HeartChart Online - Day 8 - 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts

Official Newspaper of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts

Saturday, February 28, 2009

B.C. skip Marla Mallett may be on the verge of a Scotties title.

DAY 7

Sponsor of the Day

Saturday, February 28, 2009 2

Pressure and intensity hits crescendo

Now the fun really begins B

eing a ‘distinguished member’ of the media entourage covering the Scotties this week in my hometown has left me with some thoughts of what lies ahead for the playoff-bound teams.

The first phase of the Scotties is now over, and we enter into the sudden-death portion of the show. Four teams remain (B.C., Quebec, Saskatchewan and Team Canada) and each with one goal in mind, the one we have talked about all week— winning the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

For the fans, the excitement and anticipation is building. As I watched the tiebreaker game between Canada and P.E.I, the word ‘electric’ comes to mind. This part of the week is awesome!

The fans start to play a huge role in what happens on the ice. New alliances are being made for the remaining provinces, new cheers are being created and new noisemakers are being invented.

Melissa SOLIGO With only one sheet in play, there is an ability to hear everything — either from the players on the ice or from the fans (so be careful what you say). The fans have been great all week and their inspirational roars will continue to guide the teams along their way. Just a quick reminder to all, that etiquette is the be-all and end-all of being an ex-

cellent fan.

For the players now, it is all about the pressure, and ensuring they use all the skills they have and all the accessible resources to help manage the added anxieties. All the top competitors know that with pressure comes along some extra stress and it now comes down to stress management, and who handles it the best.

The elusive sleep: I am sure everyone, like me, has experienced a bad sleep. There is nothing worse than tossing and turning, and attempting to turn off the mind that won’t turn off. Now, add the enormous pressure and emotion of the STOH sudden-death playoffs, the possibility of going for a world title or the ultimate opportunity to get to the Olympic trials and advancing to the Olympics! Do you think you could sleep?

Enter the coaches and why they are paid the big bucks. Whatever schedules and routines teams had are now being revamped. In the playoffs, everything is different, and the

faster a team makes the adjustments, the better they will fair. Each coach will create a team blueprint that they believe will be vital to success and it will be followed to the letter.

There are so many crucial components to success. Nutrition is vital, just as it has been all week. Rest, both mentally and physically, is at the top of the list. A perfect balance needs to be created between maintaining appropriate activation levels and ensuring mental recovery. As a team that has been active for eight straight days already, it is not the time to laze around and enjoy the views of the inner harbour.

And finally the game begins. The singing of ‘O Canada’ becomes much more meaningful. The parade of athletes becomes that much more momentous. As the only game out there, more and more watchful eyes are on the players.

PLEASE SEE SOLIGO 6

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3 Saturday, February 28, 2009

B.C. — ‘Bring it on baby’ Vancouver squad one win away from Scotties title come out and work with the surface that you’re playing on. And it’s good, it’s fast and it’s curling.”

Heart Chart Editor Any concerns now about a day off before he and her teammates have been the the final shootout?

“One game left,” she said. “Bring it on, hottest item at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre for seven days baby. That’s what we’re here for. If it’s meant to be, we’re going to make it happen. now.

“It won’t affect us. We get to come out So who should be surprised that Marla Mallett and her British Columbia champion and we get to practise again. It’s not much team, which has been surprising even of a layoff. We get to throw rocks. It’s good. home-province experts, are the first team It’s all good.

“I mean, we came out this morning and qualified for the Scotties championship took it right back home. We ran a practice final on Sunday at 5 p.m.?

The only crowd on the premises which just like we would at our home club. We has been nicked for only three defeats, Mal- wanted to loosen things up and get back to lett and third Grace MacInnes, second the norm, really. It’s been a long week, Diane Gushulak and lead Jacalyn Brown of there’s been a lot of pressure and it just felt the Vancouver Curling Club kept it that way good to come out and throw ’em up and Friday night, dispensing with Marie-France down and see what happens. It just loosLarouche of Quebec 7-5 in the Page One- ened us up and got us prepared for this game.“ Two playoff.

Larouche, directing Nancy Belanger, Annie Lemay and Joelle Sabourin, was moaning about her team’s up-and-down tendencies and inconsistency.

“I don’t think we throw very bad, we Three teams will squabble today for the right to face Mallett on Sunday — were not able to be first behind the guard or first to make the hit-and-roll,” she Larouche, Saskatchewan’s Stefanie assessed. “I think that was the key.

Lawton and defending champion We were chasing and we were outJennifer Jones of Winnipeg. curled. We missed shots and they Friday night’s setback dropped got the offence going first. And the Quebeckers to the semi-final at they got a lot of rolls and we did4 p.m. today where they’ll tackle ein’t. ther Lawton or Jones. The winner Today we were outcurled, but advances to the final day.

SEE maybe another day it would be Mallett, who admits to being different. “We have been up and SCORES, something of a super-organized down and I did not expect us to be clean freak, broke up a tight-fit Page 15 so up-and-down here. It’s disapstruggle in the sixth end, socking pointing because our goal is to be Larouche with a triple-count and consistent all the time. This week we aren’t then adding a deuce in the eighth.

