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WATCH 2007 WORLD CURLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

The breakout sport of the 2006 Torino Olympics is back! As curling sweeps its way into the spotlight again, both the United States men’s and women’s curling teams are back in action.

The 2007 World Championships are the first opportunity for the nations to earn qualifying points toward the upcoming 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. With both the men and women riding the wave of success from recent years, the teams are hopeful the momentum will carry them to victory at this year’s world championships.

Don’t miss out on all the curling action! Get your All-Access package and watch all matches LIVE or on demand for $19.99 or catch your favorite men’s and women’s competitions for $14.99 each.

Available only in the U.S.A.

Yes .. I know that kind of sucks for Canadian Viewers, but I think this could turn into something interesting by the next Olympics, if a lot of support is given. NBC Sports is partnering up with MediaZone to show the games either LIVE (a high-quality 500k stream) or ON DEMAND (available as a 700k download made available on a daily basis within 24 hours after the match).

What is also neat about this … is that although it’s NBC Sports … commentary is not available on these feeds. Natural sound is included from the event happenings and surroundings .. what it would be if you were in the stands (apparently, as I cannot confirm this of course, being located in Canada).

So – I would be curious if any Curling Fans from U.S.A. want to give this a try .. and let us know how it works out! Here’s the banner again to click – you should be transported to another window.

Last Updated: Sunday, March 18, 2007 | 7:15 PM ET
CBC Sports

Randy Ferbey topped Kevin Martin in an extra end to win the Canada Cup curling title Sunday in Kamloops, B.C.

Ferbey prevailed 9-8 in a seesaw affair between the Edmonton skips. David Nedohin, who throws fourth rocks for Ferbey, barely made a draw to the four-foot for the win after brushing a Martin counter.

“I tried not to overthrow it but we had a little bit of backing, as long as we threw reasonable weight,” said Nedohin. “It was a good thing we had a bit of backing but it looked good all the way down.

“It didn’t bite as much as we thought it would, but it was good enough.”

Martin said afterwards he was puzzled by the sudden turn in the ice conditions for the final, which frustrated both players at different times.

“The ice was a little different today,” Martin said. “It was tough to make shots. A lot of misses on both teams. That’s what made it close. If [Nedohin] doesn’t tick ours, we win, just enough to stay in by inches.”

Ferbey, who also won the Canada Cup in 2003 and 2004, took home $25,000 for Sunday’s victory. Martin, the two-time defending champion, had to settle for $15,000.

Jennifer Jones won the women’s title in Kamloops on Saturday. The Winnipeg skip dethroned defending champion Cathy King of Edmonton with a 10-7 win.

SOURCE: CBC News

Saturday, March 17, 2007
Source: Canadian Curling Association
KAMLOOPS, BC, March 17…Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg had to wait a year, but it was worth it, as the 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts winner turned the tables on Cathy King of Edmonton in Saturday’s women’s final of the Strauss Canada Cup, taking the title, 10-7.

Last year, King and Jones engaged in a wild Cup final, with King prevailing by a whisker, 10-9. This year’s rematch at the Interior Savings Centre was no different.

However, the verdict wasn’t in until King’s last rock, an attempted draw to the four-foot with backing which would have forced an extra end, didn’t curl enough and wound up sliding wide of its target, giving Jones a steal of a deuce and the crown.

“We thought we were going to an extra (end),” said Jones. That’s something she (Cathy) makes 90% of the time. We got a bit of a break there. It’s a big event for us, (what with) the Continental Cup and Olympic Trials (berths). We wanted to give ourselves a shot. And we won.”

The final started out like a heavyweight fight, with attempted knockout punches coming early. King opened the first end with three on a hit and stay. However, Jones came back with her own three-spot in the second, after King failed to make a double with her last.

King took one in the third but Jones took the lead with a deuce in the fourth end, helped a nifty double with her first rock. Then, after King was only able to remove one of the opposition counters, Jones drew for a pair and her first lead in the game, 5-4.

In the fifth end, King, with one on the button, tried to score two and almost did, but her draw to the full-four around a Jones guard came up just short. In the sixth, Jones was forced to take one, for a 6-5 lead, while looking at two King counters.

In the seventh, King was able to make a double to score a deuce for a 7-6 lead. Jones tied it in the eighth with a draw to the four-foot while facing four King rocks in the house, then took an 8-7 lead after nine when King hit and rolled too far, giving up a steal of one. Then came the Jones theft of a deuce in the 10th.

