VN:F [1.9.11_1134]

Say hello to Bruno Yizek, the newest member of Team Canada.

That’s the Paralympic Team Canada, by the way. Alberta’s Yizek was named yesterday as the alternate on the wheelchair curling squad that will defend its Paralympic gold medal at Vancouver 2010 in March.

Canada’s main lineup is the same one which also captured its first world championship earlier this year at the Vancouver Paralympic Centre: skip Jim Armstrong, third Darryl Neighbour and the all-female front end of Ina Forrest and Sonja Gaudet.

Yizek beat out 2009 worlds alternate Chris Sobkowicz and former national team skip Gerry Austgarden for the spot.

For more on the latest curler to wear the Maple Leaf, click here.

[Ian Readey photo from Eric Eales’ Wheelchair Curling Blog]

VN:F [1.9.11_1134]

Team Canada wheelchair curling skip Jim Armstrong, who led Canada to its first-ever world championship gold medal in March, underwent shoulder surgery last week in Vancouver.

Canada’s major hope for a repeat of Paralympic gold at Vancouver 2010 had first confirmed the diagnosis of the injury back in July.

“I have a muscle tear in my left (non-throwing) shoulder that has been bothering me since before the world championships,” Armstrong had told Eric Eales of wheelchaircurling.com.

“The prognosis for a full recovery is good, but the surgeons are suggesting that rehab may take three to six months.

“The long rehab is a concern,” Armstrong continued, “but if I can get the surgery in a couple of weeks I plan to go ahead with it. Otherwise I’ll wait until after the Paralympics.”

And now, with that three-to-six-month window now in play, the race is on to get “Army” back in Paralympic Games shape.

[WCF photo by Dallas Bittle]

VN:F [1.9.11_1134]

Rockin’ the Gold is a fundraising event to support the Canadian Curling Association’s ongoing quest to encourage and develop the sport across Canada.

Sounds good to us!

On July 17, participants will gather to compete and have fun at Toronto’s High Park Curling Club for the Rockin’ the Gold Bonspiel ($80 per team includes three indoor games, door prize ticket, plus dinner and drink) while guests/attendees can also drop by (at $10 a ticket) to enjoy the fun.

Waitaminute… did we say “indoor”?

Yep, we’re talking about the dryland version of the sport, “Kurling”, which is sweeping across Canada after originating in the U.K.

The “stones” are used in the Capital One Rocks & Rings program (you remember this story, and this one, right?)

This interesting day is organized by Sport and Event Marketing students from Toronto’s George Brown College, each of whom is a self-declared curling enthusiast.

Partners include the CCA (of course), George Brown College (of course), Wellington Brewery, Boston Pizza, Generation Go and Rock Solid Productions.

Sounds like there may be a couple of team spots available, so hustle on over to the website. You can also follow the action on Facebook (must be a member) and on Twitter.

What else?

• World wheelchair curling champion skip Jim Armstrong looked simply fabulous on Canada Day (see second photo, below the first)… but the serious news is that he has a shoulder injury that will require surgery. And thus brings the big question: does he go ahead with surgery now, or tough it out until after the 2010 Paralympics in March?

The story is here, with over 20 comments so far …

• Still with wheelies and Vancouver, 2006 Paralympic champion skip Chris Daw is relocating, again, this time from Newfoundland all the way across Canada to the left coast. Daw has been hired as the new General Manager of the Vancouver Curling Club, which of course will be moving into its new digs just 100 yards away within a year or so following the Olympics and Paralympics.

Apparently, Daw will also be continuing his work for the CCA as the Development Coordinator for Wheelchair Curling (under the Discover Curling program).

This is all good news, considering Daw was tempted to leave the country just a few years ago.

Oh… Daw will also be a father, again… he and wife Morgan are expecting a child in early March, 2010. Congrats Chris, on numerous fronts!

• DID YOU KNOW: that venue construction for the Sochi 2014 Olympics is definitely underway?