“It was a very conservative game which not like that. Why? We don’t know yet. has been labelled my style,” admitted Mal- Maybe we’ll figure it out after the tournalett, a 38-year-old regional manager for In- ment.”

She said the present is no time to worry dustry Canada.

“We were fortunate to get some opportu- about it.

“Right now we are still here, in the seminities and we capitalized when we got finals so we have to focus on that. them.”

“We have beaten both teams this year — Mallett doesn’t understand anybody who’s heard complaining about the Save- Saskatchewan and Canada — so it doesn’t matter.

On freeze.

“If we worry about these teams it is not “The surface here has been absolutely wonderful all week,” she says. “B.J. good for us. We will just concentrate on (Gagnon) makes great ice. And you just playing against rocks.”

By LARRY WOOD

S

ONE-TWO GAME

B.C. skip Marla Mallett, en route to a crucial playoff victory over Quebec.

SCOREBOARD PAGE ONE-TWO PLAYOFF Quebec (Larouche)........

001 010 B.C. (Mallett)...................

010 103

101 020

1 — 5 0 — 7

Quebec

S

P

%

B.C.

S

P

%

Sabourin Lemay Belanger Larouche TEAM TOTALS

20 58 20 52 20 58 20 53 80 221

73 65 73 66 69

Brown Gushulak MacInnes Mallett TEAM TOTALS

19 62 20 69 20 70 19 56 78 257

82 86 88 74 82

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5 Saturday, February 28, 2009

Islanders shrug off defeat The MacPhee sisters from Charlottetown chose to be philosophical rather than devastated following their heartbreaker defeat in Friday’s Scotties tiebreaker at the Save-OnFoods Memorial Centre.

“We lose a tiebreaker by . . . an inch,” mused Rebecca Jean MacPhee, the skip who tosses third rocks.

“We had a great week. And I really thought we had it today and I said to Robin (throws last rocks) afterward she had exactly the right weight and we had the line we wanted and I’m surprise that, with back-four weight, we rolled off that much. We thought we were going to stick right there.”

So did a lot of spectators watching the REBECCA JEAN final stone of the 11th end when Robyn MACPHEE MacPhee attempted to lay her last tap on the button with the outturn.

“The 10th end was almost a duplication,” agreed Rebecca Jean.

The Islanders could have won it there with a slightly simpler shot.

“We just rolled off again. I thought we jumped the line on that one a little too much.

It was close.”

The 25-year-old Robyn MacPhee, who took over last stones for the first time on this new team this season, shrugged off the defeat but suggested she and her older sister would be making more visits to the Scotties together.

“That’s the game of curling,” she said. “I thought I threw those two perfectly, they just didn’t finish right at the end so there’s not much more I could have done. You throw them with the right weight at the broom and there’s nothing more you can do.

The last rock just spun off. I just needed to curl an inch more.

PLEASE SEE ISLANDERS P10

Jennifer Jones (left) celebrates with her team after a narrow escape in the tiebreaker game Friday.

Champs dodge bullet Jones wriggles off hook against MacPhee

By LARRY WOOD Heart Chart Editor

T

here’s the old adage that says a champ has to be beaten. And, it’s never easy.

Rebecca Jean MacPhee and her green-clad Islanders would tend to agree.

Once they stole a deuce in the third end of their Scotties tiebreaker with defending champion Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg on Friday at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, they had every right to expect a second victory over the favourites in as many days.

TIEBREAKER It was 3-0 after Jones narrowly missed a four-foot draw when her rock failed to curl quite enough and the Charlottetown team, backed by Rebecca Jean and sister Robyn throwing last rocks, threw up an immaculate

defence for a time.

But the redoubtable champs began to dismantle the defence in the last few ends. In fact, they kept the MacPhees off the scoreboard from the seventh end on and stole the decision 6-5 by less than an inch in an extra end.

“Things didn’t seem to be going our way and we kept battling though it,” said the victorious Jones afterward.

“We got a couple of misses out of them, we made our shots as good as we could and made her (Robyn) make a tough one. That shot was not easy and she almost made it. It’s all you can ask for when you’re trying to steal, we made her make a good one and we were on the right side of it at the end.”

MacPhee was faced with close-to-identical last shots to win in both the 10th and 11th panels. But in both frames — P.E.I. was one-up with the hammer playing the 10th and tied with the hammer playing in overtime — second player Shelley Muzika flashed on peels and that left the MacPhees behind the eight-ball.

“We were doing a good job of keeping clean but we didn’t get the break we wanted on those double-peels and raise-takeouts in the last two ends,” agreed Rebecca Jean MacPhee “It’s probably a whole different game on Robyn’s last one if there isn’t an extra yellow (Canada rock) in the rings.”

Jones executed a stunning double takeout in the fourth end to score two and remained within striking distance through the eighth end.

In the fifth, Robyn MacPhee got a lucky rub to score drawing against two enemy stones but Jones rubbed in looking at four Island counters in the sixth. The Island skip drew against two in the seventh, Jones blanked the eighth and lost a measure for two on a draw in the ninth.

