team third division, which included both boys and girls rinks, was for the younger, less experienced teams, and featured four end games.

The winner of that division was Cornwall's Jonathan Schut foursome, who finished round robin play with a perfect 6-0 record. The Chandos Ross girls rink from Charlottetown finished second at 5-1, and played the Schut team in the best of three final round. Ross took the first game 5-4, with Schutt winning the next two by 6-1 and 5-4 scores. Other members of the winning Jonathan Schut team are Owen Newson, Devin Schut and Cameron MacKay, with coaches Sarah Fullerton, Whitney Young and Sara MacRae. Playing on the runner-up Chandos Ross team were Alanna MacDonald, Desiree MacDonald and Hannah Koughan, with coach Victoria Evans.

Saskatchewan's Eugene Hritzuk and British Columbia's 's Pat Sanders were winners in Sunday's finals at the Canadian Senior Curling Championships in Prince Albert Sask.

Hritzuk beat Moncton's Russ Howard 7-5 in 10 ends. Howard had the hammer, but couldn't close the gap in the final end.

On the women's side, Sanders only needed nine ends to beat Ontario's Ann Pearson 7-5.

Canada Crowned World Womens Champions
Posted Sunday, March 30, 2008 by derekm

VERNON, B.C. -- Three times was the charm here for Canada�s Jennifer Jones Sunday afternoon as she defeated China�s Bingyu Wang 7-4 to capture the 2008 Ford World Womens Curling Championship.

It was the third time in a week that Canada had played China -- they also played in the round-robin and the Page Playoff 1 vs 2 game -- but the only time that Canada managed to beat the feisty Chinese squad.

But when your only victory comes in the world final, it�s the only one that counts and the Canadian women were delerious with what was the first world title for all four members of the Winnipeg team -- Jones, third Cathy Overton-Clapham, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askin.

"We felt we played great from start to finish, something we hadn't done all week," Jones said afterward.

It was a disappointing finish to the week for a Chinese squad that surprised everyone as they finished first overall in the round-robin and then advanced straight to the final with a win over Canada in Friday night�s 1 vs 2 game.

But China still gets the consolation of a silver medal, the first ever won by an Asian team in the history of the world curling championships, men or women.

Canada fell behind early in both their losses to China earlier in the week, but it was the opposite script here in the final. After holding China to one with the hammer in the first end, Canada cracked a three-ender in the second end when Wang jammed a hit with her last rock, leaving Canada lying two and Jones needing only to draw the full 12-foot with the last rock of the end to get the third point.

It was a critical mistake from which China never recovered. After trading singles for the next four ends, the teams headed into the seventh end with Canada leading 4-3 and holding hammer. China was threatening to steal one, with a rock locked on to the button. But Jones played a double angle-raised takeout, to drive the Chinese counter off the button and leave Canada with a deuce when the smoke settled.

It�s the 15th world womens curling championship for Canada, but just the third won on Canadian soil. Marilyn Bodogh�s victory�s in 1986 and 1996 are the only other two times Canadian women have won world titles in the 10 world womens championships that have been contested in this country.

It's also the second straight world women's title for Canada. B.C.'s Kelly Scott won for Canada last year in Aomori, Japan.

Switzerland won the bronze medal, defeating Japan late Saturday evening. Switzerland skip Mirjam Ott also won the Frances Brodie Award, voted by her fellow curlers to the player who best exhibits sportsmanship and ability.

Howard vs Hritzuk, Pearson vs Sanders in Seniors finals
Posted Sunday, March 30, 2008 by derekm

The Canadian Seniors finals go at 5 Atlantic this afternoon in Prince Albert Sask.

The men's final sees Russ Howard of New Brunswick face Eugene Hritzuk of Sask., while Ontario's Ann Pearson faces BC's Pat Sanders in the womens.

Miracle Comeback Advances Canada to Womens Final; Switzerland wins bronze
Posted Sunday, March 30, 2008 by derekm

Saturday, March 29, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

VERNON, B.C. -- Canada's Jennifer Jones authored yet another dramatic comeback here at the Ford World Womens Curling Championship Saturday afternoon and she has a date with China in the final to show for it.

Jones overcame deficits of 6-3 and 8-5 to beat Japan's Moe Meguro 9-8 in an extra end in a thrilling semi-final, characterized by great shot-making and all the late-end drama you could ask for.

Trailing 8-5, Jones scored a deuce in the ninth end and then stole both the 10th and 11th ends to complete the unlikely comeback and thwart what would have been an all-Pacific world final between China and Japan.

The Japanese then went on to play Switzerland's Mirjam Ott in the bronze medal game Saturday evening, with Switzerland winning by a 9-7 score.

The Canadians now advance to Sunday's final where they will face China's Bingyu Wang.

Wang has already beaten the Canadians twice this week -- once in the round-robin and once in the Page Playoff 1 vs 2 game -- but it won't mean much if she cannot beat the tenacious Canadians when it counts most.

An emotional Jones emerged from the ice with nothing but praise for the gritty effort her team put forth in coming back against Japan.

"We're just determined and we never give up," Jones said. "It's shows a lot of character. I'm very proud of us. That was outstanding."

Meguro, meantime, seemed less than devestated by the loss. "We curled very good game, but the last two ends, the 10th and extra ends, they played very well."

The gold medal game on Sunday will air live on the full CBC network, beginning at 2:30 p.m. AT.

Round robin over at KFC 12 and Under
Posted Saturday, March 29, 2008 by derekm

Round robin play wrapped up Saturday night at the KFC Provincial 12 and Under Curling Championships in Crapaud.

In the four-team boy's pool, Kyle Hughes of Charlottetown finished in first place with a 5-1 win-loss record, and advances to the final Sunday at 4 pm. He awaits the winner of a 1 pm Sunday tiebreaker between Evan O'Brien of Montague and Cornwall's Tyler Smith, who both finished the round robin at 3-3. The other team in the pool, skipped by Alex Matters of Charlottetown, had one win and five losses.

In the five team girl's pool, Katie Fullerton of Cornwall finished first with a perfect 4-0 record, followed by Heather Drake of Montague at 3-1. They now play in a best of three final, with games set for 1 and 4 pm on Sunday, and (if needed) 5:30 pm Monday (may be moved up to 7 pm Sunday). Kailey Koughan of Charlottetown finished at 2-2, with Jenny McLean of the Silver Fox at 1-3, and Jessica Stewart of the Fox at 0-4.

The third pool, with seven teams, includes both boys and girls rinks. Johnathan Schut finished the round robin at 6-0, followed by Chandos Ross at 5-1. They now play in a best of three final, with games set for 1 and 4 pm on Sunday, and (if needed) 5:30 pm Monday (may be moved up to 7 pm Sunday). Alex MacFadyen of Charlottetown finished third at 4-2, followed by Heidi Hennessey of Charlottetown at 3-3, Katie Rossiter of Cornwall at 2-4, Frank Watts of Crapauid at 1-5, and Kayla Schut of Crapaud at 0-6.

Playoffs set at Canadian Seniors
Posted Saturday, March 29, 2008 by derekm
Round robin play wrapped up Friday at the Canadian Seniors in Prince Albert SK. BC's Pat Sanders finished atop the women's standings with a 10-1 record, after losing 7-5 loss to Saskatchewan's Delores Syrota in Draw 21. Sanders and Syrota (7-4) will meet in one semifinal on Saturday, while Ontario's Ann Pearson and Alberta's Sandy Turner, who both finished at 7-3, will play in the other. PEI's Barb Currie foursome split their final games, losing 10-4 to Quebec's Agnes Charette, but winning 7-6 over the Territories to finish at 5-6.

On the men's side, Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse, Saskatchewan's Eugene Hritzuk and New Brunswick's Russ Howard all finished round-robin action tied for first at 9-2, followed by Manitoba's Vic Peters, who finished 8-3 after losing to Rafuse 10-4 in Draw 21. PEI's Ted MacFadyen rink ended play on a winning note at 4-7 after beating Quebec 5-2, and the Territories 9-4 on Friday.

Howard will play Peters in the first semifinal, while Hritzuk will take on Rafuse in the second. The final goes Sunday.

China defeats Canada in Page 1-2 game at World Womens
Posted Saturday, March 29, 2008 by derekm

VERNON, B.C. - Jennifer Jones didn't have to worry about a 10th-end miss this time.

Jones's foursome fell behind early, rallied late and ultimately fell just short in a 7-5 loss to China's Bingyu Wang in Page playoff action Friday at the Ford world women's curling championship.

Friday, March 28, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

VERNON, B.C. -- In a week that's put Asian curling in the spotlight like never before, Japan's Moe Meguro continued to write an unlikely script with a stunning 6-4 win over Switzerland's Mirjam Ott in the Page Playoff 3 vs 4 game here at the Ford World Womens Curling Championship Friday afternoon.

The victory means Japan will play in Saturday afternoon's semi-final against the winner of tonight's Page Playoff 1 vs 2 game between Canada's Jennifer Jones and China's Bingyu Wang.

Switzerland, meanwhile, has now been relegated to Saturday night's bronze medal game.

Japan scored early and often to put the Swiss on their heels, taking a deuce in the third end and then stealing singles in each of the next three ends to take a 5-1 lead into the seventh end.

The Swiss battled back with a deuce in eight and a steal in nine and Ott had Meguro in serious trouble in the tenth end, with a Swiss rock on the four-foot, all kinds of guards out front and a chance to put one more guard up with her last.

But Ott's guard never curled enough and it left the Swiss counter half-exposed, allowing Meguro with the last rock of the game to tap it out the back of the house and stick around for the win.

The Japanese seemed just as surprised with their victory as everyone else was that they had just beaten the two-time Olympic silver medallist skip from Switzerland.

"Yeah, I can't believe it," said Japan third Mari Motohashi, who curled a sizzling 94 percent against Ott.

The Japanese advanced to the 3 vs 4 game with a 7-3 win earlier in the day over Denmark's Angelina Jensen.

With both China and Japan in the final four, an Asian country will for the first time here this weekend win a medal at the world curling championships.

Motohashi cautioned, however, that her team will have to play better as the weekend progresses.

"I want to make more shots and my teammates too, because the late ends weren't so good." she said.

Canada vs China in 1-2 Page Playoff Game at World Womens
Posted Friday, March 28, 2008 by derekm

Friday, March 28, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

VERNON, B.C. -- Canada's Jennifer Jones will play China's Bingyu Wang in the Page Playoff 1 vs 2 game here at the Ford World Womens Curling Championship Friday evening.

Canada advanced to the big game with a 7-3 victory over Sweden's Stina Viktorsson on the final draw of the round-robin here Thursday evening.

China kept pace with a narrow 6-5 victory over Germany's Andrea Schoepp, while Switzerland's Mirjam Ott was also a winner, dropping Russia's Liudmila Privivkova 9-4.

Put it altogether and the round-robin ended with Canada, China and Switzerland all tied for first place with 9-2 records.

Because the three teams all had identical 1-1 records against each other during the round-robin, officials resorted to a second tiebreaker -- a team draw to the button competition that was staged just prior to this event.

China won that competition, Canada finished second and Switzerland finished third. So that put China and Canada in the 1-2 game (with China getting the first place advantage of hammer or choice of rocks) while Switzerland was relegated to Friday afternoon's page-playoff 3 vs 4 game.

Switzerland will play the winner of a tiebreaker game Friday morning between Denmark's Angelina Jensen and Japan's Moe Meguro.

The winner of the 3-4 game advances to Saturday's semi-final to face the loser of the 1-2 game.

Canada played what was probably their strongest game of this event against Sweden. "We got out of the gate quite well and had consistent play from start to finish," said second Jill Officer. "We felt a lot better about things."

"It's playoffs," said third Cathy Overton-Clapham, "and we're right where we wanted to be.

Friday's 3-4 page playoff game will be played at 5 p.m. AT and air live on TSN. The 1-2 game will also air live on TSN, beginning at 10 p.m. Atlantic.

Danes Drop Canada 6-3 at World Womens
Posted Thursday, March 27, 2008 by derekm

Thursday, March 27, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

VERNON, B.C. -- Denmark's Angelina Jensen clinched a playoff tiebreaker for her team and put a bit of a kink into Canada's playoff plans here at the Ford World Womens Curling Championship Thursday morning.

Jensen jumped out to a 3-0 lead over Canada's Jennifer Jones and never looked back, cruising to a 6-3 victory that seemed never much in doubt.

The win improved Denmark to 7-3 and it guarantees they will play in at least a playoff tiebreaker game on Friday.

The loss dropped Canada's record to 8-2. That puts them into a tie for second place with Switzerland's Mirjam Ott, who was a 7-4 winner over USA's Debbie McCormick.

The loss dropped USA's record to 5-5 and eliminates them from playoff contention.

In other games Thursday morning, Japan beat Germany 9-4, while Italy beat Czech Republic 6-3.

The win by Japan improved their record to 6-4 and kept them in playoff contention. Germany, Italy and Czech Republic had already been eliminated.

Also still in playoff contention is Sweden, who head into a game this afternoon against Denmark at 5-4. The Swedes finish their round-robin with a game against Canada Thursday night.

With a win against Sweden, Canada would guarantee themselves a berth in Friday's page playoff 1 vs 2 game.

"Obviously, we'd like to pick it up and play a little better," said Canada third Cathy Overton-Clapham.

But Danish vice-skip Madeleine Dupont couldn't be happier with how her team is playing.

"Seriously, I didn't think we'd beat (Canada) today. We weren't so confident today," Dupont said.

In Thursday afternoon action, Scotland plays Italy, Russia plays USA, China plays Japan and Sweden plays Denmark.

Currie 4-3, MacFadyen 2-5 at Cdn Seniors.
Posted Thursday, March 27, 2008 by derekm

PEI's Barb Currie and Ted MacFadyen rinks both picked up wins yesterday at the Canadian Seniors in Prince Albert Sask.

MacFadyen beat Northern Ontario 11-7 last night, after losing 9-7 to two-time world champ Russ Howard of New Brunswick.
Saskatchewan's Eugene Hritzuk leads the pack with an 8-0 win-loss record, followed by Howard and Vic Peters of Manitoba at 6-2. Ontario, NS, and BC are at 5-2, while Alberta, BC, the Territories and Northern Ontario all have two wins, and Quebec and Newfoundland/Labrador have only one win.

On the women's side, Barb Currie improved to 4-3, bombing Northern Ontario 12-2, and beating New Brunswick 9-6 yesterday.
BC is atop the leaderboard at 7-0, followed by Alberta and Newfoundland/Labrador with 5 wins, Ontario, PEI, Quebec, Sask. and Manitoba with 4, NS with 3, Northern Ont. and NB with 2, and the Territories with a single win.

China Fends Off Italy, Improves to 8-1 at World Womens
Posted Thursday, March 27, 2008 by derekm

Thursday, March 27, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

VERNON, B.C. -- China's Bingyu Wang fought off a challenge from a feisty Italian squad here at the Ford World Womens Curling Championship Wednesday evening to improve to 8-1 and head into the final day of the round-robin tied with Canada for first place.

Trailing Italy 8-7 coming home, Wang scored three with the hammer in the final frame to win 10-8.

