#BetweenTheSheets: #BroomGate Rocks the Curling World
Equipment debate and updated power rankings reign supreme
this week
The coveted top spot in the #TwineTime power rankings is
starting to become quite the battle.
Each week on tour seems to feature more outstanding shots, more
outstanding results and, perhaps, more heated debates? Let’s address the elephant on the ice from
the beginning: #BroomGate!
The curling world has been quite active this past week in
discussing equipment used by top contending teams. The use of a specific broom head fabric has
stirred quite the debate, beginning this past weekend in Toronto. Players are coming together in supporting a
unified stance on the topic of equipment regulation. Advanced technologies being applied to sports
equipment is nothing new. We have seen
this in all sports, from football gloves to golf clubs to soccer balls. Curling should not be inept from embracing
new technologies elevating the level of game play. However, recent improvements are causing many
curlers to feel enhancements are actually hindering the integrity of the
game. In a sport that has worked so hard
on changing its image from a “beer drinking, chain smoking social game” to a
competitive, fit, athletic elite sport, the notion a new broom head leading any
curler to basically place a rock in a final position Xbox One style has curlers
throwing their brooms in the air with disgust.
For a full article, including feedback from world class curlers Wayne
Middaugh, Nolan Thiessen and Brad Gushue, give Don Landry’s article (FOUND
HERE) a read. Female curlers are
also joining the debate as Landry followed up his aforementioned article with
another one featuring comments from Rachel Homan and Val Sweeting (FOUND
HERE). Regulation of equipment is
not unheard of and, in many sports, is often embraced. The question is not a matter of if but rather
when the World Curling Federation, the sport’s governing body, steps in and makes
an announcement on this issue. If
regulation is imposed, and I as a fan would support this, how soon will the
national bodies, such as Curling Canada, step in and mandate the same
regulations? Top teams seem quite
comfortable right now making a friendly agreement to no longer use the broom
heads in question during competition until the issue of regulation is discussed
by players, manufacturers and sport representatives. In fact, check out the recent blog
post from Thiessen addressing 22 elite teams proclaiming they will stop
using this new “directional fabric” during tour events and grand slams. This is quite the coup for the sport where we
see athletes coming together making a decision and agreement amongst themselves
with no mandate to do so. The question
remains, will top teams stick to this friendly handshake or will we see some
fingers crossed behind the backs? Let’s
remember, this is still a sport with points, money and career dreams on the
line. In the end, do results speak
louder than words? And what will happen
when a team continues to use the controversial equipment against a team clearly
against it? This is just the tip of the iceberg
on #BroomGate...stay tuned folks, this is going to get interesting.
But let’s return to the action on the ice shall we? With all top teams on tour fully submerged
into their season schedule, the results each week start carrying more and more
weight as we head into the winter season.
This is known as the “WHEY” point of the season. No, no I do not mean every curler go hit the
gym with whey powder and bulk up. I am
speaking of the fan “WHEY” experience. Let
me clarify: we Want to see the top teams pull to the front of the pack each
week; we Hope to see some up and coming teams pull some upsets; We Expect
to see the best of each team week in and week out; we Yammer on and on about
just who is the best team on tour. Some
of us, #TwineTime included, maybe spend a bit more time on the Yammer part of
the fan experience...but hey yammering leads to blogging...blogging leads to
conversation...conversation leads to growing the sport. In conclusion, #TwineTime grows the sport
(shameless ego plug right there, thank you!) :)
Time for the #GunnerRunback on last week’s action:
Speaking of Gunner, I was fortunate to watch him play with
his new skip Willy Lyburn in Edmonton over the weekend at the Direct
Horizontal Drilling Fall Classic.
Unfortunately for Gunner and Team Lyburn, it was not the best weekend as
they failed to qualify. However, Team
Kevin Koe had LOTS to be thankful for as they defeated Team Bottcher in the
final to repeat as champions. It was
great to watch some outstanding games on Friday and do some CurlingGeek
coverage as well. Last week I mentioned
to watch out for Charley Thomas’ rink and boy did he prove me right, qualifying
on the A side. As an aside, #TwineTime was able to connect with a few top players for some #BetweenTheSheets interviews...stay tuned for those in the upcoming weeks. Not revealing names but I can say, for one of these guys, many ladies would be quite jealous I got some alone time with him. LOL
In Toronto, the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard saw a
continuing trend over the past few seasons now...#redpants win and win and
win. Team McEwen picked up a huge spiel
victory, knocking off fellow top contenders Brad Gushue in the QF and Glenn
Howard for the title. Fellow top teams
making the playoffs included Brad Jacobs (l. to Howard SF) and Nik Edin (l. to
Jacobs QF). Huge props to #TourChallenge
runner-up Mark Kean as well. The new
Kean team must have drank a bunch of Bomb energy drinks (their new sponsor)
leading up to the event as the qualified A side and made a SF appearance (l. to
McEwen).
