Here in Regina, the Brier is throbbing away. Thursday is one of our favourite days: teams battling for that last playoff or tiebreaker spot; knowledable crowds cheering farewell to those out of contention; and the Keith’s Patch filling up. Quickly.

Last night – and this morning – Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton stopped the bleeding, but his pocketbook has been pinched by the CCA, who are citing their Athlete Code of Conduct. More on this $1,000 fine here and here.

Alberta’s Kevin Martin just got crushed 7-1 by Nova Scotia’s Mark Dacey, and he was damned lucky to beat winless Northern Ontario this morning. Tell you what… this team is hurting just as bad as Manitoba is (was?) in mid-week.

For Pat Simmons (CurlingZone photo from this afternoon) the thrill ride is probably over. 0-4 to start, then suddenly 5-4 with Gap fans screaming madly, Jamie Koe of the Territories finally stopped the wheatsheaf train in its tracks this afternoon. Simmons needs help from two teams tonight, and one of them is winless Rob Gordon, who takes on the surging Dacey.

The Brier is often the scene of great off-ice debates. Here’s a Manitoba writer’s rebuttal to Edmonton’s cries of curling superiority; and the Great Ontario Debate is on again… shall we abolish Northern Ontario at the Brier, or not?

Also off-ice, Team Randy Ferbey has departed, amid much support from the fans here in Regina… and Team Brad Gushue is moving in, arriving today and appearing first at a news conference at 11:30am. In that conference, Canada’s new 2009 Olympic Trials setup will be announced, but the cat is already out of the bag, courtesy of a leak to ace Calgary Herald and The Curling News scribe Allen Cameron. Here’s the scoop:

The new process will put a premium on winning major events, with no reward for finishing second to already-qualified teams. And unlike past Trials, winning a Canadian championship will not guarantee entry into the final qualifying step before the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, although it will give teams a major leg up toward forming the Canadian team.

The highlights:

- The men’s and women’s fields for the 2009 Trials will be reduced to eight teams.

- At the conclusion of the 2008-09 curling season, 16 teams will be eligible for the Trials: the men’s and women’s winners of three major annual events (Tim Hortons Brier/Tournament of Hearts, Strauss Canada Cup and Ultima World Curling Tour Players’ Championships in 2007, ’08 and ’09), the season-ending men’s and women’s leaders on the Canadian Team Ranking Systems in ’07, ’08 and ’09 and four more men’s and women’s teams based on long-term performance on the CTRS.

- Should teams win more than one of those event berths, such as two Briers, the spot in the final 16 would go to the next highest team on the CTRS that hasn’t qualified, not the Brier runner-up.

- From those 16-team pools, the four teams that have accumulated the most major event titles will gain direct entry into the 2009 Trials; should no team have won more than one title, the CTRS will decide the four direct entries.

- The remaining 12 teams in the pools will compete in a bonspiel, likely in early November 2009, to decide the final four entries.

The new format will eliminate inequities such as Randy Ferbey’s Edmonton team qualifying for the 2005 Tim Hortons Olympic Trials four different ways with victories in two Briers and two Canada Cups, but gaining no advantage over the likes of Jay Peachey, who earned a berth by placing third at the 2004 Brier behind already-qualified Ferbey and Mark Dacey.

The reduction to eight teams will ease scheduling difficulties, and will make television coverage easier, opening the door to having each sheet televised, and possibly available to fans across the country on a pay-per-view basis.

Speaking of the Gushies: this spotlight on Elaine Dagg-Jackson features a neat anecdote about two Gushies “horsing around” the day of Kleibrink’s bronze-medal match… and if you’re at the Brier, keep an eye out tonight for Mark Nichols and Jamie Korab, who just might be on site incognito and trying to keep out of the limelight before tomorrow’s newser. Look for sunglasses, a jaunty toque (that would be Korab) and above all, no HBC Canada gear.

