May 2012 Curling News

Curling News UNITED STATES

May 2012

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Volume 67 Number 5

Index Bonspiel Results.....17-23 College Curling.......... 4-5 Comics........................... 2 Curler’s Calendar......... 23 Letters..........................10 Growth & Development..3 Rocket Exhaust..............9 Tales From Sheet 9........ 8 Training Tips..................9 Tucked in the Back...... 23 USWCA News........... 6-8 Youth Corner..................5

Inside Junior Camps.............. P5 All Americans............. P7 Sweeping Tips............ P9 Mixed Magic............. P10 Competitions........P10-15 Host sites sought....... P16 Championships......... P16 Colorado Cares......... P17

Established 1945

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www.usacurl.org

by Jim Pleasants, USCA President At the combined United States Curling Association Board and Annual Members Meeting in April, no vote was taken on the proposed bylaws changes that were passed by the Board of Directors in September. It was clear from votes previously taken

by the state and regional organizations that the bylaws changes in their current form would not be passed by the members. We held a governance committee meeting where many of the concerns of the members were aired and we gained a better idea of the areas of consensus as well as the sticking points for some of the members.

There seems to be broad consensus that the Board should be a policy-making organization, and that the USCA staff should be empowered to make day-today operational decisions.

We should be able to go forward and define these roles more clearly in our new bylaws. There was also agreement that, in order to conform to federal law, we

Swept off their sliders

Willmar (Minn.) Curling Club members Susie Dunlap and Randy Czarnetzki had a curling-themed wedding complete with a walk down the icy aisle through a processional of curlers holding brooms with streamers attached to form an archway in March at the Willmar Civic Center. Their wedding rings were attached to curling stones (left). Congratulations!

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need to amend the bylaws to give athletes 20 percent representation at any meeting of a governing entity, which includes the Annual Members’ meeting, and we will define the procedure to make that happen. Most seem to accept the idea that the Members should not be a second policy-making

See VOTE, Page 2

Help curling grow

by Peggy Hatch, Revenue Development Committee

I

t’s hard to believe that another curling season is coming to a close – and for those curling in arenas, just beginning! I hope it’s been a great one for you and that you made some memorable shots .. won your fair share of games ... and basically had a blast!

I want to give you an important update before you swap your fleece jacket for a golf shirt. Last fall, the U.S. Olympic Committee proposed a matching challenge grant.

See APPEAL, Page 2

Summer online edition to debut Too much time passes in between the May issue and the fall edition so this summer we are creating a Summer onlineonly edition of the U.S. Curling News to be published in mid-July. An email distribution list will be created using the USCA membership database, which draws information from rosters submitted from member clubs when submitting dues each season.

If you are not sure if your e-mail address was included on your roster, send an e-mail to Curling News Editor Terry Kolesar at terry.kolesar@usacurl.org so your address can be verified.

Don’t miss an issue!

Submitted photos

I C E

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No vote taken on proposed bylaws

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Curling News UNITED STATES

VOLUmE 67, No. 5

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Next editorial deadline: July 6, 2012 (special online-only edition) The United States Curling News (ISSN 1064-3001; USPS 392-020) is published five times per year in October, November, February, March and May by the United States Curling Association. The USCA and Curling News office is located at 5525 Clem’s Way, Stevens Point, WI 54482. Telephone 715-344-1199. Subscription price for non-USCA members: $16 per year (North America), $26 per year (overseas), payable in US currency. Single copy price: $2.50. Advertising rates on request. Established 1945. Periodicals postage paid at Waupaca, Wisconsin, and additional offices as requested. Postmaster sends address changes to U.S. Curling News, 5525 Clem’s Way, Stevens Point, WI 54482.

United States Curling Association Officers President Chris Sjue Vice Presidents Kent Beadle Dave Carlson Jerome Larson James Pleasants Treasurer Sean Silver Secretary Bob Pelletier Directors Paul Badgero [2012] Kent Beadle [2012] Craig Brown (AAC) [2012] Dave Carlson [2013] Maureen Clark (AAC) [2012] Gabrielle Coleman [2014] Lynita Delaney [2012] Janet Farr (USWCA) [2012] Dean Gemmell (AAC) [2012] Nancy Haggenmiller [2013] Peggy Hatch** [2014] Jonathan Havercroft [2013] Cyndee Johnson [2014] Gwen Krailo [2013] Jerome Larson [2012] Jan Legacie [2014]

Rich Lepping* [2012] Gordon Maclean [2013] Richard Maskel (AAC) [2012] Bob Pelletier [2012] James Pleasants [2013] Allison Pottinger (AAC) [2012] Leland Rich [2014] Sean Silver [2012] Chris Sjue [2013] Mark Swandby [2014] Ann Swisshelm (AAC) [2012] Beau Welling* [2012] Sam Williams [2014] * Board-elected ** Voice, no vote