Calgary hosted the women’s tour Curlers Corner Autumn Gold
Curling Classic and saw Rachel Homan’s team continue their hot start to
the season. Homan and company picked up
another tour victory, this time besting Team Chelsea Carey in the final. A highlight of this event is the continued
success of rookie team Kelsey Rocque.
Rocque made her third consecutive SF appearance (l. to Homan).
As the Women’s Masters Basel in
Switzerland, Russia’a Anna Sidorova dominated the high-calibre international
field. Sidorova went undefeated over the
weekend, besting home crowd favourite and #TourChallenge winner Silvana
Tirinzoni in the final. Anna also made
the shot of the event in her double-raise takeout to score 3 in the final end to
claim the title. Check out the shot HERE. Canada’s Sherry Middaugh represented the Red
& White with a strong QF appearance (l. to Feltscher). To no surprise the Swiss were well
represented once again with playoff appearances by Tirinzoni (final), Feltscher
(SF) and defending world champion Paetz (QF).
Scotland’s Eve Muirhead also made a strong push for the top of the world
rankings with a SF finish (l. to Sidorova).
The St. Paul Cash Spiel in St. Paul, MN
saw 47-year old Todd Birr upset favourite Heath McCormick in the men’s
final. The women’s final saw the young
Cory Christensen (#TwineTime’s dark horse pick) go undefeated and dominate
Jamie Sinclair in the final to claim the title.
Halifax, N.S. played double hosting duties as well this
weekend. At the Bud Light Men’s Cashspiel,
a battle of young guns met in the final with Stuart Thompson beating Jamie
Danbrook. At the New Scotland Clothing Ladies
Cashspiel, Nova Scotia junior champion and 16-year old Mary Fay picked
up her first win of the season beating Mattatall in the final.
The #TwineTime predictions had a lot to be thankful for this
weekend. Accurately predicting 6 of 8
qualifiers in Toronto (including a championship for McEwen) was offset by the
lacklustre 4 of 8 correct in Edmonton (although predicting a Koe finals
appearance). A nice 6 for 8 finish in
Calgary (coupled with a correct Homan victory call) and a similar 6 of 8
accuracy in Basel equals a successful weekend on the women’s tour as well. Correct calls on dark horse teams Christensen
and Fay and McCormick’s run to the final were also successes last weekend. Again, not a perfect draw to the button but
not a stone in the boards either.
So what about those #PowerRankings? McEwen continued the #redpants victory tour,
did he finally pass Gushue at the top?
The #HomanTrain continued to roll over the competition but did the
results in Basel affect some of the other top teams rankings? And what do we make of Koe’s repeat title in
Edmonton?
MEN
1.
Brad Gushue (Last Week: 1)
2.
Mike McEwen (LW: 2)
3.
Kevin Koe (LW: 4)
4.
Glenn Howard (LW: 5)
5.
Brad Jacobs (LW: 3)
Hon. Mention: Team Laycock, Team
Bottcher, Team Edin, Team Carruthers
- The debate on Gushue vs McEwen is a tough one. McEwen did beat Goo in the QF en route to the title so that gives an advantage to Mikey. However, Goo does still have his #TourChallenge runner-up finish to accompany his three tour titles already this season supporting his claim to the top. Mikey isn’t far behind though with his second straight title and a SF appearance at the #TourChallenge. These two are clearly the best in the world right now...and this debate will rage on all season. And I couldn’t be happier!!
- Koe moves up the ladder with another tour win. The second-year team is quickly accelerating up the rankings and perhaps it is time to consider this top rung a three-team power race? The #TourChallenge champion seems to finding his groove right now and could be tough to stop.
- Howard also moves up the standings after a championship final appearance in Toronto. A second runner-up showing is not a bad result for the veteran team and they are slowly turning back the clock every week.