On Scott Tournament of Hearts Thursday, Amy Nixon told The Curling News (and the National Post) that she doubted Team Kleibrink would be back intact:

We’ve got four very different people in four different spots in their lives right now. Another four years of this team? I would be surprised.

Now official word is out that Glenys Bakker is off the team, and will be replaced by Calgary skip/third/lead Bronwen Saunders. From another Cameron exclusive, quoting Shannon Kleibrink:

It was a team decision; we’re going to miss playing with Glenys, that’s for sure, and we’re always going to be proud of what this team has done.

And here’s Bakker herself:

Obviously, I enjoyed playing with the team, and we had so much success, and that’s a hard thing to walk away from. But my family is a priority. It was too much this year; I figured I spent 80-plus days away from home, and with a seventh-month-old, that’s very challenging on everybody.

Bakker’s swan song with Team Kleibrink will be the final event of the season, the new women’s BDO Players’ Championship in mid-April. She has no plans to retire but does say she wants

In other news:

The Canuck Juniors are into the world semis… Canada finished the Paralympic wheelchair round-robin in first place at 5-2, and plays a semi on Friday. Here’s how Team Leader Wendy Morgan described some recent action:

We had a good game against the States this morning – one that slipped away – we had a chance for 4 in the 2nd and only got one – a real lift for the US – they then took 4 in the 4th and we made a comeback – but it was too little too late. The US was actually booed when they announced the teams in the pregame ceremony this morning – the crowd is very vocal and not always positive – we however have not been on the negative receiving end – wait for tomorrow though when we play Italy!

We had a quick lunch and meeting and then back on the ice to play GBR – what a barn burner – Chris made 2 great shots to get 1 in the 6th to tie the game and Gerry made a FANTASTIC – hit and roll behind cover with his last in the extra end – Chris capped with two perfect guards and we won – what a relief! It was a monkey off our back – Canada has lost to them the last 3 matches, and we may meet again in the playoffs… so good for us.

Here, finally is the first bonafide on-the-scene Canadian media story on the event… or the first we’ve been able to find, anyway.

And did you know that selected Paralympic events are available free on the web?

Expecting to see a hardcore curling action photo from Regina? No way… when you’ve got Batman flapping about with a Brownie brush? Are you kidding?

Some springlike weather abounds across parts of Canada – including T.O., which prompted these wahoos (photo) to amble about downtown between bonspiel games. We’ll let you read all about it, with no further comment from us.

Speaking of Hogtown, Perry Lefko reports that Warren Hansen is insisting that a Toronto Brier is still “on the radar screen”. Hmph. We’ve heard that one before. Toronto was up for consideration for 2007, only to lose to Hamilton.

At this stage of the game, TCN wonders if the Brier will ever be held in Toronto. Is that a challenge to the CCA to take the big gulp and just do it? You bet your shaky in-turn it is.

And speaking of Shaky, the same story offers a brief farewell to Jim Hunt, the famed Toranna sports journalist who recently passed away and who had more than a few things to say about curling during his career. Farewell Ol’ Hunt…

So… why isn’t Brad Gushue and his golden boys competing in the Brier? Looks like somebody, namely Jonesy, is finally asking that question. Meanwhile, Brad himself is now part of the just announced RBC 2010 Flag Tour… hmm, first a Tim Hortons sponsorship (have you seen the Hamilton TV ads yet?) and now a tie to Canada’s Olympic bank… not bad.

A quick international turn:

• Japan’s Ayumi Onodera (Team Aomori) won her national championship on the weekend, but had a few scares along the way. Meanwhile, Japanese curling interest continues to grow.

• The US Nats: Pete Fenson made the long climb back from an 0-2 start to win his third U.S. championship in the past four years, and qualify for Lowell. Meanwhile Deb McCormick defeated Patti Lank in the women’s final and will fly to Grande Prairie this week for the Ford Women’s Worlds… Fenson’s win made his Sunday of honour all the more enjoyable… and here’s a quick look at Fenson lead John Shuster. Some people are turned off by him but we’re big fans of Shustie.
• Canada’s Les Rogers has won World Senior gold, defeating the USA, and Sweden upset Canada’s Joyce Potter in the women’s final…

• You probably knew the Paralympics, which include wheelchair curling, were underway in Turin, but did you know the world juniors are nearly halfway through their round-robin in far-off Jeonju, Korea?