MacPhee needed no more than back-four weight to tap Team Canada’s hidden stone at the back of the button for the win in the home end. But her stone failed to curl enough, tapped a rolled off by scant inches.

PLEASE SEE TIEBREAKER P10

U.S. playdowns down to the wire

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The U.S. Olympic curling trials are down to the last gasp in Denver.

Tyler George of Duluth, Minn., skipped his team to Page One-Two victory in the playoff segment Friday and will face John Shuster of Duluth in this afternoon’s final at 1 p.m. PST. Shuster lost 6-5 to George in the Page One-Two and dropped to the semi-final where he eliminated Todd Birr of Mankato, Minn., the 2007 U.S. champion, 7-4.

Shuster, who used to play lead for 2006 U.S. Olympic bronze medallist Pete Fenson of Bemidji, directs third Jason Smith, second Jeff Isaacson and lead John Benton. Playing with George are Kris Perkovich, Kevin Johnson and Mark Haluptzok.

Birr reached the semi-final by eliminating current U.S. champion Craig Brown of Madison, Wis. In the women’s division, perennial champion Debbie McCormick of Madison won the Page One-Two scuffle 9-4 over Amy Wright of Duluth.

In the semik-final, the veteran Wright was shaded 6-5 by Patti Lank of Lewiston, N.Y. McCormick and Lank square off the in the final today at 8 a.m. PST. Lank eliminated Erika Brown of Madison to

Debbie McCormick reach the semis.

McCormick is directing Allison Pottinger, Nicole Joraanstad and Natalie Nicholson. With Lank are Caitlin Moroldo, Ann Swisshelm and Chrissy Haase.

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Soligo From Page 2 Any miss is magnified. Resilience should be a player’s middle name. Any strategy discussion will have the influence of thousands of fans (although I can bet the players won’t listen to us).

It is all about the fight. It’s about sheer determination. It’s about the huge shots, the incredible sweeping, the impeccable draw weight and the controlled hit weight.

There is no time to give up, and no time for ‘I can’t’. Regardless of the outcome of the game, it is about having no regrets at the end of the day. If everything isn’t left out on the ice, then you didn’t try hard enough. Win or lose, a champion will be completely spent after a sudden-death game.

Let’s take a quick moment to celebrate the week. Congrats to all the teams. To those that are no longer playing, enjoy your reign as provincial champions and to those still playing, enjoy what comes next.

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7 Saturday, February 28, 2009

Hearts Trivia QUESTION OF THE DAY: Name the skip and hometown of the runnerup team at the 2007 British Columbia women’s curling championship.

1. How about the skip and hometown of the runnerup team at the 2006 B.C. women’s curling championship?

2. Name the skip of the last British Columbia team to lose to New Brunswick and P.E.I. at the Scotties in the same year.

3. Name the year and the New Brunswick and P.E.I. skips.

4. Two curlers have played for three provinces (excluding Team Canada) at the Scotties.

Name them.

(Answers)

TODAY’S QUIZ

5. How about the provinces/territories for which each played and the years in which each played?

6. Heading into the current renewal, a total of 22 other players had competed for at least two provinces or territories at the Canadian women’s curling championship. Five played for British Columbia teams. They were: 7. In which years did they play which positions for British Columbia and who were the skips?

8. Name the other provinces for which they played, their positions and when.

9. Name their non-B.C. skips.

10. Two players have been named to four Scotties all-star teams. Name the two.

11. One player has been named to three Scotties all-star teams, at a different position for each. Name her.

12. Picking players gaining all-star citation at a specific position, name the Scotties all-time all-star team.

QofD: Patti Knezevic, Prince George 1. Toni (Fister) Welles, Maple Ridge.

2. The same Toni Fister (Welles).

3. 2003 — Heidi Hanlon of New Brunswick, Suzanne Gaudet (Birt) of P.E.I. 4. Christine (Bodogh) Jurgenson, Cathy Shaw (Pidzarko).

5. Jurgenson played fpr Ontario in 1980 and 1986, Alberta in 1983, British Columbia in 1995 and 1997; Shaw played for Manitoba in 1978, the Territoriesw in 1980 and Alberta in 1982 and 1983.

6. Shannon Aleksic, Krista Bernard, Debbie Jones-Walker, Kristy Lewis, Diane (McLean) Gushulak.

7. Aleksic played second for Kelley Law in 2007, Bernard played third for Kristy Lewis in 2002, Jones-Walker played second for Lindsay Sparkes in 1984 and second for

Linda Moore in 1985, Lewis skipped in 2002, Gushulak played third for Georgina Wheatcroft in 2004.

8. Aleksic played lead for Saskatchewan in 1999, Bernard played second for Nova Scotia in 2000, Jones-Walker played third for Manitoba in 1997, and second for Manitoba in 1999 and 2000, Lewis played third for Saskatchewan in 1998, Gushulak played second for Ontario in 1995.

9. Aleksic played for Cindy Street, Bernard played for Kay Zinck, Jones-Walker played for, Jones-Walker played third for Janet Harvey, second for Connie Laliberte and second for Cathy Overton-Clapham, Lewis played for Cathy Trowell, Gushulak played for Alison Goring.