China had led Italy 6-3 at one point, but Italian skip Diana Gaspari stole two in the seventh end and then scored two more in the ninth end to take the lead. The loss dropped Italy to 1-8.

In other games Wednesday evening, Denmark's Angelina Jensen surrendered a steal in the tenth end to lose 4-3 to Russia. The loss dropped Denmark's record to 6-3, while Russia improved to 4-5.

Japan's Moe Meguro improved to 5-4 with a 7-2 win over Scotland's Gail Munro, who dropped to 1-8.

And finally, USA's Debbie McCormick gave up a steal in the extra end to lose 8-7 to Sweden's Stina Viktorsson. The loss dropped USA to 5-4, while Sweden improved to 5-4.

Put it altogether and China and Canada head into Thursday tied for first place and with playoff spots now clinched. The two teams are followed a game behind by Switzerland at 7-2. Then it's Denmark at 6-3 alone in fourth place, followed by Japan, USA and Sweden all tied at 5-4.

The top four teams at the conclusion of the round-robin Thursday evening will advance to Friday's page playoffs.

The worlds continues Thursday morning with Canada taking on Denmark, Italy playing Czech Republic, USA playing Switzerland and Japan playing Germany.

Canada Clinches Playoff Tiebreaker at World Womens
Posted Wednesday, March 26, 2008 by derekm

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

VERNON, B.C. -- Canada's Jennifer Jones has clinched at least a playoff tiebreaker game here at the Ford World Womens Curling Championship.

With an 8-6 win over Scotland's Gail Munro Wednesday afternoon, Canada's Jones improved to 8-1 and would play in at least a playoff tiebreaker game even if she were to lose her final two round-robin games on Thursday.

Canada plays Denmark Thursday morning and then wraps up their round-robin against Sweden Thursday night.

"We're in the driver's seat and we control our own destiny and that's what we want," Jones said after the win over Scotland.

Canada cracked a four against the Scots in the third end to take a 4-2 lead but Scotland battled back and took the game to the tenth end before finally yielding. Munro struggled mightily with her draw weight in the game, shooting just 60 percent.

In other games Wednesday afternoon, China's Bingyu Wang -- the last undefeated team in the field -- finally suffered a loss, falling 9-7 to Switzerland's Mirjam Ott. Ott broke open a tight game with a five-ender in the eighth.

The loss dropped China to 7-1. They play again Wednesday evening against Italy's Diana Gaspari.

Canada Outlasts Japan in Extra End

Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Source: Canadian Curling Association

VERNON, BC -- Canada's Jennifer Jones needed an extra end to defeat Japan's Moe Meguro 7-4 here at the World Womens Curling Championship Wednesday morning.

In a game in which the two teams traded singles all game, Canada saved their biggest firepower for the extra frame, cracking a three-ender to put an exclamation point on the victory.

The extra end was set up by third Cathy Overton-Clapham, who negotiated a small port to pluck a Japanese counter off the back four-foot and then roll behind cover.

"I didn't make any big shots all game so it was nice to make that one," said Overton Clapham, who was outshot 85-69 by her Japanese counterpart, Mari Motohashi.

"It was a little bit of a nailbiter," said Winnipeg's Jones, "and we were happy to have the hammer in the extra."

The win improves Canada to 7-1 and keeps them alone in second place. China, who was idle Wednesday morning, continues to lead at 7-0, while Denmark and Switzerland trail Canada by a game at 6-2.

Denmark scored one with the hammer in the extra end to beat Germany Wednesday morning, while Switzerland smoked Italy 10-2 in just seven ends.

In the only other game Wednesday morning, USA stayed in the playoff hunt with a narrow 7-6 win over Czech Republic. The Americans took two in the eighth end and then stole two in the ninth end to avoid losing their third straight.

The victory improves the Americans record to 5-3, putting them alone in fifth place heading into the afternoon draw. The top four teams at the conclusion of the round-robin tomorrow advance to the page playoffs.

Spud Isle Junior Camp set for Crapaud in August
Posted Wednesday, March 26, 2008 by derekm

The 2008 edition of the Spud Isle Summer Junior Curling camp goes August 11 and 12 at the Crapaud Community Curling Club.

Entry fee of $100.00 per person includes on ice training, video analysis, class room sessions, outdoor activities, meals, nutrition breaks, camp t-shirts, and more.

Registration deadline is Friday 30 May 2008. Entries will be processed on a first paid, first served basis.

This camp is open to curlers 11 to 16 years of age with at least one year curling experience. Team and individual entries are accepted

Please forward registration and consent forms, with entry fees to:
Gayle Johnston
46 Kirkdale Rd. Box 3 Site 10
Charlottetown, PEI C1E 1N6
Tel: 368-1071 Email: gaylej@pei.sympatico.ca

Rideau club in Ottawa seeking ice manager
Posted Wednesday, March 26, 2008 by derekm

Located in Ottawa, the Rideau is a vibrant full-service curling club with a large, active membership of recreational and competitive curlers. We are seeking an Ice Manager who will provide top quality ice conditions efficiently and consistently, and who will communicate well with members, the Club Manager and the House and Ice Committee of the Board.
Reporting to the Curling Club Manager, the Ice Manager will be responsible for all aspects of start-up and ice preparation, rock maintenance, maintenance of the ice plant and related equipment, on-going ice cleaning and maintenance, supervision of casual and part-time assistants, plant shut-down procedures and other functions related to the cleanliness, quality and safety of the curling club�s ice area. The position requires fulltime commitment from September through April each year, beginning in 2008.
The successful candidate will have a Level 2 Ice Technician certification plus 5 years of successful Ice Manager experience or an equivalent combination of formal training and experience. A competitive compensation package is provided. For further details on the duties of the position or to express an interest in applying, please contact:
Audrey Frey
Manager, Rideau Curling Club
715 Cooper Street,
Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 5J5
Phone: 613-232-9665
Fax: 613-232-9666
E-mail: manager@rideaucurlingclub.com
Interested applicants should submit a resume to the above address by April 14, 2008.

PEI senior rinks find win columns
Posted Wednesday, March 26, 2008 by derekm

PRINCE ALBERT, SASK. � The two P.E.I. rinks have hit the win column at the Canadian senior curling championships.
Barb Currie, from the Silver Fox club in Summerside, is 2-3 while Ted MacFadyen, from the Charlottetown club, is 1-4.

Click to read this story from The Guardian

Canada Stages Big Comeback, Beats U.S. 10-9 at World Womens
Posted Wednesday, March 26, 2008 by derekm

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

VERNON, B.C. -- Canada's Jennifer Jones bounced back from a 6-1 deficit to beat USA's Debbie McCormick 10-9 here at the Ford World Womens Curling Championship Tuesday evening.

Down 6-1 after just four ends, Canada's Jones began the comeback with a three-ender in the fifth, the product of two perfect draws to the four-foot by the Winnipeg skip.

Jones drew again in the seventh end for a three-ender to tie the game and then claimed the first lead of the game for Canada in the eighth end with a steal.

But the Americans wouldn't yield, scoring a deuce of their own in the ninth end to take a 9-8 lead heading home for the tenth.

With Canada in serious trouble, Jones negotiated a tiny port with her first rock of the final frame to lie shot for Canada on the four-foot. McCormick, the 2003 world champion, needed to match the shot but she crashed on a guard out front, clearing a path for Jones to draw the four-foot with the last rock of the game and score a game-winning deuce.

The win improved Canada to 6-1, a game behind unbeaten China and a game ahead of Switzerland and Denmark, who are both 5-2. Denmark scored three in the tenth end to snatch a 9-7 victory away from Switzerland Tuesday evening.

The loss to Canada was McCormick's second of the day -- she was beaten 10-1 by China on the afternoon draw -- and drops the Americans' record to 4-3. That puts them in a tie with Germany's Andrea Schoepp and Japan's Moe Meguro.

Germany won their third straight Tuesday evening, dropping Italy's Diana Gaspari 5-2, while Japan needed an extra end to beat Czech Republic 5-4.

The top four teams make the playoffs and Schoepp wondered Tuesday evening if her late charge is already too little, too late.

The worlds resumes Wednesday morning when Canada plays Japan, Denmark plays Germany, Italy plays Switzerland and USA plays Czech Republic.

China Demolishes USA 10-1, Improves to 7-0 at World Womens
Posted Wednesday, March 26, 2008 by derekm

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

VERNON, B.C. -- If there was still any lingering question that China's Bingyu Wang is for real, it was settled here this afternoon at the 2008 Ford World Womens Curling Championship.

China scored early and often in simply overwhelming USA"s Debbie McCormick. The Chinese led 7-1 by the fifth end break and McCormick finally conceded two ends later having yielded successive steals of one and two to make the final score 10-1. The win improved the Chinese to 7-0.

The emphatic victory over one of the top contenders in this field came just one draw after China beat Canada's Jennifer Jones -- another top contender -- by a score of 9-7.

Put it altogether and China now has more wins in this event already than they've ever registered before at a worlds. Their previous record was six wins, achieved two years ago in Grande Prairie.

McCormick said the the drubbing was the result of a good Chinese team, but even more so the changed ice conditions that her team failed to pick up on.

Wang suggested maybe it was the Americans who simply beat themselves. "Today, the USA played not good."

The loss dropped USA's record to 4-2, a game behind Canada and Switzerland who are tied for second at 5-1.

In other games Tuesday afternoon, Denmark defeated Scotland 7-6, Japan beat Russia 10-5 and Sweden beat Italy 9-7.

China Dumps Canada 9-7, Takes Over First at World Womens
Posted Wednesday, March 26, 2008 by derekm

China's Bingyu Wang is the last remaining undefeated team here at the Ford Womens World Curling Championship, sporting a perfect 6-0 record thanks to a 9-7 win over Canada's Jennifer Jones here Tuesday morning.

With the game tied 7-7 and facing three Chinese counters with the last rock of the tenth end, Jones needed the eight-foot to seal the victory. But her draw was heavy, slid all the way to the back 12-foot and China stole two and the victory.

"It's a shot we don't miss very often and unfortunately I missed it today," Jones said.

"I feel surprised. The last end we were so lucky because Jennifer played so well," Wang said.

The loss dropped Canada to 5-1 and puts them in a tie for second place with Switzerland's Mirjam Ott. Ott kept pace with an 8-4 win over Scotland Tuesday morning.

Canada dug themselves a hole early against China, falling behind 3-0 in just the second end when they gave up a steal of two. But the Canadians battled back with a three of their own in the fifth end to send the game to the break tied 4-4.

A steal in the sixth end gave Canada their first lead of the game, but the Chinese refused to quit, scoring a deuce in the seventh end and then taking one in the ninth end to send the game home tied.

It's the second time China has beaten Canada at the worlds. Wang also beat Kelly Scott 5-4 in Grande Prairie, Alberta in 2006.

Currie picks up 1st win, MacFadyen still winless at Cdn. Seniors
Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 by derekm

PEI's Barb Currie rink improved to 1-2 yesterday at the Canadian Seniors in Prince Albert Sask., recovering from a 13-1 drubbing by BC's Pat Sanders yesterday morning by edging Nova Scotia's Yvonne Martin rink 8-7 in the evening draw.

Ted MacFadyen lost both his games yesterday, 5-4 in an extra end to BC, and 8-4 to Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse to slip to 0-3.

Canada and China in First-place Showdown at World Womens
Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 by derekm

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

VERNON, B.C. -- Canada's Jennifer Jones and China's Bingyu Wang will face off here Tuesday morning at the Ford World Womens Curling Championship with first place hanging in the balance.

Both nations remained undefeated after victories Monday night. Canada defeated Russia's Liudmila Privivkova 9-6, while China beat Czech Republic's Katerina Urbanova 7-5.

The victories improved Canada and China to 5-0 and leaves them as the only undefeated teams remaining heading into Day 4 here.

Jones faced Wang at the 2005 women's worlds -- Canada won -- and the Canadians said they'll need a top effort to beat them again on Tuesday.

"They're a good team," said Canada third Cathy Overton-Clapham. "They make a lot of shots and they're technically sound and always play well."

The winless Czechs actually briefly led China, but Wang took over in the game's middle ends and the final outcome was never much in doubt.

Canada got a tougher test from Russia, who stole singles in the game's first two ends. But three-enders for Jones in the third and eighth ends proved to be the margin of difference.

Canada and China head into Tuesday a game ahead of USA and Switzerland, who are both 4-1. USA was idle Monday evening, but Switzerland kept pace with the leaders thanks to a 7-6 win over Sweden.

The Canada-China showdown will be broadcast live by TSN at 11:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

Other games Tuesday morning will feature Switzerland versus Scotland, Czech Republic versus Russia and Germany against Sweden.

KFC 12 and Under starts Thursday in Crapaud
Posted Monday, March 24, 2008 by derekm

Smoking Debate-Move to eliminate smoking rooms has Silver Fox general manager anxious
Posted Monday, March 24, 2008 by derekm

SUMMERSIDE � Designated smoking areas in bars, restaurants, legions and clubs could become history shortly, thanks to the expansion of the Province�s Smoke Free Places Act, first passed in 2003.
Carson Ricketts, manager of the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, says it�s unfortunate, but it�s also a sign of the times.

Canada and China Remain Lone Unbeaten teams at World Women's
Posted Monday, March 24, 2008 by derekm

Monday, March 24, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

VERNON, B.C. -- Canada's Jennifer Jones and China's Bingyu Wang head into Day 3 on Monday here at the Ford World Womens Curling Championship as the lone remaining undefeated teams in the field.

Canada's Jones improved to 3-0 Sunday evening with an 11-6 win over Germany's Andrea Schoepp, while China's Wang also improved to 3-0 with an 8-4 win over Scotland's Gail Munro.

While Canada was widely expected to be a serious contender here on home ice this week, the unblemished play of the Chinese has surprised even the most optimistic observer.

"It's a good start," she said Sunday night. "We hope we can keep it going. But it doesn't really matter as long as we keep playing well."

Jones, meantime, summed up her attitude succintly on a day that saw Canada crack a six-ender in an 11-4 win over Czech Republic and then a five-ender in the win over Germany.

Jones was trailing Schoepp 3-2 when the German skip flashed a takeout attempt with her last rock of the fourth end. That left Jones needing only to draw the paint to score what proved to be a decisive five-ender.

Canada gets the bye on Monday morning before taking on Italy's Diana Gaspari on the afternoon draw and then Russia's Luidmila Privivkova on the evening draw.

In other games Sunday evening, Russia defeated Sweden 7-5 while Switzerland beat Czech Republic 9-5.

The worlds resumes Monday morning when Sweden plays Japan, China faces Denmark, Russia plays Italy and Scotland plays USA.

Over in six - Jones still unbeaten at Worlds
Posted Sunday, March 23, 2008 by derekm

Canada's Jennifer Jones remained unbeaten at the Ford world women's curling championship Sunday with an 11-4, six-end win over Katerina Urbanova of the Czech Republic.

PEI drops Seniors openers against Alberta
Posted Sunday, March 23, 2008 by derekm

PEI's Barb Currie and Ted MacFadyen rinks dropped their openers today at the Canadian Seniors in Prince Albert Saskatchewan. MacFadyen was tied 4-4 with Alberta's Bob Genoway after eight ends, but the Alberta foursome won 7-4 with a three-pointer in the ninth.

