Exciting stuff at the world men's championship in Halifax.
USA, skipped by John Shuster, scored their first winning record (6-5) since Pete Fenson went 8-3 back at Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, in 2010, but lost in a playoff tiebreaker to colourful Finland. Then, Norway beat Canada for the second time this week, pushing The Pants into Sunday's final for the second year in a row and dropping Canada down to tonight's semifinal, where they will lock horns with the winner of Finland versus Sweden.
Earlier this week, guest blogstar Dean Gemmell was in Halifax... and he mentioned something called The Squish.
Here's another reference to The Squish, and it comes from last night's NOR vs CAN page playoff tilt. In the 10th end, CAN skip Pat Simmons tried a tricky hit for two that involved "squishing" the first of two red stones in the combo at left (see image sequence) into the back of the rings, for two points and the win. A single point would score only the tie.
As we all know, the shooter stuck for the tying point but that elusive second red point squished through the back of the house and out of play. It wasn't even close, actually, and Norway went on to score their winning point in the extra end.
Would that elusive "squished" stone have stuck around in the back if Simmons had struck the first stone off centre, and rolled his shooter across (but not out) of the rings?
Here's another question: Are the rocks these athletes are throwing and sweeping any different than stones from the past – even the near past – and would those old-school curling stones have reacted differently, as per the wishes of Team Canada?
Ask around, and you might find some past legends of the game who might say something between "maybe" and "definitely."
We recall a lengthy, three-part interview series we published with the legendary Ed Werenich back in 2009 (Feb/Mar/April issues, Vol. 52, Issues 4/5/6). Eddie was lamenting recent differences in curling stone quality, pointing to what he believed are unnatural stone tendencies these days, which includes takeout results... and said The Wrench:
I would like to see them get rid of the magic mushroom rocks that go down the sheet and break four feet from the hogline in. It takes a person that can read ice and then call ice... it takes that stuff right out of the game. It's just too easy, with the sweeping instruments of today, to flop one around.
We gotta get rid of the inserts and the sandpaper to get back to the way where the rocks curled on a consistent basis all the way down. Because of the rocks it's too easy to make double, triple peels. The rocks are like ping-pong balls. I see five or six rocks in motion from throwing just one shot. We always used to talk about the quality of the granite.
So there you go. Did these "magic mushroom" or "ping-pong ball" curling stones befuddle Team Canada's attempt to win the 1 vs 2 playoff game?
[Image sequence from WCTV coverage – click here to watch the video highlight at the 2:05 mark]