10. Jan Betker, Nancy Delahunt.

11. Kim Kelly at lead, second and third.

12. Skip Colleen Jones, third Jan Betker, second Joan McCusker, lead Nancy Delahunt.

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Saturday, February 28, 2009 8

Canadian women’s (Scotties) curling championships of all time

The problem, of course, is choosing the criteria when assigned to select the Top 10 Scotties tournaments in history.

Do you go for the top-10 spectacular last-rock shots to win? Or the top10 most attended affairs?

Or the top-10 most competitive jousts? Or a mixture of all of them?

Whatever the case, the Heart Chart editors dug deep into the memory banks of its editors and assorted spies to produce the following Top 10 Scotties. Dissenters may line up to the right in orderly fashion.

No. 10 —1983 at Prince George Nova Scotians kept up the pressure launched by youthful Colleen Jones the year previous with Penny LaRocque staging a return appearance and sharing first place at 8-2 with rookie Shelley Bildfell of the Territories after the round-robin. LaRocque snared the bye to the final on the strength of defeating Bildfell during the preliminary. That sent the Whitehorse team against Cathy (Pidzarko) Shaw of Edmonton who had managed a 7-3 tertiary finish despite playing the entire week without vice-skip Christine (Bodogh) Jurgenson who had been sidelined by illness. Shaw stopped Bildfell 9-7 in the semi and had the shot rock buried in a 10th-end tie situation in the stomach-churning final but LaRocque owned last rock and coolly drew it to cover the button. It was one of the Scotties great last-rock clutch shots.

No. 9 —2003 at Kitchener-Waterloo This was the year of the so-called Atlantic Storm with three eastern teams qualifying for playoffs. And the 44-year-old Colleen Jones and her Halifax teammates won their third straight national women’s curling championship — and fourth in five years — by shading Newfoundland’s Cathy Cunningham 9-7 in an extra-end final that was as topsyturvy as they come. Jones completed the victory with an open out-turn hit after Cunningham wrecked on her draw attempt behind a corner guard. Newfoundland appeared to have it wrapped by setting up a winning split for a deuce in the 10th. After Kelly wrecked on a guard, Peg Goss had an open hit to sit a widely-separated two with four stones remaining. But the St. John’s vice-skip rolled out her shooter. Cunningham eventually was forced to draw to the fourfoot for a single point to force the extra end.

Prince Edward Island’s youthful Suzanne Gaudet finished the round robin a dominant 10-1, Jones was 8-3 and Saskatchewan’s Jan Betker battled to a 7-4 finish. The Newfies slipped in at 6-5, they were 3-5 with three games to play. In the sudden-death Page playoff, Cunningham stole a tying ninth-end single and a winning 10th-end deuce against Betker, then won her fifth straight in the semi-final, upending Gaudet's Islanders 6-5.

No. 8 —1995 at Calgary Manitoba’s Connie Laliberte twice defeated defending champion Sandra (Schmirler) Peterson of Regina, who was looking for a three-peat, and conquered former national junior champion Cathy (King) Borst of Ed-

monton 6-5 in a tension-packed championship final. Laliberte won a whopping 12 of 13 games in all. Alberta dropped Manitoba from the unbeaten ranks in the fourth round of the preliminary. But that 7-5 setback was the only blemish on Laliberte’s week. In an assortment of tiebreakers, Borst dumped Prince Edward Island’s Rebecca MacPhee 9-3, then was beaten 6-2 by Peterson. Hence Peterson was ranked No. 2 for Page playoff purposes but she couldn’t solve No. 1ranked Laliberte who won 64 to qualify for the championship final. Borst, meanwhile, drummed out MacPhee 6-4, then broke open a 3-3 tie with a four-ender in the eighth and ousted Peterson 7-5 in the semi-final.

The final went to the 10th tied 5-5 but Borst couldn’t get her last rock hidden and Laliberte’s shooter narrowly hung around for the winner following a last-rock takeout.

No. 7 — 2000 at Prince George Kelley Law and her New Westminster team recorded one of the great rebounds in the history of the Scotties in this one. Law faced not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but six straight sudden-death matches in her quest and won all six. The B.C. team never was under a .500 batting average in the 12-team roundrobin shootout but, as late as the 15th round (two remaining) they were nursing a very vulnerable 5-and-4 record. The semi-final opponent turned out to be the three-time Canadian champion Connie Laliberte, who’d lost the Page One-Two match 6-4 which catapulted Ontario’s Anne Merklinger directly to the championship final. Laliberte

Sandra Schmirler

cracked a three in the eighth for a 6-4 lead in that one and appeared home and dry. But Law and Co., finagled the tying deuce in the ninth and stole the winner in the 10th when Laliberte gassed her last shot. Then Law stole a deuce in the fifth end of the final for first-time control, then added a crushing three in the seventh to break up a 4-4 stalemate. Merklinger yielded single thefts in the eighth and ninth ends and it ended 9-4, only the second loss of the entire tournament for Merklinger.

