A new curling calendar launches today, featuring action photography of some of the biggest names in The Roaring Game.

The 2010 Capital One Curling Calendar is now on sale for $16.95 (before shipping and handling) and features such rock stars as Jennifer Jones, Kevin Martin, Brad Gushue, Stefanie Lawton, Team Kevin Koe, Scottish wonderkid Eve Muirhead, and more.

“It’s a great idea and it’s an honour to be included,” said Glenn Howard, one of sixteen Olympic hopefuls who are skipping teams at Edmonton’s Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials starting December 6.

Howard’s image, captured by Capital One Grand Slam of Curling photographer Anil Mungal, appears on the cover. His team also makes an appearance inside.

“This is great for curling fans and it provides excellent exposure in an Olympic year. Curling is booming these days.”

The 13-month wall calendar hangs 9.5” x 24” in wire-o-bound for a perfect finish, and is printed in brilliant colour on the same high-grade,  glossy stock as the 2009 Women of Curling Calendar. Each calendar is also packed into a corrugated sleeve to prevent shipping damage.

The 2010 Capital One Curling Calendar is an all-ages, all-curling product and even includes event listings from far across the sport spectrum. Events both in Canada and around the world – even during the summer months – are included, making this a handy curling reference guide.

Net proceeds will be split equally between The Curling News and Shoot For A Cure Curling, the charitable campaign of the Canadian and American Spinal Research Organizations, which aims to cure spinal injuries and paralysis and boost awareness of wheelchair curling, an official 2010 Paralympic sport.

Click here to order your 2010 Capital One Curling Calendar… just in time for the holiday season!

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What’s all this, then?

Meet Buttons, the newest curling mascot (photo by Anil Mungal, click to zoom in). Buttons was unveiled as The Dominion Curling Club Championship sprang into gear yesterday, and here he/she (?) is with L’Equipe Québéc, aka Team Quebec.

There are 28 teams here representing, for the first time ever, all 14 provinces and territories, including Nunavut… whose ladies team is a remarkable 2-1 early in the competition.

The action runs through Sunday at Toronto’s St. George’s Golf and Country Club. Fans can also follow online through The Dominion curling website which features the Canadian Curling Association’s live scoring system, Curlcast.

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Q: What’s the difference between an Olympic curling year and any other curling year?

A: Media. media. media.

Curlers in San Jose, California managed to get NFL football player Vernon Davis out onto the curling ice earlier this month, and in any other year, the story would have run in local media only. Perhaps with a photo.

We know this because various celebs have tried curling in the past couple of years… and we’ve promoted their experience, right here at The Curling News. Us, and local media where the experience took place.

However, with Vancouver 2010 less than three months away this story has exploded in this viral media universe, complete with video and multiple still pics.

Example: between 9:00am and 9:30am eastern time this morning, no less than 45 media outlets had posted the story online, and the counter was still running.

May we suggest more of these kinds of promotional efforts, from now until Games time. The recipe is simple: grab celeb; apply to ice; write and film.

Rinse and repeat.

Did you miss The Curling News Blog? This may be our first post since last Thursday, but there’s been lots to follow on our Twitter feed. Such as:

• Rizzo beats Kleibrink for 11K; McEwen wins on a measure
• Glenn Howard, Mike Harris and “Buttons” open The Dominion Curling Club Championship tonight
• When will they curl on Vancouver’s super-cool new/old city rink?
• Wayne Middaugh would like to set the record straight:
• Canada loses to Japan at Vancouver wheelchair curling exhibition
• You can follow the Olympic Torch journey online
• No tolls on Team Gushue highway
• 30K raised in little Carmen
• Kevin Martin moves into top spot on Tour money list
• The Daceys are off to Chelyabinsk, Russia
• Vernon, BC gets a Grand Slam
• TSN HD channel available free during Olympic Trials

And so very much more. Click on “Follow” at the top left of this page…

[Photo by Associated Press]

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Our friend Terry Jones is back on the curling beat, and not a moment too soon.

The veteran Sun Media sports scribe, who also authored the 2007 book The Ferbey Four, was at a “32 days out” ceremony for the massive Roar of the Rings event coming to Edmonton December 6-13.

Otherwise known as the Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials, the event is basically the “Olympic Trials” which will declare Canada’s representatives for Vancouver 2010.

As Jones tells us here, many of the late week draw matchups were revealed as part of the news conference.

