Eye Opener March 28

All about Eve Issue 9 – Sunday, March 28, 2010 • An Official Publication of the Canadian Curling Association.

Scotland’s Eve Muirhead put up two huge wins Saturday, defeating Sweden 8-3 in the Page Three-Four game, and then Canada 10-4 in the semi-final to earn a berth in Sunday’s final against Andrea Schoepp and Germany.

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Eye Opener

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SEMI-FINAL CANADA vs. Scotland

Eve of destruction

Scottish skip makes clutch shots to down Jones team 10-4

LARRY WOOD The Eye Opener

I

t was all about Eve on Saturday at the Ford World women’s curling championship.

The 19-year-old Scottish curler from Dunkeld, Eve Muirhead and her team of Kelly Wood, Lorna Vevers and Anne Laird steamrolled a pair of playoff opponents at the Credit Union Iplex and stormed into today’s goldmedal final against Germany’s veteran Andrea Schoepp.

The confrontation poses raw youth versus age and experience at the skipping position but each team has its own share of both age and precociousness.

In Saturday night’s semi-final, Scotland stunned Canada’s round-robin leader Jennifer Jones 10-4, leaving the Canadian champions fighting for a bronze medal for the third time in four visits to the competition.

It was the second straight loss for the Canucks from Winnipeg after losing the night previous to Schoepp in the Page One-Two playoff.

Canada will play Sweden’s 22-year-old Cecilia Ostlund in this morning’s (10 a.m.) bronze-medal fixture.

It is, in fact, a game Ostlund has been hoping for all week.

“We want to play Canada again,” she has said. “That will top off a great week for us.”

The rookie Swedes jumped into an early three-point lead against the Jones team at the start of the preliminary rounds before succumbing to their own nervousness and hot Canadian shooting.

Muirhead shook off a first-end Canadian deuce on Saturday night and executed a spectacular angle-runback double-kill to score one in the second end. In the next exchange, Jones was heavy on a draw to the four-foot and surrendered a go-ahead Scottish pair.

Canada tied it in the fourth but two shots from Scottish third Kelly Wood set up a three-ender in the fifth.

Jones, who shot a poor 59 per cent on 16 rocks, wrecked on her last shot and Muirhead, shooting 89, executed a draw to the four-foot, actually curling away from the target and making the preciseness of the shot more pronounced.

The Canadian balloon appeared to go up at that point.

A Jones runback in the sixth failed and Scotland stole a single. Then Jones missed on another tight draw in the seventh and left Scotland with another triple.

“I’m really delighted,” said the 19-year-old Muirhead, “I don’t know if it’s actually sunk in yet, to be honest.

That was such a hard game. The score was 10-3-up but it didn’t feel like that at all. We just had to keep in there, keep calm and it was fantastic to come out with the win.”

Muirhead said her one focus was “keeping my head in the game”.

“Don’t get distracted. Focus on your two shots and your two shots only,” she said.

“When big shots come off it gives you lots of confidence. Especially that one in the second end. It was a bonus to get both of them out of there. It really boosted me.”

In fact, it was a critical shot in that, had she missed it, Canada would have vaulted in front 4-0.

“We have a silver medal and now we’ll go out and go for gold and hope to give Andrea a good battle,” said Muirhead. “She (Schoepp) is just so experienced and she has such a fantastic past and won so many medals. It’s going to be a good game. We just have to go out and stay focused like we have been.

“We were gutted after the Olympics but this is a pretty good consolation prize.”

Canada’s Jones, meanwhile, was muted by the devastating defeat.

“It was very disappointing,” she quietly admitted.

“They played really well. We couldn’t get our rocks in the right spots. We were really relaxed. The first end was great. It wasn’t a bad second end, either. After that we got caught on the draw weight and just didn’t play like we can.”

Scotish skip Eve Muirhead has been popular with the Swift Current crowd all week.

Jones was unable to explain the sudden downturn in Canada’s fortunes.