WOMEN
1.
Rachel Homan (LW: 1)
2.
Eve Muirhead (LW: 2)
3.
Silvana Tirinzoni (LW: 5)
4.
Alina Paetz (LW: 3)
5.
Anna Sidorova (LW: NR)
Hon. Mention: Team Rocque, Team Sweeting, Team Jones, Team
Feltscher
- No surprise on Homan being at the top. She seems to have cemented herself into this position and has no intention of giving it up anytime soon.
- Muirhead’s SF appearance in Switzerland keeps her at second, for now. Tirinzoni makes the move back up to 3rd spot with her run to the final in Basel. World champion Paetz also stays in the Top 5, dropping a spot, with her QF appearance in her home country.
- Welcome Anna to the #PowerRankings! What a masterful performance over the weekend...one #TwineTime cannot ignore for the rankings. Going undefeated against a strong international field should put teams on notice. The question always is sustainability....can they remain here for longer than 1 week?
- The other big mover is Team Rocque. Another event, another semi-final showing. If this team can finally get over the SF hump, they could crash the Top 5. But who knows, maybe stronger consideration should be given to strong consistent results for the Rookie of the Year contending team.
- The big drop goes to Team Jones, previously ranked #4. Failing to qualify in Calgary, losing a C-elimination game to Homan on top of it, coupled with strong results from other top contending teams results in a slide down the rankings. The defending Canadian champions have struggled this season, failing to qualify in 2 of their 4 events. Can they turn it around? Maybe Dawn McEwen plays a stronger role on this team than we think?
As we head into mid-October, the world curling tour sees
some big events out West. The men will
convene in 4 locations this weekend (BC, AB, MB, ON) and the women will bust
out the brooms at 3 events (BC, MB, ON).
Most eyes will be on Portage though with most of the top men’s teams
competing. Can #redpants win their 5th
title in 6 years? Also we see a few top
European teams missing in tour action, namely teams from Scotland and
Switzerland, as they are battling it out for European qualification. As of press time the schedules were not
posted for the dual event in Kamloops and the women’s event in Winnipeg. Unfortunately #TwineTime is unable to offer
predictions for these events. A summary
of the results will be posted next week during the #GunnerRunback section of
the blog. It’s that time of the week
folks, time for #TourLifePredictions:
MEN
Canad Inns Men's Classic
Portage la Prairie, MB
2014 Champion: Mike McEwen
Format: 32 team triple knockout with 8 qualifiers
Top Teams Entered: Team McEwen, Team Koe, Team Howard, Team Jacobs, Team Bottcher, Team Edin, Team Laycock
Dark Horse Candidates: Mark Kean without a doubt tops this list. Kean is coming off his first Brier appearance last season, a complete team overhaul in the off season and hitting the ice with new guys this season. Despite the high’s and low’s of the past few months, Kean has hit his stride on the ice and continued his rise up the standings. Team Kean finished runner-up to Team Cotter at the #TourChallenge Tier II event in Paradise. Last weekend, Kean shocked a few curling teams and fans qualifying A side at Stu Sells in Toronto and reaching the semifinals before bowing out to eventual champion Mike McEwen. Mark has become a return of the living dead type of story over the past few seasons. This is the second time in two seasons he has had to reform his team in the off season. Last season he ended up winning Ontario, defying the odds. This season, again left for dead, he has risen from the ashes once again, assembled a top notch team and again is finding strong results. The draw is not going to be easy but at this event, with this calibre, nobody has an easy draw. If they can build off the confidence and momentum of last weekend, watch out!
What 2 Watch 4 (W2W4): Line up changes are hitting the season. This week we see a shift for one new team as Brock Virtue has moved into the vice position and Matt Blandford has stepped into the skip position. With many of the top teams already finding success on the season, the new teams and up and coming teams need to step up their game fast if they want to stay and compete. Team Virtue has not found the results they were hoping for early in the season and have made the line up change in hopes of shaking up the results. We saw this mentality work quite well at the Brier last season when Team Canada struggled at the beginning of the event, John Morris moved to vice, Pat Simmons took over skipping duties and BOOM...we all know how that ended. Slight shifts in line ups are not unheard of and with most curlers having the skills to move along the line we should not expect to see this trend stop anytime soon. Will this shift help or hinder Team Virtue (now Team Blandford)? Time will tell but in speaking with the new skip, he is quite confident the team decision is the best one for all the guys.