USA Curling National Office 5525 Clem’s Way Stevens Point, WI 54482 Office: 715-344-1199 • Fax: 715-344-2279 E-mail: info@usacurl.org • Website: www.usacurl.org CHIEF OPERATINg OFFICER: Rick Patzke, rick.patzke@usacurl.org DIRECTOR OF COmmUNICATIONS: Terry Kolesar, terry.kolesar@usacurl.org CONTROLLER: Sandy Robinson, sandy.robinson@usacurl.org EVENT SERVICES mANAgER: Dawn Leurquin, dawn.leurquin@usacurl.org ADmINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Christy Hering, christy.hering@usacurl.org gROWTH & DEVELOPmENT mANAgER: Kim Nawyn, kim.nawyn@usacurl.org Off-site staff: Director of Sport Education Scott Higgins 913-449-2933 • scott.higgins@usacurl.org Director of High Performance Derek Brown derek.brown@usacurl.org US: +1 715-254-5024 • UK: +44 7793 099668 National Wheelchair Development Coach Steve Brown, steve.brown@usacurl.org National Wheelchair Curling Outreach Development Director Marc DePerno, marc.deperno@usacurl.org Head Ice Technician Dave Staveteig 701-772-0705 • daveandbrenda@gfwireless.com

AmERICAN CURLINg FOUNDATION & mUSEUm The Museum is located at the Chicago Curling Club, 555 Dundee Road, Northbrook, IL 60062 CURATOR: James M. Miller Jr. 2011 Glendale Ave. Northbrook, IL 60062 847-272-7224 UNITED STATES WOmEN’S CURLINg ASSOCIATION OFFICERS PRESIDENT Maureen Guay FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Bridget Matzke SECOND VICE PRESIDENT Shelley Dropkin SECRETARY Mary Ann Hulme TREASURER Carolyn MacLeod USCA LIAISON Janet Farr PUBLIC RELATIONS Nancy Wilhelm PROMOTIONS Jennifer Stannard

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

USA Curling partners with RJM Licensing

may 2012

Official publication of the United States Curling Association Editor — Terry Kolesar, terry.kolesar@usacurl.org Associate Editor—Rick Patzke Emeritus Editor—David Garber Design: Terry Kolesar

mAY 2012

JM Licensing, Inc., has been appointed as worldwide licensing agent for USA Curling, which is the national governing body for the sport in the United States. Starting immediately, RJM will begin filling key licensed categories such as technical gear, apparel and accessories, toys, games, and apps in order to have merchandise available right before, during, and after the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. RJM also is planning to team up with a leading Russian licensing agency to ensure that USA Curling merchandise needs are looked after in Sochi.

“As interest in curling grows nationally and worldwide, the demand and opportunities for licensed USA Curling items has grown as well,” said Rick Patzke, chief operating officer for USA Curling. “RJM Licensing approached us with a solid yet unique approach to the world of licensing which we foresee paying dividends for all involved, while also meeting the desires of curling fans.”

The timing for a USA Curling licensing program could not be better as curling is one of the fastest growing sports in the

R

U.S. In the wake of the 2010 Olympics, 15 new curling clubs were opened, and USA Curling membership has grown by more than 52 percent since the 2002 Olympics.

To date, there are more than 16,500 member curlers in the U.S., and the draw of camaraderie and the pursuit of precision continues to draw both participants and spectators to ice rinks around the country.

“We’ve had our eyes on curling for a while since it has an everyman quality to it and there is something mesmerizing about watching it in person or on TV,” said Rob Mejia, president of RJM Licensing. “In fact, the New York Times ran a great article about how, during the Olympics, many Wall Streeters watched or listened to curling while also checking the financial returns. And The ‘The Simpsons’ featured a curling episode which was hilarious! And in that vein, we look forward to developing a fun-loving but excellent licensing program for USA Curling.”

For more information about the USA Curling licensing program, contact Rob Mejia, RJM Licensing, Inc., 84 Oweno Road, Mahwah, NJ 07430, 201-828-9050, www.rjmlicensing.com.

APPEAL: Continued from Page 1 For every dollar USA Curling raises during 2012, the USOC will match up to $50,000. This is huge for curling in the United States.

Normally, the majority of USOC money can only be spent on pre-approved elite athlete programs. But with this challenge grant, funds can be spent on juniors and instructional programs, helping new clubs get up and running, new broadcast opportunities and other important initiatives to help curling “Sweep the Country.”

As of press time, the Annual Appeal has raised $20,270 plus $12,180 in other donations for the season so far bringing the total amount raised to $32,450. Please take

a moment – right now while you’re thinking about it – and make your taxdeductible gift of $25, which will be $50 for USA Curling at: http://www.mcgdonations.com/e/usacurl. Or send your check to: USCA, 5525 Clem’s Way, Stevens Point, WI 54482 We’re about halfway toward our goal – so please help today. Remember, you can double your donation! For every dollar you donate now, USA Curling will receive an additional dollar from the U.S. Olympic Committee.

