Luke Coley – Curling Examiner
As another calender year is set to turn the page, the curling season builds toward some major events in 2012. The month of January has many exciting events for curling fans to look forward to after another successful year of curling.
As another calender year is set to turn the page, the curling season builds toward some major events in 2012. The month of January has many exciting events for curling fans to look forward to after another successful year of curling.
The 2011 curling season brought us the trial of the five rock rule at the Canadian Open, the second grand slam of the event of the year, to try and create more scoring and excitement in games. The scoring went up but the jury is still out on whether the new rule will be implemented into more events in the future.
Before that experiment, the first two teams into the 2013 Canadian Olympic curling trials were declared at the Canada Cup of Curling. Kevin Martin topped Glenn Howard and continues to have Howard’s number in head to head battles. Martin will have the opportunity to play for another Olympic trip in 2014. On the women’s side it was Jennifer Jones getting the first spot when she beat fellow Winnipegger Chelsea Carey in the final. The 2013 trials will be held in Winnipeg.
With those events behind us, the focus is on January events which include the beginning of provincial playdowns in Canada and national playdowns all over the world. For provincial updates in Canada follow curling.ca.
Before some of the men’s teams get into the provincial championships, the third grand slam of the year hits Dawson Creek, BC beginning January 25th. Mike McEwen and his team will try to win their second straight slam after winning the Canadian Open in December.
The Grand Slam event will have some European teams taking part as they extend their stay in Canada after playing for the Continental Cup in Langley. In a tremendous field, Team World will look to make up for an embarrassing loss last year. The team features the recently crowned European Champions from Scotland skipped by Eve Muirhead. Joining Muirhead will be the team they beat at the Europeans in Sweden’s Anette Norberg along with China’s Bingyu Wang. On the men’s side, European silver medallist Niklas Edin will join Scotland’s Tom Brewster and European champion Thomas Ulsrud of Norway.
The team from North America tasked with trying to win in back to back years will be led by World Champion Jeff Stoughton, joined by the team he beat to win last season’s Brier, Glenn Howard and from the States will be Pete Fenson. On the women’s side of things it will be a Saskatchewan duo representing Canada in Canadian Champion Amber Holland and Stefanie Lawton. Joining them from south of the 49th will be Patti Lank. North America holds a 4-3 record over the World all time.
As we say goodbye to another great year of curling in 2011, 2012 is sure to have more memorable moments in the roaring game. January’s busy schedule will help to welcome in the new year, as we watch the rocks fly in 2012.
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By Frederick Melo – Pioneer Press
The St. Paul Curling Club’s auxiliary site, the Biff Adams Arena in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood, has a new tenant that looks much like its previous tenant, but isn’t.
Ramsey County Parks and Recreation is entering into a five-year lease agreement with TC3 Inc., otherwise known as the new “Biff Adams Curling Club,” to oversee the arena’s operation.
The Biff Adams curlers are former members of the St. Paul Curling Club who incorporated to establish their own identity and help the sport grow.
“They’re on their own this year,” said curler Scott Jerylo of White Bear Lake, a 20-year veteran of the sport. “They used to be an offshoot of us.”
Given waning interest in hockey and ice skating in urban, multicultural areas such as Frogtown, municipal leaders have spent long hours pondering how to save ice arenas such as Biff Adams from closing for good.
As suburban hockey fans sought facilities closer to home, the 1970s-era county hockey arena lost about $70,000 in 2010.
Then along came curling, an old sport generating renewed interest. The past few Winter Olympics have spawned a resurgence in curling, a 500-year-old Scottish tradition that lands somewhere between shuffleboard and chess on ice, with touches of broomball.
“I’m thrilled. I’m absolutely thrilled,” said Ramsey County commissioner Janice Rettman, who had struggled to get hockey groups and tennis clubs to show interest in the Biff Adams arena.
“I didn’t want to lose the facility. I didn’t want it to be mothballed and become this relic, when it’s got great ice,” Rettman said.
In curling, players push large, round puck-like objects, or “stones,” across the ice toward target areas and win points for positioning stones closest to the heart of their targets.
Sweepers use brooms to alter the ice in front of the stones as they glide, affecting their trajectory.
“It may look like, ‘What are they doing?’ But it’s work! It’s real work,” Rettman said. “You’re going to be sweating, working out there.”
The lease at 743 N. Western Ave., which begins New Year’s Day, is set at a monthly rate of $1,250 for the first two years, $1,400 for the third year and $1,500 for years four and five.
The rental fees will be placed into a capital improvement fund to pay for updates to the building and grounds. The Biff Adams club will be responsible for the curling program, ice operations, routine building maintenance, snowplowing of the parking lot, mowing and general grounds maintenance as well as utilities and other operating expenses.
The county first entered into a use agreement at Biff Adams with the St. Paul Curling Club in 2010, then updated the lease through Dec. 31, 2011.
With more than 1,100 members, the St. Paul Curling Club is believed to be the largest in the country. The club was established in 1888 and is based at 470 Selby Ave., which has been “busting at the seams” with people on the waiting list, Rettman said.
Frederick Melo can be reached at 651-228-2172.
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By Kendra Lafleur – Intelligencer
Another busy weekend for local curlers as the Play it Again Sports Spiel wrapped up on Sunday at the Quinte Curling Club.
Tim Bakonyi bounced back from some tough games at the Bob Clute Cash Spiel to go undefeated winning the A Event with his wife Pauline, Jim Stapely and Lynn Stapley. In the A Event final Bakonyi, sponsored by Earl and Angelo’s, handily beat the 95.5 Hits fm Team of John Smith, Marlene and Bob LaFrance and Tammy Mitchell.
