The Junior curling event schedule for the 2010-2011 season is now available at peicurling.com/junior.

(The Star Phoenix)

At the 30 team Sandra Schmirler Charity Curling Classic at the Caledonia Curling Club in Regina, PEI’s Kathy O’Rourke team lost their final round robin game on Sunday morning against Crystal Webster of Calgary by a 10-1 score in only four ends to finish out of the playoffs with a 2-3 win-loss record. The PEI team had hammer in the first end, and picked up a point, but Webster took a deuce in the second end, and stole four points in each of the next two ends to bring the game to an early conclusion.

The O’Rourke foursome  lost their opener 8-2 to the Jill Thurston rink of Winnipeg, but stole three points in the seventh end to edge the Heather Burnett foursome of  Saskatchewan 6-5 in their second game. The PEI team, which includes Erin Carmody throwing final rocks, Geri-Lynn Ramsay at third, O’Rourke throwing second but calling the game, and Tricia Affleck at lead stone, then faced the Erika Brown rink from Madison Wisconsin, losing 7-5 when Brown rallied with a triple in the final end. The Island rink then edged Saskatchewan’s Trish Paulsen team 6-5 in an extra end, stealing a single in the third and a deuce in the 4th to lead 4-2 after four ends. After trading singles in ends five through seven, the Paulsen rink forced the extra end with a steal in the eighth, but the PEI team used hammer in the extra to win the game.

The quarter-finals go Monday at 9:30 am Mountain Time, with the semis at 1:30, and the final at 4:30 pm. The event has a total purse of $47,000, with $12,000 going to the winning team, $8000 to the runner-up, $5000 for third and fourth place, and $3500 going to the remaining quarter-finalists. There is also a $3000 payout to the winners of the final round robin games. Defending champion is Amber Holland of Kronau Sask.

Holland has advanced to the quarter-final round, along with Stefanie Lawton of  Saskatoon, Chantelle Eberle of Regina, Heather Nedohin of Edmonton, Sherry Middaugh of Ontario, Jill Thurston of Winnipeg, Lisa Ayamie of Calgary, and the winner of a Sunday evening tiebreaker between Chelsea Carey of Morden Manitoba and Kerri Flett of Winnipeg.

 With one round robin game remaining, PEI’s Kathy O’Rourke team have an even 2-2 win-loss record at the 30 team Sandra Schmirler Charity Curling Classic at the Caledonia Curling Club in Regina. They lost their opener 8-2 to the Jill Thurston rink of Winnipeg, but stole three points in the seventh end to edge the Heather Burnett foursome of  Saskatchewan 6-5 in their second game. The PEI team, which includes Erin Carmody throwing final rocks, Geri-Lynn Ramsay at third, O’Rourke throwing second but calling the game, and Tricia Affleck at lead stone, then faced the Erika Brown rink from Madison Wisconsin, losing 7-5 when Brown rallied with a triple in the final end. The Island rink then edged Saskatchewan’s Trish Paulsen team 6-5 in an extra end, stealing a single in the third and a deuce in the 4th to lead 4-2 after four ends. After trading singles in ends five through seven, the Paulsen rink forced the extra end with a steal in the eighth, but the PEI team used hammer in the extra to win the game. PEI’s final round robin game goes Sunday at 8:30 am Mountain time against Crystal Webster of Calgary.

The quarter-finals go Monday at 9:30 am MT, with the semis at 1:30, and the final at 4:30 pm. The event has a total purse of $47,000, with $12,000 going to the winning team, $8000 to the runner-up, $5000 for third and fourth place, and $3500 going to the remaining quarter-finalists. There is also a $3000 payout to the winners of the final round robin games. Defending champion is Amber Holland of Kronau Sask.

(CBC) MEN WITH BROOMS is a fresh, new Monday night half-hour comedy inspired by the popular Canadian movie. A group of friends in small town Canada find lots to laugh about on and off the ice at the curling rink that brings them all together.

MEN WITH BROOMS celebrates Canadiana in a modern way and features an ensemble cast that includes: Brendan Gall as Gary, the charismatic yet hapless skip; William Vaughan as Matt, the dim-witted best friend; Joel Keller as Bill, the curling club manager, and Anand Rajaram as Pramesh, the eccentric novice curler and local donut shop owner.

Rounding out the cast is Aliyah O’Brien as Tannis, the bartender at the curling lounge, Glenda Braganza as Rani, the wife of Pramesh and co-owner of the donut shop with him, and Siobhan Murphy as April, who works as an accountant at the local furniture factory where Gary and Matt are also employed. As local curling legend Chris Cutter, Paul Gross narrates each episode and makes guest appearances.

Debuts October 4 at 8:30 pm (change from original debut date)

Fast Facts:

• Paul Gross appears in the premiere episode, and narrates the series based on the movie of the same title in which he starred.  Paul Gross is also an Executive Director of this series.
• Positive Audience Testing – 70% of viewers rated the show as “excellent, very good or good.”