• An update to last week’s Brandon Hall of Fame story;

• South Africans remain befuddled by our sport. No surprise there.

Finally, back to the Brier.

Have you noticed Team Ontario doin’ the Herb Tarlek? The Toronto Star finally did… here’s a preview of today’s TSN afternoon matchup, and it’s a doozy… Winnipeg’s Jimmy Bender notes Jeff Stoughton’s latest milestone… here’s Donna Spencer with some Brier notes… there’s been some online jabs taken at the BC team skipped by Brian Windsor; so Con Man’s headline editor hereby refutes, and be careful as these old guys are tough as nails… Scotia alternate Matt (not Mat) Harris (or is that Mat, not Matt?) is writing a daily blurb for the Chronicle Herald… and last but not least, our zinger of the day, courtesy of today’s Freep (subscription only):

The competitors have filled out personal questionnaires which are published in the in-house Brier newspaper, The Tankard Times – which happens to be steered by honourable TCN columnist Larry Wood – and Yukon/NWT front-ender Kevin Whitehead used his to take a (good-natured?) shot at the Saskatchewan team.

Asked to name his standout movie, Whitehead wrote: “Brokeback Mountain. It’s nice to see a movie about the Saskatchewan front end.”

The post-Olympic March issue of The Curling News is oot and aboot… got yours yet?

Included:

• George Karrys live from Pinerolo; with all the inside scoops

• Doug Maxwell on the Olympic show; the view from a couch spud

• Likewise Larry Wood; it was just another Eurolympics

• TCN Newsdesk: snippets featuring Linda Moore, Dave Parkes, Jessica Alba and Bode Miller (say what?), Saskatchewan’s official sport, John Morris and this year’s Manitoba Hall of Fame ballots

• The Curling News TV Guide: a March Madness pointer to all the games on the tube and your desktop

• Slamming in St. John’s: Randy Ferbey reminds all that he’s still present and accounted for

• Matt Hames on the USA’s Olympic hindsight

• The TCN Gold Trail: who’s in the money?

• They Said It: TCN’s popular collection of quotable quotes

• Queensland curlers making waves in Oz

• 2006 Brier: the Slammer invasion

Enjoy the opening Brier weekend… sigh… Olympics may be the quadrennial pinnacle, but there’s just something about the venerable Brier that strikes a real chord with the heart. Kinda makes it turn purple for nine days.

Speaking of, here’s a look at the home team’s skipper, plus a tale about Saskatchewan lead Ben Hebert getting an earful and a good lesson earlier this season from none other than The Ferb… resulting in this sampling of Hebert’s new self-awareness:

I still have a burning desire to win every single game. I expect to win every game and I know it doesn’t work that way. When you beat teams like Kevin Martin, Randy Ferbey and Jeff Stoughton, you don’t think you should ever lose to teams below them. I’m learning how to lose.

So, who is your money on? Jumping Joe in Ottawa says Quebec is a Brier threat, and we aren’t arguing… Manitoba is certainly a threat, with third man Jon Mead pointing to the Olympic Trials teams as the field strong points… and what about K-Mart? Arch-rival Ferbey thinks he just might win it.