PLEASE SEE TOP 10 P9

9 Saturday, February 28, 2009

No. 6 —1982 at Regina An unprecedented five-team first-place tie at 7-3 developed from a highly competitive round-robin in the first Scott Tournament of Hearts but Colleen Jones of Halifax was the skip with blood in her eye, having been defrocked two years previous despite a superior record. The adopted playoff format called for Alberta and Saskatchewan to square off with a semi-final berth at stake and Arleen Day of Regina dropped former champion Cathy (Pidzarko) Shaw of Edmonton 7-5 in that battle. In semi-finals, Jones avenged a first-round loss to Day despite Saskatchewan’s storming in front 3-0. Nova Scotia turned it on and triumphed 11-4 while veteran Dorothy Rose of Winnipeg, a winner in this championship with Betty Duguid in 1967, trounced Barbara Parker of Comox, B.C., 10-5. Jones hit for four in the first end of the final but Rose got three right back, then stole a tying single. The decisive manouevre was a one-point steal by Jones in the eighth which set up the eventual 8-7 win.

No. 5 —2001 at Sudbury This edition of the Scott featured resurrections and collapses, surprises and disappointments, game-deciding measurements, even an event-ending controversy that carried over into the next day. And there was Colleen Jones of Halifax, winning three at the outset, then suddenly losing four in a row and appearing out of it. But the Bluenosers threw up the barricades and won an unbelievable six straight — every one of them but one in what amounted to a sudden-death situation.

At round-robin’s finish they were 7-4, tied with three other teams one game behind defending champion Kelley Law, and ranked second for playoff purposes. That meant a rematch with the champs in the Page One-Two playoff and Jones scored a go-ahead deuce in the seventh and stole a critical single in the eighth en route to a 7-4 victory and a slide into the championship final. Law and her outfit assumed a 5-2 lead after seven ends of that climactic debate. But Jones fashioned a tying three in the eighth, stole control in the ninth and forced Law to settle for a tying single in the 10th with a clutch shot through a narrow port. In the overtime exchange, Team Canada placed two counters in the rings, both in the eightfoot, one hidden. Jones needed not only her patented out-turn hit on the open rock — the path was out there in the frost — but a roll inward to reach shot-rock position. At the last second, the rock picked up some swing and moved inward an inch or so off the hit while both second Mary-Anne Waye and lead Nancy Delahunt, who called traffic for skip rocks in the rings, began sweeping. What followed was near-pandemonium. An official measure indicated the Nova Scotia rock was the winner (7-6). But there was the matter of two sweepers in the vicinity of the teeline or just behind it, a breach of the game’s rule that allows only one sweeper per team in that area. The fooferaw extended beyond 24 hours before the official result was upheld.

No. 4 —2005 at St. John’s, Nfld.

It probably was the Canadian women’s curling equivalent of Al Hackner’s Shot Of the Century at the 1986 Brier in Moncton. The stage was the Scotties final and Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, trailing by two points heading into the last

Colleen Jones. end, won in dramatic style by playing and executing a difficult angle double-takeout from a stone in the top corner of the 12-foot to a hidden Ontario shot rock on the button. Jones’s in-turn rock hit the outside stone at the perfect angle and caromed to the centre of the rings to pluck Jenn Hanna’s counter off the pin and score a four-ender to win 8-6. Jones trailed Hanna of Ottawa throughout the game, yielding a steal of two in the second end and then consecutive steals of one in the fifth and sixth ends. Hanna outshot Jones 80-70 overall. But, down 5-2 at that point, the Jones team battled back with a single in the seventh end and a steal in the eighth before forcing Ontario to take one in the ninth end, setting the stage for the 10th-end drama. The Ottawa team advanced to the final with a 9-7 win over Kelly Scott’s British Columbia entry from Kelowna which finished the round-robin with an 8-3 record, second only to Manitoba’s 9-2 log. Earlier, Hanna won two tiebreaker games plus the Page system’s Three-Four playoff against Stefanie Lawton of Saskatoon who logged a 7-4 round-robin record. Sandy Comeau of Moncton eliminated six-time champion Colleen Jones, representing Team Canada, in another surprising tiebreaker verdict.

No. 3 —1998 at Regina The final standing left no doubt of the only worthy victor in this renewal. Still, Edmonton’s Cathy (King) Borst survived some near-coronary finishes as she directed her Alberta standard-bearer to 12 wins in 13 games. The former two-time national junior champ posted no less than three heart-stopping victories at the expense of Anne Merklinger of Ottawa in what turned out to be the key matches of the entire piece. Alberta stole what proved to be the difference in the eighth end of a 5-4 opening-round conquest. Seven nights later, Alberta again stole the duke, this time 7-6 in an extra-end playoff struggle that catapulted the winner straight to the championship final. And it was AlbertaOntario again in that climactic battle during which Borst stole a

key point in the third end, went up 5-2 after five and then withstood a withering rally from Merklinger’s troops to win with the last rock of another extra end. Again, it ended 7-6. The tournament was supposed to be the triumphant homecoming from Olympic glory for defending champion Sandra Schmirler of Regina but it wasn’t quite the script Reginans would have preferred. Schmirler’s three-time champs battled Olympic-induced exhaustion and acute jet lag as well as some tough opponents, lost four of 11 in the prelims and could fare no better than a tertiary finish.

