Okay. Not that we wish to correct TSN, The Sports Network, when they declare that Scotland’s David Murdoch will become the first international team to compete in the third annual Casino Rama Curling Skins Game in January, 2010.

Because they’re right. In the three-year history of this event, only Canadian teams have featured. So let’s call today’s story a… clarification.

Because when we look back at the last three decades of TV skins curling, there have actually been a few international skirmishes. Before Casino Rama’s time, of course.

The first is pictured above, from the cover of the December 1993/January 1994 edition of Canadian Curling News (click on image to zoom in).

Do you remember this edition of the old McCain/TSN Skins Game? The 1993 event, hosted in Ottawa, was a doozy.

Russ Howard – with brother Glenn and the front-end tandem of Wayne Middaugh and Peter Corner – had just won the Brier and Worlds, and looked very good early on in their semifinal against unheralded Milt Sinclair of Abbotsford, B.C. Howard won the first three skins over the first five ends.

But it began to unravel and the left coasters then took the lead. It was only on the last stone of the match that Howard pulled it out, grabbing a $3,000 skin for a narrow $9,000 to $7,000 victory.

In the final, Howard met up with the first international team to ever be invited to the Skins: David Smith of Scotland, who had upended Ottawa’s Bill Walsh in the other semi (Walsh won $7,750 in another tight match).

Curling fans may remember the very public and vitriolic reaction from Eddie “The Wrench” Werenich, who of course missed out on the chance to compete because of the invitation given to Team Smith. The Wrench was, er, not very happy.

And it was all-Scotland through much of the final. In fact, as the photo shows, the Howards were blanked through the first eight ends, down $15,000 to zero, and Russ was clearly reeling. One wonders if Smitty was actually beginning to feel sorry for him. If so, big mistake.

Russ and Co. had blanked the seventh and Smith had blanked the eighth, leaving an $11,000 skin on the table in the ninth. Howard finally cashed in, making a tap-back to score the skin and make the 10th end meaningful, as it almost always is/was (Casino Rama Skins Games are now eight ends in length, of course).

And lo and behold, the Wounded Moose pulled it off in the final end too, stealing the final $6,000 skin and the victory when Smith missed a last-ditch runback for the win.

The champs took home $37,000, which also included the $10,000 winner’s bonus and another $1,000 for winning the pre-event draw to the button.

This was also the first Skins Game in which all three games went down to the last stone.

And there are two more international skins appearances to remind you of.

We are pretty darned sure – and please correct us if you think we’re wrong – that Norway’s Pal Trulsen appeared in the McCain/TSN shootout soon after his Olympic triumph in 2002.

And another Scottish team, skipped by Tom Brewster, appeared in one of the short-lived M&M Meat Shops Skins events – and made it all the way to the final of the six-team event – televised by rival broadcaster Rogers Sportsnet. Remember that one, folks?

Anything else going on, you ask?

• Wednesday is “Camp Day” at all Tim Hortons stores across Canada, a special day where every penny earned in coffee sales goes to a worthy cause: the Brier sponsor’s Tim Horton Children’s Foundation. Don’t be surprised to see some of Canada’s top curling stars slinging coffee and donuts at various store locations tomorrow …

• The twin sons of TSN curling colour man Ray Turnbull – affectionately labelled “in-turn” and “out-turn” – were in the news last weekend…

• Brad Gushue’s hometown St. John’s Telegram recently published a look back at his squad’s – er, sorry, Russ’ squad’s – 2006 Olympic triumph …

• SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION 101: For some reason, Canwest News recently recycled this online story from March’s Brier frenzy, in which The Curling News boss George Karrys was quoted on the rarely-discussed question of curling songs …

• Speaking of curling songs, Skip Cottage liked our recent highlight of the bizarro Jamie Jay Singh song, reposted here… and this here video tribute to Seattle’s Granite Curling Club boasts its own original curling song…

• Less than two months after the successful Ford Worlds came to New Brunswick, that province’s Interscholastic Athletic Association will vote today on whether or not to throw five sports – including curling – off the provincial high school athletic roster …

• Finally, would anyone care to guess why these apartments for rent in Hoboken, NJ have been called Curling Club apartments?