Some final notes for your weekend:

Looks like some controversial city budget money will be allotted to Brandon’s stalled bid to host the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame… this jab at Rhona Martin isn’t just Off The Record, it’s Out To Lunch… Did You Know: a NY Mets pitcher watched the women’s Gold medal game, and one of the Dutch women’s curlers is a Canadian… the world’s top wheelchair curlers start Sunday in Pinerolo – here’s a spotlight on the British team – and CBC’s TV analyst has got game… curling is also underway at the Arctic Winter Games, with stories here and here… Now Look Here, Buddy: this Yank is appalled that Canada whomped the USA in baseball, after first conking them in Olympic curling, but we’ll have you know that Kim Mitchell is simply brilliant, and easily one of the most underrated axemen in music history… and besides, we are taking over… the Con Man asks where are the street signs named after Edmonton curling heroes, huh? … tomorrow in hysterical Bemidji, it’s Paul Bunyan and “Hammer Hankies”… and through all this madness, Pete Fenson has made the long climb back from an 0-2 start to make the U.S. Trials Page 1/2 game… meanwhile, the CurlGirls, now skipped by Jessica Schultz (Cassie Johnson is off galivanting in Europe) have scrapped their way into the 3/4 women’s match… former Winnipeg Free Press curling writer Reyn Davis has passed away (link is subscription-only)… what’s this? Ethan Hawke taking one-on-one curling lessons from some mystery gal? … check out this bizarrely-timed and somewhat bizarrely-written mini-feature on curling, from a New-York based Chinese English-language newspaper — er, website (check their “About Us” and try and figure it out for yourself)…

In case you were wondering… no, the headline has nothing to do with the photo.

The photo is of Japanese Olympic second Mari Motohashi – we love saying that name really fast – and yes, her team and her sport are still in the news over there (snide writer comments aside). 10 million TV eyeballs for one game, followed by another 20 million for the next, will do that for a girl. NOTE: if anyone can help translate some of the magazine cover text – apologies for the small font size – we would, of course, salute you verily.

In North America, the Japanese team is a part of a CurlingZone online discussion concerning the subjective female team rankings by The Curling News… which were also discussed, incidentally, on the men’s side. Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts… either here or at CZ, where registration is also n/c.

Oh yes, the headline.

The 2006 Paralympic Winter Games start this weekend, with wheelchair curling up to bat on Sunday. Canadian Team Leader Wendy Morgan has been e-mailing some thoughts, and here’s one anecdote to start us off…

One of our players, Chris Daw, has a severe allergy to bananas. I was witness to one attack he had when we travelled to Prague, when we entered a restaurant with bananas on the table. It is funny because they have fresh fruit – including bananas on every table in the village cafeteria – so we quickly had them declare two tables ‘banana free’.
Anyway, today at the practice facility in Pinerolo they had bananas sitting on the refreshment table – I had spoken to Lisa (competition manager Lisa Schoeneberg) yesterday and she agreed to have them removed – however they somehow reapppeared again today… so a half-hour into our practice Chris was in trouble. Trevor (Equipment Manager Trevor Kerr) ran to get his pills, and I stayed with Chris, and the medical personnel on site sent for the doctor – it sounds hard to believe that someone can be so allergic without touching or eating the banana – but someone had eaten one in the morning and put it in the wastebasket on the ice.
When the doctor arrived I encouraged him to go and speak to Chris, so that finally they would understand the severity of the allergy… well they know now, and the venue is now ‘banana free’.

This story, of course, could happen to anyone, able-bodied or otherwise. Morgan also reports on some typical paralympic issues – problems with transport, the gravelly roadways leading to the venue etc. – and we look forward to passing along selected thoughts and impressions as official Paralympic wheelchair curling gets underway. In the meantime, here’s a U.S. story on one of their wheelchair curlers… Jimmy Jam certainly appears to be quite the character!

Finally…

• It’s rare to see a rookie curling article appear in a Canadian paper, but here ya go;

• Deadspin continues their curling obsession, now that they’ve discovered the puppies…

• It’s old news in Canada now, but their Olympic gold medal curlers will all have streets named after them;

• This U.S. music writer, who harmlessly labels curling “perplexing”, thinks his country is – win or lose – rather “sullen and spoiled”… any thoughts on that one?

Well, well, well.

Talk about history – junior curling history from the mid-1990s – repeating itself.