• Wanna buy a curling book? You can get “Saskatchewan Curling: Heartland tradition 1882-1990” for 10 bucks …

• And finally, welcome to a new curling blogger, who describes himself or herself as an Average U.S. Curler. No pressure now, having been linked by The Curling News Blog …

VN:F [1.9.11_1134]

VANCOUVER – Something wacky and wonderful happened at the Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Centre this morning. And The Curling News was there.

Everything was supposed to have been torn away following the last shot of the 2009 World Junior Curling Championship. The media tribune, offices, pipe and drape, signage etc.

And it was all gone, except for the field of play. The blue carpeting stood out with vibrant colour, the ice glittered under the lights, and there was even a set of rocks set up on sheet C.

VANOC extended the complete tear-down of the facility by a day, so that a group of celebs could gather and film a segment of the popular CBC comedy show Rick Mercer Report.

Canadian comedian Rick Mercer was there. So was British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell. And so was the back end of Canada’s 2009 world champion wheelchair curling team, Jim Armstrong and Darryl Neighbour.

Apparently, Mercer is in town filming various paralympic sport segments. Today was wheelchair curling. Other days will feature sledge hockey, skiing and more.

This is for the final show of the season, to air in April. Ironically, the opening episode of the Mercer Report’s 2008-09 season featured Paralympic sports – the summer disciplines, which featured in Beijing.

This from the funnyman who already had his staff produce an amusing mock-commercial in an earlier episode this season, entitled Full Contact Curling.

Anyway, The Curling News was there to give an exclusive preview of the raw material being filmed for the show.

In the photo above, lensed by Dallas Bittle, we have a bunch of odd pre-shoot things going on.

The guy on the far left is expressing something with his hands, but no one is paying attention.

The Premier (medals on his chest) is looking at, well, nothing.

Mercer (far right in the Canada top) is looking at Neighbour, and the guy he’s supposed to be talking to (hoody under his jacket) is aware that something is going on behind him.

Finally, Neighbour is looking down and is seemingly unaware that his skipper, Armstrong, is giving him THE EVIL YET INCREDULOUS GLARE!

Wow. What a start to a funny film shoot! Click on the image to zoom in somewhat.

More photos – four more, in fact – will follow shortly. Stay tuned, folks!

VN:F [1.9.11_1134]

VANCOUVER – So your curling fandom revolves around the Scotties, does it?

Did you know there is a Canadian team battling in a world championship right now? And in relative obscurity? And in British Columbia, not far from the Victoria STOH?

The last time we saw Jim Armstrong he was teaching some poor patsy the three-man lift, a gimmick that has been carried on in fine fashion by famous lead players Jamie Korab (Team Brad Gushue), Ben Hebert (Team Kevin Martin) and others.

It was right around his days as president of the World Curling Players’ Association, and somewhat far removed from his playing career which saw him compete in six Briers, losing the 1987 final to Russ Howard.

So it is initially, admittedly, a bit shocking to see the big man wheeling round the brand new Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre, wearing the Maple Leaf for the first time as skip for Team Canada at the 2009 World Wheelchair Curling Championship (WCF photo by Dallas Bittle, click to zoom).

But we get used to seeing this. Armstrong looks comfortable – enough – and patient in his chair. Only playing for two years, after first being invited to “hang out” with Team Canada at a training camp, Armstrong is now the skip of a national team that has been rebuilding ever since 2006 Paralympic champion skip Chris Daw left the scene.

We asked Jim if he’s ever tempted to just stand up, get out of that chair and walk over to the stone he wants to freeze to, or hit, or draw around.

“Yeah,” said Army.

“But that first step would be ugly.”

Was he initially nervous, playing for Canada for the first time in his career?

“Yeah I was, a little bit,” said Armstrong.

“I think anytime you’re in this setting, if you’re not getting the butterflies there’s something wrong.”

There are some colourful characters in wheelchair curling. German skip Jens Jaeger lets out occasional whoops and likes to take mock, exaggerated bows to his coaches and fans with every victory.

Jaeger hasn’t been in the worlds since 2005 – when he finished in 13th place – but he smoked everybody at the Worlds Qualifier in Prague, and he is pretty much smoking everybody here in Vancouver – he’s through to the Page 1/2 game Friday night, against Sweden. He’s certainly come a long way.