In Hoboken, New Joisey?

Somebody help us understand. Please.

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MONCTON – The Moncton Coliseum was full to the rafters Sunday night, and I was able to witness a rather amazing 50th anniversary men’s world championship final.

From my part, I’d like to thank gk for the opportunity to blog from this event. It was a blast!

Kudos for Moncton for the organization: everyone here ensured that the event is a success. Even the nightlife of a relatively small city offered plenty of entertainment throughout the week and I must tell you, those long nights are starting to show.

To quote the three-year-old daughter of a Finnish curling legend: “Mommy… Daddy smells like curling again!”

Thankfully, I’ve got no spouse nor kids waiting at home.

In addition to sleep deprivation and liver poisoning, I will go home with plenty of memories and new friends. After seeing a major curling event in Canada, I’m definitely tempted to come and check out another… perhaps next year’s Tim Hortons Brier in Halifax?

While I was disappointed for my brother Kalle (with me in the photo) and the Finnish team, I know they enjoyed themselves, from the moment they started their training camp in nearby Amherst, Nova Scotia to the final round of drink tokens in Sunday night’s Keith’s Patch.

And now that the week is over, it is also time to announce the winner of our “Hottest Player of Worlds 2009” vote.

Although I felt like an utter and complete bimbo for organizing it, the people in Moncton seemed to enjoy a bit of cheeky fun… and even the local media was happy to feature it to emphasize a different aspect of these big curling events.

When choosing my list of candidates, I consulted the media guys who were happy to help, once they had gotten the “I’m not gay, don’t ask me!” out of their system.

In addition to the voting possibility here at the blog – check out the first six candidates (and comments) here, and the final six candidates here – there was a paper vote available at the arena, and hundreds of ballots were cast.

For starters, all 12 nominated players received votes so there truly is an abundance of hot men in this game!

Also, three other gentlemen outside of our vote had caught the eye of the female spectators, and are nited for the record: Switzerland’s Markus Eggler, French front-ender Jan Ducroz and Scottish third Ewan MacDonald.

The result of the balloting went down to the wire. The difference between the winner and the player who came second was only two votes and our top two hotties hogged more than half of all the votes for themselves.

Ladies and gentlemen, here is your Top 5:

1. Thomas Ulsrud (Norway)
2. John Morris (Canada)
3. David Murdoch (Scotland)
4. Andreas Lang (Germany)
5. Tied: Thomas Dufour (France), Jan Hauser (Switzerand) and Jiri Snitil (Czech Republic).

Thank you Moncton… and farewell!

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by Katja Kiiskinen

MONCTON – Since I have now successfully dodged the subject of the actual curlingcompetition for the entire week thus far, it might be time to bring it up.

For the first five days of the competition it was Canada versus The Rest of The World.

Team Martin had no problem reading the ice (which was at times a bit tricky) and they were making every shot. With the exception of their Germany game on Monday, Canada seemed to have every game won in the first five ends.

Still, their first loss was coming all week and some might suggest that Canada’s loss in that last draw against Scotland was the worst possible timing.

When you’re finally challenged and beaten after a week of “easy” games, suddenly adjusting your mental approach to the game takes some effort.

And lots more effort if you then find yourself with two losses in a row.

For the rest of the teams who still had a chance to make it in the top four, it was time to buy some beers for the David Murdoch’s Scottish boys.

Team Kevin Martin definitely knows how to win, but once Scotland had them by the throat on Thursday, we could actually see an inkling of uncertainty in the hometown team’s performance.

Then, in Friday’s playoff (CCA photo by Michael Burns) we saw more than just an inkling. And I can’t blame them – in front of this crowd, losing can seem like a scary prospect. The “Go Canada Go!” cheers we heard here on Friday sounded like they were almost demanding their boys to step up their game.

At the beginning of the week, if you had asked me who would win this thing, I would not have hesitated to say Canada, even though Scotland and Norway were also standout squads. Despite a couple of losses, Scotland and Norway were both performing consistently and seemed like sure candidates for the top four, and the ones to challenge Canada.