“We had our draw weight all week,” she said. “This was frustrating. We just didn’t pick up on the changes in the ice and that’s our own fault.

“It just wasn’t meant to be. We were outplayed. We actually had a great week and we just didn’t come out and play today. We just had a bad game. That happens.”

Jones credited a scintillating Scottish performance.

“Obviously, they (Scotland) are a very good team. She has a ton of experience, playing in juniors and a year of

women’s. She’s a great girl, a quality girl, kind of fun and funny, and I’m sure she’ll be in curling for a long time and that will be great for the sport.”

The Canucks hope to change their luck in the battle of the bronze.

“It’s disappointing to play in that game but we came here to win a medal,” said Jones. “We’ve played in it before and lost, so we want to change that.

“We were the best team here during the round-robin, the most consistent team all week, and we came up cold today.”

Sunday, March 28, 2010

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THREE-FOUR GAME SWEDEN vs. SCOTLAND

Scots were on their rocks

LARRY WOOD The Eye Opener

W

hen your enemy is firing at a 95 per-cent clip, playoff curling is a double-tough proposition.

But it isn’t breaking news for Sweden’s Cecilia Ostlund when Scotland’s Eve Muirhead looms as the opposition.

Ostlund has faced Muirhead several times in recent seasons without a lot of success.

“That’s the way we like to play,” said Muirhead, moments after administering an 8-3 thrashing to Sweden in the Ford World women’s curling championship’s Page Three-Four playoff Saturday afternoon at the Credit Union Iplex.

“Get a couple of points ahead like we did in the third end and then just hit for home.”

Which is exactly how it turned out, as Scotland headed for the semi-final against Canada and Sweden moved to regroup with a shot at a bronze medal in the works Sunday at 10 a.m.

The combatants exchanged singles over the first two ends, then Ostlund wrecked on a first-rock takeout in the third and the 19-year-old Muirhead wound up with an easy draw for a go-ahead pair.

Thereafter, it was a game of draw-and-hit, draw-and-hit and the Scots rolled out the heavy artillery and mowed down every Swedish thrust.

“They made it hard for us,” said the blonde 22-year-old Swedish skip. “I had a really bad game. My team tried to give me support and opportunities but I didn’t make any shots. They made all their shots. They were definitely the better team.”

In fact, Ostlund went so far as to announce Scotland was her pick to win the world title on Sunday.

“Eve is a great curling player and I really think she will be at the top of the tournament,” said Ostlund. “She’s really focused, makes really hard shots. And I think she really wants it.”

Please see OSTLUND, Page 4

Scotland skip Eve Muirhead and lead Anne Laird wave to Swift Current crowd after beating Sweden 8-3 in the Page Three-Four game Saturday.

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Eye Opener

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It was one of those days for Swedish skip Cecilia Ostlund, losing 8-3 to Scotland.

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OSTLUND: ‘We really want to go after bronze’

Ostlund knows all about the Scottish arsenal. She was mowed down two years ago in the world junior final by a 12-3 margin.

“It’s disappointing to lose but we’re happy to be in the top four, our goal coming in was top-six. Now we really want to go after that bronze medal,” she said.

The jig was up for the Swedes in the fifth end after a blank fourth when Ostlund

missed an outside draw to a corner of the four-foot looking at three Scottish counters and tumbled behind 6-1.

“It was very crucial in the beginning,” analyzed Swedish coach Peja Lindholm, “because you could see there was a lot of adrenaline in Eve’s body and her takeouts were excellent but her draws were heavy.

So we tried to put pressure on her but we didn’t stand up in the beginning and they were just better at every facet of the game.

“Sara (third Carlsson) didn’t perform as well as we’ve seen all week and Cissi missed some big shots,” said the three-time world men’s champion skip.

Carlsson was scored at a mediocre 59 per cent at third stones while her opposite number, Kelly Wood, fired 91 per cent and Muirhead scored on 95 per cent of her shots.

“But,” Lindholm added, “this a great experience for this team. Tomorrow, we are going to have to show that we are winners.”