Currie, and Alberta's Sandy Turner were tied at two after four ends, but Alberta out-singled the PEI foursome 4-1 in the later ends to win 6-3.

PEI rinks sweep Atlantic Under 18 Curling Ch'ships
Posted Sunday, March 23, 2008 by derekm

The Atlantic Under 18 Curling Championships wrapped up this afternoon in Truro, with the PEI teams sweeping both sections.

In the junior men's championship, the Sam Ramsay rink from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club in Summerside edged the defending champions, the Kendal Thompson foursome from the Lakeshore Curling Club in Nova Scotia, by a 6-5 score, scoring a triple in the third end and stealing another three in the fourth to build up a 6-3 win. Thompson came back with singles in five and six, but Ramsay blanked the next two ends to maintain his lead and pull out the win.

Playing with Ramsay are third Neil Gallant, second Brett Gallant, the PEI junior men's champion skip who now adds an Atlantic championship to his collection, and lead Eric Pidgeon. Peter Pidgeon is their coach.

The Sarah Fullerton foursome from the Cornwall Curling Club, with Michelle McQuaid at third, Madeline Campbell at second, and Sara MacRae playing lead, with coach Rebecca Jean MacPhee, trailed the Abbey Burgess rink from Fredericton's Capital Winter Club 3-0 after three ends in the junior women's final, but took control of the game with a pair in end four, another deuce in the fifth, and two more steals of a single point in ends six and seven to lead 6-3. New Brunswick grabbed a pair in the final end, but needed three to tie, and Fullerton won 6-5.

The Sam Ramsay rink led the junior men's round robin with a 3-1 win-loss record. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the host team were all 2-2, while Newfoundland/Labrador were 1-3.

New Brunswick were atop the junior women's round robin, with a 4-0 record, followed by PEI and Newfoundland/Labrador, both at 2-2. The host team and Nova Scotia were both 1-3.

Ramsay and Fullerton looking good at Atlantic U18
Posted Sunday, March 23, 2008 by derekm

PEi's Sam Ramsay rink is leading the pack in the junor men's section of the Atlantic Under 18 curling championships in Truro. The Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club foursome, which includes third Neil Gallant, second Brett Gallant, and lead Eric Pidgeon, finished round robin play last night with a 3-1 record, after a loss Thursday night to New Brunswick, and wins yesterday over Newfoundland/Labrador and the host team. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are 2-1, while the host team are 1-2 and the Newfoundland/Labrador squad are 0-3.

New Brunswick's Abbey Burgess of Fredericton lead the women's side at 4-0, and have earned a bye to the final game. PEI's Sarah Fullerton rink, which curls out of the Cornwall Curling Club and includes Michelle McQuaid at third, Madeline Campbell at second, and lead Sara MacRae, is next at 2-1, after losing 6-5 to New Brunswick in an extra end and edging Nova Scotia 8-7. Newfoundland/Labrador and the host team are 1-2, while Nova Scotia is 0-3.

Round robin play wraps up this morning with the 9 am draw, with Fullerton facing Newfoundland/Labrador. Tiebreakers go at noon, with the finals at 2.

Canada Opens on Winning Note at Ford Womens World Ch'ships
Posted Sunday, March 23, 2008 by derekm

Sunday, March 23, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

VERNON, B.C. -- Canada's Jennifer Jones kicked off her 2008 Ford Womens World Curling Championship on a winning note here Saturday night, dropping Switzerland's Mirjam Ott 6-3.

Jones scored the only deuce of the game in the first end as the two teams traded singles the rest of the way. Trailing 5-3 in the tenth end, Ott actually had a circus triple-takeout for a possible game-tying deuce with the last rock of the game but she was only able to remove one of the Canada stones.

The win means Winnipeg's Jones, with third Cathy Overton-Clapham, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askin, will now head into Day 2 here on Sunday sporting a 1-0 record and having confidence in the knowledge they have already beaten one of the leading contenders in this field.

"That's a big win against Switzerland," said Officer. "We expect them to be there at the end of the week and we hope to be there too. And that could be a factor at the end of the week."

Ott said she was pleased with how her team played, particularly in what she characterized as a difficult environment before a boisterous crowd at the Greater Vernon Multiplex.

"It's a little hard to play in Canada against Canada," said the two-time Olympic silver medallist. "We're not used to all those spectators."

In other games Saturday evening, Denmark's Angelina Jensen improved to 2-0 with an 8-6 win over Italy's Diana Gaspari; USA's Debbie McCormick evened her record at 1-1 with an 8-4 win over Japan's Moe Meguro; and Germany's Andrea Schoepp needed an extra end to edge Czech Republic's Katerina Urbanova 5-4.

Canada's Jones gets a bye on the abbreviated Sunday morning draw. That draw will see just two games -- China versus Russia and Sweden versus Scotland.

Canada plays twice later in the day, taking on Czech Republic on the afternoon draw and Germany during the evening.

PEI Senior Rinks Expect Tough Competition (Transcontinental)
Posted Saturday, March 22, 2008 by derekm

SUMMERSIDE � Barb Currie of Summerside is well aware of the tough competition that awaits the P.E.I. women at the 2008 Canadian senior curling championships March 23-30 in Prince Albert, Sask.
On the men�s side, Ted MacFadyen is hoping to post his best-ever finish in sixth appearances at the championships. His best record was 6-5 in both 2001 and 2006.

PEI's Fullerton, Ramsay win Atlantic Under 18 openers
Posted Friday, March 21, 2008 by derekm

PEI teams started off on a winning note at the 2008 Atlantic Under 18 Curling Championships, which got underway this afternoon at the Truro Curling Club, with the provincial age 17 and under champions from the four Atlantic provinces, plus a host team, competing.

PEI is represented by its Sylvan Learning Provincial 17 and Under champions the Sarah Fullerton rink from Cornwall, and the Sam Ramsay foursome from the Silver Fox.

The Fullerton team, who has substituted Madeline Campbell for second Whitney Young in this event, defeated the host team 9-2 in their opener, while the Ramsay rink beat defending champion Kendal Thompson of Nova Scotia 10-4.

Ramsay is playing Team New Brunswick, while Fullerton is playing Team Nova Scotia in the second draw, which got underway at 6:30.

2008 Canadian Seniors begin Sunday in Prince Albert
Posted Thursday, March 20, 2008 by derekm

March 20, 2008�The 2008 Canadian senior men�s and women�s curling championships begin Sunday in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

Twelve men�s and 12 women�s teams, representing the 10 provinces plus Northern Ontario and Yukon/Northwest Territories, will battle for Canadian titles. The teams play a round robin, with the first place teams advancing directly to Sunday�s final (March 30) while the second and third place teams meet in semi-finals on Saturday (or Sunday morning, if two or more tiebreakers required).

The winning teams will then represent Canada next year at the world seniors, which will be held April 24-May 3, 2009 in Dunedin, New Zealand. Last year�s Canadian Senior champions, Alberta�s Pat Ryan and Diane Foster, recently (last weekend) won gold medals at the 2008 world seniors in Vierum�ki, Finland.

Prince Albert has previously hosted several other Canadian championships, including the 1984 and 2005 Canadian mixed, 1987 Canadian juniors and 1972 Canadian senior men�s.

Overall, Manitoba has won a leading 10 Canadian senior men�s titles since the championship began in 1965 in Port Arthur, Ontario. Saskatchewan has won six, the last by Gary Bryden in 1998 in Sault Ste. Marie.

The women�s championship has been won by Ontario a leading 10 times, including three of the last four editions, since it began in 1973 in Ottawa. Saskatchewan also has six women�s crowns to its credit, the last by Nancy Kerr in 2003 in Lethbridge. The men�s and women�s events were conducted separately until being combined in 1985 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan.

This year�s line-up is an intriguing one. Among the men�s skips are New Brunswick�s Russ Howard, Manitoba�s Vic Peters, Nova Scotia�s Brian Rafuse, Prince Edward Island�s Ted MacFadyen and Saskatchewan�s Eugene Hritzuk.

Howard, a two-time Brier and world champion (1987, 1993) and 2006 Olympic gold medallist, is making his Canadian Seniors debut, as is Peters, who skipped Manitoba to victory in the 1992 Brier and was the 1997 Brier runner-up.

Rafuse and his Bridgewater team just finished competing in the 2008 Tim Hortons Brier in Winnipeg, finishing with a 3-8 record, MacFadyen is a Brier and Seniors veteran, while Hritzuk, the 1988 Brier runner-up, finished second at the 2005 Canadian Seniors, then third in 2006.

The women�s roster includes Quebec�s Agn�s Charette, a three-time Canadian Seniors champion (1997, 1999, 2000) and British Columbia�s Pat Sanders, who won the 1987 Canadian and world women�s titles and the 1985 Canadian mixed.

British Columbia � Juan de Fuca Curling Club, Victoria

Manitoba � Minnedosa Curling Club, Minnedosa

Jean Garbolinsky, Heather Lewis, Cheryl Orr, Diane Sadler

New Brunswick � Beaver Curling Club, Moncton

Newfoundland and Labrador � Re/Max Centre (St. John�s Curling Club), St. John�s

Barbara Pinsent, Marian Dawe, Joyce Nichols, Diane Ryan

Northern Ontario � Port Arthur Curling Club, Thunder Bay

Ontario � Dixie Curling Club, Mississauga

Prince Edward Island � Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club, Summerside

Barbara Currie, Lana Simmons, Jeanette Rivard, Helen MacDonald, Allan Ledgerwood (coach)

Agn�s Charette, Lois Baines, Marie Leblanc, Dianne Sullivan

Saskatchewan � Wadena Curling Club, Wadena

British Columbia � Sparwood Curling Club, Sparwood

Manitoba � Granite Curling Club, Winnipeg

New Brunswick � Beaus�jour Curling Club, Moncton

Russ Howard, Wayne Tallon, Mike Flannery, Martin Mockler

Newfoundland and Labrador �Caribou Curling Club, Corner Brook

Northern Ontario � Kenora Curling Club, Kenora

Ontario � Royal Canadian Navy Curling Club, Ottawa

Prince Edward Island � Charlottetown Curling Club, Charlottetown

Saskatchewan � Humboldt Curling Club, Humboldt

CANADIAN SENIORS CURLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Prince Albert Golf & Curling Club, SK � March 23-30, 2008
DATE	TIME	#	A	B	C	D	E	F
SUNDAY	9:00AM	1	Y/NWT vs MAN	Y/NWT vs MAN	N.ONT vs NB	N.ONT vs NB	SASK vs NL	SASK vs NL
	2:00PM	2	BC vs ONT	BC vs ONT	QUE vs NS	QUE vs NS	ALTA vs PEI	ALTA vs PEI
	7:00PM	3	N.ONT vs SASK	N.ONT vs SASK	NL vs Y/NWT	NL vs Y/NWT	MAN vs NB	MAN vs NB
MONDAY	8:00AM	4	NB vs NL	NB vs NL	QUE vs ONT	QUE vs ONT	N.ONT vs MAN	N.ONT vs MAN
	12:00 PM	5	ALTA vs QUE	ALTA vs QUE	BC vs PEI	BC vs PEI	NS vs ONT	NS vs ONT
	4:00PM	6	Y/NWT vs N.ONT	Y/NWT vs N.ONT	MAN vs NL	MAN vs NL	SASK vs NB	SASK vs NB
	8:00PM	7	PEI vs NS	PEI vs NS	BC vs ALTA	BC vs ALTA	SASK vs Y/NWT	SASK vs Y/NWT
TUESDAY	8:00AM	8	NL vs N. ONT	NL vs N. ONT	ONT vs PEI	ONT vs PEI	NS vs NB	NS vs NB
	12:00 PM	9	ALTA vs SASK	ALTA vs SASK	ONT vs MAN	ONT vs MAN	QUE vs Y/NWT	QUE vs Y/NWT
	4:00PM	10	NB vs Y/NWT	NB vs Y/NWT	N.ONT vs BC	N.ONT vs BC	PEI vs NL	PEI vs NL
	8:00PM	11	QUE vs BC	QUE vs BC	SASK vs MAN	SASK vs MAN	ALTA vs NS	ALTA vs NS
WEDNESDAY	8:00AM	12	MAN vs QUE	MAN vs QUE	Y/NWT vs ALTA	Y/NWT vs ALTA	ONT vs SASK	ONT vs SASK
	12:00 PM	13	NB vs PEI	NB vs PEI	NS vs N.ONT	NS vs N.ONT	BC vs NL	BC vs NL
	4:00PM	14	ONT vs Y/NWT	ONT vs Y/NWT	SASK vs QUE	SASK vs QUE	MAN vs ALTA	MAN vs ALTA
	8:00PM	15	NL vs NS	NL vs NS	BC vs NB	BC vs NB	PEI vs N. ONT	PEI vs N. ONT
THURSDAY	8:00AM	16	NS vs SASK	NS vs SASK	PEI vs MAN	PEI vs MAN	Y/NWT vs BC	Y/NWT vs BC
	12:00 PM	17	ALTA vs NB	ALTA vs NB	N.ONT vs QUE	N. ONT vs QUE	NL vs ONT	NL vs ONT
	4:00PM	18	BC vs MAN	BC vs MAN	Y/NWT vs NS	Y/NWT vs NS	PEI vs SASK	PEI vs SASK
	8:00PM	19	QUE vs NL	QUE vs NL	NB vs ONT	NB vs ONT	ALTA vs N. ONT	ALTA vs N. ONT
FRIDAY	9:00 AM	20	ONT vs ALTA	ONT vs ALTA	QUE vs PEI	QUE vs PEI	NS vs BC	NS vs BC
	2:00 PM	21	Y/NWT vs PEI	Y/NWT vs PEI	SASK vs BC	SASK vs BC	MAN vs NS	MAN vs NS
	7:30 PM	22	N.ONT vs ONT	N.ONT vs ONT	NL vs ALTA	NL vs ALTA	NB vs QUE	NB vs QUE
SATURDAY	Tie-breaker		One Draw	2:00 PM	(if necessary)
	Tie-breakers		Two Draws	2:00 PM	7:00 PM	(if necessary)
	Tie-breakers		Three Draws	9:00 AM	2:00 PM	7:00 PM	(if necessary)
	Semi-Finals			7:00 PM	(if one (1) or less tie-breakers)
SUNDAY	Semi-Finals			9:00 AM	(if two (2) or more tie-breakers)
SUNDAY	Finals			2:00 PM	WOMEN		MEN

Curling fan to shoot for $1 million on CBC
Posted Thursday, March 20, 2008 by derekm

A lucky fan will get the chance to throw a curling rock to the button for $1 million at the Masters of Curling next January.

The finalist's bid to win the one-time payment in the Capital One Million Dollar Button contest will be televised live on CBC Sports.

Brett Gallant rink in running for Island Petroleum Team of the Year
Posted Thursday, March 20, 2008 by derekm

The Brett Gallant rink join the Tyro elite gymnastics team and the Winsloe-West Royalty under 18 soccer team as finalists for the Island Petroleum Team of the Year, to be announced at the 34th annual Sport PEI awards banquet, April 16 at the Rodd Royalty Inn. The team, which includes third Adam Casey, second Anson Carmody, and lead Alex MacFadyen, and is coached by Kathie Gallant, won two national medals in 2007.