For a donation of $25 or more you may elect to receive the official 2012 Team USA pin as a thank-you gift. It’s a great collector’s item. Thanks so much.

VOTE: Continued from Page 1

work toward a consensus, we will re-convene the Governance Task Force, with some new members who will help us deal with the concerns of the members who were prepared to vote against the current proposal. My goal would be to work hard with the Task Force this summer to bridge the remaining differences, and have a consensus proposal ready in time for the September meeting that can be discussed and voted on by the Board. This would be followed by consideration by the Members at a later special meeting. The sooner we can resolve our important governance issues, the sooner we can get on with our goal of nurturing and growing the sport we all love.

group with the same authority as the Board of Directors, but that the states and regions should continue to be the members of our organization and to play a role in our governance.

There is no consensus yet on the makeup and selection of the Board of Directors (how many directors, should they continue to be regional representatives, and how many should be board-elected). Also needing further discussion is the role of the members in nominating and selecting directors, making amendments to bylaws, and providing input on grassroots needs.

To address the remaining issues and

The Funny Side

Curling News

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

mAY 2012

UNITED STATES

gROWTH & DEVELOPmENT

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Your contact: Kim Nawyn, kim.nawyn@usacurl.org

Road to the USCA paved with granite

S

ix years ago I walked into the Ardsley Curling Club, located in the suburbs of New York City, not knowing what to expect. After relocating for my career as a litigation consultant, I was looking for a way to meet new people. While searching for local groups/activities on the Internet during the 2006 Winter Olympics, I noticed a listing for a post-Olympic curling open house. Having never played a team sport outside of physical education class, I went more out of curiosity than anything else.

Before leaving the club that evening, I signed up for five weeks of Learn to Curl classes. The sport and the club quickly became important parts of my life.

In addition to league games and self-imposed practice sessions, I got involved in bonspiels and, a few years later, playdowns. As a

Level I instructor clinic planned in NC The Triangle Curling Club in Wake Forest, N.C., is hosting a Level 1 instructor clinic, taught by USCA Certified Coach and Level II Instructor Keith Scott, on May 19, at the Polar Ice House. Level 1 Instructors are trained to work with new curlers, helping them learn the game and basic skills. Members of all clubs are encouraged to enroll.

To find out more and to register, please go online to www.usacurl.org/goodcurling.

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Reports from the Warm Room

By Kim Nawyn, Growth & Development Manager member of the Ardsley Board of Directors from 2009 until I moved to Wisconsin, and the Women’s Sports Committee from 2008-10, I focused heavily on our club’s efforts to recruit and retain curlers.

I also met a lot of wonderful people with whom I hope to remain lifelong friends.

Last summer, when the USCA posted a position announcement for a growth and development manager, I was immediately intrigued. There is great potential for the growth of the sport on various levels.

As a curler, I was also acutely aware of the dissatisfaction many of the organization’s members feel with programs and resources currently available to clubs. However, when offered the position, I didn’t hesitate to put my home on the market and move halfway across country.

During a hectic curling season filled with administering member service programs, working with emerging clubs, participating in various marketing efforts, and fielding questions and requests from members, I developed and distributed an extensive survey to all presidents of dedicated ice and arena clubs. The purpose of the

survey is to assist the USCA with gaining a more thorough understanding of the current needs of clubs nationwide. Results will be used to help guide the direction of Growth and Development efforts in the coming years.

As of the publication deadline for the May edition of the Curling News, surveys representing approximately one-third of all clubs had been returned.

With the recently extended survey submission date of June 8, all presidents/boards of directors are encouraged to represent their clubs’ unique experiences by completing the survey. A summary of responses will be sent to all clubs and will be posted on the USA Curling website around the start of the traditional 2012-13 curling season.

The organization is also starting to address several goals focused on improving

upon the resources we currently provide to clubs.

These initiatives, which will be discussed more fully in the Fall edition of the Curling News, will be collaborative efforts between USA Curling staff; members of the USCA Board of Directors, including new Vice President of Member Services, Gwen Krailo; and volunteers.

While organizational change will be not quick or easy, the USCA has made a renewed commitment to its member clubs. I am very excited to be a part of this process and look forward to working with the organization’s membership in the coming years to help grow the sport.

Editor’s note: Nawyn now feels more comfortable living in Stevens Point, Wis., since the opening of the area’s first Dunkin’ Donuts took place this spring.

Eight-Enders Rochester The Livingston Rink of Philip Livingston (skip), Chris Lee (vice), Tricia Wright (second), and Roberta Livingston (lead), scored an eight-ender during the Thursday evening Open League at the Rochester Curling Club on Nov. 17. The skip secured the eight-ender by picking off the opponent’s last rock, which was about 4 inches short of a freeze to their stone in the four-foot.