Sunday, March 28, 2010

CITYofSC_EyeOpener_DAY9.pdf

1/14/10

PHARMASAVE_EyeOpener_DAY-1-5-9.pdf

Scottish skip Eve Muirhead was presented with a Swift Current Broncos jersey after her team’s semi-final win over Sweden.

4:49:19 PM

1/14/10

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Eye Opener

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deliver

Regina readies for 2011 Ford Worlds mens

LARRY WOOD The Eye Opener

Innovation Credit Union is a proud gold sponsor of the Ford World Women’s Curling Championship Imagine the possibilities. www.innovationcu.ca 778.1700 or 800.381.5502

The Ford Worlds, men’s variety, is headed back to Regina next April for the third time in its history.

And the previous two Queen City shindigs, while highlighting a different era, were memorable to say the least.

“Can’t say I recall much about them,” quipped Derek Boe, the organizing committee chairman for the April 2-10, 2011, event.

Boe is a 36-year-old investment advisor with ScotiaMcLeod. He was 10 years old when Ed Werenich won the last Worlds at Regina in 1983.

Sweden won its first world title at Regina in 1973 when Kjell Oscarius upended Harvey Mazinke of the home city in the final.

“We have a team in place and we’re here to pick the brains of the Swift Current organizers and find out how their event has come off so successfully,” said Boe on Saturday night.

“And we’re taking a look at just how the Canadian Curling Association’s event management structure fits in to a World event and getting a feel for that relationship.”

Boe’s past experience at chairing curling events includes a Saskatchewan provincial affair at Weyburn and a southern playdown at Moose Jaw. “I’ve always worked as a volunteer at curling events and I’ve enjoyed every one of them,” he said.

“I find it interesting that, since the

Eighties, the Worlds has changed from just Canada and a smattering of European teams to something embracing curlers from Korea and Latvia and China and other far-flung nations.”

Boe says his committee “is looking at something near 750 volunteers, plus or minus a few once we start laying out our Patch — a major corps of volunteers is required to run the Patch”.

“We haven’t opened the doors to volunteers yet. The only door open is my email in-box and I’m getting a fair response.

Soon, the official call will go out and we anticipate a huge response.”

The 2011 Worlds will be played in the Brandt Centre (arena) at Evraz Place. The Patch will be situated in the Agribition Pavilion which is attached to the complex.

“It’s similar to the setup they have here in Swift Current,” said Boe. “It’s the same alignment we had at the Scotties in 2008. For the last Brier, in 2006, we used the Sportsplex for the Patch, which was bigger.”

Boe says the city of Regina “has made tremendous upgrades to the facility, extending even to the ice plant and humidifiers”.

“Right now, we have a lot of working ideas for ancillary events,” Boe said.

“I think we may want to piggyback the popularity of the Riders, for example. We have a community events committee hard at work on some other very special supporting events.

Tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster or through the Season of Champions website.

Friends of the Ford World Women’s Curling Championship Chamber of Commerce Coffee News GES Canada Jet Ice Ltd. Photography By Corla Weins Agtech

Schoepp relishes opportunity

Sunday, March 28, 2010

LARRY WOOD The Eye Opener

Andrea Schoepp, the 45-year-old Garmisch-Partenkirchen mathematics teacher, prepared for her first world women’s curling final in 22 years on Saturday with some early-day bike-riding and some late on-ice practice at the Credit Union Iplex.

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“There’s still one step to go but it doesn’t matter,” Schoepp said. “This is just really great for the whole team, I think.”

The ‘whole team’ includes third Melanie Robillard, veteran second Monika Wagner, who has been curling with Schoepp practically forever, and rotating leads Stella Heiss and Corinna Scholz.

Heiss, 17, has been on board for a season. Scholz, 20, is a

first-year addition.

Quick now, how many first-year additions to any team have played lately in a Ford Worlds final?

“I’m proud of both my young players,” said Schoepp.

“They are really good and Monika is helping with them.