No. 2 —2008 at Regina Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones staged a miraculous comeback and won her second Scotties championship in four years at Regina’s Brandt Centre, stealing the title from Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink 6-4 in a thrilling final. The victory, achieved after Jones executed a cold bury with her last rock and Kleibrink narrowly missed a last-rock raise-takeout in which she needed to spill both Manitoba stones, was the eighth in a row for Manitoba and capped a comeback for a foursome that stumbled out of the round-robin gate with a 3-4 record. Jones led 5-4 in the 10th end and Kleibrink had the last shot that would have scored her Calgary team five points. But her attempt jammed, giving Jones a steal of one and a two-point victory. Kleibrink’s team romped through the round robin with a 10-1 record, losing only to Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche (8-4) at mid-week. Ontario’s Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater fashioned a 9-2 round-robin record while Larouche was 8-3 and Jones won four in a row to force a tiebreaker with Heather Strong of St. John’s at 7-4. In the Page Three-Four playoff, the Manitobans claimed early control and sidelined Larouche 6-5. And they advanced to the Scotties final by stealing a 9-8 extra-end semi-final win over Middaugh.

No. 1 — 1993 at Brandon.

Although often riding the edge, Sandra (Schmirler) Peterson of Regina always had the shot when it was needed and posted an immense success considering she faced two strong host teams from Manitoba among a galaxy of others with abundant experience. Peterson lost only to Quebec’s Agnes Charette of Buckingham at a time when Saskatchewan was a runaway leader and Quebec was running dead last, and to Alberta rookie Shannon Kleibrink of Airdrie. Behind Peterson at 9-2, the field was juggled like popcorn until Maureen Bonar of Brandon and Anne Merklinger of Ottawa emerged from the confusion in the last round. Bonar, 2-3 after five rounds, won her last six including clutch conquests of defender Connie Laliberte, Julie Sutton (Skinner) of Victoria and Colleen Jones of Halifax. Merklinger, who was 3-4 with four games to go, won them all including a last-round battle for survival with Kleibrink. Bonar prevailed over Merklinger in the semi, setting up an edge-of-the-seat final match that will be remembered with the best of them and probably the most thrilling in Scotties history. It went to an extra end and Peterson needed the hammer to win it by 7-6 score.

(Tomorrow: Scotties executive director Robin Wilson gives us a decidedly different Top 1, a view from the organizing suite).

Saturday, February 28, 2009 10

Tiebreaker From Page 5 It was the same story, only even tighter in the 11th after Jones again buried with a bite of the back of the button behind even closer cover — in the top 12-foot. The end result was one of those blink and “who won” finishes.

“We won by a quarter-inch,” admitted Jones.

“I thought she threw it pretty well, I knew she was going to be close. I knew she wasn’t tight for line. It was just a question of whether it was going to curl enough. Lucky enough for us it didn’t. But Robyn played great, they were outstanding today. One shot here or there, it could have gone either way.”

Added vice-skip Cathy Overton-Clapham: “She (Robyn) was really close to making hers in the 10th end and the extra. Robyn’s a great shooter and she’s made a lot of great shots this week and I thought she was close on the last one when she let it go. I thought she had it coming down, Jenn thought she was a little off line. My thought was that she was making it.

She almost curled enough at the end.

“Unfortunately we won the game on a miss but it was really close. In the 10th I could tell it was a little light coming down. The brooms made it a little straight. She didn’t have many

draws the last part of the game and it was lucky for us that we’d thrown a lot of draws.”

Robyn MacPhee delivers her stones with a lot of rotation on the handle which normally means less curl.

“She’s still got a lot of movement to her rocks, even with the rotation,” said OvertonClapham. “I was surprised. She probably had a couple feet less ice on the last one and it still came up. I‘d have thought it would run a lot straighter. For us, we would have crossed the guard with that ice.”

The Jones squad — Jill Officer is the second and Dawn Askin is lead — now faces three more assignments in their quest to repeat as Scotties champs. For openers, they face Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton in the Page Three-Four playoff this morning.

“We lost to P.E.I. in an extra end and to Saskatchewan on last rock so it’ll be a good game tomorrow,” said Overton-Clapham.

The Three-Four winner advances to semifinal late Saturday afternoon and that winners qualifies for Sunday’s 5 p.m. final showdown.

Lawton said Friday she didn’t mind the day off the playoff system afforded her Saskatchewan team.

“It’s great for us,” she said. “Oh yeah. It’s good. We had two days off at the provincial before the final and it definitely can’t hurt us, that’s for sure.”

Jones won eight straight en route to the title

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last year at Regina.

“I thought we played well against B.C. last night and we came out flat in a couple of ends here but we picked it up a little bit,” said Jones.

“It’s starting to feel pretty good. It’s so much fun to play in the big games, under the pressure, that’s what we practise for every day.”

