#BetweenTheSheets:
A Paradise Hangover?!
How will top teams respond after high-profile
#TourChallenge
Back to business.
Here is what we learned this past week on The Rock (great pics courtesy
of Anil Mungal and Grand Slam of Curling):
·
Karma for Goo? – Will we ever see a
grand slam home team winner? Brad Gushue
and his team came into their home province event off a nice win in
Oakville. They were the favourites. Sure, they suffered a loss in their opening
game but never looked back. Everything
seemed to set up perfect for them to please the home crowd with an event
championship and end the home town #gsoc curse.
Enter the villain...Ku-Dog! Last
year, Gushue played home spoiler robbing Mike McEwen and Steve Laycock home
grand slams wins. Karma is a....Ku-Dog
Mr. Gushue. Kevin Koe’s foursome played
the upset-minded villain role perfectly, knocking off The Goo and claiming
Koe’s 4th grand slam title.
·
Hopp Schwiiz – The Swiss are
completely taking over the world curling tour...on the women’s side at
least. Silvana Tirinzoni’s rink stole
the title...literally...from favourite, and previously unbeaten, Rachel Homan.
The Swiss team found modest results in the round robin, finishing with a
2-2 record and barely avoiding a tiebreaker.
Once they hit the playoffs, they turned it up a notch. Knocking off surprise playoff teams Kelsey
Roque and Tracy Fleury, not many expected them to beat Team Homan. But win they did...chocolate for all! What we learned this weekend was never
underestimate the Swiss....any of them!
With Alina Paetz winning in Oakville, Tirinzoni winning this past
weekend and past world champion Binia Feltscher always a threat, the Swiss
could dominate the tour this season.
Hopp on board...
·
Welcome back Cotter – Oh the phrase
that will dog Jimmy Cotter for his entire career. I am sure he would prefer to be referred to
as a consistent high calibre team rather than a welcome back team. Nonetheless, Cotter and his B.C. boys showed
complete domination in winning the Tier II men’s championship...and the all
expenses paid invite to The Masters grand slam event in Nova Scotia at the end
of October. Capping off an undefeated
week with a title, on the heels of a 5-1 semifinal appearance in Oakville, can
anyone really doubt this team belongs with the top dogs of curling? Their combined record for their opening
season two events is 12-1. Cotter is
back indeed...but did he ever really leave?
Special mention as well to finalist Mark Kean and his team from Stoney
Creek, ON. Remember this team only came
together in the offseason and this was their second event playing
together. Going 4-0 in the RR, making
the final and losing to the reigning BC champs is nothing to hang your head
about.
·
Flying Under The Radar – Entering
the Tier II women’s event, much focus was placed on previous provincial
champions Heather Strong, Suzanne Birt, Mary-Anne Arsenault, Sylvie Robichaud,
Jill Thurston and Cathy Overton-Clapham.
The top international teams entered, Anna Hasselborg and Cissi Ostlund
from Sweden and Nina Roth and Jamie Sinclair from USA, were mentioned as
possible favourites to win. All the
while, it was a team who garnished little attention that came out on top at the
end of the weekend. Winnipeg’s Kerri
Einarson didn’t just win the Masters spot, she looked unstoppable. Going 4-0 in the round robin and breezing
through the playoffs, Einarson asserted herself as a possible grand slam dark
horse. Perhaps even more important,
Einarson looked like an early favourite for the Manitoba Scotties berth. With Jennifer Jones receiving the automatic
spot as Team Canada this season, the buffalo is wide open. This opening win could be the confidence
Einarson and team need. Props as well to
finalist Chantelle Eberle. Another team
with little experience on the big ice, Eberle survived a tiebreaker and upset
American favourite Sinclair in the semifinal before running into a hot shooting
Einarson.