I will decide who will play in the morning. They are both good players. It makes no different which one I choose.

They realize I am not so bad to play with.”

The latter was a reference to a theory in some European quarters that Schoepp is a “bad person”, supposedly because she is prone to tell it like she thinks it is.

Schoepp admitted she felt Scotland will be a more difficult opponent in the final.

“I hoped to play Canada,” she said. “It think Canada would have been easier to play. I think Eve’s team is better.

That’s my opinion.”

Schoepp, of course, is 2-and-0 against Canada this week.

Germany defeated Scotland earlier in the week but lost to Scotland at the Vancouver Olympics and the Euro championship in Aberdeen.

Please see OSTLUND, Page 4

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The Party Line • Your guide to what’s goin’ on

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your guide to what’s goin’ on

Bakersfield’s NC

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Back to Wrap Up the Party!

I ’S TIM ES BREWIN

Keith’s Patch was rockin’ Wednesday night when Bakersfield hit the stage with a performance that featured an entertaining mix of classic country, folk and blues – topped off with a selection of good old rock ‘n roll.

They’ll be back at it again at 8:30 tonight to put the finishing touches on a week of non-stop party action.

The band has been performing throughout western Canada for more than two decades delivering a unique style of music including an impressive range of four-part harmonies.

Make sure you get there early to see Skip Neufeld, Tony Clark, Ken Friesen, Al Huder and Ray Martinson in the final performance of the week.

What a Cool Week!

Since the opening day of the Ford Women’s Worlds, fans have been lining up in Keith’s Patch, shooting for the title of Cool Curling champs.

Each day, the winning team earned a $100 cash prize and the right to move on to Saturday’s final playdown. The champions took home another $100 and ownership of the Cool Curling table while second place earned a $100 cash prize.

After Saturday’s showdown first place went to Garry Stahn and Stan Haug of Assiniboia who defeated Mickey Wallace and Jason Senicar of Swift Current in the final.

Thanks to everyone who competed through the week and to Pharmasave, Pioneer Co-Op and the Canadian Curling Association for prize contributions.

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Complementary shuttle buses - provided by Tim Hortons and the City of Swift Current - offer transportation between the Credit Union i-plex and destinations throughout the city.

The complete schedule will be at the Information Booth.

Today bus runs begin at the Credit Union i-plex at the bottom of the hour from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Here’s to the

Page 9

Volunteers!

We extend a special thanks to the 464 volunteers for making the past week in Swift Current a truly memorable experience. Here’s a toast to their hard work, energy and enthusiasm!

Eye Opener

Page 10

SCHOEPP: ‘It’s my turn now’

“This year for me was really difficult because I knew we had a really good team after we won the Euro championship,” said Schoepp.

“And then the Olympics came and I had not a good feeling to go there. And everything happened like I thought it would — so many distractions — and I was so much looking forward to coming here.

“We came in here on the first evening and I saw the Worlds trophy and I said, ‘OK, it’s my turn now’. You need a lot of luck to get there and so far we’ve had it.

“Winning the Europeans this year has been a boost to my confidence. You feel much safer and you know that you have shown that you are still alive among the top teams. It makes you feel more confident.”

Her losses this week were totally uncharacteristic for a team awaiting a world-championship final but maybe not so uncharacteristic for Schoepp’s teams of the past. Germany lost 10-3 to Denmark, 12-8 to the U.S.A. and 7-4 to Russia.

“There are certain teams I have a lot of trouble with,” she admitted earlier in the week.

She didn’t name any of those teams, except to say that North American teams weren’t among them. Veteran European observers, however, pointed to Denmark and Russia as two teams Schoepp has had difficulty handling.

All of which matters not one iota going into today’s 3 p.m. joust.

“I think it’s really difficult if you have a new team every year and you have to struggle to get the team together and get to the semi-finals and get to the top,” Schoepp was saying.

“That’s my biggest problem. That’s what I said at the beginning of the week. Get to the playoffs, then it’s a different world.”

