Thursday 28 March 2024

#WMCC2024 Preview

#BetweenTheSheets: March Madness On Ice Continues

Welcome to the "Sheep-House"


Schaffhausen, Switzerland is set to host its first world curling championship.

Finally!

Originally, the Swiss town located on the northern side of the Rhine was going to host the 2021 World Women's Curling Championship.

Well we all know what happened with that event. #COVID19

Fast forward a few years and Shaffhausen has their second chance.

And the best male curling athletes from around the globe are ready to enter the "Sheep-House".

The #SheepHouse is a reference to the canting coat of arms. A canting coat of arms is quite common in German civic heraldry.

In short, it is a way of representing where you are from.

And Shaffhausen, while located in Switzerland, actually lists its official language as German. Or at least a Swiss-style of German.

But why a sheep?

Not 100% known, there are theories stating Scafhusun is derived from Schaf or "sheep". A ram (or sheep) formed the ancient coat of arms dating back to 1049.

Gotta love that history, right?

And, for us Canadians especially, it sure reminds us of just how young our nation is. We are still infants by comparison to the historical background of a majority of nations and cities and towns in the world.

So there you go.

Welcome to the Sheep-House!

Thursday 14 March 2024

#WWCC2024 Preview

 #BetweenTheSheets: The March Madness Continues

Cape Breton Island welcomes the world



Welcome to March Madness.

And no, the "madness" is not akin to only NCAA basketball.

Curling has its own variation of the annual sporting event.

The madness began a few weeks ago with the Montana's Brier in Regina, SK.

With that event less than a week in our rearview mirror, we are already looking ahead to the next big event.

Now we shift our focus to a global scale as the madness gets ready to rock the world.

13 of the best teams in the world will make their way to Centre 200 in Sydney, Nova Scotia to chase world championship glory.

The NCAA #MarchMadness tournament will only announce their men's and women's brackets this upcoming weekend...and by the time the action hits the hardcourts next week, we could already see some #TeamUpset results and bracket busting action on the ice in Sydney. 

Will the #Favs run over the competition or will a #TeamUpset emerge to shock the system once again?

We saw Norway make a surprise run to the final last year.

But we also saw the champs from Switzerland #DefendTheIce...AGAIN!

Well if you have March Madness fever, do not forget to cool yourself down on the ice as curling brings its own flavour of March Madness into your house this weekend.

In fine #TwineTime tradition, welcome to the World Women's Curling Championship Preview post.