#WMCC2021 Parting Rocks

#BetweenTheSheets: Welcome to the S Club Podium Party

World Men's Curling Championship Parting Rocks

What. A. Championship.

We had close games. We had upsets. We had 10 athletes curl perfect games.

We also had drama. We had a slight pin hole let the air out of the #IceBubble.

An international championship taking place during a global pandemic, who would have thought?

But we also saw resiliency and adaptability. And the rocks continued to spin.

At the end of the day, it was a Euro S Club Podium Party!

Sweden. Scotland. Switzerland.

S Club, get down tonight! There ain't no party like an S Club Party.

Just ask our 3 medal winners.

The #IceBubble created history, in many ways. 2021 marked the first time the Final Four at a world championship was an all-European Final Four.

Amazing really, isn't it? With so many European teams competing each year, it seems like this would not be a historic moment. But alas, it was.

When Scotland eliminated Canada and Switzerland knocked off USA in the two Qualifying Games, we were left with 4 European nations in contention for the title.

The last time Europe swept the podium was in 2014 when Norway (Team Ulsrud) won gold. Who won silver? Sweden skipped by Oskar Eriksson. Who won bronze? Switzerland skipped by Peter De Cruz.

No European Curling Championships, no problem for European nations as they sweep the podium and the Top 4. Congratulations to Sweden, Scotland and Switzerland.

Humble brag moment but pretty sure those were the same 3 podium teams predicted by this very blog in the preview post, including the gold medal participants. Where are you now haters who say I know nothing about the sport? LOL J/K (kind of).

Before we continue, lets tackle the elephant on the ice. Everyone wants to talk about the COVID testing. The positive tests. The negative tests. The unknown.

But, lets be real, if you are looking for commentary on the topic of testing, there are many traditional journalists out there happy to take on that story and focus on it.

This blog is making the decision to not engage in the topic. Will it lose me some followers or clicks? Perhaps. And so be it. Everyone reads the news they are interested in.

And this may be a bit of surprise as this blog has a history of not shying away from controversial topics (ie: rankings, social consciousness, Dear White People).

But this is about health and well-being of those involved. For one, I do not believe in discussing the "who" related to positive testing. It does not matter to me. It should not matter to you. Whether a false positive or whatever the situation ends up being, it is still someone's health and personal test and it is none of our business.

Would you want your health record and tests to be shared with the world? Probably not. So why should you want the same out of an athlete competing at this championship? Don't ask "who". 

As for the response, the World Curling Federation (WCF) and Curling Canada (CC) worked with Alberta Health Services in setting up the #IceBubble protocols. Guidelines were established and approved. An incident happened, everyone responded.

Both WCF and CC released announcement updates on the situation when information was available to share, while also respecting those affected. They provided media availability for a press conference to get updates and ask questions.

Yes, #TwineTime was invited to participate. No, I chose not to. There were enough people around the virtual table. The blog has never been one to shuffle elbows to get a seat at the table. But thank you to WCF and CC for extending the invite. It is appreciated!

On a personal note, my day job is COVID-19 focused. Day in, day out. I am in meetings talking about COVID response. I am answering calls and texts and emails about various protocols and restrictions. I think I really just could not handle another COVID-focused issue when curling and operation of this blog is meant to be a positive mental health release.

Did I drop the ball as a curling blogger? Possibly. And if people think that, my apologies.

But I also would rather focus on the competition itself. The action I was able to watch and able to provide commentary on.

Sitting around asking COVID questions and raising speculation and sensationalizing the issue just wasn't a high priority for this blog. As I said, there are MANY others who can provide the info you are looking for.

So how about we talk about curling. The actual sport of curling. Sound good?

Before we dive into the parting rocks, lets first congratulate those 6 nations who punched their ticket to the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Due to the playoff appearance of their national representatives, the following nations will be heading to Beijing, China: Sweden, RCF, USA, Canada, Scotland and Switzerland.

The remaining nations will head off to the Olympic Qualification Event (#OQE) in December, assuming the event is still possible. Lets hope COVID does not cancel this event. 

The extra pressure was on 13 teams competing. They all not only were competing for a world championship but an Olympic berth. And in the conditions we are living under. Props to all the teams for stepping up and playing their best.

Congratulations to those 6 nations who join hosts China in the Olympic field.

Ok, lets shine up those 8 #WMCC2021 parting rocks.

#PartingRocks

🥌 #TheVikingWay - He started slow. Murmurs started on social media wondering if this would be the year he would be knocked off his thrown. And then he started winning. And winning. And winning. Eventually Niklas Edin would win all the way through Sunday night to pick up another world championship. #HIStory was made. For #KingNiklas, this was his 5th world title. He now holds the record for most world championships. He also pulled the #3peat, another accomplishment never done before. If you doubted the GOAT label before, you surely cannot be doubting it anymore. And he won the title wearing a hat?! When did you last see Niklas Edin wear a hat during a major international championship? Even with the hat, which many on SM said looked like over-sized glasses due to the tape job, he was the same Niklas Edin we all love to watch and cheer for. Team Edin deserved this title. They finished the RR in first place. Sure they lost their opener to Switzerland but champions rebound and roll on. Sweden did just that. They rebounded and rolled on, outlasting their competition once again. Congratulations Team Edin.

🥌 #ScottishPride - Oh so close to knocking off the King and taking the throne. What a win it would have been for Team Mouat. Extra special for lead Hammy McMillan Jr. whose dad won a world title representing Scotland 22 years ago to the day. But alas, the King held his throne for another year. There is nothing to hang the heads about though for the young Scottish lads. They won a silver medal. They rebounded from losses during the week. They knocked off a tough Team Canada in the Q-game and got the better of the surprise RCF in the SF. They played great all week and they WON this silver medal. It may not feel like a great consolation when you come so close to the big prize but this team has now competed in 3 straight world championships, made the playoffs each time and have a silver and bronze medal to show for their efforts. Many teams and players would kill for just one world championship appearance, for one world medal. Congratulations Team Mouat. You will be back!

