World Men's Curling Championship 3

Sunday morning and it's time for Scotland's second game, against Norway. You may remember back in December the same teams met in the final of the European Championships, Scotland came out the winner of that one. Could they get over their shock defeat by the Czech Republic yesterday and win against Norway again?

First end, Norway's Thomas Ulsrud didn't quite make his two shots, David Murdoch had a draw for four, were the Scots on a roll? It looked like it, by the fifth they had a three shot lead.

Things went a little bit wrong in the seventh, David Murdoch called a double take out with the last stone of the end, just one stone went, Norway stole a single and the lead was cut to one.

The Scots took two in the eighth when Murdoch a hit on a Norweigan stone not quite frozen on a Scots' counter, they went into the ninth three up. Scotland lay one biting the one foot behind two guards, Ulsrud tried a draw to out count it but drew on to the Scottish stone, Scotland had stolen and Norway conceded the game, score 10/6.

There was just one other game in this draw, USA v The Czech Republic, and the Czechs did it again, they're unbeaten on 2/0.

In the ninth end Peter Annis, lead for the USA, limped off and alternate Kevin Kakela got his chance to throw some stones while Annis watched from the sidelines with an ice pack on his knee.

Find the linescores from the championship here. And the event website is here.

World Men's Curling Championship 2

Day one of the World Men's Curling Championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota and Scotland, David Murdoch, Graeme Connal, Peter Smith and Euan Byers came up against the Czech Republic, in the World Men's Championship for the first time.

It went right for the Czechs and wrong for the Scots from the opening ends. Scotland trailed by four shots after four ends when the Czechs stole two shots in the fourth end thanks to David Murdoch's last stone running out.

The second half didn't get better as the Scots tried to fight their way back into the game, a two in end nine cut the shot difference to two shots. In the final end Murdoch's last stone again ran out, they were out of stones, final score 7/5 to the Czech Republic.

Tomorrow they meet Norway who lost their opening game to the USA.

Find the linescores from the championship here. And the event website is here.

World Men's Curling Championship 1

The World Men's Curling Championship kicks off tomorrow at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Now just a little bit of info about the arena, Ralph went to Las Vegas to work, he ended up owning most of it and spent some of his millions building this arena. It is huge, the lifts alone would comforatbly house a family of four. The floors are marble, and all the seats are leather. As well as the arena there's a smaller ice pad, currently the Broken Broom lounge, you know the eating, drinking, meeting place. And the size of this arena you need a fixed meeting spot.

But enough of the arena, what about the teams?

There are some well known teams here with a track record and some unknowns. Kevin Martin's Canadian team went through the Brier undefeated, but Kevin may have a weak spot, he's got World and Olympic silver medals, he's never quite managed to win the final games at international level.

Team Scotland must be up with the favourites, David Murdoch, Graeme Connal, Peter Smith and Euan Byers won the European Championships in December and between them they have handfuls of World gold medals. If they play as well as they did at the Europeans they should make to final four.

Switzerland has a a strong team, Patrick Hurliman is in at third, he got Olympic gold in 1998, he started playing with this team as a sub in the early part of the season but soon got absorbed into the team. Skip Claudio Pescia has played for both Italy and Switzerland.

Andi Kapp for Germany is without his brother Uli this year, Uli has had knee surgery so is unfit to play. But the rest of the team has been with Andi for a number of years. Andi's team got silver last year.

Thomas Ulsrud for Norway has come out from the shadow of Pal Trulsen, his team went through the Europeans undefeated to the last game when they met the Murdoch four. I think they could make the final four or at least a tie break.

The team from Denmark skipped by Johnny Frederiksen took the bronze medal at the Europeans and looked a solid foursome throughout that event, they could be fighting for a playoff spot.

Sweden would normally be tipped for the top but this is a new team this year. Skip Anders Kraupp certainly knows his way around international championships, for many years he was alternate for Peja Lindholm. This year he's got his own team, his second and third players are in their early twenties. No idea how well this team will perform.