Brett's mother Kathie is also in the running for coach of the year, along with Gardiner MacDougall from hockey, and Wally Morrison from Soccer.

Ford World Women's Curling Championship starts Saturday in Vernon, BC
Posted Wednesday, March 19, 2008 by derekm

Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

March 18, 2008�.The 2008 Ford world women�s curling championship gets underway this Saturday in Vernon, British Columbia.

Twelve countries will battle for the world title from March 22-30 at the Greater Vernon Multiplex.   The teams play a round robin, concluding on Thursday, March 27, followed by the Page Playoffs, leading to the final on Sunday, March 30.

Representing the host country Canada is the Jennifer Jones team from Winnipeg, Manitoba.   Jones won the 2008 Scotties Tournament of Hearts last month in Regina, defeating Calgary�s Shannon Kleibrink in the final.   Jones is making her second world women�s appearance, after finishing fourth to Sweden�s Anette Norberg in 2005 in Paisley, Scotland.

Canada has won a leading 14 women�s titles since 1979, the latest by Kelowna�s Kelly Scott in 2007 in Aomori, Japan.

Skip Debbie McCormick, who won the 2003 Ford Worlds in Winnipeg, defeating Canada�s Colleen Jones in the final, will try to give the United States a second world women�s crown. McCormick was also the runner-up in 2006 in Grande Prairie, Alberta, losing the final to Norberg.

Switzerland�s Mirjam Ott, an Olympic silver medallist in 2002 and 2006, will make her third appearance at the worlds, seeking a third title for her country, but first since 1983.

Russia�s 21-year-old Liudmila Privivkova, the 2006 world junior and European champion, also makes her third worlds appearance, after earlier this month competing in a sixth world juniors in �stersund, Sweden, while last year�s world women�s runner-up, Denmark�s Angelina Jensen, also returns.

Germany�s Andrea Sch�pp, the 1988 world champion, makes her 15th appearance, behind only Norway�s Dordi Nordby.   Two years ago, Sch�pp finished fourth in Grande Prairie.   Germany�s only world women�s victory was by Sch�pp, who also stands second to Nordby�s 111 world game wins, with 82. Sch�pp, a six-time European champion, also won a gold medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, when curling was a demonstration sport.

Sweden will be represented by 22-year-old skip Stina Viktorsson of Skellefte�. Sweden has won seven world women�s titles, behind only Canada.

Completing the line-up are China (Bingyu Wang), Czech Republic (Katerina Urbanov�), Italy (Diana Gaspari), Japan (Moe Meguro) and Scotland (Gail Munro).

Country qualifying points for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver are also on the line, on a sliding scale from 14 to the winner, 12 to second, 10 to third, down to one point for last place.

There will be extensive national and international television coverage of the Ford world women�s curling championship. TSN will carry all round robin games involving Canada, followed by the Page Playoffs on Friday, March 28.     The Page system matches 1 vs 2 and 3 vs 4. The winner of 1 vs 2 advances directly to Sunday�s final while the loser goes to Saturday�s semi-final.    The winner of 3 vs 4 also goes to the semi-final.

Resurrected this year, after a three-year absence, is the bronze medal game, which will be contested Saturday evening at 6:00 pm PT, featuring the semi-final loser against the loser of the Page 3 vs 4 game.

CBC-TV will televise the semi-final on Saturday, March 29 at 11:30 am PT/2:30 pm ET and the final (gold medal game) on Sunday, March 30 at 10:30 am PT/1:30 pm ET.   CurlTV (www.curltv.com) will also provide draw coverage to its subscribers.

WCTV, the television arm of the World Curling Federation, will provide multi-game coverage throughout the week for channels outside Canada, including the multi-lingual sports channel Eurosport. Working in collaboration with Japanese broadcaster NHK, WCTV will also produce comprehensive coverage of Japanese games to be aired throughout the championship in Japan. In addition, WCTV will produce a daily highlights package for worldwide distribution.

Results of the 2008 Ford world women�s curling championship will be available on the Canadian Curling Association (www.curling.ca <http://www.curling.ca> ) and World Curling Federation (www.worldcurling.org <http://www.worldcurling.org> ) websites.

The Opening Ceremonies begin at 11:00 am Saturday in the 3,000-seat Multiplex, with the first draw at 1:00 pm PT/4:00 pm ET.   Canada�s first game is Saturday night at 6:00 pm PT against Switzerland.

This marks the fourth consecutive year that the women�s and men�s world championships are being held in different venues, as they were from 1979-1988.   In 1989 in Milwaukee, the men�s and women�s championships were staged jointly and remained so through 2004.

Since then, Canada has alternately hosted a men�s and women�s world championship under the Ford banner, now in its 14th year of event title sponsorship.   Last year, the Ford world men�s was held in Edmonton and won by Canada�s Glenn Howard.   This year�s world men�s is in Grand Forks, North Dakota, April 5-13, when Canada�s colours will be carried by Edmonton�s Kevin Martin, winner of the recent Tim Hortons Brier in Winnipeg.

Host team wins Junior Mixed title (Journal)
Posted Tuesday, March 18, 2008 by derekm

The Parker Clements rink from the host Maple Leaf Curling Club in O'Leary posted a 5-0 record en route to the Island Petroleum provincial junior mixed 20-and-under curling championship recently.

They defeated the Sam Ramsay foursome from the Silver Fox in the event final. It's not yet a P.E.I. Curling Association-sanctioned provincial championship but co-ordinator Rushell MacDonald is hoping that's what it will become next year.

Alberta's Kevin Martin rink claims Brier crown
Posted Monday, March 17, 2008 by derekm

Sunday, March 16, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

Alberta's Kevin Martin became just the 14th skip to win a Canadian men's curling championship with an unbeaten record on Sunday night at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

Martin's half-Edmonton, half-Calgary team � third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert � defeated defending national and world champion Glenn Howard of Ontario 5-4 in the final of the Tim Hortons Brier.

Martin made a draw to bite the button in the 10th end to win his third Brier title, and his first since 1997. It was the first Brier victory for his teammates.

�That�s what we wanted � an out-turn draw for the win," said Martin. "It�s what you dream about.�

Alberta's 13-0 overall record matched Randy Ferbey's total in his 2003 triumph at Halifax.

It was a game of misses early on. Martin took a point in the third end when he was attempting to roll out for a blank. In the third end, Howard had a draw for two but crashed on a guard to score one.

Martin then drew for a crucial pair in the fourth end when Howard's last-rock hit attempt wrecked on a guard.

The teams traded singles in the fifth and sixth ends before a pair of blanks, followed by Howard making an open hit to score a game-tying deuce in the ninth end. That set the stage for Martin's Brier-winning draw in the 10th end.

Morris was named winner of the Hec Gervais playoff MVP award after a media vote, while Howard was given the Shot of the Week award for his raise takeout through a tight port in Friday's Page three-four game victory over B.C.'s Bob Ursel.

Martin and Co. will represent Canada at the world men's curling championship, April 5 to 13 in Grand Forks, N.D.

�It feels good," said Martin. "Those young guys are really excited and ready to go. It will be exciting.�

Also, the team will share $144,000 in Sport Canada funding over the next two years as well as berths into the 2008 Continental Cup in Camrose and the 2009 Canada Cup in Yorkton, Sask.

A total of 9,223 fans took in Sunday's final, raising the total attendance for the '08 Brier 165,075 � the seventh highest total in Brier history.

Laurier Women use late rally to claim Gold

The Golden Hawks used a late rally and a steal of 2 in the final end to defeat the Manitoba Bisons 7-4 in the CIS Championship Game. Manitoba gave up a steal of 1 in the 1^st but responded with 1of their own in the 2^nd to tie the game after 2 ends. The Bisons added singles in the 3^rd and 4^th before the Hawks regained 1 in the 5^th to trail 3-2 at the halfway mark. After the Bisons notched 1 in the 6th to gain a 2 point lead, the Hawks began their rally. Laurier scored 1 in the 7th and stole 1 in each of the 8th and 9th to lead 5-4 heading to the last end. With the hammer, in the 10th, Manitoba was in trouble from from the beginning and found themselves needing a miracle for shot rock. Manitoba's last rock was unable to score and WLU stole 2 points for the 7-4 final. Wilfrid Laurier claims the first ever CIS/CCA Canadian Curling Championship and will represent Canada at the 2009 FISU Games in China.

Saturday, March 15, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

Ontario's Glenn Howard has a chance to make history Sunday night at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

Howard's team from the Coldwater and District Curling Club � third Richard Hart, second Brent Laing and lead Craig Savill � will take on Alberta's Kevin Martin in the final of the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship. The game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Atlantic on CBC.

Ontario will be seeking its second straight Brier championship; it also will be looking to become the first team ever to win the Brier after playing in the Page playoff three-four game.

The Howard foursome reached the final by defeating Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons 8-7 in Saturday's semifinal as Howard made a cold draw to the four-foot with his final stone of the 11th end.

"I feel bad for Pat Simmons right now," said Howard of the Saskatchewan skip, who lost the Page one-two game on Friday night when his last rock against Alberta caught some debris. "He didn't deserve to play that game. He should have been in the final last night. I don't blame him. Even when I'm in the hack to throw that last shot, I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, is this destiny for him to have something happen to my shot.' "

Ontario scored deuces in the third, fifth and seventh ends and never looked threatened until Saskatchewan cracked a three in the eighth end to tie the game 6-6. The teams traded singles before Howard made his game-winning shot.

Alberta defeated Ontario in the round-robin, and Howard is looking for a different result on Sunday.

"I think we're two of the best teams in the world and I think hopefully we'll both go out and play to our abilities and it could be one of the best games ever," said Howard

The Brier winner will represent Canada at the world men's curling championship, April 5 to 13 in Grand Forks, N.D.

Also, the team will share $144,000 in Sport Canada funding over the next two years as well as berths into the 2008 Continental Cup in Camrose and the 2009 Canada Cup in Yorkton, Sask.

Saturday, March 15, 2008 | Source: World Curling Federation

VIERUMAKI -- Canada has swept up both men's and women's titles at the 2008 World Senior Curling Championships.

The two Alberta teams, skipped by former two-time men's world champion Pat Ryan and international rookie Diane Foster, led the event from start to finish and made quick work of their opponents in the finals.

The women defeated Scotland 10-2 and the men dispatched Sweden 8-0 in a somewhat deceptive match.

Ryan held a comfortable 4-0 lead in the fifth end when Sweden threatened, and skip Per Lindeman lay one with a chance at three.

Disaster struck, however, when Lindeman pushed a Canadian counter into scoring position, and now trailed 5-0.

Ryan was helming three members of the Les Rogers team, the 2006 World Senior championship squad. Marv Wirth played third, with Ken McLean and Millard Evans anchored the front end.

"Anytime you win representing Canada, it's special," said Ryan, who captured the 1989 Worlds as the chief of the "Ryan's Express", and later played third for Rick Folk in winning in 1994.

Foster's foursome traded singles with Kirsty Letton's Team Scotland to start the women's final and grabbed three points in the third. They added a deuce in the fifth end and then back-to-back steals of two in ends six and seven, whereupon Letton conceded.

"I've never been a world champion. Heck, I'd never been a Canadian champion," said Foster.

"That's what (curling legend) Paul Gowsell told me, he said you've got to forget you have that maple leaf on your back, and just focus on curling."

Foster was supported by teammates Shirley McPherson, Shirley Kohuch and Chris Wilson.

The Canadian women were helped along by Ryan's teammates, who shared their information on the competition stones.

"They were our rock wizards," said Foster. "They're so much better than us girls with that stuff. They knew everything about each rock in the building in no time, and it was so great for them to share the info with us."

In men's bronze medal action, Bill Rhyme took over skipping duties from David Russell and led the United States to a narrow 6-4 win over Scotland's Graeme Adam. In the women's bronze match, hometown fans were disappointed when Finland's Helene Timonen lost 7-6 on a steal in the 10th end to Switzerland's Renate Nedkoff.

The Finnish Curling Association posted results of the Championships, available at:

Alberta steals its way to Brier championship game
Posted Saturday, March 15, 2008 by derekm

Friday, March 14, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

Alberta's Kevin Martin is headed to the championship game at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in Winnipeg.

Martin, backed up by third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert, turned back Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons 8-7 Friday night at the MTS Centre in the Page playoff one-two game.

Alberta trailed 6-3 through five ends when Saskatchewan stole deuces in the first and fifth ends.

But Alberta fought back with a deuce in the eighth and stole single points in the ninth and 10th ends for the win. Simmons had an open hit to record the victory, but his last rock caught some debris.

"I feel bad for Pat," said Martin. "They deserved to win that game. We put the last one in a good spot, but he threw that plenty good enough to win. That's the way it is. We played like dogs, we made nothing in the first five ends. But the last five, we came back and put the heat on them."

Martin will be seeking his third Brier title, while his teammates will be looking for their first.

Saskatchewan, meanwhile, will play in the semifinal Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on CBC against reigning Brier and world champion Glenn Howard of Ontario.

The Brier winner will represent Canada at the world men's curling championship, April 5 to 13 in Grand Forks, N.D.

B.C. survives fourth-place tiebreaker at Brier
Posted Friday, March 14, 2008 by derekm

Friday, March 14, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

B.C.'s Bob Ursel has advanced to the Page playoff three-four game at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in Winnipeg.

B.C. opened the game by stealing three in the first end and hung on for an 8-6 win over Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue in a fourth-place tiebreaker at the MTS Centre.

With the win, Ursel, third (and last-rock tosser) Jim Cotter, second Kevin Folk and lead Rick Sawatsky advance to today's Page three-four game against defending Brier and world champion Glenn Howard of Ontario.

"We've been in a tiebreaker (situation) since Game 3, so that was just another one," said Ursel. "We're coming on, we're playing pretty strong, so we should give those guys (Ontario) a pretty good game."

Later today, Alberta's Kevin Martin plays Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons in the Page playoff one-two game, at 9 p.m. on TSN.

The winner of the one-two game will advance directly to Sunday's 7:30 p.m. championship game on CBC. The loser will play the winner of the three-four game in Saturday's semifinal at 3:30 p.m. on CBC.

Edmonton to stage 2009 Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials and Prince George, BC to host Pre-Trials qualifier
Posted Friday, March 14, 2008 by derekm

(CCA) The Canadian Curling Association (CCA) today announced that the city of Edmonton will stage the 2009 Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials, which will determine Canada�s representatives for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

The Trials will be held December 6-13, 2009 at the 15,000-seat Rexall Place. Eight men�s and eight women�s teams will compete in a round robin format, with the top three teams advancing to the playoffs. The first place teams go to the finals, while the second and third place teams play in semi-finals, with the winners also advancing to their respective finals.

The process to qualify 16 men�s and 16 women�s teams for the Trials �pool� has been underway since last season. Ultimately, four teams of each gender will qualify directly into the Trials, based on their overall performance (Canadian Team Ranking System) and specific event wins from the 2006-07 season through the 2008-09 campaign. To date, Winnipeg�s Jennifer Jones is the only team to qualify directly into the Trials by virtue of winning three of the specified events.