The much-anticipated and possibly crucial all-Edmonton battle between Kevin Martin and Randy Ferbey will be on the Wednesday afternoon draw, which also features Edmonton’s Kevin Koe versus the other pre-qualified team skipped by Ontario’s Glenn Howard.

Thursday morning features Ferbey-Howard and Martin-Koe, and Thursday night will feature Ferbey-Koe and Martin-Howard.

Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones, Calgarian Cheryl Bernard, Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton and Calgary’s 2006 Olympic bronze medallist Shannon Kleibrink have their feature games against each other Wednesday morning, Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon.

As any curling fan worth his or her salt knows, the remaining squads will be known after the Road to the Roar in Prince George, B.C., which starts up pretty darned soon.

Jonesy also tells us that ticket sales are already at 134,844 for the eight-day event, and single draw tickets go on sale this Saturday.

Tickets are $50 a pop for the women’s final (Dec. 12) and the men’s final (Dec. 13), while the semifinals are $40 each. The early round-robin draws are $30 each.

For heaven’s sake, this has got to be one of the last wakeup calls for curling fans to get their butt to Edmonton, for this showdown of the ages.

“We can’t believe this event is only a month away,” said host committee woman Jackie-Rae Greening. “Probably in our lifetime we won’t have the opportunity again to watch a trials where the winners get to represent Canada on their home turf at the Olympic Games. Now it’s getting so close, it’s getting so exciting.”

The last word goes to K-Mart, who unveiled some kind of countdown road sign, along with Kleibrink, at yesterday’s newser (photo by inews880AM, click to zoom in).

“I think the level of curling has increased significantly, the curlers have been training harder and have all become better than we were four years ago,” said Martin.

“That’s going to make this event even better and hopefully is going to make Canada even better at the Olympics.”

NOTE: have you signed up to follow The Curling News Twitter account?

If not, you’ve already missed today’s info on New Brunswick’s mixed team; Stoughton and Burtnyk on their Road to the Roar (and McEwen and Gunnlaugson, too); the husband of Sandra Schmirler and his honour at carrying the Olympic Torch; and Brad Gushue as an “interesting choice” to publicize the Tim Hortons Brier… considering that he hopes to not compete in it!

Head to the page and click on “Follow” to get tuned in to the digital curling world!

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We’ve talked about it before, and we’re talking about it again… It’s Mo’vember.

This is the month in which to raise awareness about prostate cancer, to raise some money for research and hopefully save lives.

This is the most common cancer among Canadian males, afflicting one in six men, and is a greater threat for those with a family history of the disease.

That’s more than one guy on every sheet of ice during a men’s curling league night at a six-sheet club.

In the past, high-performance competitors have shown support by growing a Mo’vember moustache.

Last year we showed you the wonderfully cheesy Team Glenn Howard, all four of them adorned with a variety of facial foliage.

Team Brad Gushue lead man Jamie Korab also participated, at the 2008 Masters of Curling in Waterloo, Ontario (Capital One photo above by Anil Mungal).

Please visit the Mo’vember website for more information.

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The angle-runback missed by a hair, ticking a front guard, and two of Koe’s team members react with obvious dismay.

The photo was shot the stands at the Hershey Centre by Allen Hofstetter of Paris, Ontario.

Allen and his wife Lynne Gawley-Hofstetter started a little curling supply business called Hit The Broom Curling Gear about four years ago. The Paris Curling Club, just outside of Brantford, had lost its informal “supply guy” so the Hofstetters starting displaying curling equipment on tables at the club.

“The response was amazing,” said Allen.

In a contra deal for the selling space, Allen built a large trophy case for the club’s basement. Now the company supplies Paris and also travels to surrounding clubs during popular bonspiels.

The squad also befriended the victorious Team Glenn Howard around the same time. The friendship is such that Howard lead Craig Savill even mailing one of his official Brier shirts to the couple’s 13-year-old son, Tucker, in 2007.

In addition, the squad was sent this photo, which soon made its way to The Curling News Blog, where is has been published here, with thanks to the Hofstetter clan.

A full-size version of the photo will appear in the upcoming December issue of The Curling News. Got your subscription yet?

Incidentally, Howard third Richard Hart has been corresponding with TCN writer Matt Hames this week, following Hames’ awesome blog and twitter posts during the World Cup final last Sunday.

Hames, who has blogged about the Hart discussions is correct to note that “Prior to the internet, this world class player would never have been able to get this kind of feedback about (his own) game.