Curl mesabi The New Year started off right for the Dreshar Rink of Curl Mesabi in Eveleth, Minn. During the Senior League on Wednesday, Jan. 4, Tony Dreshar (skip), Tom Krause (third), Phil Troutwine (second) and Barry Johnson (lead) scored an eight-ender. On his last shot with hammer, Dreshar drew to the four-foot, placing the eighth rock in the house. mankato The Strassburg Rink scored an eight-ender on Jan. 8, during Sunday Night Open League at the Mankato Curling Club in Mankato, Minn. The team consisted of Zach Strassburg (skip), Lisa Strassburg (vice), Matt Strassburg (second), and Ann Burnett (lead). Zach, Lisa and Matt’s son, secured the eight-ender by taking out the opposing team’s stone on the eightfoot with his last rock.

However, it wasn’t until a measure that the team was

able to verify all of their rocks out-counted the opposing team’s stone remaining on the 12-foot.

Scoring this eight-ender brought back memories for most of this team. Almost a year earlier, on Feb. 6, 2011, the team scored their first eight-ender. Since Zach Strassburg was out sick, Matt Strassburg skipped while throwing lead rocks. Lisa Strassburg (vice throwing last rocks), Keith Burnett (second throwing third), and Ann Burnett (lead throwing second) rounded out the team.

A take-out with Lisa Strassburg’s last rock cleared the house of the opponent’s stones.

Seven days after the Strassburg rink scored their second eight-ender at the Mankato Curling Club, the Braun rink scored their first. During their regularly scheduled Wednesday night league, the team of Cameron Braun (skip), Dylan Deegan (vice), Shawn Slane (second), and Robyn Farm (lead) scored an eight-ender in what had been a pretty close game. It was definitely an exciting week for Mankato curlers!

Lightning continued to strike at the Mankato Curling Club during the month of March. The Braun rink of Cameron Braun (skip), Jessica Landsteiner (vice), Dylan Deegan (second), and Aly Deegan (lead), stole an eight-ender during the Mixed Bunny Spiel on March 31. If these

names look familiar, cousins Cameron and Dylan were members of the Strassburg rink who scored an eight-ender only 44 days earlier.

Duluth The Turner rink scored an eight-ender at the Duluth Curling Club on Feb. 14.

This Valentine’s Day surprise occurred in the Tuesday Men’s League.

Team members included Hudson Turner (skip), Jeff Gunderson (vice), Mike Gorichs (second) and George Host (lead). mayfield Team Moore scored an eight-ender on March 24, during the Mayfield Curling Club’s 40th Annual Memorial Bonspiel. The rink consisting of Michael Moore (skip), Cheryl Drake (vice), Rick Drake (second), and Lee-Ann Spacek (lead) were dressed as the Waltons in celebration of the theme “Remembering 1972.” This was the second eight-ender for teammate Rick Drake. His first eightender was scored almost exactly two years prior.

Chisholm While the American Curling Foundation and Museum does not currently award patches for sixenders in Sturling Curling, the Chisholm Curling Club is proud to announce that Tom Bobich and Bill Loushine scored the firstever six-ender in the club’s annual Sturling Bonspiel on Jan. 27, 2012. Sturling Curling consists of teams of

two curlers. One curler delivers all six stones used in the end while the other skips. The roles are reversed each end. There is no sweeping until a rock crosses the hogline closest to the active house.

Takeouts are not allowed until the fourth rock is delivered. Sturling Curling was developed as a means to provide curlers who use a stick to deliver or are unable to sweep a competitive format against curlers who use slide deliveries.

For more information on Sturling Curling, please visit the Sturling Curling website at http://www.sturling.net/.

– Kim Nawyn

Certifications Level I Instructor Nicole Arsenault Adam Endicott Mark R. Fisher Zachary Grantham Ken Herstowski Martha Naber Mary Reilly Level I Official Robert Benson Rhonda Brandt Mary P. Colacchio Geoff Goodland Stephen Martin Gary Mazzotta Level II Official Rhonda Brandt Kevin Ritter Level III Official Melissa K. Fox

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Curling News UNITED STATES

mAY 2012

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

College Curling

66 teams participate in college regionals

by Rich Larko, College Curling Coordinator

W

ith a grant from the Chicago Community Trust Foundation, the Illinois Curling Foundation (ISCF) chose to fill a large gap in organized curling for young adults. We chose college students as our logical target market. We declared a mission statement as follows: “To promote and develop the sport of curling among college and university students nationwide, and provide inexpensive competitive events for their participation on a regional and national basis.”