Following a scintillating Page 1/2 game and a somewhat duller semifinal, in which we may or may not have bid farewell (again?) to Colleen Jones, the pint-sized powerhouse Kelly Scott (photo) won her namesake championship and partially erased the disappointment of December’s Olympic Trials final.

A roundup of media reports sees only the Edmonton Sun elect to go with the predicatable headline… it’s always good to see Ken Gilchrist scribble some curling content… Steve Green and his local blat did a fine job all week, with this nifty piece by Jim Kernaghan on the rivalry between the two skips (and former teammates) also boasting best use of the human descriptive term muffin and smurf in the same sentence… Bob Weeks of the Glob & Flail, from afar… Winnipeg’s Jim Bender was there all week, as was Al Cameron of CanWest + The Curling News + the daily in-house Heart Chart… not to forget Bill Graveland at CP, the “plucky” Brian McAndrew over at TorStar, and another oldie-but-goodie from the Big Smoke, Perry Lefko, who will also be in Regina this weekend.

• So will Jeff Stoughton, whose Brier sendoff no doubt had the ring of a championship to it, whereas Brian Windsor‘s PR has a different tone. No surprise there… the lineup of Alberta in the west right through to Halifax’s Mark Dacey in the east – namely Martin, Simmons, Stoughtie, Howard, Menard and even Grattan – is a real murderer’s row of talent.

• Across the pond, Kelly Wood and David Murdoch have retained their Scottish titles and are off to Grande Prairie and Lowell respectively. Wood beat Rhona Martin – her Olympic skipper from just a week or so ago – in the final. Even bigger news for her is that she gets to be Scottish again, and not British. Here’s the tale, and here’s a piece from earlier in the competition, indicating that suspect rocks have contributed to a dull hitfest of a championship. Yuck. For more on rocks and how they can create two competitions within one – as happened at the Olympic Games – be sure to check out the column by Editor Emeritus Doug Maxwell in the brand-new March issue of TCN.

• Speaking of Lowell, there is a mini-explosion of interest going on there… some of the U.S. men are still being feted – and being typically gracious about it – down in Minny… Jay Leno isn’t funny at all (shouldn’t that be a criminal offense for a billion-dollar comedian?)… and it sounds like Australia are soon to finally get their first dedicated curling facility, thanks to their sports-mad government…

It’s the Scott Tournament of Hearts today (three on TSN) and this weekend (semis and finals on CBC)… and the King is dead (photo by CurlingZone).
Three of the four playoff spots are set, and Quebec and skip Eve Belisle – quite an interesting person, it seems – is battling Newfoundland’s inspired and multi-sporting Heather Strong in a tiebreaker for fourth spot. The Newfs, who boast the sister of Olympic men’s golden boy Mark Nichols in their lineup, had won six in a row before losing to Ontario last night. Chin up, girls… as The Curling News predicted in the February issue, you have indeed gone miles better than last year’s 1-10 Mile One effort. Games like this… that is what this competition thang is all about.
For a sneak peak at one of the future stars of our sport – who made noise here and now this week, while TCN was recovering from Italy – we’ll turn the mic briefly over to Gerry Geurts of CurlingZone. Behold… New Brunswick’s Andrea Kelly.

They’ve turned heads this past week at the Scott Tournament of Hearts here at the John Labatt Centre in my home town of London.

While hanging out at the Grand Slam of Curling’s Masters in St. John’s last weekend, I remarked to a colleague that Kelly would no doubt have her work cut out for her, and that her squad would be in for a rude awakening in the women’s premiere curling event.

How wrong I was.

After returning to London it was crystal-clear that Kelly was still right there, smack in the middle of the playoff mix. I watched her game against Ontario, and saw – right there – the future of our sport.