However, after having the courage to mix it up, Russ Howard’s Team Switzerland found the confidence and started improving their play, game by game, and became part of the equation.

After a much more convincing performance, Canada will be part of the final after all.

For me, this week has clearly shown the importance of a team’s mental strength and willpower. The body language and commitment of Team Martin tonight was miles away from what we saw yesterday against Scotland. They have been able to pull it together.

Still, if you ask me now, I think Scotland is no longer merely a contender. Because they were able to shake the ground under Canada, it will be an even, and hopefully entertaining, championship final tomorrow, and the pressure is definitely on Canada.

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MONCTON – Recent work days have consisted of taking pictures of an alien, a bird and four men in their underwear.

I need to keep reminding myself that this is a major curling competition.

“Spring is in the air… everywhere I look around…”

You can definitely tell we are heading towards the end of the curling season and here’s some proof of that… starting with Bernie.

You know how birds migrate back home from the south at this time of year? Well, in addition to our curling-stone-shaped mascot (named Skip, who was created by the WCF) we have our own Bernie the Birdie (TCN photo courtesy Tomi Rantamäki).

This little one felt the good spring vibes of our tournament and decided to settle inside the rink. Bernie most often stays close to the ceiling, but whenever the more inexperienced curlers are struggling with tactics – such as Kevin Martin or David Murdoch – or the cameramen are about doze off, Bernie lands on the ice to cheer everyone up.

Parts II and III coming soon!

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MONCTON – The editor apologizes for the delay, but apparently the Canadian Prime Minister arrives this morning – big curling fan that he is – and that seems to have quite a few people scurrying about.

And here we are, finally, with the rest of our hotties who are easy on the ice… or should that read eyes?

7. NORWAY

The entire curling world knows he is gorgeous, so maybe it would have been time to go with someone else… but then all of you Thomas Ulsrud fans out there would have been raising a riot. With the addition of the young and talented Petterson and Svae on the front end, Ulsrud’s impressive curling career seems to be picking up the pace with every year that passes by.

8. UNITED STATES

We were very tempted to go with the sweetheart skip of the team, John Shuster, but ultimately decided we would let you vote on third Jason Smith, who spends half the year charming the Floridians.

9. SWITZERLAND

Our Swiss playa has got an inexplicable way with the ladies. Any members of the cuter sex who have been in his vicinity will know this. If there’s a girlfriend reading, you should not be alarmed – despite his amazing charisma, Jan Hauser always behaves.

10. SCOTLAND

This hot piece of crumpet and his team are responsible for offering us some of the most enduring moments of curling. That’s right, we’re talking about Scotland’s very own David Murdoch. He is known for his incredible versatility as a player and an intense focus on the game, which make him oh-so-captivating to watch.

11. JAPAN

Look at this cutie! Say hello to Kosuke Morozumi, the brother of Japan skip Yusuke Morozumi. He’s only 20 – the average age of this young team is only 22 – and they were targeting the 2014 Olympics when they surprised the field at the Japanese final.

12. GERMANY

We were tempted to go with alternate Daniel Herberg, but we simply cannot resist the lure of Andreas Lang. He first arrived with the veteran Team Kapp to install some youthful vitality to the squad, and just like that, the squad is confirmed to represent Germany next year in Vancouver.

So, there they are! Your nominees for the hottie vote. Be sure to check out the first group, if you haven’t already, and leave a comment so you can make someone’s day!

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The January 2009 issue of The Curling News is in the mail and should be arriving any day now.

And as we draw closer and closer to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, we think you should definitely become a subscriber.

We will be using this blog to highlight some of the content non-subscribers have been missing over the past months, just to illustrate how neither one – blog and print edition – can really work without the other.

You need both. One is free, the other costs just 35-odd bucks a year. That’s all.