Qualifiers: Team McEwen, Team Koe, Team Jacobs, Team Laycock, Team Kean, Team Howard, Team Edin, Team Bottcher
Championship: Team McEwen over Team Koe
Stroud Sleeman Cash Spiel
Stroud, ON
2014 Champion: Colin Dow
Format: 20 team round robin with 8 qualifiers
Top Teams Entered: Team McCormick, Team Lui, Team Stjerne
Dark Horse Candidates: The international teams are going to dominate the headlines at this event based on their level of experience alone. However, if you are looking for a Canadian team to keep an eye on look out for Cory Heggestad. The 42-year old originally from Saskatchewan seems to do quite well at this event. In the past two years we has qualified for the playoffs both times, including a semifinal run last season. Heggestad plays a light tour schedule but has a strong history of success in Stroud and could be the best bet for an Ontario home province champion.
What 2 Watch 4 (W2W4): This event is basically a mini Continental Cup with Ontario vs. The World. Top world teams like McCormick and Corbett (USA), Lui and Zou (China) and Stjerne (Denmark) will battle Ontario teams like Heggestad, Harris and Maus. Which side will come out on top?
Qualifiers: Team Liu, Team Heggestad, Team Maus, Team Corbett, Team Stjerne, Team Shane, Team McCormick, Team Shepherd
Championship: Team Liu over Team Stjerne
McKee Homes Fall Curling Classic
Airdrie, AB
2014 Champion: Aaron Sluchinski
Format: 16 team triple knockout with 8 qualifiers
Top Teams Entered: Team Sluchinski
Dark Horse Candidates: A true dark horse may just be 24-year old Parker Konschuh. Konschuh played last season as second with Mick Lizemore. This season he has moved into skipping his own team. This will be young team’s first event of the season so there could be some bambi legs on the ice for the first few ends. Konschuh gained a ton of experience with the success of Team Lizemore last season though. If he can handle the pressure of moving into the skip position once again and the young team can find some confidence early, they could surprise the field in Airdrie.
What 2 Watch 4 (W2W4): Can Team Sluchinski pull the repeat? This is not the strongest field for an event and Sluchinski has a great chance to repeat their win from last season. Sluchinski has had a good start the season, qualifying at the HDF Insurance Shoot Out and just missing a playoff spot last weekend at the DHD Fall Classic. This will be as good a shot as any this season for Team Sluchinski to pick up a tour title.
Qualifiers: Team Sluchinski, Team Yablonski, Team Kim, Team Zhang, Team O’Connor, Team Konschuh, Team Collins, Team Hill
Championship: Team Sluchinski over Team O’Connor
WOMEN
Stroud Sleeman Cash Spiel
Stroud, ON
2014 Champion: Julie Hastings
Format: 12 team round robin with 6 qualifiers
Top Teams Entered: Team Flaxey, Team Harrison
Dark Horse Candidates: Going with the Kean family this week for dark horse candidates. Husband Mark Kean could be the dark horse in Portage but wife Mallory Kean could also have a strong weekend. Kean has a new team around her this season and the addition of Glenn Howard’s daughter Carly at vice seems to provide a strong 1-2 punch on the back end. At their first event of the season (OCT Fall Classic in Oakville), Team Kean reached the championship final. This is not the strongest field they will face this season but this is also a good indicator to just how strong this team could be going into an Ontario Scotties run. I’d buy a few stocks on this team now while the asking price is low.
What 2 Watch 4 (W2W4): This is Alison Flaxey’s spiel to win...or to lose. Team Flaxey is clearly the favourite this weekend. They enter this event fresh off their first title of the season at the KW Fall Classic. Their event before their championship win was another run to the finals, finishing second at the Shorty Jenkins Classic. These ladies are firing on all cylinders right now.
Qualifiers: Team Flaxey, Team Harrison, Team Kean, Team Auld, Team Cottrill, Team Inglis
Championship: Team Flaxey over Team Kean
Enjoy the action this weekend rock heads and stoners. Keep an eye for more developing information
on #BroomGate as well. Join the
conversation/debate by posting your thoughts here or on twitter. The equipment used affects the players and their
results but also affects the fans of the sport.
Let Curling Canada and your favourite teams know how you feel about
#BroomGate and possible equipment regulation.
No comments:
Post a Comment