“True, he could have watched the tape of the final on CBC and got the commentators’ take on the game, but that’s more an official take. Mine was kind of off-the-cuff riffs on the game in general.

“(Hart) may or may not find value in the feedback, but he’s at least taking the time to acknowledge that feedback can be valuable.”

On a final note, the World Cup feedback from television is quite good. Sunday’s final scored 441,000 viewers on CBC-TV, while Saturday’s quarter-final matchup between Koe and Brad Gushue earned 483,000 viewers, which is up 83 per cent over last year’s numbers.

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TCN publisher George Karrys, who recently made his return as a Toronto-centric Sun Media curling columnist after a 10-year absence, revealed the existence of the Cup for the first time at last week’s Grey Power World Cup of Curling.

The tell-all can be read here.

And here, at last, is the world’s first exclusive photo (above) of the Carrot Cup, temporarily clutched by the jubilant pair of Ben Hebert (left) and John Morris from Team Kevin Martin.

For the record, Team Randy Ferbey held the Cup all summer, following the Grey Power Players’ Championship. Team Kevin Koe then won the Cup over Ferbey at New Westminster. In Mississauga, the Cup changed hands four times – from Koe to Martin to Team Brad Gushue to Koe again, and then finally to Team Glenn Howard.

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MISSISSAUGA – Robbery. Theft. Anguish.

Going into this game, Team Koe had lost the last five Grand Slam finals they’ve played in. Make it six, and this one might actually leave a mark.

So what happened?

Two of the first four shots that Glenn Howard threw were half rock peels that were just trying to get the team out of a pickle. As we posted on Twitter, Koe was all over Howard like a cheap suit.

Indeed, it seemed like Koe was going to cruise to a victory. But a funny thing happened on the way to victory.

Team Howard.

It’s not as simple to say that this game was lost when Blake MacDonald jammed in the fourth end. At that point, Koe was cruising and looked to be comfortable in forcing Howard to one. But all of a sudden, a jam and Howard gets a gift deuce, and a new outlook on life.

But it’s more than that. Because Koe came through with a couple of great shots to bail out Blake. So the game wasn’t over, but the domination was. From that point on, Koe had his only difficulties in the match. A triple for one in six (WCPA boss Pierre Charette called the blank, and he was very nearly right).

And in seven, Team Howard just keep coming, forcing run back after run back after run back. Howard gets his first lead in seven but it still wasn’t over.

Koe had some chances in eight to get the deuce, but left some shots on the sheet. Still, in the final analysis, full credit is due them.

But as Koe tries to break into the top of curling, this is the kind of game they’ll have to close. They can beat Howard, Martin, Ferby and Gushue. No one would be surprised by them winning anything. But the great teams close when they have a change.

And conversely, truly great teams stay in there even when they’re struggling. That was Team Howard. They struggled early, but like they always seem to, they hung in there. They stole one in the last end to win 6-4, but more so, they stole this game.

They don’t rattle, and don’t stop believing even when the other team throws everything at them. They are world class, and tough to beat every time they step out on the ice.

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By Matt Hames
Capital One photo by Anil Mungal

MISSISSAUGA – Holy smokes, they like runbacks.

Now, we’re all for runbacks, but team Koe seems to hit first and ask questions later. This isn’t a criticism, because it’s hard to argue with the success. They make run backs like most teams make guards. There isn’t a rock they can’t or won’t run back.

25 foot double? Let it roll.

In the 7th end, Howard is laying one on the wing with a center guard and he draws open. He knows that if he goes behind the guard, Koe will play the runback nut.

So he goes open. Koe beaks it, leaving Howard a simple nose hit to take the first lead of the game.

With one end to play, we’ll say this: Koe deserves to win this game. They deserve a deuce and their first Grand Slam trophy. But deserving isn’t enough. They have to come out and manufacture a deuce.

Our guess? They’ll run back a few guards trying.

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by Matt Hames
Capital One photo by Anil Mungal

MISSISSAUGA – This Howard team is kind of annoying. Don’t get me wrong, I like to watch them, but they bug me.

They should have been down at least one (maybe more) at the fourth end break. Team Koe totally out played them and could have been up 4-0. (I still say that Koe should have capped the inturn side in 2, and I’m not sure how Howard scores.)

And with all that said, they leave Kevin Koe with a triple for one. That was the first end where things got a little difficult for Koe. Credit him for coming through with a great shot.

But you can feel a deuce coming. Meaning we’re in for a cracker of a last two ends.

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