Schoepp used to be a regular in that ‘different world’ back in her early curling days.

Her first of 17 years at the Worlds (1985), she lost in a tiebreaker. The next year (1986), she lost in the final, 12-5

to Marilyn Bodogh of Canada. In 1987, she lost the final to Canada’s Pat Sanders. It was a 14-2 rout.

But she persevered and she learned, just like she has persevered and learned ever since.

In 1988 she won her only previous world title, defeating Heather Houston of Canada 9-3 in the final. The next year, she lost in the semi-finals. Two years after that, she won Olympic demo gold at Pralognan, France, with a 5-and-1 record.

She has played in four Olympic Games, starting with Calgary’s demo event in 1988. She finished 4-and-4 there, losing a tiebreaker to eventually bronze-winning Norway skipped by Trine Trulsen.

Her more recent Olympic forays haven’t been much to shout about. She was 1-and-6 at Nagano in 1998 and 3-6 at Vancouver this year, tied with Russia, Japan and Eve Muirhead skipping the Great Britain entry.

“For me, Olympics are a little bit different,” she was saying the other day. “Here (at the Worlds) you are playing just for you. Everything is all about you and you can win or lose. In the Olympics, in curling, you are kind of in the background.

It’s in my head.

“I’m a bit crazy and different maybe, but I love to play world championships and especially in Canada and in smaller towns like this one. I knew what would happen here and it is just as I expected it. So I’m feeling really well and I’m enjoying it.

It’s a feeling and you have to have. That’s something you can feel when you go on the ice.”

Since her Olympic demo gold victory, she has lost in the semi-finals twice, the Page Three-Four playoff once and the bronze-medal game once.

No one would be blamed for considering this week’s effort a miraculous rebirth. But Schoepp disagrees.

“I don’t think I’d call it a rebirth that we won the Europeans,” she argued the other day. “What I always say, you need a certain amount of luck in this game. We didn’t have it for a long time but I think the team has been good for a long time.

We just needed maybe an inch of luck and every rock hitting the correct way . . .”

“I love to play here in Canada,” said Schoepp, a veteran of 17 world championships, afterward. “It’s a great atmosphere.

Canadian spectators are really great and really friendly and really fair.”

German skip Andrea Schoepp loves playing events in Canada and looks forward to the opportunity to compete with top rinks such as Jennifer Jones’.

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From Page 7

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Page 11

Time out for Ford World Women’s trivia

Always plan a safe ride home.

The 2010 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship promises to be one of the best parties to ever hit Swift Current. But before you jump into the fun at the various events, make plans for a safe ride home.

Larry Wood

Eye Opener Editor

QUESTION OF THE DAY The 2007 world women’s curling championship was played in (city and country)?

1. The 2009 world women’s curling championship was played in (city and country)?

3. Which year and where?

Answers 12. Sweden, Elisabeth Hogstrom in 1981.

2. Name the only skip who won the world women’s curling championship while losing four games in the process.

4. Name five skips who won the world women’s title and lost three games in the process.

11. Canada, Marj Mitchell in 1980.

5. The years and locales, please.

9. Switzerland.

3. 2003 in Winnipeg.

2. Debbie McCormick 1. Gangneung, Korea QofD: Aomori, Japan.

12. And the third country to win and the skip in what year?

4. Gaby Casanova, Dordi Nordby, Elisabet Gustafson, Colleen Jones, Jennifer Jones.

11. How about the second country to win and the skip in what year.

5. Casanova 1979 at Perth, Scotland; Nordby 1990 at Vasteras, Sweden; Gustafson 1995 at Brandon; Colleen Jones 2004 at Gavle, Sweden; Jennifer Jones 2008 at Vernon, B.C.

10. Who skipped that team in what year?

www.sgi.sk.ca

6. Andrea Schoepp.

9. Of the current 12 nations competing at Swift Current which was the first to win a world women’s title.

7. 1988 at Glasgow, Scotland.