The other four men�s and four women�s teams for the Trials will be determined in a Pre-Trials qualifier, which will be hosted by Prince George, British Columbia, November 10-15 at the 6,000-seat CN Centre. This event will be a triple knockout format involving 12 men�s and 12 women�s teams, whereby the A and B winners and C finalists will qualify for the Trials.

In making the announcements today, Greg Stremlaw, Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Curling Association, said, �The CCA was thrilled to have been in a position to have two unbelievably competitive bids for the 2009 Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials�.from Edmonton and from Kamloops. In the end, we felt that the combination of the negotiated hosting fee, the fan base and previous record crowds in Edmonton for both the Brier and the world men�s and the chance to expose this sport to that many more people prior to the Olympics in a major venue was just too hard to pass up.

�Quite frankly, we could not have gone wrong with either proposal but this is a solid business decision.
This event has garnered an incredible amount of attention already and for good reason. In the build-up to the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Trials are on every curling fan�s mind.

�We�re also very encouraged and excited by the fact that Prince George took the initiative in wanting to host the 2009 Pre-Trials event. The demonstrated community dedication and city leadership have provided us with every confidence the city will make this competition a great success.�

Edmonton holds the attendance record for a Brier, 281,985, set in 2005 and also established a Ford world men�s record of 184,970 in 2007.

�As a curler and a curling fan, I'm obviously ecstatic about the Trials coming to Edmonton,� said 2009 Trials Host Committee Chair Jackie-Rae Greening, who held a similar post for the Ford world men�s in 2007. �We have the same core team together that staged last year�s world men's, so we'll hit the ground running with the event less than two years away.�

�Tim Hortons is proud to support the 2009 Curling Trials which will determine who will represent Canada at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver,� said Bill Moir, Executive Vice President, Marketing, Tim Hortons. �Tim Hortons and Canadian curling share a rich tradition and we are thrilled to
be associated with what will no doubt be an exciting event.�

TSN will provide blanket coverage of the 2009 Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials, which is being presented by Monsanto, including coverage of all draws. TSN will also carry approximately 14 hours of live coverage of the pre-Trials qualifier.

M&M Meat Shops 15 and Under Photo Album
Posted Friday, March 14, 2008 by derekm
An album of photos from the M&M Meat Shops Provincial 15 and Under Curling Championships is now available on the event website (peicurling.com/15andunder)
return to headlines

Saskatchewan reaches Page one-two game at Brier
Posted Friday, March 14, 2008 by derekm

Thursday, March 13, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons has nailed down a berth in Friday's Page playoff one-two game with Alberta's Kevin Martin at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in Winnipeg.

Simmons and his Davidson Curling Club team � third Jeff Sharp, second Gerry
Adam and lead Steve Laycock � defeated Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk 8-2 Thursday night in the final round-robin draw at the MTS Centre.

Saskatchewan stole four in the fifth end when Burtnyk's final rock wrecked on a guard.

The win sets up an Alberta-Saskatchewan showdown at 9 p.m. (all times Atlantic) on Friday on TSN. The winner will advance directly to Sunday's 7:30 p.m. championship game on CBC.

"That's everyone's goal, I think, or should be, obviously," said Simmons. "That was our goal coming into today. We wanted to play well and carry some momentum into tomorrow, which we did tonight. All is good."

The loss eliminated Manitoba from playoff contention. Burtnyk, a two-time Brier champ, finished with a 6-5 round-robin record, with all five losses coming to the teams that finished above him in the standings

Saskatchewan's victory dropped defending Brier and world champion Glenn Howard of Ontario into the Page playoff three-four game Friday at 4 p.m., on TSN. Ontario finished the round-robin with an 8-6 triumph over Brian Rafuse of Nova Scotia to finish with the same 9-2 record as Saskatchewan, but Saskatchewan earns second place by virtue of its round-robin win in their head-to-head game. Nova Scotia finished with a 3-8 record.

Ontario will play the winner of Friday morning's fourth-place tiebreaker between Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue and B.C.'s Bob Ursel, who both finished their round-robin schedule on Thursday afternoon with 7-4 records. The tiebreaker is scheduled for Friday at 11:30 a.m., and will be televised by TSN.

The winner of the Page three-four game advances to Saturday's semifinal at 3:30 p.m. on CBC, against the loser of the Page one-two game.

In other draw 17 play, Alberta's Kevin Martin completed a perfect 11-0 round-robin by beating Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories 7-4. The last unbeaten team in round-robin play was Alberta's Randy Ferbey in 2003 at Halifax. The Territories finished with a 2-9 record.

Also, Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard finished on a winning note, turning back Eric Harnden of Northern Ontario 9-8 in a game that took 12 ends because Menard rolled out on his last shot in the first extra end. Quebec finished with a 4-7 record, while Northern Ontario heads home with a 3-8 record.

Tiebreakers looming at Brier. PEI loses in extra end vs NL to end play at 3-8
Posted Thursday, March 13, 2008 by derekm

Thursday, March 13, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

There will be one tiebreaker, and possibly two, on Friday at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in Winnipeg.

B.C.'s Bob Ursel and Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue both won their final round-robin games in Draw 16 Thursday afternoon at the MTS Centre to finish the round-robin with 7-4 records, tied for the fourth and final playoff position.

And Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk could get into that mix, too, if he wins his final round-robin game tonight, against Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons.

B.C. completed a terrific comeback after opening with a 0-3 record, scoring three in the fourth end and hanging on to beat James Grattan of New Brunswick 8-6.

"What a battle all week," said Ursel. "It's been just crazy. We're pretty excited. We lose our first three games, and to come back against this field and make the tiebreaker or playoffs, we couldn't ask for anything more than that."

Newfoundland/Labrador, meanwhile, got into the tiebreaker with a 7-6 extra-end victory over P.E.I.'s Peter Gallant 7-6. Gallant had a shot at two in the 10th, but his final rock overcurled and he settled for one.

"Another gut check, another one where we just grinded it out and made a lot of shots late in the game, but just dug a hole for ourselves early," said Gushue, who finished second to Ontario's Glenn Howard last year in Hamilton. "Hopefully, we can get that figured out."

In other Draw 16 action, Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons blew a chance to lock up second place and a berth in Friday's Page playoff one-two game, falling 7-6 to Northern Ontario's Eric Harnden. The result left Saskatchewan at 8-2 and needing to beat Manitoba in tonight's last draw of the round-robin to reach the one-two game against Alberta's Kevin Martin (10-0). A loss combined with a win by Ontario's Glenn Howard, who's up against Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse, would put Ontario in the one-two game.

Manitoba kept its playoff hopes alive with a 7-3 win over Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard, dropping Quebec to 3-7.

The first- and second-place teams at the end of round-robin play Thursday night will meet in the Page playoff one-two game on Friday while the third- and fourth-place teams also will meet Friday (times TBA). The winner of the one-two game will advance directly to Sunday's championship game (6:30 p.m., all times Eastern) on CBC. The loser will play the winner of the three-four game in Saturday's semifinal at 2:30 p.m. on CBC.

Alberta clinches first place at Brier. PEI is 3-7.
Posted Thursday, March 13, 2008 by derekm

Thursday, March 13, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

Alberta has locked up first place and last-rock advantage throughout the playoffs at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in Winnipeg.

Kevin Martin's half-Edmonton, half-Calgary team knocked off defending Brier and world champion Glenn Howard of Ontario 7-4 in Draw 15 play on Thursday morning at the MTS Centre.

With the win, Martin, third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert improved to 10-0, meaning no team can catch them for first place.

"We couldn't ask for anything better," said Hebert. "First place, hammer in the playoffs, we're playing great throughout the lineup. We have our draw weight. And hopefully the ice stays the same, because it's really good right now."

They will play in Friday's Page playoff one-two game against either Ontario (8-2) or Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons (8-1), who had a bye on Thursday morning. Saskatchewan needs only a split today, against Northern Ontario's Eric Harnden this afternoon and Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk tonight, to clinch second place.

Alberta gave up single points in the first two ends to Ontario, and trailed 3-1 through five. But the Wild Rosers tied it with a deuce in the sixth, forced Ontario to one in the seventh, then cracked a big three in the eighth.

In other action, Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue and B.C.'s Bob Ursel both picked up wins to stay alive for the fourth and final playoff berth.

B.C. improved to 6-4 by beating P.E.I's Peter Gallant (3-7) 6-3, while Newfoundland/Labrador turned back New Brunswick's James Grattan 9-7 to keep pace with B.C.

Should they both win their afternoon games � B.C. plays New Brunswick while Newfoundland/Labrador takes on P.E.I. � it would force a tiebreaker on Friday.

It could be a three-team tiebreaker should Manitoba win twice today, against Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard and Saskatchewan.

In the other morning game, Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse (3-7) shaded Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories (2-8) 8-7.

The first- and second-place teams at the end of round-robin play Thursday night will meet in the Page playoff one-two game on Friday while the third- and fourth-place teams also will meet Friday (times TBA). The winner of the one-two game will advance directly to Sunday's championship game (7:30 p.m. Atlantic) on CBC. The loser will play the winner of the three-four game in Saturday's semifinal at 3:30 p.m. AT on CBC

PEI slips to 3-6 at Brier after two losses on Wed.
Posted Thursday, March 13, 2008 by derekm

PEI's Peter Gallant rink is out of playoff contention following two losses on Wednesday at the Tim Horton's Brier in Winnipeg. Quebec's Jean-Michel M�nard scored four points in the seventh end in an 8-2 win over the PEI foursome in the afternoon draw, while second place Glen Howard of Ontario scored four points in the third and a triple in the sixth to beat PEI 10-3 in the evening draw. Alberta's Kevin Martin is still undefeated at 9-0, followed by Howard, and Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons, both at 8-1. BC, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador are at 5-4, while PEI and Quebec are at 3-6, and the remaining rinks are 2-7.

Round robin play wraps up today with PEI playing BC at 11:30 am and NB at 4 pm. PEI has the bye in the final round robin draw at 9 pm (all times Atlantic).

The big game of the day will be the battle between Kevin Martin and Glen Howard, at 11:30. TSN will feature that game as part of its live coverage.

Eyes on the prize for Newfoundland/Labrador at Brier. PEI has morning bye
Posted Wednesday, March 12, 2008 by derekm

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue gave his playoff hopes a major boost on Wednesday morning at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in Winnipeg.

Gushue's St. John's foursome � third Mark Nichols, second Chris Schille and lead Dave Noftall � picked up a Draw 12 victory at the MTS Centre, dropping Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk 9-4.

The result left the teams tied for fourth place in the 12-team round-robin standings with 5-3 records.

Newfoundland/Labrador broke the game open in the third end by scoring four, and never looked back.

"It's still a long way to go," cautioned Gushue. "We still have to play Alberta this afternoon, and we have two tough games tomorrow (against New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island). We're still in the thick of it, but there's still a long way to go."

In other Draw 12 play, Ontario's Glenn Howard bounced back nicely from taking his first loss a night earlier, knocking off New Brunswick's James Grattan 8-5. Ontario took control of the game with a steal of one in the fourth, then scored three in the sixth to improve to 7-1. New Brunswick dipped to 2-6.

Northern Ontario's Eric Harnden snapped a six-game losing streak, cruising to a 7-2 win over Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse. Both teams came out of the draw with 2-6 records.

And in the other morning tilt, Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories stole the winning point in the 10th end for a 5-4 win over 2006 Brier champ Jean-Michel Menard of Quebec. Both teams now sport 2-6 records.

Alberta's Kevin Martin (7-0), Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons (6-1), B.C.'s Bob Ursel (3-4) and P.E.I.'s Peter Gallant (3-4) all had byes.

Play at the the Tim Hortons Brier continues Wednesday with draws at 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. Atlantic; both draws will be on TSN.

Alberta has first place all to itself, PEI wins 3rd straight at Brier
Posted Wednesday, March 12, 2008 by derekm

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

Alberta's Kevin Martin is all alone on top of the pack at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in Winnipeg.

The two-time Brier champion and his half-Edmonton, half-Calgary team � third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert � thumped Kerry Burtnyk of Manitoba 10-3 in Draw 11 play Tuesday night at the MTS Centre to post his seventh straight win.

The last time Martin opened a Brier with seven straight wins was in 1997 in Calgary, where Martin won his last Canadian championship.

"Oh, we were really pumped for this one," said Martin. "You're in Winnipeg, I love this building, and you know the crowd is going to be electric. I think that was our best game, and that's good to see. Those sweepers sure saved a few for us tonight."

Tuesday's game turned in the fifth end when Burtnyk was drawing against four Alberta counters and came up short, apparently because his rock caught some debris. The loss dropped Manitoba to 5-2.

While Alberta was keeping its unblemished record intact, defending Brier and world champ Glenn Howard of Ontario was handed his first loss, bowing 7-5 to Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons.

With the win, Saskatchewan pulled into a tie for second place with Ontario at 6-1 and holding a tiebreaker advantage.

"That was obviously our best game of the week so far," said Simmons after the win over Ontario. "We wanted to use this game as a measuring stick to see if we're ready for the weekend, and I think we are."

In other Draw 11 play, Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue kept his playoff hopes alive with a 7-6 extra-end win over B.C.'s Bob Ursel. Newfoundland/Labrador improved to 4-3, while B.C. dropped to 3-4.

Also, Prince Edward Island's Peter Gallant won his third straight, scoring three in the ninth end en route to a 10-7 win over New Brunswick's James Grattan. The Islanders moved to 3-4 while New Brunswick dipped to 2-5.

Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse (2-5), Jean-Michel Menard (2-5), Northern Ontario's Eric Harnden (1-6) and Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories (1-6) all had byes in Draw 11.

Play at the the Tim Hortons Brier resumes Wednesday, with draws are scheduled for 10:30 a.m., 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. Atlantic; curltv.com will show the morning draw, while the latter two draws will be on TSN.

Peter Gallant rink makes it two in a row
Posted Tuesday, March 11, 2008 by derekm

Manitoba cruises to morning victory

Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Source: Canadian Curling Association

Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk took care of business quickly in the morning draw at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in his home town of Winnipeg.

Burtnyk, backed up by third Dan Kammerlock, second Richard Daneault and lead Garth Smith, opened the game with a deuce, stole one in the second and three more in the third and sailed home with a 9-3 victory over Northern Ontario's Eric Harnden.

With the win, Manitoba improved to 5-1, moving into a tie for first place with a pair of 5-0 teams, Alberta's Kevin Martin and Ontario's Glenn Howard, who both had morning byes.

"It's another game where we came out on top and we get to put another point on the board on the right side," said Burtnyk. "That's a good thing. We played well enough to score some points, so that's good."

In other action, Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse snapped a four-game losing streak, pulling out a 6-5 extra-end win over Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue. With the win, the Bluenosers improve to 2-4, while Newfoundland/Labrador falls to 3-3.

P.E.I.'s Peter Gallant, meanwhile, picked up his second straight win after four straight losses, opening the game with three in the first end and hanging on for a 7-6 victory over Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories. The loss dropped the Territories' record to 1-5. PEI is at 2-4.

And in the other game, Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons scored three in the 10th end, then stole the winning point in the 11th when Quebec skip Jean-Michel Menard was just wide with his last-rock angle tap attempt in a 9-8 victory.

New Brunswick's James Grattan (2-3) and B.C.'s Bob Ursel (2-3) also had byes in Draw 9.