The rest of the teams are unknown quantities, both China and the Czech Republic are making their first appearance at World Championships.

France, well what can I say, they're best known for giving the top teams, especially Scotland, a fright, I can't see them being in contention.

USA? Well skip Craig Brown comes from a well known curling family, he last won the US title in 2000 and this team has no track record, but at home who knows?

Hugh Millikin, the Australian skip, has played a number of World Championships since 1995 but never made an impact.

Sit back and enjoy.

Above Team Scotland L-R: David Murdoch, Graeme Connal, Peter Smith and Euan Byers. Photo by Hugh Stewart.

Dumfries Junior International

The Dumfries Junior International got underway at the Ice Bowl today. Thirty-two teams are taking part, in a competition organised by Area Development Officer Graham Sloan and his committee. So who's the young curler in the photo above?

Well, one of the novel features which Graham has made part of the event is to have some of his young development teams taking part. Christine Swan, at just eleven, only started curling this season, a product of the RCCC Curling's Cool programme. Enthusastic? Absolutely, and so encouraging to see. Star of today's Curling Today blog, and, who knows, a star of the future!

Robert Adam piped the competitors on to the ice.

Hamilton McMillan and his team, who were runners-up in the Perth U-17 event yesterday, were on the ice again today, but came second against Ben Parker's Canadian team, skipped by Chris MacRae. Ben had taken ill on the trip over and was recovering in Dumfries Royal Infirmary. Word is that he is making a good recovery. Hope to see him at the rink before the weekend is over.

This is Sara Spafford, who plays fourth stones for Lindsay Doucet's Nova Scotia team.

Greg Drummond in full voice.

Who said curling isn't colourful? Jaap van Dorp and his team are on their third visit to Dumfries.

Pics by Bob.

Sloan wins Perth U-17

Thomas Sloan with Blair Fraser, Hannah Fleming and Rebecca Kesley won the Perth Under-17 competition at the Dewar's Centre today. The Sloan team beat Hamilton McMillan, Rori MacPherson, Andi Lock and Hamish McGeoch in the final, running out a 6-1 lead after five ends.

In the semifinals, Hamilton's team had beaten Grant Hardie, Kyle Smith, Thomas Muirhead and Cameron Smith, and Sloan's side had won through against Jennifer Dodds, Tasha Aitken, Abigail Brown and Mhairi Baird. In the 3-4 playoff, Hardie's team finished 6-2 ahead of Dodds' side.

All the results and linescores are here.

Word from Cairnie House is that twenty-three teams have so far registered for next season's U-17 Slam, of which two are mixed and seven are girls' teams. Further teams wishing to compete in the Slam have until June 30 to sign up.

Above: Sue Fitzsimons, wife of Danny, the former manager of the Dewar's Centre in whose memory the trophy was donated two years ago, presented the prizes to L-R Rebecca Kesley, Hannah Fleming, Blair Fraser and Thomas Sloan.

Below: It's heads down as the team work on Thomas' first stone in the fourth end.

New Season U-17 Slam

The new season begins for many under-17 curlers today! No, it's not April 1 - that was yesterday's post - but the U-17 event today and tomorrow at the Dewars Rinks in Perth is the first event in the series of five which will run through the first half of next season, to make up the U-17 Slam. The other events will be at Lockerbie, Greenacres, Hamilton and Pitlochry. These ice rinks donate trophy and prizes for each event.

The top two teams (that is a female team and a top male team or mixed team), based on results in three competitions, will receive an entry to the WCF junior camp in Fussen next summer. The RCCC will pay the camp fees (which includes accommodation and meals) and flights for the trip.

To compete in the Slam, players must be under the age of 17 years on June 30, 2008. This will the last date for teams to register to compete in the Slam.

Sixteen teams are entered for the Perth event, playing in four sections. The results are here.