The Shopper’s Drug Mart B Event winners were Jeff Clarke, sponsored by Winchester Arms. He was curling with his dad Paul, wife Kristi and fellow club member from the West Northumberland Curling Club. Team Clarke’s win in the B Final was over me! They taught me a thing or two about curling. Well…they taught me it is hard to generate points with no guards especially when they didn’t miss a hit. I was curling with Scott Lafleur, Christa Zappitelli and Scott Snow.
Clinching the Wilkinson & Company LLP C Event were Keri Leitch, Jay Lott, Lisa Grills and Bill Glisky, sponsored by North China Buffet. They defeated Dave and Kathryn Brown who were paired up with Carl and Carol Sardoni and sponsored by Taste of Country.
A big thank you goes out to all the sponsors. A special thanks to Phil Pacey and his Team from Play it Again Sports. Your continued support of this event is greatly appreciated.
Regular league play is now well under way. Leading the Clements Chiropractic Ladies Competitive League is team Julie Jarvis. Sharon Leitch’s team is close on her tail.
Topping the Hyundai Men’s House League are Wally Doxtator and Dave Yarrow. Both teams are undefeated. Ted Aikens and Dave Brown are close behind each with two wins and a tie.
At the top of the charts in the Meta Employment Services Mixed League is Dave Collyer. Sitting in second is John Smith and closing in on them is Greg Doxtator. Leading the teams fighting to move into the A flight are Bill Lowther and Doug Irvine.
In the Kelsey’s Open Competitive League Carolyn Deans is out in front. There are two teams chasing her down, Bill Lowther and Paul MacDougall.
In the The Millennium Diner League Greg Doxatator finished the first draw in the lead. In the B flight Gary Nicholls finished first and in the C flight John Smith finished first. Next week the second draw starts.
The Grills Crane Rentals Business Ladies League and the Dug Out Friday Night Mixed League are looking strong. Team Muldoon is off to a great start in the ladies league and several teams are hurrying hard on Fridays.
This weekend the Club hosts the OCA Junior men’s and women’s zone play downs. Riley Calwell is the sole entry from the club and is hoping to finish in the top two qualifying his team for the regional play downs. Good luck team Caldwell.
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By Lauren Read Staff reporter – Manchester Journal
MANCHESTER – One of the most popular winter Olympic sports has come to the Riley Rink. It is not hockey or figure skating, but curling that has drawn huge crowds to the ice. Building on the popularity, Riley Rink will now host a weekly curling club on Wednesday night for anyone who wants to learn how to play a very unique sport.
Susan Marmer, Executive Director of the Riley Rink, became intrigued by the idea of curling and bringing it to the rink when she heard about successful clubs in Woodstock and Rutland.
“There was a lot of excitement in Woodstock and Rutland,” said Marmer. “We’re always looking for new and different programs, so we decided to give it a try.”
The rink decided to introduce curling last winter, offering two open houses that was organized by the Grand National Curling Club and volunteer help from the Rutland Rocks Curling Club. The first program drew 45 people and the second drew 65. The interest was clearly there.
Building on the success last season, Marmer turned to Jacki Lappen and Karl Eberth of Rutland Rocks, who are from the area, to help start a club here in Manchester. Lappen and Eberth have been curling for four years.
“We heard that they were talking about starting curling in Manchester and my husband and I got really excited,” said Lappen. “We’ve been driving to Rutland to curl, so we thought we could definitely get a curling club going here.”
Marmer, Lappen and Eberth teamed up to offer three free Learn to Curl sessions on Wednesdays nights. The three sessions got large turnouts, which gives Marmer and Lappen hope that a club is possible. After the three sessions finished last week, those interested can now sign up to play, with the two hours of ice time split into instructional time and game time.
“Everybody has had a great time [at the learn to curl sessions],” said Marmer. “We’re hoping that we’ll see a lot of turnout.”
Judging from the turnout, there is a lot of interest in the area for a curling club and the feedback has been positive all around.
“It’s a great sport, you can be on the ice without skates,” said Lappen. “It’s aerobic, strategic, fun and it’s unique. It’s not like a lot of other activities.”
Marmer turned to curling as a way to get a different crowd to the rink, to get people who necessarily don’t skate, out and enjoying the ice.
“A lot of people that don’t skate have come out, it’s something that gets you out of house. People are coming from other places than just Manchester,” said Lappen. “It’s going to be an expansion of people that come to the rink.”
For more information on the curling club, call Marmer at 362-0150. The club meets every Wednesday at the Riley Rink, but those interested have to sign up and pay a league fe
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‘The theme of the Campbell River Ladies Bonspiel, held November 12-14 was “The Thrift Shop Diva”.
Twenty teams took to the ice with four of the teams from the Comox Valley Curling Club either winning or placing in the competition.
Taking 1st in the ‘A’ Event was Lonnie Schopp, Kim Jonsson, Mickey Colburn and Laura McLeod-Cote winning over the Campbell Rink.
In the ‘B’ Event, the Mary Holden rink battled the VanOsch rink but came up short of the win to take 2nd.
Her teammates were Dee Horie, Kathy Meunier and Janet Leggatt.
Third in the ‘B’ Event was the Melanie Rait rink with Mare Michell, Val Schultz and Pat Everett.
The ‘D’ Event was the cruncher for the Sandra Gallaway rink who ended up playing seven games to take home the 1st place prize against the Palynchuk team. Her team was June Fulller, Liz Ellis and Elaine Starchuk.
The warm hospitality from the Campbell River ladies along with super food and entertainment made for a great bonspiel.
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