Today's 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. (all times Atlantic) draws are being televised by TSN.

4th Annual Vogue Optical Curl for Wishes charity spiel set for Ch'town
Posted Tuesday, March 11, 2008 by derekm

The Children's Wish Foundation of Canada Prince Edward Island Chapter is holding its fourth annual Vogue Optical Curl for Wishes, April 3-5 at the Charlottetown Curling Club.
"It's a chance to come out and try curling, get involved, have some fun, and in doing so grant the wish of an Island child," said Cory Gray, vice-president of the title sponsor.

Twenty-five teams will have an opportunity to play with one of Canada's high profile curlers such as Olympic gold medalist Jamie Korab, five-time Northwest Territories/Yukon Scotties representative Kerry Galusha and former world junior champion and Prince Edward Island Scotties representative, Suzanne Gaudet.

Registration includes a minimum of four games, evening socials with entertainment, Curl for Wishes jacket and awards presentation at the Charlottetown club.
There will be a silent auction held throughout the tournament which will include numerous items from around the curling world.

"It's P.E.I.'s most fun and entertaining curling event of the season," said Stefanie Clark, tournament chair.
"It is a weekend filled with good times and good memories that can be enjoyed by all regardless of their curling ability."

Proceeds from the event will go to the Prince Edward Island Chapter of the Children's Wish Foundation, enabling them to work with the community in providing Island children suffering from high risk, life-threatening illnesses, the opportunity to experience their most heartfelt wish.

Money raised at the Curl for Wishes through team registration and fundraising will be used to grant one of the 12 wish requests the P.E.I. Chapter of the Children's Wish Foundation is in the process of granting.

For more information, contact the Children's Wish Foundation office at 22 Allen Street, P.O. Box 2614, Charlottetown, C1A 8C3, call 1-800-267-9474 or email pei@childrenswish.ca. (story courtesy of The Guardian)

PEI beats NS 13-3 to pick up first win at Brier
Posted Tuesday, March 11, 2008 by derekm

Newfoundland/Labrador getting into the hunt

Monday, March 10, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue is starting to make some noise at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in Winnipeg.

After losing their first two games at the MTS Centre, Gushue and his St. John's foursome � third Mark Nichols, second Chris Schille and lead Dave Noftall � have put together a three-game win streak, including Monday night's 10-7 extra-end win over Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard.

Newfoundland/Labrador found itself down 5-2 after five ends, giving up a steal of two in the third end, but rallied to tie the game with a 10th-end deuce. And in the 11th, Gushue made a double takeout and forced Menard to attempt a wide inturn draw to bite the button that failed to curl enough, giving Gushue a steal of three.

"It was really bad at the beginning, but again we seemed to hang tough and made some real big shots in the extra end," said Gushue. "That was a big one; not exactly the way we wanted to do it, but once you do it that way, it's pretty satisfying. Those are the games you need to win championships. We had them at the (2005 Olympic) Trials, we had them at the Olympics and even at the provincials. You need to squeak a few out and maybe win a couple you're not supposed to win."

In other Draw 8 play, B.C.'s Bob Ursel capped a two-win day by doubling Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories 10-5. B.C., 2-3, opened with deuces in the first and third ends before taking control with four in the fourth end. The Territories dropped to 1-4 with the loss.

Prince Edward Island's Peter Gallant earned his first win of the Brier, stealing three in the sixth end and scoring six more in the eighth in a 13-3 win over Brian Rafuse of Nova Scotia, leaving both teams with 1-4 records.

And in the other late-shift game, New Brunswick's James Grattan made a delicate come-around tap with his final rock of the 10th end to score the winning point in a 9-8 victory over Eric Harnden of Northern Ontario. New Brunswick improved to 2-3 with the win, while Northern Ontario suffered its fourth loss in five games.

The top four teams in the standings � Ontario's Glenn Howard (5-0), Alberta's Kevin Martin (5-0), Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk (4-1) and Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons (4-1) all had byes in Draw 8.

Play at the the Tim Hortons Brier resumes Tuesday, with games scheduled for 10:30 a.m., 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. (all times Atlantic); curltv.com will show the morning draw, while the latter two draws will be on TSN.

Ontario, Alberta on top of the pack at Brier. PEI (0-4) loses to Alberta
Posted Monday, March 10, 2008 by derekm

Monday, March 10, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

It's down to two teams with unblemished records at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

While defending champ Glenn Howard of Ontario was handing Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk his first loss of the round-robin, Alberta's Kevin Martin kept pace with a 9-4 victory over Peter Gallant of PEI in Draw 7 play Monday afternoon. PEI, now 0-4, play Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse at 9 tonight.

Ontario stole single points in the second and third ends, and never gave Manitoba a chance to generate offence, en route to a 7-2 victory that gave Ontario a 5-0 record, while Manitoba dropped to 4-1.

"It was uncharacteristic of Kerry; he was missing shots that Kerry Burtnyk doesn't miss," said Howard. "But it was a nice time for us for him to have an average game."

Alberta, meanwhile, opened the game with a deuce and added four more in the third and never looked pack in handing the Gallant foursome its fourth straight loss.

"That was a strong effort," said Martin, who plays Ontario on Thursday morning. "I don't know that there were any misses the first five ends. But I think I can play a bit better myself."

In other Draw 7 play, Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons bounced back from a morning loss to Alberta by beating Brian Rafuse of Nova Scotia 8-5. Saskatchewan improved to 4-1, tied for third place with Manitoba, while Nova Scotia dropped to 1-3.

And Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue got to the .500 mark with a 9-5 win over Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories. Newfoundland/Labrador is at 2-2 while the Territories dropped to 1-3.

B.C.'s Bob Ursel (1-3), New Brunswick's James Grattan (1-3), Northern Ontario's Eric Harnden (1-3) and Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard (1-3) all had byes.Tuesday, games are scheduled for 10:30 a.m., 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. (all times Atlantic); curltv.com will show the morning draw, while the latter two draws will be on TSN.

Matthew MacLean, Tiffany Sweet rinks win 15 and Under
Posted Monday, March 10, 2008 by derekm

March 11-The M&M Meat Shops Provincial 15 and Under Curling Championships wrapped up today at the Crapaud Community Curling Club. All four teams in the finals were from the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O'Leary. In the boy's division, the Matthew MacLean rink beat last year's champion Parker Clements 8-5 in the final, while Tiffany Sweet stole a four point 6th end on the way to a 9-3 victory over Amanda MacLean in the girl's final.

Bill Hope rink wins M&M Meat Shops PEI Mixed
Posted Monday, March 10, 2008 by derekm

The Bill Hope rink from the Charlottetown Curling Club will be going up north to Iqaluit as the winners of the M&M Meat Shops PEI Mixed Curling Championship this afternoon at the Cornwall Curling Club.

L-R: Angus Davies (Cornwall's PEI Curling Association representative), Shelley Ebbett, Jeff Gallant, Sandy Hope, Bill Hope, Greg Lucas (Executive Director, PEI Curling Association)

They defeated the Rob Young rink from the host club by a 7-1 score in the B final of this double-knockout event. As Hope had previously won the A final 10-4 over defending champion Kyle Stevenson of Charlottetown, a final game between the A and B winners, scheduled for tonight, is not needed. In today's game, Hope lead 4-1 at the half, and picked up a triple in the sixth to lead 7-1 and bring the game to a speedy conclusion.

Hope advanced to the B final by beating Charlottetown clubmate and 1989 Canadian Mixed champion Robert Campbell 7-4 Sunday evening, while Young knocked out Stevenson with an 8-3 win.

Playing with Bill Hope are Sandy Hope, Jeff Gallant, and Shelley Ebbett, while Lorianne Davies, Mark MacDonald, and Melody Beck round out the runner-up Rob Young team. Sixteen teams began play on Friday in this event.

The Canadian Curling Association announced today that the 2009 Canadian Mixed will be held November 9-16, 2008, in Iqaluit, Nunavut. The CCA will be the first sport association to host a national championship (summer or winter) in Nunavut.

Nunavut to host Canadian Mixed, its 1st ever national sport ch'ship
Posted Monday, March 10, 2008 by derekm

March 10, 2008�A major development in the territory of Nunavut occurred today when the *Canadian Curling Association* (CCA) announced that it will be the first sport association to host a national championship (summer or winter) in Nunavut.

The *2009 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, presented by First Air*, will be held at the *Arniatok Arena in Iqaluit from November 9 � 16, 2008*. This will mark the 46th edition of the Canadian Mixed, a championship which began in Toronto in 1964 and won a leading nine times by Alberta, including the 2008 edition played last November in Calgary.

"We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to be a sport leader in Nunavut and be able to showcase our great sport to Iqaluit and Nunavut," said *Greg Stremlaw, Chief Executive Officer of the CCA*. "We want to work closely with the communities of the north and have worked hard to create this opportunity which will only help grow the sport in Nunavut and give further opportunities for aboriginal peoples to participate. Nunavut has one of the highest per capita ratios of young Canadians in our country and the hosting of this event will promote our product to an integral demographic for our future."

*Hunter Tootoo, MLA Iqaluit Centre*, stated, "I would like to sincerely thank the CCA for showing the leadership to select Iqualuit as the host for the 2009 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship. I know the city of Iqaluit will put on a first-class event for this first national championship ever to be held here in Nunavut. This presents a chance to get our communities more involved with curling, both recreationally and beyond."

*Elisapee Sheutiapik, the Mayor of Iqaluit,* echoed similar sentiments, "As Mayor of the City of Iqaluit, I am ecstatic that the CCA wishes to host the 2009 Canadian Mixed in Iqaluit. This would be the first event of its kind in our city and the benefits to the city and its residents will be tremendous. I am extremely excited about this opportunity."

*First Air *will be the presenting sponsor of the Mixed and was instrumental in allowing the championship to be placed in Iqaluit. The company's significant assistance enabled the CCA to maintain its budget while being fiscally prudent with its site selection.

"It does not take a big community to host a national championship � just a community with a big heart�and Iqaluit certainly has that!" proclaimed *First Air President, Jim Ballingall*.

Similar to last year, two members of the winning team will then represent Canada at the 2009 world mixed doubles championship, slated for April 17-25 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

Skip Dean Ross and third Susan O'Connor, who teamed to win the 2008 Canadian Mixed in Calgary last November, are currently representing Canada at the inaugural world mixed doubles championship, taking place in Vierum�ki, Finland, March 8-16.

With today's announcement, the Championship curling events confirmed to date for the 2008-09 season in Canada are as follows:

Saskatchewan staying with the lead pack at Brier. PEI 0-3.
Posted Monday, March 10, 2008 by derekm

Sunday, March 09, 2008 Source: Canadian Curling Association

Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons is giving his province something to cheer about at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in Winnipeg.

Simmons and his team from the Davidson Curling Club � third Jeff Sharp, second Gerry Adam and lead Steve Laycock � improved to 3-0, part of a four-way tie for the lead, on Sunday night with an 8-4 win over Bob Ursel of B.C.

It's the first time a Saskatchewan team has opened the Brier with three straight victories since Jim Packet did it in 1989.

"So far, so good," said Simmons, who's tied for the lead at 3-0 with Kevin Martin of Alberta, Kerry Burtnyk of Manitoba and Glenn Howard of Ontario, who all had byes. "I would officially call it a pretty good start now. It looked like we played a little bit better tonight, and hopefully we keep going in the right direction."

Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue, meanwhile, got into the win column after a 7-5 win over Eric Harnden of Northern Ontario. Gushue's St. John's team recorded a crucial steal of one in the seventh end, and put the game away with a deuce in the ninth end. Both teams are at 1-2.

In other Draw 5 play, New Brunswick's James Grattan picked up his first win of the Brier, scoring a 9-4 victory over Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories. The result left both teams with a 1-2 record.

And in the other game, Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard stole five in the first end, three more in the second and added four in the fourth in a 13-2 rout of Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse. Both teams moved to 1-2.

Play at the the Tim Hortons Brier resumes Monday, with games scheduled for 10:30 a.m., 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. (all times Atlantic; curltv.com will show the morning draw, while the latter two draws will be on TSN.

Scotland wins World Junior women; Sweden silver, Canada bronze
Posted Monday, March 10, 2008 by derekm
OSTERSUND -- Scotland won its second straight global junior women's
title with a 12-3 thrashing of hosts Sweden at the 2008 World Junior
Curling Championships.

Seventeen year-old Eve Muirhead and teammates Kerry Barr, Vicki Adams,
Kay Adams and Sarah Macintyre had lost two previous games to Sweden's
Cissi Ostlund, including Saturday's 8-2 defeat in the semifinal.

In the final, it was all Scotland all the time as Muirhead's troops
scored two in the second end, stole another two in the third, and
stole a whopping six points in the sixth frame.

"It feels really good," said a nonchalant Muirhead, who shrugged off
spectator chants to "kiss the ice" after the match.

"We knew early on if we could just stay on top of things we'd be fine."

Muirhead and Macintyre won the 2007 world junior crown with skip Sarah
Reid. It marked the first back-to-back global junior women's victories
for Scotland since Gillian Barr and Kirsty Hay turned the trick in
1992 and 1993, respectively.

Alternate Kay Adams stepped in to replace her sister Vicki on the even
of the playoffs, after Vicki suffered a fall and injured her leg.

"It was really hard at the time but Kate played really, really well,"
said Muirhead.

Murihead's brother Glen skipped the men's team in Ostersund, which
suffered an entirely different result. Scotland's junior men finished
2-7 and will have to survive next year's European Junior Challenge
tournament in Taarnby, Denmark.

Ostlund had an impressive week in claiming silver. Sweden had not
qualified for the World Juniors and would not have been competing if
they were not the host nation of this year's championship.

The bronze medal went to Canada's Kaitlyn Lawes, who bravely shrugged
off a challenging week - and a 5-0 deficit after three ends - to
defeat Russia 9-8 to finish third.

Lawes stole a huge three points in the fifth end and following a
Russian steal in the seventh, the Canadians grabbed another three in
the eighth. In the final end, Russian skip Liudmila Privivkova missed
a hit and roll attempt and Canada confirmed their winning deuce
without having to throw their final stone.

"I'm just a little relieved," said Lawes.

"It's been such an amazing experience. We're so happy we're able to
come here and medal."

The Russians, who won the 2006 World Junior women's title, stole three
points in the third end to build their 5-0 lead.

"Oh geez, I'm not sure what happened," said Lawes. "My rock just
didn't curl in a spot where it had been curling."

Lawes said the world event was an eye-opener for her squad.

"It's unreal, there's nothing like it whatsoever," said Lawes.

"They say it's so hard to come out of Canada, but all these European
teams are phenomenal. They're awesome. Everyone here deserves to be
here."

Norway and Germany finished at the bottom of the standings and will
have to qualify for the 2009 World Juniors from the 2009 European
Junior Challenge.

Next year's World Junior Curling Championship will be hosted at the
2010 Olympic and Paralympic venue in Vancouver, Canada.