Through more than 25 years we have stuck with our mission with no deviation. Our business plan includes recruiting new, as well as experienced, young curlers and having them play side-by-side in order to help teach the mechanics and courtesies of the game to rookies. In that ambition, we have succeeded enormously.

In 1992, we launched the first National College Curling Championships Tournament in Eau Claire, Wis., with five teams from four schools participating.

School administrators took notice of serious students experiencing real competition, socializing, and enjoying themselves. The following year, needing a larger facility, we moved the tournament to Wauwatosa, Wis., where 14 teams participated. The road to growth and success had begun. Through the years, we moved the yearly National tournament to Madison, Wis.; St. Paul, Minn.; and then to two curling clubs in the Chicago area.

Participation in the college championship event grew and grew as we moved to various cities until time and limited facilities held growth to 32 teams. We carefully seeded events into divisions with various levels of experience competing against each other, with all teams playing at their own skill level.

We awarded gold, silver, bronze and copper award pins in the various divisions so that at least half the teams went back to school with awards for their performance. Most important, more young men and women were learning about curling and both sexes often played together. This leveled the field of competi-

Celebrating 25 years of College Curling tion, and college curling began to advertise itself.

We learned that students want to compete, so the program continued to grow and grow (more awards and more winners proved a great idea).

We never interfere with class time; students have fun competing and socializing; and rookies learn a new and serious sport where they can compete.

We have always provided good food (no alcohol). We have chosen not to become elitist. We avoid yearlong playdown-type competitions. We want to teach and have students experience good competition and understand the ancient sport.

We do not pretend to appeal to the elite curlers who want to win a world championship. That’s another subject. We believe in “walk before you learn to run.” In 1995-96, we introduced the idea of a regional competition to provide some local flavor to college curling – always with the same format as the national events.

Need for new ideas and provide room for more growth Having reached the limit of ice facilities at one or two clubs and the nearing of the limit of our financial resources, the 2011-12 season became a time to reconsider many factors. We did not want to change the formula that has been so successful from the beginning.

Also, we saw that teams were finding it more and more difficult to afford travel costs.

One of our objectives has always been to hold costs down while providing good food, etc. We chose to modify our business model and change from one national tournament in Chicago to a series of regional championship events in ideally located cities around the U.S. We chose to locate our college curling championship events as close as possible to clubs with ice facilities, schools and curlers – including rookies.

In the first season of the regional format we chose Bowling Green, Ohio; Kettle Moraine Curling Club in southern Wisconsin (Hartland) and Broomstones Curling Club in suburban Boston. All necessary factors are strong in these locations – clubs, schools, curlers and poten-

tial curlers. We held our breath and announced the new format in the Curling News and on our website, www.collegecurling.org.

We selected experienced curlers we know as hardworking go-getters who we felt would be willing to take over at their own clubs and have the clout to make it happen. We provided all the help necessary – award pins, draw sheets, expertise, moral support, and encouragement, plus a lot of answers to a lot of questions over several months.

We went forward with a lot of concern about response to the new plan such as losing the single national championship in Chicago; fear of new places and new logistics; changes in format at new clubs; change in losing the “all teams playing at their own level” plan; intimidation for new rookies and teams; and general fear of the unknown.

We need not to have worried at all. We chose all three hosts and all three clubs perfectly. Mike Schuder at Kettle, Nick Dirksen at BGSU and Monica Walker at Broomstones are all pros – good promoters, good administrators, and the know-how to handle young adults.

The regional events were subscribed to the limit of their facilities; we could have handled more at each club. We used our proven format. Eight-team divisions seeded by team experience so that teams played a three-game round robin against teams with similar experience. Each division divided into two pools.

After round robin play, winners of each pool in the divisions played for gold and silver. Runners-up in each pool played for bronze and copper. The format works. Why change it?

Each division plays for its own awards. In a week or two we will show results from the 2012 events on our website at www.collegecurling.org.

Most important is the diversity of schools and locations participating at the separate events this year. Participating schools are shown below: Ohio Law Hamilton (three teams) University of WisconsinLa Crosse University of WisconsinMadison Lake Superior College

(two teams) Team of several Wisconsin schools combined Marquette University (two teams) Northwestern University (three teams) University of WisconsinBarron County Carroll University (four teams) University of Tennessee (two teams) University of Nebraska (two teams) Washington University, St. Louis Finlandia University University of WisconsinMarathon County University of WisconsinOshkosh Combined New England colleges University of Pennsylvania University of Minnesota Unity College Bowdoin MIT Boston University Merrimack College Colgate (three teams) Connecticut College University of Massachusetts-Amherst Rhode Island Nova See schools University of MinnesotaDuluth (three teams) University of Utah Villanova Century College Moody Bible Institute Purdue University University of WisconsinWhitewater NW Tech College/Whitewater Medical College of Wisconsin Michigan Tech Harvard Ohio State University Northeast Colleges Boston College (two teams) One can clearly see the diverse group of schools and geographic areas that combine to make up this year’s massive group of participants. It should be noted that a number of teams participated at more than one regional event.

