On Sheet C, the game I watched most, strong and consistent BC blew away
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Draw Eleven
Draw Ten
The afternoon games as a whole weren’t too exciting.
Draw Nine
Jenn fought back with two steals in the 8th and 9th, but couldn’t prevent Colleen from counting 2 in the 10th for the 7-6 win. She left quickly, while the crowd saluted Colleen with rousing applause as she glided up the ice to retrieve her water bottle. She smiled and nodded to the crowd and raised her hand in acknowledgement saying ‘thank you, thank you’ all the way down. She was the only skip I saw do that all week. But then, she got the most applause of all.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Draw Eight
There was a crazy game on Sheet A: Ontario was down and despite scoring 2 in the 9th, they didn’t have enough time to properly set up the 10th for a steal—it was too bad. But Quebec was on a roll! Yay Quebec!
Jennifer Jones was never really pressured in her games against NWT, joking and the whole team was socializing with Kerry Koe’s team. She even threw Kerry a little ‘compliment’, saying loudly (and I heard, three sheets away): “I think this one’s going to cause trouble” about a NWT rock, when really she was in no trouble. There was a little falter in the middle, but all in all the team played well, their best game of the week thus far, I’d say.
Alberta also had their best game of the tournament, blowing away Manitoba, who I have been not at all impressed with.
The best game was on my side of the arena, Sheet C, NS versus Newfoundland. Heather Strong—she reminds me of a cute little pony, not in a bad way!—played a good, cool game and forced errors from NS, ultimately resulting in a great final end to score three points for the win.
Draw Seven
None of the other games were interesting. And since I was still hung up on Team Canada, it didn’t really matter to me!
Draw Six
I thought the singer of Oh Canada was a little over-the-top; apparently Colleen agreed because she was cracking up throughout the whole song. I never saw her sing along with Oh Canada. So perhaps she was cracking up about something else, not even listening to the anthem.
The best game was on the far sheet, an excellent game between NS and BC which ended in a heartbreaking loss for Colleen. Andrea Kelly continued her excellent play with a defeat of Cathy King. Kelly kept King off balance the entire game in an impressive display. The crowd was behind Kerry Koe as she nearly defeated PEI—I’m not at all fond of Gaudet’s team—NWT had a couple of close games now. They’re bound to get a win at some point.
I quite enjoyed watching Cathy King, as I felt she was in control of her team. My opinion would change a little as their luck continued to run down.
It was extremely cold in the arena. Outside it wasn’t any warmer and despite walking very fast I was chattering my teeth by the time I arrived at the Heart Stop Lounge. It was a giant room in the London Convention Centre and I had a quick look around before getting in line to get Team Alberta’s autograph. Cathy King was very warm but the others didn’t even look at you. The fifth was very sweet and offered me a pin, which I took.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Draw Five
Then all attention turned to the near sheet where there was an outstanding exhibition by Ontario and NS. Scharf played excellently, as did Colleen, and she scored 2 in the 10th to send it to an extra end. An awesome double take-out by the Ontario second had the arena in a roar and Lori pumping her fist in the air on their behalf. But ultimately Colleen was cool and Krista missed a relatively easy draw by sliding it through the house, giving NS the steal and the win. The crowd was extremely supportive of both teams.
I noticed that Colleen has a very forceful personality—in a very quiet way—and also very decisive. On her team, Kim Kelly is the comedian, talking all the time to the rocks, to the other sweepers, to herself. Very funny. She said quietly to her teammates as they held off sweeping her rock: “Don’t let it trick you….”
Colleen saunters down to the far end of the sheet for her shots, as if there is all day to get there, slowly pushing her way along, looking down, introspective. Once there, she steps over the bumper, takes a drink, steps back over, gets in the hack, cleans her stone with her broom, adjusts her glasses, then pushes off. Smooth as silk. I pointed this routine out to Charles beside me: “You watch too much curling” was the reply.
There was a older guy in the crowd with a beret who called “On-taaar-iooooooo” to the delight of the crowd. Later in the week he brought a giant Ontario flag which he waved while calling out. He was a crowd favourite.
I left the arena with my heart pounding: what a display of curling! And then I faced the long walk home.
Draw Four
The crowd was large and enthusiastic once again. My sheet had an excellent game featuring Quebec and Manitoba, with Quebec pulling off the win with a steal in the 10th. Sheet C had a relatively boring game between BC and NB, won by Kelly Scott, of course. I still wasn’t expecting too much from the juniors. And Canada on Sheet A got trounced by confident Heather Strong and her Newfoundlanders 9-3, with Canada giving up after 8 ends. This turned my head to look at Newfoundland, that’s for sure. Jennifer Jones was very discouraged, and sat alone at the end of the break, silent. PEI won over Saskatchewan, and I began to wish that Stefanie Lawton had made the Scott instead of Streifel, to make things even more interesting.
Draw Three
I must describe the ugly pants. On TV, you don’t really realize how ugly they are. In fact, I quite liked the ones the Kleibrink squad wore in Torino. However, in person, they are ugly and wrinkly and very unflattering. I was surprised. Poor curlers! Funny though, after the second day… I no longer noticed the ugliness anymore. Too busy watching the curling and the players.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Start of the Scott
It took me almost 30 minutes, past some nice old houses, on a very nice afternoon. London downtown was fairly quiet, and a little run-down, but everywhere hung flags advertising the Scott and most shop windows had displays of hearts and curling paraphernalia. This made me smile, but I was still a little anxious as I headed for the JLC.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived, as I thought I’d be the conspicuous as the only one there. I was dead wrong! The place was busy, and I went to my seat quietly: the Hot Shots competition was underway. Right away, I saw both Joneses, Colleen and Jennifer, and all my anxiety was gone, replaced by a little thrill: here I was, in the presence of my curling idols. I was instantly drawn in. They both made it to the semis, and competed on my side of the rink (Sheet D). It was fun to see this in person, as you only get little snippets on TV. Ultimately Colleen went on to win the whole thing and we all spilled out into the sunshine. I walked around the downtown a bit and then returned to the arena.