So subscribe today, and you’ll get stuff like this, every month, first in line …

• Is Scotland’s David Murdoch the Neo of curling? Regardless, Canadians should be wary;
• European Championships report from O’vik;
• Larry Wood asks if today’s curling ice is actually too good to be true;
• John Morris dons the gloves and Jennifer Jones goes sailing in new CCA ticket drives;
• The Dominion Club Corner looks at curling liners – the Easy Sheet – as a real option for your curling club;
• Matt Hames, new American citizen, is back on the curling ice;
• Wayne Middaugh robs Brad Gushue at The National, Larouche on fire and Gushue/Lawton lead Capital One Cup standings;
• They Said It: our monthly look at quotable quotes includes Walchuk, Lang, Jones, Murdoch, The Ferb, Johnny Mo, Howard (both of them) and even a CurlingZone chatter;
• Kimberly Tuck dishes on the Canadian Mixed in Iqaluit;
• The Curling News Book Blowout: there’s still time to grab one of five awesome classic curling titles from our vaults;
• Rodger Schmidt exposes the crazy world of Swiss curling, Olympic-style;
• The Other Kevin Martin – no, not the Old Bear, but a Guinness World Record breaker;
• Martin on the haunting of Lloydminster, the Calgary Brier and his disdain for the Hall of Fame… Johnny Mo doesn’t feel like an outsider any more… Swift Current grabs the 2010 Ford Worlds, and more!

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ÖRNSKÖLDSVIK, Sweden – Two great final games, one an up-and-down rollercoaster, the other a tightly-wound study of tactical maneuvering, have brought the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2008 to a stunning conclusion.

Scotland’s David Murdoch won an improbable second straight men’s victory with a shocking comeback win over Norway. On the women’s side, Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott buried some five years of frustration by finally defeating the mighty Anette Norberg of Sweden not once, not twice, but thrice in as many days… and in Sweden, no less.

That’s Swiss third Carmen Schaefer – you know her as Carmen of Curling, versions one and also two – celebrating upon the impact of her skip’s final takeout. Swedish third Eva Lund (background) knows what’s coming, Swiss third Valeria Spaelty (left) is rapidly getting airborne and of course WCTV cameras are right in there (WCF photo by Urs Raeber).

Another great photo of Swiss elation can be found here, taken by AFP.

Did you know that in just four days Ott and Norberg will become teammates, together with Bingyu Wang of China, as Team World takes on Team North America at the Continental Cup of Curling in Camrose, Alberta, Canada?

The men from Finland are back in the Worlds – Ford edition, coming up in Moncton – but without M-15, aka Markku Uusipaavalniemi, of course. The 2008 Eurohosts are thus out of the worlds, and Sweden’s men’s program is in complete disarray. Spain and Ireland are back down to next year’s B-Pool in Aberdeen, Scotland.

England’s women stay in the A-Pool and send the Dutch down next year, along with the Czech Republic. Norway’s women, finally minus Dordi Nordby and also missing the elusive Linn Githmark, are back in the Worlds (courtesy of skip Marianne Rorvik) and shall book their tickets to Gangneung, Korea.

Home, James. We’ll catch you next week …

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It’s all over in St. Petersburg, Russia, where David Murdoch’s Scottish champions upended Canada’s Brad Gushue, the 2006 Olympic champion, by a 6-3 score in the final.

Pal Trulsen’s 2002 Olympic champs won the bronze, defeating one of the Russian entries 5-4.

In the semifinals, Gushue edged Trulsen 6-5 in an extra-end while Murdoch took out the Russians 7-4.

In the WCT-E photo above (click to zoom in), we note a few things:

1. The event trophies are huge but the individual trophies are quite small!

2. Gushue (far left) deserves an award for fearlessly perching on the very edge of the silver podium without taking a tumble, while his teammates – front enders no less! – stand comfortably in safety. Lead stone Jamie Korab even gets to hold the big trophy!

3. Peter Smith of Scotland – the big guy – has just won way too many trophies in his long career.

4. Who is the new Norwegian lead? We thought coach Ole Ingvaldsen was actually throwing rocks during the week.

5. Note the coloured confetti on the ice. It probably exploded up into the air when the Scots received their championship trophy. But they probably didn’t bounce up and down, chanting, for fear of collapsing the podium.