Many teams had extra

curlers. The ratio of men to women was approximately 65 to 35 percent.

Consistent with the pattern over the years, approximately one-third of the participants were first- or second-year curlers (rookies). Note that we only have student curlers for three years so we must recruit a new group each year.

All in all we have an ideal mix of females, and a consistent high number of new and experienced curlers participating.

Success? The College Curling Program has perfected the formula of offering a superb program to curlers currently in school.

With a modest amount of additional funding, next year we can add at least two additional regional events and offer a truly national program. We hope to add events in the mountains of Colorado (Denver) and on the West Coast, perhaps in Oregon, Washington or California.

By any measure the current college program is a continuing success story, reaching goals and objectives and actually exceeding ambition. From five teams in 1992 all the way to 66 teams from throughout the curling country at events run at three clubs.

With current modifications in format, travel costs for students, and cost of food, etc., costs are actually down. The ISCF is operating this program for less dollars than 10 years ago.

ACF&M donations accepted Donations to the American Curling Foundation and Museum, located in the Chicago Curling Club, can be sent to 555 Dundee Road, Northbrook, IL 60062.

The curator is James Miller Jr., 847-272-7224.

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

Curling News

mAY 2012

UNITED STATES

College Curling

5

Duluth to host U.S. National College Championships

by Gordon Maclean, College Curling Committee Chairman The U.S. National College Curling Championships are set for play March 8-10, 2013, at the Duluth (Minn.) Curling Club.

The College Nationals will take on a new format, designed to find the best college curling school in the U.S. Sixteen schools will be invited to participate in this event. The event will feature a split round robin format, with the 16 schools seeded into four groups of four. The winner of each group will advance to the medal round, and play down to a single national title.

Schools can earn a berth to the College Nationals by winning an event that features an automatic berth, or by accumulating enough merit points to earn a berth.

Automatic berths will be given to schools winning events of special significance. The winners of the following will receive an automatic invitation to the Nationals: 1) any collegeonly bonspiel consisting of at least 12 teams from at least eight different colleges, 2) The Division I

winner of each Illinois Curling Foundation Regional event, and 3) The winning school of any “conference” consisting of at least eight different colleges and playing a full round robin schedule.

Merit berths can be earned by accumulating points through hosting, participating, and winning college-only events. These events can be head-to-head against one other school, triangular, quad, and larger events. The point system is loosely based on the Canadian Team Ranking System; the larger the event that schools play in, the more points that can potentially be earned.

For example, a the winner of four-team round robin event will earn six points, the runner up three points, third place two points and fourth place one point. An eight-team bonspiel format tournament first event winner will receive eight points, first event runner up four points, other first event participants two points, second event winner three points, second event runner up two points, other second event participants one point.

Host schools will also

earn merit points equal to one half of the total number of teams participating.

A full table of merit points and events qualifying for automatic berths is posted at our website, www.intercollegiate-curling-usa.org.

In response to feedback, there will be regional consideration in the berth selection. Initially, there will be five regions: Region 1– Pennsylvania northeast to Maine; Region 2 – Lower Michigan/Ohio/ Indiana; Region 3 – Upper Mich-igan/Wisconsin/ Illinois; Region 4 – Minnesota/ North Dakota; and Region 5 – the remainder of the U.S. (including Tennessee, Oklahoma, Missouri, Colorado, Utah and Alaska). At least one school from each region will receive an invitation to the national event, either through an automatic or merit berth.

Region 5 is currently considered an “emerging region” for purposes of the U.S. College Curling Nationals. Curling schools located in Region 5 will be given special consideration in earning merit points, due to the relative lack of potential competition in

Southern Collegiate Bonspiel is College Nationals qualifier The University of Tennessee-Knoxville will be hosting the Southern Collegiate Bonspiel the weekend of Aug. 3-5 in Knoxville, Tenn.

They have openings for up to 32 teams. The cost is $150/rink. For further information, contact Kevin Spellman, 502523-5844 or kspell@utk.edu.

This event is potentially the first qualifier for the new U.S. National

these areas. Special consideration includes earning merit points for competing in community curling club leagues and non-college specific bonspiels.

In all cases, it will be the SCHOOL that earns automatic and merit invitations to compete at the National.

Schools will be permitted to accumulate merit points for more than one team per event in which they partici-

College Curling Championship. If at least 12 teams participate from at least eight different schools, the First Event winning school will receive an automatic berth to the 2013 College Nationals that will take place in Duluth, Minn., March 8-10, 2013. Lower event winners and all non-winning participants will receive points toward earning a Merit invitation to the College Nationals.

pate. However, at the Nationals, schools will be invited to bring as many curlers as they wish, and will be encouraged to substitute freely between draws, but will participate as a single team.