Both King and Jones had come into the final on five-game win streaks. King dropped her opener to Stefanie Lawton of Saskatoon, 6-5, then rattled off five in a row, including a 6-4 decision over Sherry Anderson of Delisle in the A1/B1 game yesterday to advance to today’s final.

Jones lost her first two games, including a 10-6 setback to King in Draw 3, before fashioning her own five-game win streak. After finishing in second place in Section A with a 3-2 mark, she eliminated Shannon Kleibrink of Calgary, 7-4 in the A2/B2 game on Friday afternoon, before a 9-5 semi-final win over Sherry Anderson, setting up the rematch with King.

“We were pretty unfortunate,” recalled Jones, about her team’s start to the week. “We controlled our first game (a 9-8 loss to Karen Porritt) and I missed my last shot to win. We were playing okay. We knew we just had to get a little sharper. It worked out well for us that two losses got in (to the playoffs) and we just got on a roll.”

The Jones team earned $25,000 for the win and now becomes one of 16 teams eligible for the pre-event qualifier for the 2009 Canadian Curling Trials. The team also earns a berth into the 2007 Continental Cup of Curling, December 13-16 in Medicine Hat and the 2008 Strauss Canada Cup, February 26-March 2.

King, who won the 1998 Scott Tournament of Hearts, was at a loss to explain her final shot in the 10th end. “I don’t know what happened. Absolutely I thought it was good leaving my hand. So when it didn’t curl at all, I’m kind of, like, watching it….running, running. It just didn’t finish enough at the end.”

SOURCE: Canadian Curling Association News

Sunday, March 18, 2007
Source: Canadian Curling Association
KAMLOOPS, BC, March 17…Randy Ferbey of Edmonton, winner of the first two Strauss Canada Cups, will once again meet Kevin Martin, winner of the last two ‘Cups’, in Sunday’s men’s final, live on CBC-TV at 10:30 am PT/1:30 pm ET.

Saturday evening, Ferbey ousted Brad Gushue of St. John’s, 8-5 in the semi-final at the Interior Savings Centre to set up another confrontation with Martin.

Although Gushue stole a single in the first end, the game got out of hand quickly for the 2006 Olympic gold medallist and runner-up at last week’s Tim Hortons Brier. Ferbey’s crew scored a deuce in the second, then stole a pair in the third when Gushue was light on a draw, to open up a 4-1 lead.

After a blanked fourth end, the teams traded deuces in the fifth and sixth ends. A single in the seventh by Gushue was followed by another deuce, the fourth of the game by the six-time Brier winner, in the eighth. When Gushue was unable to hit and stay for two points in the ninth, he shook hands.

Earlier in the day, Edmonton’s Martin defeated Ferbey, 8-4 in the A1/B1 game to advance to the final. The fifth end proved the turning point, as Martin counted four to open a 5-1 lead.

Both teams finished the round robin with 4-1 marks, Martin winning Section A, Ferbey Section B.

Although Martin has won the last two Cups, he has a new team this year. In 2006, he defeated Glenn Howard in the final. In 2005, Martin beat Ferbey, 6-5.

Ferbey’s team won the first two Cups, in 2003 and 2004, defeating, ironically, a team skipped by John Morris each time. Morris nows toils as the third for Martin.

The winning team will earn $25,000 and become one of 16 teams eligible for the pre-event qualifier for the 2009 Canadian Curling Trials. The team also earns a berth into the 2007 Continental Cup of Curling, December 13-16 in Medicine Hat and the 2008 Strauss Canada Cup, February 26-March 2.

SOURCE: Canadian Curling Association News

• Junior Men

SOURCE: 2007 World Junior Curling Championship Site

• Junior Women

SOURCE: 2007 World Junior Curling Championship Site

Tags: 2007, World, Junior, Curling, Championships

SOURCE: Canadian Curling Association

LATEST: News

Tags: 2007, Tim, Hortons, Brier

March 3 – 11, 2007 – Here is the draw Schedule

SOURCE: 2007 World Junior Curling Championships Website

Go Canada Go!

Tags: 2007, World, Junior, Curling, Championships

March 3 – 11, 2007 – Here is the draw schedule

Source: 2007 Tim Hortons Brier Website

Tags: 2007, Tim, Hortons, Brier

I posted the following on the Business Blog section over in the Ryze Networking pages .. Please contact me if this peaks any interest at all ..

I’ve always believed that “it never hurts to ask” .. so here I am doing just that.

I’ve got a Curling Blog .. and March 2007 has quite a few events. But offline, March will be my busiest month ever and I won’t be able to propery update it.