8. Name the two countries that have produced world women’s champions but have never hosted the event.

8. Norway, Denmark.

7. When and where?

10. Gaby Casanova, 1979.

6. Among skips in the current Ford Worlds field, who was the first to ever win a world title?

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Eye Opener

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Swift Current Ford World Women’s organizing committee co-chair Barbara Walter says her community stepped-up big time making the event a huge success.

It’s been a wonderful experience’ Organizing committee had volunteer army, community’s united support in hosting 2010 Ford World Women’s

LARRY WOOD The Eye Opener

Y

ou want the Swift Current organizers’ view of the Ford Worlds women’s curling championship headed for a conclusion today?

Easy.

“It has been just amazing,” says organizing committee co-chair Barbara Walter on Saturday.

“We are really pleased because the community has supported this all along.

They’ve sold out the arena lots of days and on most draws. And, of course, that party in the Patch has been phenomenal.

“I mean, they’ve been standing in line to get in. I’m a big Roughrider fan, as most people in Saskatchewan are. And a couple of nights here, it’s been reminiscent of Riderville at some of the Grey Cups.

“So it really has been great.”

The volunteer army at this curlfest numbered 465.

“We had as many volunteers as we needed,” says Walter, who co-chaired this Ford Worlds with Bryan Tallon.

“We turned away a lot of people. We had a lot who wanted to volunteer. They all had to have accreditation so that’s how we know how many registered volunteers we have. But there were a whole lot of people from this community and all over southern Saskatchewan who weren’t official volunteers but helped us out in many areas.

“You know? If we asked, I don’t think anybody refused anything related to this . . . at any time over the last two years. And usually people offered before we even asked. The volunteer labour, the donations, the resources, all that stuff, it has just gone on and on.”

An example? Construction of the media ducted by the Swift Current Curling Club. and officials’ bench at the Credit Union Certain of the smaller curling clubs around Iplex. the southwest have a part in it, too.

“The only thing we had to pay for there “Who knew that the sales would reach was the lumber,” says Walter. those numbers?” inquires Walter. “The “All the labour was volunteer, right 50-50 seems to be thing these days. We down to the engineer who helped design saw that at the world junior hockey tournait and inspected the structure when it was ment held in Saskatoon and Regina over completed. We were going to ask him for the Christmas period. Obviously we had a bill. He said, ‘Nah, that’s good, don’t to look into it. And we had two nice young worry about it’.” men from Summerside, P.E.I., who came Walter unveils here and got the one tip to operating technology up and The only thing a successful event running a couple of this stature. Keep of days before the we had to pay lists! event opened.” for there was the “We were so well The community lumber... All the organized — caspirit reached even labour was volunpable people who to the 52-inch televiteer, right down to the engiknew what had to sion screen depicting neer who helped design it and the running 50-50 be done. I said, ‘When you have total that has hung inspected the structure when women with lists, from a corporate it was completed. We were things happen. We box in a corner of going to ask him for a bill. He had men with lists, the Iplex. The box is said, ‘Nah, that’s good, don’t too. With lists, shared by Houston worry about it’.” everything has run Pizza and Swift Cursmoothly all week.” rent Monumental.

The event promThe TV is provided ised to show black

by Furniture Oasis. in the financial ledger even before it began “We thought we’d covered everything 10 days ago. when we were wiring the building,” says “I know that, overall, the event will show Walter, “but we didn’t have a TV screen a profit, a substantial profit,” says Walter. for the arena. And that’s where these “I don’t know how much at this point. I people jumped in to help us. They just wouldn’t even want to guess at the numdropped the flatscreen out the window and bers. The Patch revenue has far surpassed attached everything. the projected revenue. I think we’re close “We have a lot of good stories like that.” to doubling the projected revenue for Would Walter and Co., take on another the Patch, in fact. I can’t recall the exact curling project of this size? projection of ticket sales but we’ve done “At the Friday-night banquet,” Walter really well there, too.” recalls, “somebody said that they haven’t Then there’s the 50-50 lottery being con- awarded the 2012 Brier yet. I said, ‘Well,

give me until about Wednesday to think about it’.