Junior curling is also headlined this weekend at the Dumfries Ice Bowl. Teams from Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Holland and Poland will compete against some of the top Scottish juniors. With four events, there is something for everyone in this under-21 competition.

Spectators are welcome. Play begins Friday at 11.00. More on this event later this week.

New dress code regulations in prospect

The traditional navy and white Scottish international uniform may be on its way out if plans for a new Royal Club dress code are passed at the AGM on June 14.

Scottish Curler Editor Bob Cowan has long campaigned to bring more colour on to the ice. "Why do so many top curlers persist in dressing as if they are going to a funeral?" he asks. "Curling is a colourful game," he says, "We should think about this when going on to the ice, and dress appropriately." Some on the RCCC Board obviously agree and are prepared to regulate to make it happen.

The proposed regulations would ban competitive curlers from wearing all black, or navy, uniforms, and if passed, the sea of black at the men's Scottish Championship qualifiers and finals would ebb.

Not all agree. Lockhart Steele, former World Senior Champion and RCCC Director, recently bought new black outfits for the Keith Prentice team. He says, "Black is an aggressive colour, and we need to be able to intimidate the other teams if we are to have any chance of winning games next season."

The RCCC Umpiring Committee has discussed the matter, the difficulty arising should teams refuse to obey the dress code edict when it is introduced. What sanction against the offending team could be imposed? Prevented from taking to the ice? Forfeit the game? International umpire Christine Shaw appears to have come up with a suitable compromise. She says, "It's easy. We will just ask the players to remove the offending garments, and if they want to continue in their underware, that's fine - as long as this is not too black!"

Cynics on the Scottish Curling Forum believe that today's announcement by the Royal Club is just to divert attention away from the negative publicity surrounding last week's ongoings in Vernon. Some are actually calling for an independent enquiry into who decided to propose these new rule changes, which, incidentally, will not apply to club curlers, only those who play in RCCC Competitions.

Others of course, including Hoglinewamphray (whoever he is) and several anonymous posters, have embraced the proposals and are already discussing what the new international uniforms might be like. Submissions are being elicited on a website specially set up to promote the new ideas (www.wewantcolourfulcurling.co.uk). The most favoured suggestions seem to be based around the Lion Rampant flag colours, purple heather, or the 'Cairnie House' tartan.

However, proposals for discussion at next week's World Curling Federation meetings in Grand Forks may make all the above redundant. The suggestion has been made to do away with 'dark coloured' stone handles completely. This would mean that there would be no need for international teams to have a 'dark coloured' playing uniform.

There are even suggestions that the World Curling body would supply the uniforms for teams to wear during international events. These would match handle colours. Next season, Eye on the Hog handles are to be available in pink, terracotta, aquamarine, puce, fluorescent green, beige, purple, grey, khaki, avocado, plum, orange, blueberry, raspberry, rhubarb, cherry, dark chocolate, mint, strawberry ripple, neopolitan, rocky road, butterscotch, and plain vanilla, as well as the traditional red and yellow.

Another proposal to be discussed next week is that teams competing at world championships should be composed of three players only. This will get support from developing curling nations, primarily on cost grounds. It is rumoured that Scotland might support this radical change too.

Sources close to Curling Today have heard that the Royal Club's representatives to the WCF plan to vote in favour of something.

Nearer home, David Horne, Development Officer at Braehead, writes to say that he has just received a quantity of 'curling patches' which have only recently been patented by a Canadian company. The basic principal works the same as smoking patches but curbs the appetite for curling (rather than smoking) and helps even the most ardent curler to get through the long summer months without curling.

David has these for sale at £5.00 for a pack of three patches (each patch should last for up to seven days) or a large pack of ten for only £12.00. However, due to expected demand he will only issue a maximum of two large packs to each applicant. All applications along with cheques should be sent to David Horne at Braehead Curling Rink.

Packets of three, enough for a weekend, are available in black only.

Posted April 1, 2008.