MEN
1)
Brad Gushue (LW: 1)
2)
Mike McEwen (3)
3)
Kevin Koe (HM)
4)
Brad Jacobs (5)
5)
Jim Cotter (HM)
Hon. Mention: Team Edin, Team
Carruthers, Team Laycock
·
No surprise Gushue stays on top. Even suffering a tough loss in the final and
all the talk about the curse, let’s remember he still made the final! This team has 3 events under their belts, making
the final in all 3 and picking up 1 event win already. This team is consistent every week and could
be very hard to knock from the top.
·
Tour Challenge winners Koe and Cotter deserve
their spots in the Top 5. Last week both
were honourable mention teams. Both went
into Paradise and came away with victories.
The question will be if they can sustain the momentum and hold onto
their Top 5 spots. There are some very
good teams looking up at them.
·
McEwen lost a competitive semifinal to Gushue
and, with Team Edin struggling this past week, the #redpants deserve the second
ranking. The Gushue – McEwen rivalry
will become the top rivalry on tour this season...perhaps culminating in a
#Brier2016 Championship final?
·
Jacobs suffered a tough quarterfinal loss to
McEwen but this was their first event of the season as well so making the
playoffs is a positive. I fully expect
this team to find their Olympic form quick and continue to challenge for tour
titles every week.
WOMEN
1)
Rachel Homan (LW: 1)
2)
Eve Muirhead (3)
3)
Silvana Tirinzoni (HM)
4)
Alina Paetz (1)
5)
Jennifer Jones (5)
Hon. Mention: Team Kim, Team
Middaugh, Team Fleury
·
Congratulations Rachel Homan...you are back on
top of the world (well at least the #TwineTime world). Sure Rachel and company lost the final, they
will be disappointed. But let that not
cloud over the results from the entire event.
They completely dominated the field.
A strong, international heavy, field at that. Beating Feltscher, Muirhead and Kim sends a
strong sign this team is ready for another world championship run. An even more important win, confidence wise,
was knocking off Canadian rival Val Sweeting in the final RR game. Two weeks into the season, this team has two
championship appearances and one title.
Homan is a force this year!
·
I might receive some flack for moving Muirhead
up the rankings with a quarterfinal loss.
But let’s be realistic here. This
was their first event of the season, they beat current world champ Paetz and
eventual Tour Challenge champ Tirinzoni.
They survived a tricky tiebreaker against Jennifer Jones and the team
they lost to in the quarters was Homan.
They beat the teams currently ranked 3, 4 and 5 in the power rankings
and lost to the top team. Yup, I think
they earned this spot thank you!
·
The coveted #3 spot seems to be reserved for our
champions this week in both men’s and women’s power rankings. Tirinzoni jumps from unranked to third...and
most deserving. She beat some high
profile teams last week and those results cannot be ignored. Similar to Koe though, the big question will
be sustaining the ranking.
·
World champion Alina Paetz struggled in Paradise. Suffering a 1-3 record and, at times, looking
completely lost with the ice conditions, perhaps the once unstoppable champs
have a small kink in their armour. But
this is only 1 event, against a very high-class field, so punishing them with a
large drop in the rankings just did not seem fair. Remember they did make the Oakville final the
previous week.
Last week’s #TwineTime predictions were met with mixed
results. On the Tier I men’s side, I
accurately called Gushue making the final; however, I had him coming up short
against Mike McEwen (whom he beat in the SF).
I did accurately predict 6 of the 8 qualifier teams though. Tier II men’s was the shining light to my
weekend with a perfect prediction of Cotter winning over Kean. My predictions even included both semifinal
rinks, Team Brewster and Team Smith.
Tier I women’s picks were a complete miss as I saw Muirhead winning over
Paetz and only correctly predicting half the qualifiers. Tier II also saw a miss with the Strong over
Sinclair pick. This is a tricky sport
and, as we have often seen, any team can defeat any other on any sheet on any
day.
It should be noted #TwineTime has entered into a pick’em
contest with our curling friends @NerdCurl. For all major events during the season of
champions (i.e. grand slams, national championships, European championships
ect) both Phil Darin and I will go
full rock chalk unveiling our predictions for the event. At the end of the season, the highest point
total will be declared the winner. Of
course, you as my faithful followers know this should be a slam dunk victory for
#TwineTime. But follow along with the
predictions here and on twitter
throughout the season. And of course,
please feel free to share your support for either of us (#TwineTime!!!!).
