For context on what this is about, see the first post in this series.
TCN photo by Dallas Bittle. Click image to increase size.
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!
One game left. Bring it on, baby. That’s what we’re here for. If it’s meant to be, we’re going to make it happen.
We love it. We love playing in these big games. We’re not scared of them, we love them. And we just love being out there together and enjoying the moment together.
– Jennifer Jones
by Elaine Dagg-Jackson
VICTORIA – The thing about being a competitor at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts is that once you’ve been there, nothing else will do.
For nine glorious days, real life melts away and you experience a fantasy state of life – living in a beautiful hotel, having three gourmet meals a day prepared for you, a team driver at your beck and call, and enthused curling fans cheering for your shots.
As rookie Scottie participant Kari MacLean – who roomed at the Empress Hotel this week with veteran Lorraine Lang – described it, “Lorraine tried to tell me what it would be like, but now that I’ve been here I get it, and all I want to do is get back!”
Surely that determination is related to some of the amazing matches we have witnessed here in Victoria, where it seemed that no game was in the bank until the last rock was thrown. I witnessed more upsets and comebacks than I have ever seen before, and I thought this year’s field was possibly the most equal of all time.
Team Alberta found a way to get back on the Scotties ice even after being eliminated on Thursday at the end of round-robin play. An enthusiastic but humbled Cheryl Bernard team participated in a wheelchair curling demonstration game against a very capable local team. This took place immediately following the three-four game.
While I am sure Cheryl and company were happy to get back on that Scotties ice one more time, I think they left the ice with a new degree of respect for the skill of those who throw curling shots from a chair!
On that note, congratulations to Vancouver’s Jim Armstrong and his Canadian wheelchair curling team, crowned world champions yesterday afternoon on hometown Olympic (and Paralympic) ice.
Will another Vancouver team become STOH champions tonight?
A number of teams won the hearts of the fans here in Victoria, and Saskatchewan was certainly on of them. In the three-four game on Saturday, crowd-pleasing Stefanie Lawton and co. put up a valiant fight against veteran Jennifer Jones and Team Canada. Every time Canada pulled ahead in the score, a driven Lawton found a way to stay alive.
Team Saskatchewan earned the respect and support of the crowd early in the Tournament and captivated them all week. Enormously disappointed after being eliminated, Lawton and company remained on the field of play long after the game… soaking up every last moment of their 2009 Scotties experience. I know parents/coaches Linda and Bob Miller must have been bursting with pride, watching from back home in Saskatchewan.
The evening game saw more of the same indelible spirit as Marie-France Larouche’s Team Quebec fought back from a 0-5 deficit in the semifinal. Both teams entertained with crowd-pleasing shots all game. In the end the experience of the Jones squad proved insurmountable but Team Quebec won the hearts of everyone here – once again – at the Scotties.
When you’re on the ice competing at an event like this, normal life fades away and for one amazing week, you feel like anything is possible. Tonight the Tournament draws to a close and the 60 athletes of the 2009 Scotties will leave Victoria with memories of competition, friendship and determination to find a way to get back to this amazing event.
Tonight there are only two teams left alive and ten more who are plotting their return. Tonight one team will be crowned 2009 Scotties Canadian Champions – will it be the veteran Team Canada, which has pulled wins out of the clutches of defeat, or the rookie Marla Mallett team from British Columbia, which have revelled in the ice conditions all week here in Victoria?
VANCOUVER – If you thought Canada has dominated the world of wheelchair curling, you would be wrong.
That all ended today as Vancouver’s own big Jim Armstrong and company – with one member of that 2006 team on the ice, Vernon’s Sonja Gaudet – took apart Sweden by a 9-2 count to win the 2009 World title.
Story here.
WCF photo by Al Harvey.
Tomorrow: Canada versus B.C. at the Scotties.
Ironic, according to one writer, that it was Marla Mallet who allowed Team Canada into the party (playoffs) to begin with, where “they’ve been trashing the joint ever since… already knocked over the kitchen table, spilled red wine on the carpet and made a heck of a mess behind the couch.”
To the winners: a trip to Korea, a return to the 2010 STOH in Sault Ste. Marie, another two years of Sport Canada funding, a berth in the Canada Cup, lots of CTRS points, more Kruger jewelry and bragging rights.
And all of it comes to you live, tomorrow night, for the first time on a prime time Sunday night… and for the first time on TSN.
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.
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.