Canada plays another colourful team, the United States, in the Page 3/4 game, also Friday night at 8:00pm. They finished third, Canada fourth. They also won bronze last year. And they have a few wild childs on that team, let us tell you.

Then there’s China and Korea – two teams among five that finished just one game out of the playoffs – which are the loudest teams around. Both squads like to yell at the rocks, from release to finish, as if they want to just stand up, get out of those chairs and run over to the stones to sweep them. Chinese skip Haitao Wang has a particularly brutish, gutteral baritone… which you can hear from the players’ lounge.

These guys – and gals – can shoot, too. And they’re incredibly pleasant, funny and grounded, even compared to the majority of able-bodied curlers.

“There are no asses in this game,” says Armstrong.

“And I’m guessing its because they’ve all got a story about how they got here.”

You got that right, Army.

Here’s hoping that Vancouverites come out and support the wheelies, support Team Canada. There’s only a handful of draws left: Frday night (8:00pm), Saturday morning (9:00am) and the Gold and Bronze Medal games on Saturday at 2:30pm.

Admission is just five bucks.

So get down here. Here’s the event website.

For those outside Vancouver, you can follow the results here… and read a ton of draw summaries here… but best of all is some live blogging, focussing on Team Canada games, going on at the popular Wheelchair Curling Blog.

If you can get out of your chair – unlike these athletes – then come on down. Otherwise, get online and check it out.

VN:F [1.9.11_1134]

There is so much going on, we almost don’t know where to begin. Prepare yourself for a dizzying ride… and you might want to bookmark this page!

We’ll start in British Columbia, host to two big events starting tomorrow.

First, the doors to the gigantic new 2010 Olympic and Paralympic curling venue – impressively labelled the Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre – were thrown open to the public yesterday. Following the ceremonial first stone (photo by Metro) there was a full slate of activities running from 5:00pm to 8:00pm, such as curling demonstrations – featuring 2002 Olympian Georgina Wheatcroft (who seems to have been hanging around all week) and emcee Ray Turnbull of TSN – plus a multicultural assortment of performers, including dancers, bagpipers, a hip-hop crew, stilt-dancers (!) and a South Asian bhangra team.

Plus free munchies, free pins from Canadian Olympic broadcaster CTV, Olympian and Paralympian autograph sessions, inukshuk-building and of course the official Vancouver 2010 mascots – Quatchi, Miga, and Sumi.

You can see pics and stories via Canwest, and the Globe (with the bazillion-dollar cost breakdown) while this Canadian Press squib mentions disappointment in the seating, saying “Canada’s love for curling could easily have filled more than 6,000 seats.” We agree.

Dubbed “The Centre of it All” for last night’s bash, the facility will also boast an impressive post-Games legacy – a brand-new, eight-sheet Vancouver Curling Club, an NHL-size ice rink, a 6,200-square-metre aquatic centre (with a 50-metre lap pool, leisure pool, outdoor pool and hot tub), a 9,300-square-metre community centre complete with full-size gym, multi-purpose rooms and fitness centre, a library, field house and offices.

The best link, however, is this one from the World Curling Federation, because it previews the 2009 World Wheelchair Curling Championship, which starts tomorrow.

Canada’s six-time Brier competitor Jim Armstrong – who hails from Vancouver – now skips the national team, and he leads the hometown heroes against mighty Norway (two-time defending champion), Korea (whose 2008 silver-winning skip actually yells at the rocks, believing they will listen), Germany (winners of the Challenge qualifier back in November), China (it’s their first appearance, and they have an average age of just 24), Scotland (their skipper won two worlds and Paralympic silver in 2006) and the United States (winners of 2008 bronze).

As the WCF story points out, no less than four websites will be dishing results, shot-by-shot graphics, news and photos, so be sure to stay plugged in over the next nine days.

The International Paralympic Committee also has a preview here.

But that’s not all, for B.C.

The Scotties Tournament of Hearts also starts up Saturday, from nearby Victoria, with wall-to-wall TV coverage on The Sports Network… and live scoring at the event website… lots of media and predictions… and maybe even some occasional blogging from The Curling News, who knows?