After the #TourChallenge, here are the
standings:
@TwineTime14: 11 points
@NerdCurl: 14 points
Take note though NerdCurl only threw a half rock in Paradise
predicting Tier I. #TwineTime exposed
full stones but predicting both Tier I and Tier II. I chalk up this win for NerdCurl with an
asterisk. Bring on the Masters for our
next head-to-head pick’em challenge.
This week on tour sees teams scattered across the country
for spiels. Some of the top teams are
even using this week as an energy recharge and taking the week off from
competitive action. Many men’s teams
will be hitting the ice at events in Cornwall and Edmonton. The women’s tour takes teams to Brockville
and Edmonton. Please note, at
publication time teams and draws for the Cloverdale Cash Spiel in Surrey were
not available. Let’s take a quick look
at what to expect this week:
MEN
AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic
Cornwall, ON
2014 Champion: Brad Jacobs
Format: 24 team round robin with 8 qualifiers
Top Teams Entered: Team Gushue, Team Edin, Team Howard, Team
Jacobs, Team Murdoch
What to Watch for (W2W4): Many top name teams will be
competing in Cornwall but if you are looking for a familiar name from the past,
and fan favourite, focus your attention on Guy Hemmings. The 4-time Quebec champion and twice Brier
finalist (1998, 1999) has played a limited tour schedule over the past 5
seasons but is coming off a qualifier appearance at the Oakville Fall Classic
last weekend.
Qualifiers: Team Jacobs, Team Menard, Team Gushue, Team
Murdoch, Team Kean, Team Edin, Team Casey, Team Adams
Championship: Team
Gushue over Team Jacobs
HDF Insurance Shoot-Out
Edmonton, AB
2014 Champion: Brendan Bottcher
Format: 16 team triple knockout with 8 qualifiers
Top Teams Entered: Team Bottcher, Team Brewster, Team Smith
W2W4: This is the first event of the season for many of the
teams competing and the first chance to see some up and coming teams from
Alberta and Saskatchewan looking to challenge for a provincial tankard.
Qualifiers: Team Bottcher, Team Brewster, Team Smith, Team
Thomas, Team Lizmore, Team Korte, Team Sluchinski, Team Meachem
Championship: Team
Brewster over Team Bottcher
WOMEN
AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic
Brockville, ON
2014 Champion: Sherry Middaugh
Format: 12 team round robin with 4 qualifiers
Top Teams Entered: Team Middaugh, Team Kim
W2W4: The return of 8-time Quebec champion Marie-France
Larouche to the ice. Larouche has not
been on tour since the 2012-13 season.
How will she perform at her first event with her new team?
Qualifiers: Team Kim, Team Kean, Team Middaugh, Team
Morrissey
Championship: Team
Kim over Team Middaugh
HDF Insurance Shoot-Out
Edmonton, AB
2014 Champion: Chelsea Carey
Format: 24 team round robin with 8 qualifiers
Top Teams Entered: Team Sweeting, Team Carey, Team Lawton,
Team Roque
W2W4: This will be the first event we see Steph Lawton and
Sherri Anderson compete at since their break in the off-season. Interestingly enough, they are both in Group
D and will square off for the first time Friday afternoon.
Qualifiers: Team Roque, Team Silvernagle, Team Sweeting,
Team Kleibrink, Team Carey, Team Englot, Team Eberle, Team Lawton
Championship: Team Sweeting over Team Roque
If you are in Edmonton, Brockville or Cornwall, I highly
recommend you head down to the curling club hosting the world curling tour
event and see some of the best curlers in the world on the ice live. The atmosphere is much different in comparison
to watching on tv. If you are not in one
of host cities for this week’s tour events, follow along with scores and
updates online at CURLINGZONE.
Rock on curling fans...
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