Jones was told she’d been scored 55 per cent on her draw shots.

“That draw against two I had perfect weight and I actually thought it was a great shot. To me the stats have been terrible,” she said.

“We’ve been scoring our games and we’ve been completely different. I get a zero for that draw for two with perfect weight, and then the draw in eight I just missed but other than that I thought I was drawing well. We just rub on that guard in the eighth end with perfect weight, so it’s not the weight, just a couple of lines, not my draw weight.

“The ice hasn’t been consisted all week. It changes every day and it’s kind of a guessing game. ” Overton-Clapham said she was at no time deflated by trailing the tiebreaker throughout.

“We really thought we’d be able to steal the game,” she said. “One in the 10th end or maybe two. We’re playing well but we can still play better. Jennifer made a lot of saves for us today.

Obviously we have to pick it up a bit. But coming off one like that motivates us just that much more.”

Islanders From Page 5 “Anyway, we had a good week. I’m very happy it. I’d still like to be playing but I can’t complain with making the tiebreakers. It’s a game of inches and you need a little bit of luck, too.”

“Rebecca and I will definitely stick together.”

Disappointment? Well, yeah.

“Of course we’re disappointed because we wanted to make it into the Three-Four game but, finishing that way in the round-robin in that jumble at 7-and-4 we have to be pleased even thought it wasn’t exactly what we wanted,” said Rebecca Jean, 34.

“But I think Robyn has to be pleased in her first year throwing skip rocks to make it to the tiebreakers.”

The P.E.I. thrower tends to place a lot of rotation on the handles of her rocks.

“She plays with that rotation all the time and we know how to manage it,” said Rebecca Jean. “I don’t think it was the difference.

We tighten up our ice and I never thought it was just going to spin but it did — just enough after the tap. She threw them both just the way we wanted and we just didn’t get the results.“ The P.E.I. team also included second Shelley Muzika and lead Tammi Lowther.

11 Saturday, February 28, 2009

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12 Saturday, February 28, 2009

Host committee

EDITOR Larry Wood ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dave Komosky PHOTOGRAPHER Andrew Klaver PUBLISHED BY The Victoria Times Colonist

Chairman Chris Atchison

By DAVE KOMOSKY Heart Chart Associate Editor

I

t’s been a bittersweet week for Chris Atchison, chairman of the organizing committee for the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

On one hand, his buttons have been popping over the performance of his committee and the bang-up job of his 500-member army of volunteers. The venue, Save-OnFoods, has been spectacular, as he knew it would.

And Victoria? Well, what can be better than the city and weather in Canada’s paradise?

In fact, the table was beautifully set for the Canadian women’s curling championship to succeed spectacularly.

So why so glum, chum?

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t expect a greater turnout opening weekend and early in the week for an event of this magnitude,” says the 41-year-old Atchison, who shelved his own competitive curling season to handle the chairman duties. “We have wonderful curling fans and supporters here. But we expected to see more of the average fan.”

Atchison says he can’t put on his finger why more fans didn’t turn up. They just didn’t.

“You end up second-guessing yourself,” he says. “Like, is there more we could have done? But I think we’ve done a done a fantastic job in almost every avenue. Perhaps the coverage on TSN is so good that it’s allowing people to make the choice to stay home and enjoy the event from the comfort of their homes “I don’t know, but it’s a bit disappointing,” he says. “It has raised some questions for me about the consumer these days. Maybe in these trying economics times, perhaps nine days away from home to see an event is too much to ask somebody.”

The attendance goal was set at 100,000 spectators.

“It’s clear now we’re not going to do that,” Atchison says. “But I’d rather set a high goal and fall a bit short.

We didn’t want to set any lowing-hanging fruit. That’s not our style.”

It’s expected the final attendance numbers will creep up to about 70,000 for the week, enough to ensure the final financial numbers will be OK. “I think the event financially will end up doing all right,” he says. “As a host committee we’ve taken pride in keeping our costs down. It’s been a very streamlined effort. We didn’t waste a lot. But we didn’t go without.”

But making money is a bonus anyway, and Atchison says that will happen when all the receipts are in.

Well-oiled operation could have used a few more fans in seats Victoria Curling Legacy Foundation will be the recipients of proceeds that come from this event to fund any new venue in the area.

Attendance aside, just about every other aspect of the event was spot-on.

“I’m so proud of our volunteers and the way the athletes have been treated and the way the fans who have been coming and enjoying the show,” Atchison says.

“There are so many details that go into an event like this.

We’ve heard a lot of positive comments. We’re really bouyed by the atmosphere we’ve created.

“Everything we could control — from people having

their shifts scheduled, to accreditation, to proper access, to guest service, crowd control, and things down at the Empress (Hotel) — I’m happy with.

Atchison, who went to the 2007 Brier as a member of Dean Joanisse’s Victoria squad, says he’ll be back at his desk on Monday, working as the chief operating officer for Aspect, a non-profit organization. And it will be nice to get back to a regular routine at home with wife Tracy, and his children Hunter, 12, and Quinn, 8.

Would he handle the job again?

“For sure. Anything to do with bettering the sport, I would consider again.”