Full details can be found at our website www.intercollegiate-curling-usa.org or on the Facebook group “US University Club and Varsity Curling.”

Summertime equals camp time or most of you the curling season has ended, and thoughts are turning to your favorite summer activities. For our junior camp directors, the work is just beginning. Even now they are hard at work scheduling facilities, soliciting instructors and coaches, and planning for what I think will be the most comprehensive set of junior camp offerings ever put together. Each one is unique by design in order to meet the needs of every junior curler, from the developmental stage to the most competitive teams.

Following is an overview of the scheduled camps.

July 22-24 – green Bay, Wis. – Dual competitive and developmental camp Held this year at the Cornerstone Community Ice Center with participant accommodations at the St. Norbert College dorm. Phil Janusiak will again head the developmental side that has been held the last several years.

Jim Shlimovitz is putting together a competitive camp geared toward competitive individual curlers

F

Youth Corner

By Dave Jensen, Chairman, USCA Youth Committee that will run concurrently.

Jim plans to bring in National coaches and top instructors who will impact every facet of your game.

Aug. 2-5 – Bucks County Curling Club, Warminster, Pa. – Competitive and developmental camp This will be the 15th anniversary of the popular Grand National Curling Club camp. Individuals will be divided into groups of equal ability.

September – West Coast Junior Camp – granite Curling Club in Seattle, Wash.

This will be the second year for the West Coast Camp. It is a team camp with activities geared toward teams. Individuals will be accepted and placed on teams of similar abilities. Coaches are welcome to attend with their team.

Oct. 19-21 – No Boundaries Junior Curling Camp – Bismarck, N.D. All levels are encouraged to attend. Teams will be placed in divisions based on experience.

This camp will draw teams from across the region and Canada. The No Boundaries concept combines top curling coaches and instructors working together to provide a series of “training tracks” or “clinics.” Clinics will be held between bonspiel draws. This will allow the athlete to apply the newly learned concepts as soon as the class is over.

The bonspiel features a pool-type, round robin format. Two divisions, a competitive and a developmental, will ensure challenging games. Application is by team.

Fall 2012 – Las Vegas,

Nev. Still in the planning stages for this fall is a developmental camp for individual curlers in the Mountain Pacific region to be held in Las Vegas. Keep watching the USA Curling website for details.

Although each camp is unique by design, they all incorporate the same fundamental learning competencies that are necessary in becoming an elite level curler. Technical and tactical skills combined with physical conditioning, nutritional information,

mental skills and team systems.

Full details and applications for these camps will be posted on the USCA website under the Championship/Camp Calendar. The applications and additional camp information is already posted for the Green Bay and Bucks County camps. Be sure to take advantage of these camp opportunities this summer. Not only will your skill level improve, but also these camps serve to develop friendships and memories that will last a lifetime.

Stewart Carlson Stewart Carlson, 91, longtime member of the Chicago Curling Club, passed away April 16, 2012.

He was well known in senior curling circles, having participated in 19 Senior Curling Bonspiel Championships. Stew was a past president of his club, formerly treasurer of the U.S. Curling Foundation and Museum, and past vice president of the U.S. Curling Association. He also served as General Chairman of the 17th National Seniors Championship held in the Chicago area. He was predeceased by his wife of 60 years, Margaret, and survived by three children and four grandchildren. Stew was often remembered for skipping with a whistle after recovering from throat cancer a number of years ago.

6

Curling News UNITED STATES

mAY 2012

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

Growing diversity is strength of organization

by Maureen Guay, USWCA president The USWCA has a governance structure that makes the most effective use of the time, talent, and experience available to us, seeks to develop future leaders of the organization, and reflects our geographic diversity.

This is one of the strategic planning goals adopted by the United States Women’s Curling Association at the 2012 Winter

Meeting. In reality, the diversity of our organization is more than just geographic and reflects the growing diversity of the American curling community. USWCA members curl in Midwestern agricultural towns, coastal communities in the East and Southwestern cities. The curling venues include country clubs, hockey arenas and vintage curling clubs. Of the 68 USWCA member clubs, 13 are arena clubs and this number can be expected to

Guay

increase since a 2011 USCA growth analysis shows that arena clubs now

make up 40 percent of total clubs and 25 percent of curlers.

Competing in different clubs and meeting other curlers is the best part of our sport, and growth gives us more opportunities to experience this. The USWCA initiated the Women’s Circuit to encourage more women to play in bonspiels and experience first-hand the diversity of the curling world. I hope all of our members will take advantage of this opportu-

nity and our other programs such as the Five & Under Challenge.

As curling grows, the United States Women’s Curling Association will face new challenges and I am confident that we will successfully meet our goals.