In the final end of that game, both Ontario skip Krista Scharf and Kelly made shots that rival some of the best I’ve ever seen executed under pressure. To begin: with her last shot, and with the hammer, Scharf faced a double runback to promote one of her rocks onto a Kelly stone at the back of the button. To add to that, the guard she needed to hit was a quarter-buried around a long guard… but Scharf made her shot, to loud applause. My eyebrow climbed a few notches… but that was nothing.

Kelly, calm and cool, then stepped into the hack and proceeded to make her shot, a high-powered angle hit – through a port that, if she was off any more than a millimetre, would have wrecked. The crowd stood and roared, applauding a brilliant finish.

True, Kelly showed moments of inexperience – such as her shot in the last end against Ontario, where she played a Plan A/Plan B effort when a draw to the four-foot would have sufficed. But her lack of hesitation in calling big-weight runbacks and big-game shots were reminiscent of the shots I saw called at the Masters, and indeed at all the men’s Slams. Kelly’s exhibition game win earlier this season – the skins “Battle of the Sexes” over Regina men’s skip Kyle George – was clearly not the surprise I originally thought it to be.

Another call I remember – again, from the Ontario match – saw the home team make a draw around a tight guard, and Kelly, without hesitation, put the broom down for the runback. Her teammate looked unperturbed and simply made it. Whack-whack.

It’s shots like this – confidence like this – that seems to be missing from many other STOH teams this week. Andrea and her team missed this weekend’s playoffs, but they’ve shown us – following the display that Jenn Hanna, JJones and Kelly Scott put on last year – the future of the women’s game… and the experience Andrea Kelly received here in London will be invaluable in her drive to return.

Great stuff Gerry. Now git out there and grab some more STOH fotos!

• Speaking of the Scott, we’re not sure which was weirder: that a STOH player – TCN columnist Mary-Anne Arsenault of Team NS – suffered an allergic reaction and was sent to the hospital, or that this very same game ended with a hogline violation, eventually propelling the Scotians into the playoffs…?

• Warren’s World: the man is speaking about the 2008 Brier, the ‘09 Olympic Trials, and the possible 2010 Olympic singles competition…

• Looks like Russ Howard is back on The Rock this weekend; the boys are attending a Fog Devils game…

• A new sports complex in North Battleford included a planned curling venue, and a $1 million donation has kicked off the $30 M fundraising campign…

• More post-Olympic buzz stories: Retournaz’ strut was a hit, but we knew that already; Bemidji has gone bonkers; same for all of Minny plus the Dakotas;
Curling in Detroit is on the rise and this hockey-playing newbie has a great quote: It’s amazing all the screaming, yeah. I don’t understand it either. To me, he’s going, “Hard! Hard!” and I only got one speed, you know?… Chicago may have to extend its operating season to met demand; Daytona Beach in faraway Florida wants a curling team RIGHT NOW… did you know about the “hotbed of West Roxbury, MA”?… and hey, Canada can use an Olympic curling boost, too… Moncton, home of Russ Howard, is looking for growth.

• Back to the States for our final note, and an e-mail forwarded from the tireless Rick Patzke of USA Curling. He informs TCN, and by extension yourself, of the following:

This is just a quick look at what is happening at many of the curling clubs around the USA. Broomstones is in Wayland, Mass., outside of Boston.
—–
From: club-bounces@broomstones.com
Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2006 4:15 AM
Subject: Broomstones Open House Hosts One Thousand Today!

The Broomstones Open House today was one for the records. One thousand people found their way to the club and were handled with aplomb.

Despite turning some cars away when the lot was full and lines down the walkway of folks waiting up to an hour to get in the front door. It all went off without a hitch. The media was also there in force… look for a report on the Fox-25 news Sunday morning…

I cannot thank the members of this club who worked the crowds today enough. From parking lot management, to on-ice instruction, working the registration and membership tables, bartenders, kitchen staff… on and on…

Thanks to Standolyn… we had a plan… we had the staff and we did it all with class. The folks who were coming off the ice were all smiles and will leave with fond memories of their visit to Broomstones.

We had a thousand people at our Open House!

Dan