🥌 #BronzeBoys - Speaking of #HIStory, how about Switzerland's Peter De Cruz. When the final draw came to a stop and Switzerland picked up their single point in 10 to win the bronze medal game vs. RCF, De Cruz took a piece of the record book. De Cruz has now won 4 world bronze medals, tying him with the great Norwegian skip Eigil Ramsfjell. Add to the fact De Cruz has only competed in 4 world championships and has not only reached the playoffs each time BUT also the podium. An amazing accomplishment. For this team, it may be bitter sweet. The bronze monkey is still on their back. Bronze medals win at world championships, European championships and the Olympic Games is nice but you want to get over that SF hurdle. This team has consistently proven to be one of the best in the world. You have to think it will happen sooner rather than later. To add to the mixed bag of results, the team clinched a spot in Beijing for Switzerland; however, because they did not finish Top 2 they now will have to win a play-off vs. Team Schwaller to determine who will represent the Swiss at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Talk about an emotional rollercoaster ride. Regardless, that can be for another day. Today, congratulations Team De Cruz. We look forward to seeing you back on world championship ice again.

🥌 #TeamUpset - There were many great "upset" moments this week inside the #IceBubble. Norway jumping out to a 7-1 start and sitting atop the table for the beginning of the week. Italy making another playoff push and showing "They Belong". Korea winning their first ever game vs. Team Canada at a world championship. But we all know the ultimate #TeamUpset story: RCF! Also known in this blog as #TeamVoldemort. If you are unsure why, it is explained HERE. Who saw this coming? The previous best result for "the nation which cannot be named" was 9th place in 2018 and 2019. 2021 was only the 8th world championship appearance for "the nation", making their debut in 2013. Skip Sergey Glukhov has been here before. 2021 marked his 4th world's appearance. He was part of the team in 2018 who had the best record "the nation" have ever posted as well: 5-7. There was something different about Glukhov this week. He was confident. He was making amazing shots. He was calling great games. He was the story of the tournament. #TeamVoldemort broke many records for "the nation" in winning 11 RR games to finish 2nd, making the playoffs with a coveted SF bye and reaching the Top 4. They also knocked off Team Canada for the first time. An incredible run and performance. We often talk about seeing the same teams/nations win year in and year out. Not this year. Congratulations Team Glukhov on an amazing week and reminding the world on any day in any draw, any team can beat any other team.

🥌 #PACC - A world championship to forget for the Pacific-Asia representatives. Japan and Korea failed to lock down an Olympic spot. China, the Olympic hosts, finished 14th. China's last place finish cost the region a direct entry spot in the 2022 world championship field. The 3 nations finished with a combined record of 10-29. Yikes! Not the momentum the region wanted heading into a "home" Olympics. Japan and Korea do have the second chance at the #OQE. Of course, if the event cannot happen, at least Japan finished 9th so, should the remaining 3 spots need to be awarded and not competed for, teams 7 - 9 here should get those berths (Italy, Norway, Japan). We have seen the PACC region grow over the past few years but this was a minor slide back in the hack. Lets see how they respond and rebound heading into next season.

🥌 #NA4NA - This was a #HIStoric moment for North Americans teams...just not in a good way. It was NA for NA. For the first time in the history of the world men's curling championship, neither Canada or USA advanced to the Final Four. For Canada, they have only missed a Top 4 finish once in the 62-year history of this event. Canada finished 9th in 1976. On the flip side, who won gold in 1976? Team USA. When Canada struggled, USA thrived and vice versa. But in 2021, the #IceBubble claimed the lives of both North American teams. It was a bit surprising. On the plus, at least both nations clinched spots in the 2022 Winter Olympics. 

🥌 #AllStars - WCF events do not hand out All Star awards but #TwineTime is happy to do so. After a great 10 days of curling, here are your All Star award winners, as designated by this fan at least:

The #TwineTime First Team All Stars:

S: Bruce Mouat (SCO) - 85%

V: Oskar Eriksson (SWE) - 89% 

2: Rasmus Wrana (SWE) - 89%

L: Christoffer Sundgren (SWE) - 92%

The #TwineTime Second Team All Stars:

S: Brenden Bottcher (CAN) - 85%

V: Grant Hardie (SCO) - 86%

2: Brad Thiessen (CAN) - 87%

L: - Hammy McMillan Jr. (SCO) - 92%

The #TwineTime Overall Team All Star:

Sweden (Team Edin) - 89%

Congratulations to our 2021 All Stars!.

🥌 #ThankYou - This was a tough event. 14 teams is not a problem, the bubble had that experience. Adding international teams can be a bit more challenging due to every nation having different rules and COVID-19 numbers and protocols. But, props to all 14 teams. Props to all the athletes. Props to coaches and fifth players. Curling fans from around the world thank you for your dedication to the sport and for helping create an outstanding event during a pandemic. We wish you all safe travels home!

And major thanks to WCF, Curling Canada, TSN, WCTV, volunteers, organizers, Alberta Health Services and everyone else involved in creating and maintaining the #IceBubble. Yes it did not go perfect during playoff weekend but we adapt and show resiliency in the response. Thank You! Curling continued because of all of you.

#StayTuned

The #IceBubble continues. We welcome the Grand Slam of Curling into the bubble for back-to-back events.

We start with the Champions Cup this week and the Players' Championship the following week.

The blog will return later in the week for a #GSOC Champions Cup preview.

Enjoy your week and stay safe!