“It’s been a wonderful experience. I don’t know if I would do it again but we have all kinds of capable people to do it in this community and I would probably suggest they have someone else head it up.

But I’ve absolutely enjoyed every minute of this. It’s the experience of a lifetime.

“Assistance has come from all over Saskatchewan, but primarily from the southwest — Gravelbourg, Shaunavon, Central Butte, all around this whole community.

It’s pretty sparsely populated and the towns are pretty far between but they’ve all driven in here to help out and, to a person, they’ve all agreed this is amazing.

“We would support a Canadian championship here, too, and we’d love to host one. But there’s really something special about hosting people from all over the world.

“My father was on the 1983 and 1972 Silver Broom (Regina) committees with the Weyburn Curling Club and what he remembers most was the fact it was international and he says that made it even more special.

“You hear it all the time. The world has come here to this small community in an out-of-the-way corner of our country and it really has been a big deal for all of us.”

There may have been only one downside to the whole thing.

“I lost my voice,” croaked Walter, fighting some sort of version of laryngitis.

“It’s a little loud in the Patch and when you’re trying to talk to people it puts a little strain on the vocal chords. I know I don’t sound too great.”

A pretty small price to pay, she agreed, for a project that, otherwise, has generated positive after positive after positive . . .

Eye Opener

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THREE-FOUR Results

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 T Scotland* 1 0 2 0 3 0 2 0 x x 8 Sweden 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 x x 3 %age Lead Second Third Skip Team Scotland 78 73 91 95 85 Sweden 83 77 59 70 72

Final Round Robin Standings Team 1. Canada 2. Germany

W *10 *8

L 1 3

3. Scotland

8

3

T4. Sweden T4. U.S.A.

7 7

4 4

Team China Denmark Russia Norway Switzerland Japan Latvia

W L 6 5 6 5 5 6 3 8 3 8 2 9 1 10

Scotland third Kelly Wood and second Lorna Vevers.

SEMI-FINAL Results

Canada* Scotland %age Canada Scotland

Draw Schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 T 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 x x 4 0 1 2 0 3 1 3 0 x x 10 Lead Second Third Skip Team 95 84 70 59 77 92 73 81 89 84

TODAY

10 a.m. Bronze-medal match. Canada vs.Sweden.

3 p.m. Gold-medal championship final. Germany vs. Scotland.

Scotland third Kelly Wood (left) and lead Anne Laird sweep second Lorna Vevers stone in the semifinal game against Canada Saturday night. Scotland won 10-4.

Jennifer Jones’ rink struggled in the semi-final curling 77% as a team.

* —started game with the hammer

1301 North Service Road East Swift Current, SK S9H 3X6 Phone: (306) 773-8288 Fax: (306) 773-8289

holidayinnexpress.com SCORE

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You Manage the Game Plan, We’ll Manage the Road Trip!

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Sunday, March 28, 2010

All the Current has been positive

By now, everybody should know we don’t onship will not be recorded for posterity in get the final story on the Ford Worlds in the the Eye Opener. It just can’t happen.

Eye Opener.

Meantime, it has been a slice of heaven, Yes, we’ve had it twice in 20 years. But not folks. We at the Eye Opener would like to this year. Sorry about that. thank you for your interest.

The Eye Opener, you see, We’d like to thank all the does not publish on the postcompetitors for their time Worlds Monday. The way and courtesy. We’d like to the Swift Current organizthank our supporters for ing committee figures it, if theirs. And we’d especially, we’re over budget after nine also specifically, like to thank days, we won’t be going the gang at the Southwest for 10 Booster for the jobs they’ve There’s something else performed on our behalf. you should know. This pubThen there are some wonlication would not exist without the efforts derful people who kept us company in the of the Swift Current organizing committee, media area — volunteers without whom we the Canadian Curling Association and its couldn’t operate. sponsors, with a little help from the World What else is there to say? Have a good Curling Federation. Between them, they fund final day and don’t forget to reserve early for the whole shebang. So, save a cheer, also a the 2011 world men’s bash in Regina. Or, if tiger, for them. you prefer, the next rendition of the women’s Now, what we’re asking from you today is championship in Esbjerg, Denmark. One or this: We set up today’s championship final the other, you probably won’t want to miss. match in this last edition. Hereafter, you’re Cheers. on your own.