--

Linescore

sco 022 016 10x x-12
swe *100 100 01x x-3

Final Standings

Scotland 9-3 - Gold
Sweden 8-3 - Silver
Canada 7-6 - Bronze
Russia 7-5
Denmark (Madeleine Dupont) 5-5
Switzerland (Michele Jaeggi) 4-5
Japan (Satsuki Fujisawa) 3-6
United States (Nina Spatola) 3-6
Norway (Anneline Skarsmoen) 3-6 - Norway must qualify for 2009 Worlds
Germany (Frederike Templin) 2-7 - Germany must qualify for 2009
Worlds

return to headlines

United States wins World Junior men's title
Posted Monday, March 10, 2008 by derekm
OSTERSUND -- The United States captured only its third global junior
men's title - and first since 1984 - with a 7-5 victory over hosts
Sweden on the final day of the 2008 World Junior Curling Championship.

Skip Chris Plys, competing in his third consecutive World Juniors,
stole a huge deuce to open the match against Sweden's Oskar Eriksson
before snapping a three-ender in the third end for a 5-2 lead. The
Americans then blanked two ends and held Sweden to a single in the
sixth.

In the seventh, Plys missed a short runback to score a bunch and
Sweden stole one to close the gap to 5-4. But a U.S. deuce in the
eighth put the score to 7-4 and the countdown was on.

"This is the best feeling ever, I can't really describe it," said Plys.

"Many good teams don't get a chance to come here."

The Americans were the third team to finish atop the standings at 7-2,
but were clearly the quietest. All eyes were on Sweden and their young
(16-year-old) skip Eriksson, while Canada's William Dion made noise
with first-place honours in the round-robin.

But it was the U.S. which gathered momentum through the playoffs,
dispatching Norway in the Page 3 versus 4 playoff game and upsetting
Canada in the semifinal.

It was a day of double disappointment for Sweden, as women's skip
Cissi Ostlund came out flat against a resurgent Scotland to lose the
ladies' final 12-3. It was the fourth consecutive men's silver medal
in a row for Sweden, while Swedish junior women have won four silvers
this decade, in addition to one gold (in 2000) and two bronze.

Canada's Dion, like his women's counterpart Kaitlyn Lawes, recovered
from a crushing loss in the semifinals to win the bronze medal. The
Canadians took out Norway's Kristian Rolvsfjord 5-3 by scoring five
singles in the match, including a steal of one in the second end.
Rolvsfjord was held to just three singles, including a missed double
attempt for two in the ninth end.

"That was our game," said Dion. "That's exactly how we did it at
provincials, at nationals, all year. if we had done that yesterday, we
would have been on the middle sheet today."

"A lot of people told me it's easier here than in Canada, but it's
not. This is tougher. We didn't see these teams in Canada.

"It's a super great experience. It's great to be third in the world.
It's much better than fourth."

Throughout the week, Curlingkanalen.se - which means "curling maniacs"
in Swedish - webstreamed live games via the internet, while the
playoff rounds saw Eurosport.se also pick up the Curlingkanalen feed.

Next year's 2009 World Juniors will be hosted at the official 2010
Olympic and Paralympic curling venue in Vancouver, Canada.

--

Linescores

Men's Championship

SWE *020 001 101 x-5
USA 203 000 020 x-7

Men's Bronze

NOR 000 010 101 x-3
CAN *110 101 010 x-5

FINAL STANDINGS

United States 10-2 - Gold
Sweden 8-3 - Silver
Canada 8-4 - Bronze
Norway 6-6
Switzerland (Manuel Ruch) 5-5
Germany (Daniel Neuner) 4-5
Denmark (Rasmus Stjerne) 4-5
China (Jialang Zang) 3-6
Scotland (Glen Muirhead) 2-7 - Scotland must qualify for 2009 World Jrs
Czech Republic 1-8 - Czech Republic must qualify for 2009
World Jrs

return to headlines

15 and Under Finals moved ahead to today
Posted Monday, March 10, 2008 by derekm

At the request of the players, the finals have been changed from Tuesday until this afternoon at 4:30 in the M&M Meat Shops Provincial 15 and Under Curling Championships.

On the girl's side, Tiffany Sweet won the Page 1 vs 1 game, between the winners of the two round robin pools, by a 10-2 score over Maple Leaf clubmate Emma Cousins, to advance directly to Monday's final. Amanda MacLean, also from the O'Leary club, defeated Megan Davies of Charlottetown 6-1 in the 2 vs 2 game to advance to the Sunday semi-final game against Cousins. In the semi, MacLean defeated Cousins 7-3 to earn a berth in the championship game.

In the boy's division, the Matthew MacLean rink from the Maple Leaf advanced to the final with a 6-3 win over the Patrick Shepherd team from Charottetown in the 1 vs 1 game. Defending champion Parker Clements of the Maple Leaf club scored five points in the last end to beat Jeffrey Taylor of Cornwall 9-2 in the 2 vs 2 game. In the semi, Clements earned a spot in the final by beating Shepherd 7-4.

Bill Hope and Rob Young rinks to square off in M&M Meat Shops PEI Mixed Final round
Posted Sunday, March 9, 2008 by derekm

Kyle Stevenson of the Charlottetown Curling Club will not get a chance to repeat as PEI Mixed champion, after losing the "A" final of this double knockout event 10-4 to Charlottetown clubmate Bill Hope on Saturday, and dropping his second game this evening, 8-3 to Rob Young of the host Cornwall Curling Club. Young will now face Hope in the "B" final Monday at 1:30 pm. Hope beat Charlottetown clubmate and 1989 Canadian Mixed champion Robert Campbell 7-4 this evening, stealing three points in the last two ends to advance to the "B" final against Young. If Hope wins the "B" final tomorrow, he will take the championship. If Young wins, they will square off in a sudden-death final at 7 pm, with the winning rink advancing to the 2009 Canadian Mixed.

Playing with Bill Hope are Sandy Hope, Jeff Gallant, and Shelley Ebbett, while Lorianne Davies, Mark MacDonald, and Melody Beck round out the Young team from Cornwall. Sixteen teams began play on Friday in this event.

Faith LeClair and Daryl MacDonald rinks win PEI Intermediate Ch'ships
Posted Sunday, March 9, 2008 by derekm

After a one-week delay due to a storm last weekend, the PEI Intermediate Curling Championships have wrapped up at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O'Leary.

The Daryl MacDonald foursome from the host Maple Leaf club stole four points in the sixth end as they went on to defeat the Barry Cameron rink from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club by a 7-3 score in the men's final. MacDonald beat clubmate Clair Sweet 9-6 in the semi-final to advance to the final game against Cameron, who got there by beating Sweet 7-5 in the Page 1 vs 2 game earlier on Sunday. MacDonald got by Paul Matheson of the Fox 7-6 in the Page 3 vs 4 game to advance to the semi. Playing with MacDonald were Glen Betts, Lowell Morrison, and Joey Ellworth. Betts and Ellsworth had a busy week of curling, finishing in third place in the Provincial Stick Curling Championships, which wrapped up on Wednesday. Rounding out the runner-up Cameron team were Kevin Ellsworth, Steven Arsenault, and Andrew Windsor. Seven men's rinks took part in the event, created to give up-and-coming curlers experience in competitive curling. Cameron, MacDonald, and Sweet had 4-2 round-robin win-loss records, while Matheson was 3-3.

It was an all-Summerside women's final, with Faith LeClair doubling Silver Fox clubmate Sheila Compton by a 6-3 score, aided by a steal of three in the fourth end. Jennifer Compton, Cindy Howard, and Flo Birch complete the winning LeClair foursome, while Debbie MacMurdo, Paula Baglole, and Heather Bernard were the other members of the runner-up Compton team.

LeClair went undefeated in the four-team event, finishing round robin play with a 3-0 win-loss record, and beating Compton 10-3 in the Page 1 vs 2 game to advance to the final. Compton finished the round robin at 2-1, losing 10-2 to LeClair in their encounter. She then beat Page 3-4 winner Bev Shaw of the Maple Leaf club 7-2 in the semi-final to earn a berth in the final.

M&M Meat Shops 15 and Under Finals Set-All 4 teams are from the Maple Leaf club
Posted Sunday, March 9, 2008 by derekm

The finals are set for Monday at 4:30 pm in the M&M Meat Shops Provincial 15 and Under Curling Championships, with all four teams coming from the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O'Leary. A power outage delayed Sunday's games at the Crapaud Community Curling Club, but the two draws were played after the delay.

On the girl's side, Tiffany Sweet won the Page 1 vs 1 game, between the winners of the two round robin pools, by a 10-2 score over Maple Leaf clubmate Emma Cousins, to advance directly to Monday's final. Amanda MacLean, also from the O'Leary club, defeated Megan Davies of Charlottetown 6-1 in the 2 vs 2 game to advance to the semi-final game against Cousins. In the semi, MacLean defeated Cousins 7-3 to earn a berth in the championship game.

Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba on an early roll at Brier. PEI at 0-3
Posted Sunday, March 9, 2008 by derekm

Sunday, March 09, 2008 Source: Canadian Curling Association

Kevin Martin and his Alberta champions from Edmonton are on cruise control at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in Winnipeg.

The two-time Brier champ, who's backed up by third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert, racked up two more wins on Sunday to stay in a three-way tie with Ontario's Glenn Howard and Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk for first place at 3-0.

Alberta capped its perfect weekend with an 8-7 win over James Grattan of New Brunswick. Alberta scored three in the second, added a deuce in the fourth and put the win away with three in the eighth end. New Brunswick dropped to 0-2 after the loss.

"That was a tight game, but we were in control. That was good," said Martin. " We've played really well the first five ends, we haven't got ourselves in trouble, and then we've been kind of riding it home. So far so good."

In other Draw 4 play, both Ontario and Manitoba needed extra ends to keep pace with Alberta.

Ontario jumped out to an early lead with a steal of three in the second, but gave three back to Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard before finally pulling out an 8-7 win in 11 ends. The loss left Quebec with an 0-2 record.

Manitoba, meanwhile, had to work hard to get past Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse by the same 8-7 count in 11 ends. Nova Scotia's record evened out at 1-1 with the loss.
In the other afternoon tilt, Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories stole one in the seventh end and two more in the eighth in an 8-6 triumph over Eric Harnden of Northern Ontario. Both teams are at 1-1.

Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons (2-0), B.C.'s Bob Ursel (0-2), Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue (0-2) and Prince Edward Island's Peter Gallant (0-3) all had byes in Draw 4.

Play at the the Tim Hortons Brier resumes Sunday evening with the 9 p.m. Atlantic draw, which will be shown by TSN.

On Sunday morning, after three years of frustration, Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons got off to a hot start as the chiropractor from Moose Jaw and his team from the Davidson Curling Club � third Jeff Sharp, second Gerry Adam and lead Steve Laycock � moved into a four-way tie for first place at 2-0 by beating Peter Gallant of Prince Edward Island 8-5.

Simmons had never won his opening game in three previous trips to the Brier; he joins a leading pack at 2-0 that includes Alberta's Kevin Martin, Ontario's Glenn Howard and Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk.

"There are some small things to keep improving on, but these are games we're winning that another year we may not have, and that's a good sign," said Simmons. "And it's also a good sign that we know we can play a whole lot better."

While Ontario and Manitoba were idle on Sunday morning, Alberta rolled to an 8-4 win over B.C.'s Bob Ursel. Martin opened the game with three in the first end and never looked back. B.C. dropped to 0-2 with the loss.

Also enjoying byes Sunday morning were Northern Ontario's Eric Harnden (1-0), Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse (1-0), New Brunswick's James Grattan (0-1), Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard (0-1), Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories (0-1) and Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue (0-2).

On Monday, draws are scheduled for 11:30 a.m., 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. Atlantic time. TSN will show the last two draws, while the morning draw will be available at curltv.com

15 and Under draws going at 4 and 7 pm
Posted Sunday, March 9, 2008 by derekm
The power is back on at the Crapaud Community Curling Club. The M&M Meat Shops Provincial 15 and Under Curling Championships draw originally scheduled for 1 pm will be played at 4 pm, followed by the semi-final draw at 7 pm.
return to headlines

Power outage causing delays with 15 and Under
Posted Sunday, March 9, 2008 by derekm
The power is out at the Crapaud Community Curling Club, and this will cause delays with today's M&M Meat Shops Provincial 15 and Under Curling Championship. Once the power comes back on, approximately five hours will be needed for the ice to recover. This means that the 1 pm draw is postponed until at least 6 pm, depending on whether or not the power is restored.
return to headlines

Perfect start for the home team - Manitoba beats PEI in Brier Draw 2 to go to 2-0
Posted Sunday, March 9, 2008 by derekm

Saturday, March 08, 2008 Source: Canadian Curling Association

The hometown heroes couldn't have asked for a better start to the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in Winnipeg.

Kerry Burtnyk's Manitoba champs capped a perfect 2-0 day at the MTS Centre with a 6-3 triumph over Peter Gallant of Prince Edward Island in a game in which Burtnyk was scored at 92 per cent while vice-skip Dan Kammerlock was at 91.

Burtnyk and Co. stole singles in the first three ends en route to the victory, marking a dandy debut for the three rookie members of the team � Kammerlock, second Richard Daneault and lead Garth Smith.

"I was very impressed with the way they curled today," said Burtnyk, a two-time Brier champion. "Not only Brier rookies, but curling in front of their hometown crowd, I think they really answered some questions today."

Manitoba shares the lead with Ontario's Glenn Howard, who moved to 2-0 by taking down Brad Gushue of Newfoundland/Labrador 8-1. Ontario stole a pair in the third end when Gushue was heavy on a draw, and added a fifth-end deuce to put the game out of reach, dropping Newfoundland/Labrador to 0-2.

In other Draw 2 play, Alberta's Kevin Martin opened the Brier with a solid 6-5 win over 2006 champ Jean-Michel Menard of Quebec, a game in which Martin was scored at 93 per cent while third John Morris was at 96 per cent, despite breaking a bone in his throwing hand two weeks ago. It was the opening game for both teams.

In the other evening-draw game, Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse made a runback double takeout to score three in the fourth end and hung on for an 8-7 victory over James Grattan of New Brunswick in the first assignment for both squads.

Northern Ontario's Eric Harnden (1-0), Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons (1-0), B.C.'s Bob Ursel and Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories (0-1) all had byes in the late draw.

Play at the the Tim Hortons Brier resumes Sunday, with games scheduled for 10:30 a.m., 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. Atlantic (curltv.com will show the morning draw, while the latter two draws will be on TSN.

Champs open with pair of wins, while PEI starts with 2 losses at Brier
Posted Saturday, March 8, 2008 by derekm

Saturday, March 08, 2008
Source: Canadian Curling Association

Reigning Canadian and world champion Glenn Howard opened his title defence at the Tim Hortons Brier with a victory on a snowy Saturday afternoon at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

Howard and his Coldwater and District Curling Club foursome � third Richard Hart, second Brent Laing and lead Craig Savill � shook off a slow start to roll up an 8-4 victory over Bob Ursel of B.C.

The Lotuslanders had jumped out to an early 3-1 lead with a fourth-end deuce, but Ontario bounced back with singles in the fifth and sixth ends, a stolen deuce in the seventh and three more in the eighth and cruised home with the victory.

"That was a great character-builder, I think," said Howard. "I thought the first five ends, B.C. outplayed us. They played terrific, and we played OK. We missed a couple shots and they capitalized. We had our hands full. The thing is, we hung in there, put a little pressure on them and Jim (B.C.'s last-rock thrower Jim Cotter) missed a couple shots we didn't expect him to miss."