Also, the U.S. Olympic Team Trials start tomorrow in Colorado. This is a combined championship, which will send the winning teams to the women’s worlds in Gangneung and the Ford World Men’s in Moncton… and also to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games next year. So for the Yanks, this it… right here and right now, baby.

Even USA Today has taken notice, with this feature on the wide generation gap on Team Erika Brown also including a link to “Relive the curling action from the 2006 Games”. Nice.

There’s more U.S. Trials media here (Duluth-based story and video) and here (featuring Wisconsin’s Debbie McCormick)… and even from this guy, who wrote a decent piece except for the not-too-thinly-veiled opening shots.

And did you know you can the playoffs live online, via Universal Sports?

Wait, there’s more.

As you saw in our previous post, we have spies on the ground at the Winter Universiade in Harbin, China, and we’re looking forward to more bird’s-eye viewpoints coming from the other side of the globe.

And now back to Vancouver for a second. The aforementioned VCC is hosting a Mixed Doubles bonspiel tomorrow… and this reminds us that this year’s 2009 World Mixed Doubles
are in gorgeous Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, which of course will be hosting the 2010 World Men’s. So there you go.

And what about events that are ending this weekend? Geez, where do we start?

• Manitoba men’s provincial: live scoring located here, some Shaw TV game coverage via webstreaming here and some recent media here …

• The Scottish men (scoring here) and women (scoring here) are almost into playoffs, with expert commentary located here …

• The European Youth Olympic Festival (say what?) going on in Poland (say what again?) is into curling’s gold medal games… today! Scoring here!

• The Swiss men and women have their championship finals on Saturday… but to be perfectly honest, we can’t seem to find the link anymore.

And with that, our brains are fried. Pfffttt.

VN:F [1.9.11_1134]

There’s lots going on as we put the finishing touches on the February issue of The Curling News – have you subscribed yet? – so here’s a linkfest to keep you going. Crack knuckles… now…

• Jeff Stoughton (above) is on home ice as the third Capital One Grand Slam, the BDO Classic Canadian Open, gets underway tonight at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. The event website is located here.

Local blatster Jim Bender sets up the CTRS chase and also talks to Kerry Burtnyk about the recent Brier memories, while Freepman Chris Cariou spotlights young gun Mike McEwen.

Three playoff games will be televised on CBC this weekend, and don’t forget the Capital One “Million Dollar Button” contest, which will be a part of the TV package. They’re jetting in from across Canada for this one – like this gal from Fergus, Ontario – and two people were also selected from 3,300 online entries submitted over the last few months… like this fellow from B.C.

Didn’t know about this? Quit whining; we showed you the link weeks ago …

• The Manitoba men’s field looks to be almost complete and… but… good lord… Sun Media has given Bender a videocamera, and told him to get out there and file moving pictures, in addition to words. What is this world coming to?

• Meanwhile, the manitoba gals are all set, as are the Ontario men’s and women’s provincial fields (that was a news story, here’s the OCA draw page) …

• The Nova Scotia women’s Scotties are already underway, and here’s a quick preview …

• The Ontario Seniors are over and done, with Bruce Delaney and Cheryl McBain taking the 2009 titles. What this summary story fails to tell you is that multiple Canadian and World senior champion Anne Dunn lost the women’s final. Of course, Joe Pavia has that tidbit in his latest column… meanwhile, over on PEI, the 2009 Senior champs are Mel Bernard and Shirley Berry …

• Here’s a southern Alberta update, leading off with men’s playdowns this coming weekend …

• Speaking of Burtnyk, he will be speaking about his past cancer battles at a luncheon in April, which is affiliated with the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers football team …

• Former Brier skip Jim Armstrong won his second straight B.C. wheelchair curling championship last weekend, but has already been named skip of Team Canada at next month’s 2009 World Wheelchair Championship in Vancouver. 2006 Paralympic champion Sonja Gaudet, who was on Gerry Austgarden’s runner-up team, was named as the alternate. There’s a recent feature on Gaudet located here …

• Back in Ontario, the city of Kingston beat out 2008 hosts Collingwood to win the bid to host the 2010 Ontario ParaSport Winter Games, which will include wheelchair curling at the Royal Kingston Curling Club …

• And Napanee, which is only some 40 kilometres west of Kingston, will be hosting the 2010 Ontario men’s provincial Tankard …

• The Toronto Curling Association has a new sponsor (top news story) for the venerable men’s bonspiel …

• DID YOU KNOW: that both of Canada’s teams in the upcoming 2009 Winter Universiade (World University Games) in China are from Wildfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario?

