(by Al Cameron)
CHARLOTTETOWN — You’d be hard-pressed to call this opening day of the Scotties a brilliant display of curling.
It was obvious from the get-go that the ice conditions put together by B.J. Gagnon at the Civic Centre were confounding the skips here, and many told me privately that they were disappointed in the consistency and amount of curl across the sheet.
It’s telling that one skip said after a game that she had never seen more curl in the ice at a Scotties, while others were saying they were disappointed at the lack of curl in the ice.
I sympathize to a certain extent, but it only goes so far. The fact remains that there is enough curl in the ice to bury rocks (which is all you really want), and the traditionalist in me says there still should be some benefits derived from being able to read the ice, and take advantage of its quirks, when there are some. I think it’s pretty cool when one skip can make a rock bury behind a guard because she knew where to place the broom, and how to release the rock, and her opposing skip can’t find a way to do the same thing.
As for the results? No real eye-catchers today. Quebec played Team Canada tough tonight, but as I’ve grown fond of pointing out here, Marie-France Larouche has never missed the playoffs in her four appearances as a skip. That’s a pretty solid run of success, so it shouldn’t be surprising that she pushed the Jones Gang.
Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink and Ontario’s Rachel Homan looked extremely effective in their early draw wins, and if the ice continues to get in some skips’ heads, that might play into Alberta’s hands. While they’re certainly not shy about mixing it up with rocks in play, I think top to bottom, Kleibrink, third Amy Nixon, second Bronwen Webster and lead Chelsey Bell comprise the best hitting team in the field, and they would certainly have an advantage over teams struggling with their draws.
Alberta doesn’t have an easy Sunday; they open against B.C.’s Kelly Scott in the afternoon draw before a showdown with that up-and-coming Ontario squad, which is a popular pick here to be around for the playoffs, if not in all the way to the final.
One other potential storyline to follow tomorrow will be the volume of email that is fired at TSN and, unfortunately, the Canadian Curling Association.
I say “unfortunately” because it’s really not a CCA issue that the afternoon and evening draws on Sunday won’t be on the TSN main network; instead, they’ll be shifted to TSN2 to accommodate both the Daytona 500 and the NBA All-Star Game.
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