6. Finally, we note the cool hair and duds on the Master of Ceremonies. That guy has it goin’ on.

So, it’s all over, and the event certainly looked to be a resounding success. We’ve got some comments from World Curling Tour Europe ED Armin Harder, who spoke to TCN about the Canadians:

“The Gushue boys are true sportsmen… they are great ambassadors for the game and for their country. The European Tour really appreciates their flying all that way from Newfoundland. They’ve been the stars here and an enormous boost to our cause, and a pleasure to have along.”

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The ADAMANT St.Petersburg Curling Cup is just about ready to start. As you will recall, six international teams will battle it out along with Russian locals in an exhibition series hosted in a shopping mall.

Ice tech Peter Luck, at left in this photo (above) from Tuesday, is the man tasked with bringing the ice to life. Luck, who is 59, has over 30 years of experience in Switzerland – at Wallisellen, near Zurich – and has been the chief ice tech for the past five or so World Wheelchair Championships. He also steered a previous World Juniors in addition to active crew duty at previous World and European Championships.

He’ll head to Vancouver in 2010 for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, but first… St. Petersburg!

Action starts tomorrow and concludes on Sunday. The Brad Gushue, David Murdoch and Thomas Ulsrud teams are at full strength, while Pal Trulsen has coach Ole Ingvaldsen at lead stone and Andy Kapp has his brother Uli, who is recuperating from knee surgery, also at lead.

Follow the action here and stay tuned to this here blog site… we just might have some surprises posted through the event.

What else, you ask?

• Following another invasion of New Zealand, the Aussies have declared their World Mixed Doubles team for the 2009 Cortina Worlds …

• This is the best darned curling ice in Michigan! So there!

• Here’s early notice that the San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club will be a part of a “get psyched for 2010” Olympic-themed open house on Aug. 24… their club blog is located here …

• Memories of the Thistle (Hamilton, Ontario version) … and here’s what it looks like these days, sadly …

• Here’s a peek at new Canadian Curling Association Governor Jim Campbell …

• And finally: ever wanted to help map out historical curling locations in Scotland?

Of course you have!

All you need is a computer and high-speed connection. The ancient sport’s archivists are looking for your help – click here for the scoop!

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World Curling Tour Europe – these guys, not these guys – have leaped into the headlines with word of an annual curling exhibition being hosted in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Date of the first event is almost imminent: July 25-27, 2008.

The format sees five international men’s teams of considerable heft being jetted into the city to join three local teams, as yet undetermined.

Invited and accepted are:

Brad Gushue – Canada
Pal Trulsen – Norway
Thomas Ulsrud – Norway
David Murdoch – Scotland
Andy Kapp – Germany

Key to the venture is new WCT-E partner Adamant Construction & Property Management, a rather large Russian developer that happens to own some 1.7 million square metres of property in that city alone.

They also own a few shopping centres, including a big one that happens to boast a small ice rink. A rink that has seen curling displays in the past.

As such, shopping mall curling has come to Russia, just as it came briefly to the world’s biggest mall in Edmonton, and more recently (but sadly no longer) to a mid-sized mall in Galt, Ontario.

“It’s a bit of a breakthrough for us,” said WCT-E chief exec Armin Harder, a Canadian who lives in Switzerland.

“Adamant are covering all the costs, and the idea is to do this quite a few times leading in to Sochi in 2014.

“We look forward to putting on a good show for these guys.”

And what do the players think?

“We were pretty surprised,” said Gushue.

“We were notified by Armin Harder that the event was in the works and they asked if we were interested in attending. Of course, we said yes. But we didn’t want to get too excited until we knew for sure that the event was a go. Once we heard it was a go we got really excited.

“We have our tickets booked and we are looking forward to it… should be a great experience. Hopefully the event will help raise the profile of the game in Russia and add another event on the WCT-E for down the road.”

And on the western front:

“We are happy to be among those top teams that have been invited to this
event,” said Füssen’s Andy Kapp.

“St. Petersburg is a fantastic and booming city and to play a tournament in the middle of summer heat will be very interesting. In Germany and Switzerland we are used to playing tournaments in July and August, but not in a shopping center and not in Russia. If the ice isn’t melting, we will melt it!”

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