In other first-draw play, hometown favourite Kerry Burtnyk sent the fans home happy after knocking off Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories 6-5. Burtnyk opened the game with two in the first end � he had a chance at three but rolled out on an open hit � and never looked back against the Northerners.

Northern Ontario's Eric Harnden got out to a winning start; he stole a pair in the seventh end and hung on for an 8-5 triumph over Prince Edward Island's Peter Gallant.

In the other first-draw tilt, Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons scored four in the fifth end on the way to a 7-6 win over Brad Gushue of Newfoundland/Labrador.

Alberta's Kevin Martin, New Brunswick's James Grattan, Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse and Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard all had first-round byes.

Play resumed at 9 pm Atlantic. Howard picked up another win, 8-1 over Newfoundland and Labrador's Brad Gushue, while PEI lost 6-3 to Kerry Burtnyk of Manitoba. In other games, Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse edged New Brunswick's James Grattan 8-7, and Kevin Martin of Alberta beat Jean Michael Menard of Quebec 6-5.

On Sunday, games are scheduled for 10:30 a.m., 4 p.m. and 9 p.m Atlantic; curltv.com will show the morning draw, while the latter two draws will be on TSN.

Rough day for Canada at World Juniors
Posted Saturday, March 8, 2008 by derekm

Sweden through to both World Junior finals
Canada drops to semi and bronze matches

OSTERSUND -- It was a great day for host Sweden at the 2008 World
Junior Curling Championships.

Both the men's and women's teams won their respective Page playoff
matches and are through to the World Junior Championship finals on
Sunday.

Cissi Ostlund's women's team scored a deuce and added three stolen
points through the final ends in an emphatic 8-2 victory over
Scotland. Eva Muirhead, who won World Junior gold a year ago in
Eveleth, USA, could only muster two single points in the match.

The Scots were also without regular second Vicki Adams, who picked up
a leg injury yesterday. Alternate Kay Adams, Vicki's sister, made her
tournament debut.

"It feels great," said a jublant Ostlund. "It's one of the absolute
best feelings."

Swedish third Sara Carlsson spent a year working in Scotland, and
returned to Sweden "Because I missed my curling team so much," she said.

"I still say 'Oh, Crikey Mikey' and a few other things that are pure
Scotland," said Carlsson. "I guess it's pretty funny.

Sweden will play the winner of Saturday night's semifinal between
Scotland and Russia. Liudmila Privivkova's 2006 World Junior champions
defeated Canada's Kaitlyn Lawes 7-5 in the other Page playoff game,
scoring two deuces and adding key stolen points in the fifth and eighth.

The Canadians, who staggered into the playoffs after an uneven week,
will compete for the bronze medal on Sunday morning.

"We had a good start and played really well the first five ends," said
an emotional Lawes. "But the ice started to fudge on us. They caught
on and we didn't.

Lawes had a tricky draw for two in the ninth end to close the gap to a
single point, but the stone ran straight on the wide side of the house
and she was forced to settle for one.

"It's disappointing but we're a team that bounces back. We came here
to play. We came here for a medal and we're winning bronze tonight."

Canada's men's team were also disappointed as Sweden's young superstar
skip Oskar Eriksson led his team to a 9-6 victory in the men's Page 1
versus 2 playoff game.

The Swedes scored four deuces to Canada's sole multiple tally, a
three-ender scored in the fourth.

"It feels great," said the 16 year-old Eriksson, in an exact echo of
Ostund's words.

"It was a slow start, but the last ends were beautiful. We know that
if we play a good end we'll get the deuce."

The Canadians pushed hard in the ninth end for a winning deuce of
their own, but skip William Dion faced a house crowded with Swedish
stones and multiple guards on both his attempts.

"We played some little mistakes, we had one or two bad angles out
there," said Dion.

Sweden is through to Sunday's final while Canada meets the United
States in Saturday night's semifinal. Chris Plys of the U.S. led his
squad to a solid 7-3 win over Norway in the men's Page 3 versus 4
playoff game, piling on the offense with a 5-2 lead after seven ends.

Organizers in Ostersund scheduled all four Page playoff games for the
same Saturday afternoon draw, which led to a packed arena full of
noisy, colourful fans.

Saturday night's semifinals and the Sunday bronze and gold medal
championship matches can be viewed through curlingkanalen.se or
eurosport.se

P.E.I.�s Peter Gallant squad appears up for the challenge
CHARLES REID
The Guardian

Well, it�s Brier time again and winning the Canadian men�s curling championship still isn�t any easier.

The 2008 version in Winnipeg, Man., runs Saturday through March 16 and P.E.I.�s representative, the Peter Gallant rink from the Charlottetown Curling Club, understand its uphill battle to plant the Island�s flag in the trophy.

Click to read this story in today's Guardian.

Howard, Martin, Gushue, Menard and Burtnyk top 2008 Tim Hortons Brier field
Posted Wednesday, March 5, 2008 by derekm

Wednesday, March 05, 2008 - Source: Canadian Curling Association

March 5, 2008�A tremendous field of Brier winners, world champions and Olympic gold medallists is set to battle at the Tim Hortons Brier, presented by Monsanto, March 8-16 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

It�s a veteran line-up for the 79th edition of the Canadian men�s curling championship, which returns to Winnipeg for a fifth time, but first since 1998, when held at the Winnipeg Arena and won by Ontario�s Wayne Middaugh.   Winnipeg joins Toronto, Calgary, Halifax, Saskatoon and Edmonton as the only other cities to host the Brier at least five times since it began in 1927 in Toronto.

Returning as the defending Canadian and world champion is Ontario�s Glenn Howard. Last year, his Coldwater and District Curling Club team of third Richard Hart, second Brent Laing and lead Craig Savill won both the Tim Hortons Brier in Hamilton and the Ford world men�s in Edmonton. Howard, a three-time world champion, after earlier victories as third for brother Russ Howard in 1987 and 1993, will be making his 10th Brier appearance while seeking a 10th victory for Ontario.

Alberta will be represented for the third year in a row by 2002 Olympic silver medallist Kevin Martin of Edmonton, who won the 1991 Labatt Brier in Hamilton in his Canadian men�s curling championship debut, then took the 1997 renewal in Calgary.   Alberta has won 22 Briers, the last by Randy Ferbey in 2005. Martin makes his ninth Brier appearance.

Newfoundland and Labrador�s 27-year-old Brad Gushue of St. John's, who won Olympic gold in 2006 in Turin, Italy, along with his third Mark Nichols, will be making his fifth Brier appearance. Last year, Gushue, also a 2001 world junior champion, finished the runner-up, losing the final to Howard, 10-6 in Hamilton. He will be trying to win just a second title for his province since Jack MacDuff shocked the curling world with a victory in 1976 in Regina.

Host province Manitoba, which has won a leading 26 Briers, will be represented by two-time Brier winner and former world champion Kerry Burtnyk of Winnipeg. Burtnyk, who captured the 1981 and 1995 Briers, along with the 1995 Ford Worlds, still owns the record for being the youngest skip to ever win the Brier, at 22 years of age in 1981. Manitoba�s last Brier victory came courtesy of Jeff Stoughton in 1999 in Edmonton.

Jean-Michel M�nard once again will represent Quebec at the Brier for the third time as skip.   In 2006 in Regina, M�nard upset Glenn Howard in the final, giving his province just a second Brier triumph. He went on to Lowell, Massachusetts, where he earned a silver medal for Canada at the world men�s, losing to Scotland�s David Murdoch in the final.

Completing the field are British Columbia�s Bob Ursel of Kelowna, the 1984 Canadian junior and 1985 world junior champion making his third trip to the Brier, Saskatchewan�s Pat Simmons of Davidson, in his fourth consecutive Brier appearance, New Brunswick�s James Grattan of Oromocto, the third-place finisher at the 1997 Brier in Calgary, now making his sixth appearance, Northern Ontario�s Eric Harnden of Sault Ste. Marie, who is joined by two sons, E.J. and Ryan, at third and second, respectively, in his third trip to the Brier, Nova Scotia�s Brian Rafuse of Bridgewater, who previously played in the 1996 Brier, Prince Edward Island�s Peter Gallant of Charlottetown, who returns as the defending provincial champion in his ninth Brier appearance and Chad Cowan of Whitehorse, representing the Yukon/Northwest Territories for the third time.

After the conclusion of the 12-team round robin, the top four teams advance to the Page Playoffs, whereby the first and second place teams meet in one game (winner to final, loser to semi-final) while the third and fourth place finishers meet in another game (winner to semi-final, loser eliminated).

There will be extensive national television coverage of the Tim Hortons Brier. TSN will air the afternoon and evening draws during the first six days of the round robin (March 8-13), followed by the Page Playoff games on Friday, March 14. CBC-TV will televise the semi-final Saturday, March 15 at 1:30 CT/3:30 pm Atlantic time and the final on Sunday, March 16 at 5:30 pm CT/7:30 pm AT. It�s the sixth consecutive year that the Brier final has been televised live in Eastern prime time.

CurlTV (www.curltv.com <http://www.curltv.com> ) will webcast a number of games throughout the week to its subscribers.

The winner of the Tim Hortons Brier will then represent Canada at the world men�s curling championship, April 5-13 at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota, seeking a leading 31st title for Canada since 1959.

The winning Brier team also earns a berth into the 2008 Continental Cup, December 18-21 in Camrose Alberta, the 2009 Canada Cup in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, March 18-22 and also becomes one of 16 teams eligible for the 2009 Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials, which will determine Canada�s representatives for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

In addition, the winning team receives $144,000 in Sport Canada funding over a two-year period, and, for the fourth consecutive year, the four Brier playoff teams will receive money for television cresting value: $40,000 to each of the two finalist teams, with $30,000 to third and $20,000 to fourth.

The popular Ford Hot Shots, the curling skills competition, gets underway Friday, March 7 with the preliminary round from 1:00 � 4:30 pm. The playoffs take place Saturday at 12 Noon, following the Opening Ceremonies (10:30 am), with the winner receiving a two-year lease on a new 2008 Ford Fusion SEL V6, valued at approximately $15,240. The second place finisher earns $2,000 while the third place finisher receives $1,000. The first draw gets underway at 2:00 pm CT/4:00 pm AT.

The Brier began in 1927 in Toronto and has been played in 31 different cities across Canada, from Victoria to St. John�s. Manitoba has won a leading 26 times, while Alberta is next with 22. New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Yukon/Northwest Territories have yet to win. The Brier attendance record of 281,985 was set in Edmonton in 2005. In 1998 in Winnipeg, the Brier attracted 147,017.

Up-to-the-minute draw results will be available on the CCA website (www.curling.ca).

2008 TIM HORTONS BRIER, MARCH 8-16, MTS CENTRE, WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
(Teams listed in order of skip, third, second, lead, fifth and coach)

ALBERTA � Saville Sports Centre, Edmonton

Kevin Martin
John Morris
Marc Kennedy
Ben Hebert
Adam Enright
Jules Owchar

BRITISH COLUMBIA � Kelowna CC, Kelowna

Bob Ursel (third rocks)
Jim Cotter (fourth rocks)
Kevin Folk
Rick Sawatsky
Tom Buchy
Jim Ursel

MANITOBA � Assiniboine Memorial CC, Winnipeg

Kerry Burtnyk
Dan Kammerlock
Richard Daneault
Garth Smith
Reid Carruthers
Rob Meakin

NEW BRUNSWICK � Gage Golf & Curling Association, Oromocto

James Grattan
Mike Kennedy
Jason Vaughan
Peter Case
Andy McCann
Dean Grattan

NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR � Bally Haly Golf & CC, St. John�s

Brad Gushue
Mark Nichols
Chris Schille
David Noftall
Glenn Goss
Geoff Cunningham

NORTHERN ONTARIO � Soo Curlers Association, Sault Ste. Marie

Eric Harnden
E.J. Harnden
Ryan Harnden
Caleb Flaxey
Brad Jacobs
Ross Boston

NOVA SCOTIA� Bridgewater CC, Bridgewater

Brian Rafuse
Curt Palmer
Alan Darragh
Dave Slauenwhite
Glenn Josephson
Peter MacPhee

ONTARIO � Coldwater & District CC, Coldwater

Glenn Howard
Richard Hart
Brent Laing
Craig Savill
Steve Bice
Scott Taylor

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND � Charlottetown CC, Charlottetown

Peter Gallant
Kevin Champion
Mark O�Rourke
John Desrosiers
Mark Butler
Rod MacDonald

QUEBEC � Victoria CC, Ste-Foy & Etchemin CC, St-Romuald

Jean-Michel M�nard
Martin Cr�te
�ric Sylvain
Jean Gagnon
Philippe M�nard
Michel St-Onge

SASKATCHEWAN � Davidson CC, Davidson

Pat Simmons
Jeff Sharp
Gerry Adam
Steve Laycock
Warren Jackson
Barry Fiendell

YUKON/NORTHWEST TERRITORIES - Whitehorse CC, Whitehorse

Letter of Appreciation from Carl Delaney
Posted Wednesday, March 5, 2008 by derekm

RETIREMENT PARTY � CARL DELANEY

MARCH 1^ST 2008

On behalf of Irene and I, we want to express our sincere appreciation for the superb planning and implementation you have done in the organization and presentation of my retirement party.

We were extremely impressed with everything especially the large turnout during our winter�s worst storm. This was a night to remember and we will carry the memories into retirement. The food and punch were so enticing that very few left before their bellies were full.

The tribute was coupled with a professional performance that we come to expect of the best Club in the Country. I take much pride in knowing that �we together� have accomplish

Monday, April 7

Tuesday, April 8

Wednesday, April 9

Thursday, April 10

Friday, April 11

On bold & CBCSports.ca

Sunday, April 13

On CBC Television & CBCSports.ca

British Columbia � Juan de Fuca Curling Club, Victoria

Manitoba � Minnedosa Curling Club, Minnedosa

Jean Garbolinsky, Heather Lewis, Cheryl Orr, Diane Sadler

New Brunswick � Beaver Curling Club, Moncton

Newfoundland and Labrador � Re/Max Centre (St. John�s Curling Club), St. John�s

Barbara Pinsent, Marian Dawe, Joyce Nichols, Diane Ryan

Northern Ontario � Port Arthur Curling Club, Thunder Bay

Ontario � Dixie Curling Club, Mississauga

Prince Edward Island � Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club, Summerside

Agn�s Charette, Lois Baines, Marie Leblanc, Dianne Sullivan

Saskatchewan � Wadena Curling Club, Wadena

British Columbia � Sparwood Curling Club, Sparwood

Manitoba � Granite Curling Club, Winnipeg

New Brunswick � Beaus�jour Curling Club, Moncton

Russ Howard, Wayne Tallon, Mike Flannery, Martin Mockler

Newfoundland and Labrador �Caribou Curling Club, Corner Brook

Northern Ontario � Kenora Curling Club, Kenora

Ontario � Royal Canadian Navy Curling Club, Ottawa

Prince Edward Island � Charlottetown Curling Club, Charlottetown

Saskatchewan � Humboldt Curling Club, Humboldt

RETIREMENT PARTY � CARL DELANEY

MARCH 1ST 2008

MARCH 1^ST 2008