(CCA) For the first time, the Canada Cup will be the first event in the Season of Champions.  And once again, the line-ups mirror a Trials field. That’s how good the competition will be, as the eighth edition of the Canada Cup is unveiled in a new time slot, December 1-5 and in a new city, Medicine Hat, Alberta.

 On the men’s side, there is, of course, the Kevin Martin team, the defending Canada Cup champs (2009), consecutive two-time and undefeated Tim Hortons Brier winners (2008, 2009), but even more importantly, 2010 Olympic gold medallists.  Quite simply, the Edmonton foursome of Martin, John Morris, Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert has enjoyed unparalleled success during the last three seasons.

Wayne Middaugh at the 2009 Canada Cup.
(Photo: CCA/Michael Burns Photography)

 Like Edmonton’s Kevin Koe, who not only filled Martin’s shoes as Alberta’s latest Brier winner in 2010, but who also corralled global honours by winning the Capital One World Men’s last spring in Italy.  Koe, too, is a former Canada Cup champion in 2008.

 Then there’s Coldwater, Ontario’s Glenn Howard, a three-time Brier and world champion, who lost only one game at last year’s Tim Hortons Brier in Halifax.  Unfortunately for him, it was the final game – to Koe.  For this year’s Canada Cup only, Howard’s regular third Richard Hart is unavailable and will be replaced by two-time Brier and world champion Wayne Middaugh.

 2006 Olympic gold medallist Brad Gushue of St. John’s will also be in Medicine Hat.  He has a significant line-up change from last year.   Veteran Randy Ferbey, a six-time Brier, four-time world and three-time Canada Cup champion is now his regular third, as Mark Nichols moves to second and Ryan Fry drops to lead.

 The only other men’s team already qualified is the young Mike McEwen rink from Winnipeg.

 Two teams which had qualified for this year’s Cup no longer exist.   The highly successful Randy Ferbey foursome has disbanded, while Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton has two new members, third Jon Mead and second Reid Carruthers, who join long-time lead Steve Gould.  Eligibility rules state that Stoughton must now re-qualify, since there has been more than one player change from the previous season.

 The balance of the 10-team men’s field will come from the winners of the Westcoast Curling Classic, October 8-11 in New Westminster, BC, the Challenge Casino Lac Leamy, October 20-24 in Gatineau, QC and the Cactus Pheasant Classic, October 28-31 in Brooks, AB, along with at least two of the highest-ranked teams on the CTRS.

 On the women’s side, there’s defending Cup champion Shannon Kleibrink of Calgary, who is already a two-time winner of the event, in 2005 and 2009.

 There’s four-time (2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010) Scotties Tournament of Hearts winner, 2008 Ford World Women’s champion and 2007 Canada Cup winner Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, who has added two-time Canadian junior champion Kaitlyn Lawes at third, joining Jill Officer and Dawn Askin.

 Calgary’s Cheryl Bernard, winner of the 2009 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings and silver medallist at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, will also be on the favourites.

 They’ll be joined by Kelowna’s Kelly Scott, the 2006 and 2007 Canadian and 2007 world women’s champion; Kronau, Saskatchewan’s Amber Holland, the 2008 Player’s Champion, and Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton, the 2008 Cup champ, who has added veteran Sherry Anderson at third, leaving Sherri Singler at second, with former third Marliese Kasner now moving to lead.

 Rounding out the qualifiers is Thunder Bay’s Krista McCarville. the third place finisher at both the 2009 Trials and 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.   With the retirement of third Tara George, McCarville has a new line-up of Ashley Miharija at third, Kari MacLean at second and Sarah Lang at lead.

 The balance of the 10-team women’s field will come from the winners of the following spiels:  Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic, October 8-11 in Calgary; the Southwestern Ontario Women’s Charity Cashspiel, October 15-18 in London and the Manitoba Lotteries Women’s Curling Classic, October 22-25 in Winnipeg, plus, if necessary, other teams qualifying via the CTRS.

 Since its debut in 2003 in Kamloops, British Columbia, the Canada Cup has been won by some of the greatest teams in Canadian curling.  Randy Ferbey and Kevin Martin are each three-time winners, while Colleen Jones took the 2004 renewal and Jennifer Jones was successful in 2007.  After six editions in Kamloops, the Canada Cup moved to Yorkton, Saskatchewan for a successful 2009 renewal.

 There was no Canada Cup last season, but the 2010 Canada Cup now visits, for the first time, the city of Medicine Hat, site of the two most successful Continental Cups ever – in 2004, when an event attendance record of 42,317 was established, and in 2007, as both renewals were captured by Team North America over Team Europe in the unique, Ryder Cup-like format.

 This time around in ‘The Hat’, there is no ‘us’ versus ‘them’, but rather a showcase of Canada’s best curlers, with plenty on the line – first place prizes of $25,000, as well as berths into the 2011 Canada Cup and 2012 Continental Cup.

Link to story at CCA Website