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Page 15

Dolomite jewel to host Men’s Worlds

Eye Opener

Page 16

LARRY WOOD

Cortina d’Ampezzo Italy is hosting the Capital One Men’s World Curling Championship. Inset, the Stadio Olympico.

The Eye Opener

T

here was a time, in days of yore, when the World Men’s Curling Championship was parachuted to some of Europe’s more exotic winter resorts.

Megeve, France, hosted the event in 1971.

Then it was Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Worlds site every 10 years from 1972 through 1992. In ’94, the globe’s best curlers gathered in Bavaria’s Oberstdorf. All were quaint Alpine locations.

Now, close to 16 years later, those good times will return next week when the Capital One Men’s Worlds is staged in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, which is the centrepiece of one of the world’s premier winter sports and spectacular mountain areas — the Dolomites.

Verily, folks, Cortina is dead solid gorgeous, that’s all. It was the site of the 1956 Winter Olympic Games. It is a Banff-like mountain town of 6,000 permanent residents that swells to 40,000 in two high seasons — winter (skiing) and summer (mountaineering, hiking, biking).

It also has been the curling capital of Italy for eons, and then some.

“We have played curling in Cortina for 100 years,” says 2010 Worlds organizing committee chairman Massimo Antonelli. “The game in Italy started as a pastime played by guests in two five-star hotels.”

The premier ice facility is an historical icehouse that was built for the Olympics and has since been featured in the James Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only.

“It’s the old historical arena, the same one built for the Olympic Games, but it has been renovated,” says Nicola De Santis, vice-president of the civic sports facilities company of Cortina who also overseas operation of the original ski jumping facility.

“The arena is all wooden, and part of it was open but now it has a new glass wall where it

used to be open and it has a terrific mountain view. And, it has a new roof. So it’s old . . . but it’s new.

The Stadio Olympico seats 5,500 but closer to 5,000 for curling and is adjacent to a two-sheet curling facility used by six local curling clubs.

“We are ready to host 4,000-to-5,000 people,” says Antonelli. “We have more than 50 hotels and the Worlds starts on the Easter weekend. It’s like the start of the finish of the high season. So, for us, it’s a way to extend the tourist season.”

Italy has hosted the Euros and the Universiade and the last Winter Olympics at Torino.

“But we have more to offer than curling in Cortina,” says Antonelli.

Indeed, this burg is a veritable tourist mecca. The city of Venice is 90 minutes to the south. The city of Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliet, is two hours away.

“Visitors will be able to come and watch curling and, in addition, we offer tourist packages to many other enticing attractions,” says Antonelli.

Among those are abundant and varied ski hills.

“If you want to combine skiing and curling, we guarantee snow through mid-April,” says Antonelli. “But, this year, the skiing will not close until June. We have had more than seven metres of snow. It has been a big year.”

Antonelli says 200 volunteers will be solicited to help organize the event.

“We won’t need too many,” he says. “We

are smaller, and everything is within walking distance — the arena, the restaurants, the hotels, the tourist office.

“Everybody in a town like ours works together. We are a tourist place, so all the aspects of tourism are covered.”

Last-minute interest can be accommodated.

This is a curling and sport opportunity that rarely arrives in one’s lifetime.

For more information on packages, tickets, and the like, dial up http://www.curlingcortina.dolomiti.org/wmcc2010/eng/accommodation.htm The 2011 Men’s Worlds will be held in Regina. For 2012, bids have been tendered by Basel, Switzerland, and Karlstad, Sweden, site of the 1977 Silver Broom world championship.

Yields

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