Here’s the schedule for March 2007:

• 2007 Tim Hortons Brier - March 3-11, 2007
• 2007 World Juniors – March 3-11, 2007
• 2007 Strauss Canada Cup of Curling - March 13-18, 2007
• 2007 World Women’s Curling Championship – March 17-25, 2007
• 2007 Canadian Seniors – March 18-25, 2007
• 2007 World Seniors – March 25-31, 2007
• 2007 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship - March 31-April 8, 2007

I’m looking for an individual or several individuals to blog for the Curling Blog throughout March 2007 and part April 2007. Bloggers would provide commentaries during, before and after these events. Maybe local stories reviews from your papers, watching the games on TV or the internet, and maybe even live blogging during the games (and playoffs) for those unable to be near a TV. You know .. basically reporting the outcomes of the games played each day and keep everybody informed. Cheering for your favorite teams. Commenting on the mistakes, ice conditions, brooms, teams, background on teams, and anything related to curling is game. Proper blogging and sports etiquette is implied with respect to facts, linking, sources, etc .. and this might be good for those bloggers who’s been itching to blog about curling in your own blogs, but do not want to go too off-topic from your own niche topics.

This is a non-paying gig and short-term for the duration of these tournaments in March and April 2007. It could lead into other opportunities but that would depend. At minimum .. I’m willing to give you (text) link-love in my Sponsor sections around my network of blogs in the HART-Empire Network during the duration while you are blogging .. plus an extra month. There’s over 30 unique domains in my own lot of blogs.

If interested or have questions .. please private message me in here. For Q & A that could benefit others, feel free to ask me publicly in this forum and I will try to answer any questions or concerns.

Thanks // HART

Just to let you know .. Darren at Problogger has a great post on how to be a about good guest blogger ... nudge,nudge, say no more … but I’m just looking for someone who loves curling and wants to help inform curling fans on the upcoming tournaments. And, I’m willing to offer text-link-ad space in all my sidebars for their troubles (see my advertising page work-in-progress for a list of sites)

Kelly Scott from Team Canada Wins the Scotties Tournament

Sunday, February 25, 2007
Source: Canadian Curling Association

Kelly Scott is headed back to the world championship.

The 29-year-old skip and her team from Kelowna, B.C., successfully defended its title Sunday afternoon at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge, Alta., defeating Jan Betker of Saskatchewan 8-5 in the final of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian women’s curling championship.

“Amazing,” said Scott, named the winner of the Tournament of Hearts MVP award after the game. “We couldn’t have dreamed it. It’s unreal.”

With the win, Scott, third Jeanna Schraeder, second Sasha Carter and lead Renee Simons will represent Canada at the world women’s championship in Aomori, Japan, from March 17 to 25, hoping to improve on the bronze medal they won at last year’s Ford worlds in Grande Prairie, Alta.

“We’re going to Japan. That’s pretty wild,” said Scott. “We definitely worked hard with worlds in our sights this season. And we have a few more tricks in our bag this year that we’ll try and pull out in Japan.”

Team Canada couldn’t have asked for a better start to the game. Scott made an open hit to score two in the first end, then added a steal of two in the second when Betker’s last-rock attempt to hit and stick for a point wrecked on a guard. Another deuce in the fourth end made it 6-1, and Team Canada never looked back

“We got caught on the ice a little bit in the second end,” said Betker, who was backed up by third Lana Vey, second Nancy Inglis and lead Marcia Gudereit. “There was a bit of unsuredness there and that was the first time that happened all week.”

The Scott foursome is just the fifth in Canadian women’s championship history to repeat, joining Colleen Jones (who won four in a row), Vera Pezer (three in a row), Sandra Schmirler and Heather Houston.

The win also means Scott’s team will be at next year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Regina as Team Canada. In addition, her team will play at the Continental Cup, Dec. 13 to 16 in Medicine Hat, Alta., the 2008 Strauss Canada Cup of Curling in Kamloops, B.C., and the 2009 Canadian Curling Trials qualifying tournament, in addition to receiving $144,000 in Sport Canada funding over the next two years, as well as approximately $15,000 in cresting money.

Attendance for Sunday’s final was 4,934, bringing the total attendance over the nine days to 79,975 — the fifth-best total in Tournament of Hearts history.

Scott, Schraeder, Manitoba second Jill Officer and Gudereit were named to the first all-star team, while Betker, Vey, Carter and B.C. lead Darah Provencal formed the second all-star team.

The Season of Champions continues, with the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men’s championship set to open on March 3 at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ont.

SOURCE: Canadian Curling Association News

Here are the results of the Final Game

Source: Curlcast

Tags: Scotties, Tournament, of, Hearts