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Saturday, February 28, 2009 14

LOUNGE

A daily draw ticket is required for admission to the HeartStop Lounge, conveniently located in the Victoria Curling Club.

SATURDAY, FEB. 28 3:00 p.m.

Team Autograph Session

8:00 p.m.

The Chevelles

SUNDAY, MARCH 1 2:00 p.m.

The Chevelles

8:15 p.m.

The Chevelles

Schedule subject to change.

What’s on the menu HeartStop Lounge Victoria Curling Club Two Menus to Choose From 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.

Breakfast Burger (served daily 7:30am-10:30am)

We’ve got all the angles covered.

Daily sports, commentary and the latest results.

Pulled Pork on a Bun Char Broiled Burger Chili & Bun Clam Chowder & Bun Assort. Cold Sandwiches (egg salad, salmon, ham) Daily Soup Fries Caesar Salad Veggies & Dip Pizza by the Slice

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Choice of West Coast Seafood Chowder or Soup of the Day Entrees: Chicken or Beef Pot Pies Moroccan Chicken Peppers, Onions & Sweet Spices Balsamic Chicken with choice of sides Indian Curry (Chicken or Beef) yogurt East Indian spices Beef Dip with au jus Wraps Choice of sides and salads: Rice Noodles Roasted potatoes Caesar Salad Baby Mixed Greens California Pasta olives, sundried tomatoes, artichokes Apple & Fennel Slaw Green and red cabbage, carrot Chicken & Rice Indian Curry, rice, Caesar salad Balsamic Chicken roast potatoes, apple & fennel slaw Beef Dip ciabatta bun, Caesar salad (For any above meals substitute soup for salad for an extra $2.00) Food For Thought Combo Build your own combination 1 entrée and 2 sides

15 Saturday, February 28, 2009

STANDINGS W B.C. (Mallett) 9 Saskatchewan (Lawton) 7 Quebec (Larouche) 7 Team Canada (Jones) 8 PEI (MacPhee) 7 ——— Ontario (McCarville) 6 Alberta (Bernard) 6 N.B. (Kelly) 5 Nfld/Lab (Strong) 5 Y/NWT (Galusha) 4 Manitoba (Spencer) 2 N.S. (McConnery) 2

L 3 4 5 4 5

DRAW SCHEDULE

5 5 6 6 7 9 9

TODAY PAGE PLAYOFFS 3-4 Game Saskatchewan (Lawton) vs.

Team Canada (Jones) 11:30 a.m.

LINESCORES FRIDAY TIEBREAKER 1 p.m.

P.E.I (MacPhee) 012 010 100 0 Team Canada (Jones) 000 201 011 1 P.E.I. S Lowther 22 Muzika 22 Reb. MacPhee 22 Rob. MacPhee 22 TEAM 88

P 56 65 73 64 258

% 64 74 83 73 73

Canada Askin Officer O-Clapham Jones TEAM

— — S 22 22 22 21 87

P 76 68 68 63 274

5 6 % 86 77 77 75 79

ONE-TWO GAME 6:30 a.m.

Quebec (Larouche) B.C. (Marlett) Quebec Sabourin Lemay Belanger Larouche

S 20 20 20 20

Team Canadaʼs Jennifer Jones gives it a little body English.

001 010 101 1 010 103 020 0 P 58 52 53 53

% 73 65 66 66

B.C. Brown Gushulak MacInnes Marlett

Semi-Final Quebec (Larouche) vs.

Winner Team Canada/Saskatchewan 4 p.m.

— — S 19 20 20 19

P 62 69 70 56

5 7 % 82 86 88 74

SHOOTING PERCENTAGES (CUMULATIVE) Skip Third Second Lead TEAM

Can.

B.C.

Alta.

Sask.

Man.

Ont.

Que.

N.B.

PEI

N.S.

78 86 83 84 83

79 82 81 82 81

77 82 83 84 81

78 80 84 90 83

67 77 80 86 77

75 79 79 84 79

78 78 77 87 80

77 75 76 82 78

76 79 72 82 77

72 77 72 76 74

NL Y/NWT 79 84 78 84 81

73 75 75 77 75

SUNDAY Final B.C. (Mallett) vs.

Winner of semi-final 5 p.m.

&RP &RPPLWWHG WR WKH VLJQLÀFDQFH RI FRPPXQLW\ PPLWWHG WR WKH H VLJQLÀFDQFH R RI FRPPXQLW\\ Monsanto is proud to be the official team sponsor of Team Jennifer Jones, the 2008 Canadian and World Women’s Curling Champions. We are also pleased to lend our support as a Diamond sponsor to the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

As a company committed to creating a better future for our customers, employees and consumers, we are proud to support the passion, camaraderie and competitive spirit that an event like the Scotties Tournament of Hearts inspires in communities across the country. Whether as Team Canada or as provincial representatives, all participants have shown great commitment and dedication. We have enjoyed the entertainment every step of the way and wish all competitors the best of luck.

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Monsanto and the vine symbol are trademarks of Monsanto Technology, LLC © 2008 Monsanto Company.