DRAW ONE
I arrived just after practice had ended, and settled in to my seat. The MC came out and announced the pipers. What I hadn’t realized from watching on TV was that when the pipers marched out at the head of the teams, the crowd stood. I loved that: clapping my hands in time with the pipes and focusing on the teams entering the arena. The curlers came in clapping too, marching in lines around the whole arena and then back to the start. Then Oh Canada was sung, the MC wished everyone good curling, and ‘let the games begin!’
My sheet had what I thought would be a good game, NS versus King’s AB crew, but Team Alberta was outplayed the whole game, and inevitably lost. The best game ended up being ON and Northwest Territories, on the far sheet, with Koe almost pulling off a first-game upset. NB’s young team skipped by towering Andrea Kelly trounced PEI, and Saskatchewan edged favourites BC.
After the game on my sheet, Colleen got a big cheer as she left the ice: all the fans I’ve heard for years have done so much complaining about her... and yet in person they love her. And I have to admit, I liked her too.
DRAW TWO
But it was the evening draw I was waiting for with baited breath: Team Canada’s debut. The afternoon draw went long with extra ends and I raced home the half hour jog and raced back again to make sure I was there when the piper’s first notes rang out. The fourth team out was headed by the Canada flag and then there was Jennifer, giving Scottie’s Little Softie (the big, ridiculous-looking mascot) a high-five like the other curlers, making her way up the arena and then back down my side of the sheet. She looked right at me as they paraded by and I dropped my eyes immediately with shyness: there was no one in the two rows ahead of me. The team was throwing things into the audience but they were out by the time they got to me.
My seats were pretty awesome, about 10 feet out from the home-end hog line, five rows up (but really only three, because of the ‘penalty box’). And despite the fullness of the arena, there was no one in front of me: and wouldn’t be, until Wednesday! The evening draw was not quite as full as the afternoon one, but it was still pretty good.
Watching their game closely, I was disappointed in Jennifer’s play and if it wasn’t for the rest of her team they’d have lost. She seemed to be frustrated, especially by a flash in the 5th end, leading to a steal of 2 by Manitoba. She sat silently on the break but they came back with 3 in the 6th. The tenth end was a little funny, especially as it appeared that there was going to be a hogged rock (by George or Jill I can’t remember) and the crowd was cheering like crazy to get it over and went wild when it finally made it. Cathy started laughing and I later watched the tape to see what she said: “Sweep a guard and the crowd goes nuts!” Yup, we’re crazy alright.
Canada won the game in the end. BC won their game against PEI handily, NB won another to top the leader board, and Quebec stole lots of points to win their game. I was impressed with the Quebec skip and her style of play and made a note to watch them, especially as I immediately recognized Marie-France Larouche, a past Scott runner-up and fan favourite, as their fifth player.
Back home, to watch curling! I wished I knew someone who would go with me to the Heart Stop Lounge with everyone else but instead I made the long and weary (and rather spooky) trek back home through the silent Saturday night streets of London.
Friday, February 24, 2006
The Scott Tournament of Hearts
Notables at this years Scott include past-champion Cathy King of Alberta, the recent winner of the Canada Cup; Colleen Jones of Nova Scotia, a six-time champion back for a 20th shot at the championship; Kelly Scott of British Columbia, 3rd last year, and who narrowly missed becoming our Olympic representatives; Heather Strong of Newfoundland and Labrador, who’d had a poor showing last time out at the Scott in her hometown; Kerry Koe of the Territories, returned again for another try; Andrea Kelly of New Brunswick, last year’s Canadian Junior champion who’d actually failed to get out of her province for juniors and decided to have a go at the women’s!
There were also a bunch of, to me, relative unknowns: Janet Harvey of Manitoba, Krista Scharf of Ontario, Suzanne Gaudet of PEI, Eve Belisle of Quebec, Tracy Streifel of Saskatchewan.
But then again, Kleibrink was unknown to me before the Olympic trials!
And of course, the team I’d supported long before they made the finals of last year’s Scott: Jennifer Jones, Team Canada.
And this is the lineup. I was disappointed in the absence of Jenn Hanna and Stephanie Lawton, who’d brought such brilliant play to last year’s Scott, but thought I’d probably enjoy myself anyway. And one of these unknowns might just turn out to be a star… after all, after two years abroad, I hadn’t heard of Jennifer Jones until last year!
The tournament is a round robin: all teams play each of the others over 6 days, two games a day (except the first weekend). The top four teams make the playoffs. I’ll describe that format when we get there.
For curling basics… well, check out this website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling. I’m not going to teach it here. Chances are you’ve at least watched some curling if you are interested in my blog!
Oh and fair warning... though I did write and date these posts as shown, they were not published til much later and occasionally you'll see that I jumped ahead... a writer's liberty taken, I suppose.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Curling does rock
This weekend I'm off to the premier curling event for women in the world, The Scott Tournament of Hearts. No, not the Olympics or the Worlds but rather the Canadian championships. After all, 90% of the best teams are in Canada (made that statistic up, but it's gotta be pretty close). And that makes for some GOOD curling.
I'm mainly going because it's fairly local and because my current favourite team, Team Jennifer Jones, will be there. Also the recent Canada Cup winner Cathy King, and some more veterans such as Colleen Jones and Heather Strong. I am very excited as this will be the first time I've gone to watch a major event in person. My prediction for the playoffs: Cathy King and Colleen Jones will probably be there. Fingers crossed for Jennifer and Team Canada...