• Finally, Cold-FX has joined the Vancouver Olympic sponsor family. And those of you who remember just how bad 1998 Canadian Olympic men’s skip Mike Harris had it in the gold-medal final will note the company’s opening tagline:

Colds and flu were a big problem for Canada at the Nagano 1998 Winter Games. Thirty-six Canadian athletes, coaches and trainers, including figure skater Elvis Stojko, long track speed skater Neal Marshall, as well as the curling team, came down with colds or flu.

VN:F [1.9.11_1134]

Movember, the month of moustaches, is back in full force. Curling men are asked to not shave for the entire month, beginning tomorrow, to show support for the fight against prostate cancer. BalancePlus chief – and the coach of Team Glenn Howard – is Mr. Scott Taylor, and he is the prime mover behind this campaign, which you can read about in the October 29 posting at the SWEEP! magazine site.

You may recall our promotion of this thing last year. And yes, that’s them Howards (photo above by Tae) after winning Brantford’s SunLife cashspiel last Movember. Wonderfully cheesy, and all for a great cause.

What else is going on, you ask?

• The 2010 “Olympic Brier” is bound for Halifax, and will be announced there next week. Another story is located here, and another here …

• They’re looking for more Tim Hortons Brier volunteers in Calgary, stories here and here …

• As yesterday’s post indicated, today is the last day for one kind of tickets to the Ford Worlds in Moncton and tomorrow launches another series of ticket packages …

• Bismark, North Dakota will host the Brazil/USA Worlds challenge on January 30 to February 1. Background info located here …

• The Chinese have left Canada and are in New Zealand, preparing for the Pacific Championships which start on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Aussies – who had a productive yet somewhat disappointing performance in Grand Forks – are looking for more success …

• The new $1.5M curling centre in Midland, Michigan is ready to open, as ABC-12, WNEM TV and NBC-25 all show us. The debut opening is November 8 …

• The A-division draw is up for the 2008 Le Gruyère European Curling Championships …

• CONTEST ALERT: This one is for readers in the Kitchener-Waterloo area of Ontario, as the local blat if offering up six pairs of Event Passes to the first Capital One Grand Slam of the season, the Masters of Curling …

• Amy Nixon is on The Curling Show, and other recents have been KPark, B.C.’s Bob Ursel and everyone’s favourite, mrnn …

• We are now 496 days away from Vancouver’s other major sports doo-dah, the Paralympic Winter Games …

• 2002 Olympic bronze medallist and 2000 world champion skip Kelley Law surfaced last week, and as this story tells, she is content with her life away from the curling ice …

• Nerdsopolis has returned our recent shout-out: grazie …

• The dark side of curling? Bring it on, baby! After all, this is the Halloween weekend …

• This Dutch blog likes the Women of Kurling and their Kalendar …

• There may be hope for northern Ontario’s Rainy River club following their critical meeting last Friday …

• California’s Wine Country Curling Club will learn its fate at a Vacaville city council meeting on November 11 …

• 29 years of writing about local women’s curling? Wow …

• Rookies tossed some “22kg stone thingys” at Fenton’s the other day …

• Don Gordon of Lake Cowichan, B.C. quotes a curling story in talking tough about supporting a local arena upgrade plan …

• We have more curling tales from Schenectady, NY and also from Greg in Hollywood …

• The site of the original “Callie” was set ablaze on Wednesday …

• Melfort, SK needs an icemaker …

• Kamloops city councillor Arjun Singh has blogged about a local curling club asking for funding …

• Finally, we like this definition of curling posted by the Kalamazoo CC:

CURLING: The difference between a great winter and a crappy, not-enough-snow-to-really-ski winter!

VN:F [1.9.11_1134]