I have enjoyed my tenure as president of this wonderful organization, and I would like to thank all of our members for their continued involvement and support of the USWCA and wish you all good curling.

USWCA Five & Under champions announced

by Karen Ronk, USWCA 5 & Under Chairwoman

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he East, Central and Wisconsin Regions of the USWCA held 5 & Under Bonspiel competitions this past season. This event is held for curlers with five years or less of curling experience, with the USWCA providing a traveling trophy for the winners of the First Event and event pins for the winners and runners-up of each event.

The East Region’s event was hosted by the Philadelphia Curling Club Oct. 13-16, with 12 teams participating. Congratulations to the winners: 1EW–The Icemen, Philadelphia/Bucks County: Joe Philips, Ian Alexander, Kevin Stayer, Justin Lehmann 1ERU–Between the Buttons, Philadelphia/ Bucks County: Garnet Howells, Dickey Scott, Kristine Kaufmann, Jessica Welch.

2EW–The Youngbloods, Philadelphia: Bryan Beck, Dan Cooper, Kristen Beck, Katie Arcidiacono, 2ERU–Bucks County: Matt Sundheim, Kristen Weiss, Greg Danks, Christi Freeman 3EW–The Cracked Belles, Philadelphia: Virginia McElroy, Susan Liu, Jane Stayer, Tracy Shickel

Winners of the Wisconsin Region’s USWCA Five-and-Under Bonspiel held in Green Bay were (l-r) Tony Roth, Mike Mehler, Miranda Hofmann and Becky Reinhart of the Madison Curling Club.

3ERU–The Philly Folks, Philadelphia: Zac Gery, Steve Meschino, Cindy Bush, Gina Miller 4EW–The Squirrels, Anthracite: Joshua Sophy, Mark Dorval, Kimm Montone, Dan Pearson 4ERU–Plainfield: Scott Burns, Linda Pesci, Marc Adams, Adrienne Adams The Central Region’s Detroit Curling Club hosted the bonspiel on Jan. 15-16.

Twelve teams from around the region came to curl and share in the spirit of curling. Congratulations to the winners: A Event–Mayfield: Angela Fox, Ashley Lowry, Karissa Piper, Jenna Roenstein B Event–Detroit: Diana Jankowski, Troy Eller, Becky Hermann, Jenny Zukowski C Event–Mayfield: Allison Botros, Lindsey Sobeck, Barb Bader, Shelly Bahr D Event–Cleveland Skating Club: Irina Khusid, Cathy Negus, Kelly Cone, Peggy Hooper The Green Bay Curling Club held the 18th Five-Year-and-Under Open Bonspiel for Wisconsin March 2-4. There were 19 teams participating, including one team with three wheelchair curlers, a first time for wheelchair curlers.

Congratulations to the winners: 1EW–Madison: Tony Roth, Mike Mehler, Miranda Hofmann, Becky Reinhart 1ERU–Blackhawk: Ryan Acetta, Cal Merath, Mike Sweats, Dennis Leidof 2EW–Milwaukee: Curtis Crimmins, Andy Krueger, John Kuetzger, Jim Hintz 2ERU–Madison: Callie Mausetter, Diana Gettinger, Dean Gettinger, Eric Mausetter 3EW–Green Bay/Appleton: Jeffrey Anlauf, William Anlauf, Justin Krenke, Josh Ewing 3ERU–Green Bay: Michelle Krupp, Lisa Schroeder, Lil LaRue, Wendy Derenne 4EW–Wauwatosa: Nick Lundbohm, Tim Merhing, Brooke Lundbohm, Lindsay Larson 4ERU–Green Bay: Penny Greely, JR Wynne, Jim Kenner, Amanda Patterson To find out more about the Five & Under Bonspiel in your area, please check the USWCA website at www.uswca.org and find the link under USWCA bonspiels.

If you would like to find out how your club can host a future event, contact Karen Ronk at YR5andUnder@USWCA.org.

Winners of the East Region’s USWCA Five-and-Under Bonspiel held in Philalphia were (l-r) Joe Philips, Ian Alexander, Kevin Stayer and Justin Lehmann of the Philadelphia Curling Club.

Winners of the Central Region’s USWCA Five-and-Under Bonspiel held in Detroit were (l-r) Angela Fox, Ashley Lowry, Karissa Piper and Jenna Roenstein of the Mayfield Curling Club.

Curling News

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

mAY 2012

UNITED STATES

7

Successful second season for the Circuit

by Jennifer Stannard, USWCA Circuit Committee The second season of the USWCA Women's Circuit has concluded and participants are anxiously awaiting the tally. Final results will be posted on www.USWCA.org, and will be included in this summer’s new online Curling

News.

Participating events increased this season and bonspiels from Belfast, Maine to Seattle, Wash., were ready for Circuit participants. Bright new banners promoting the event and the sponsors were flying at the sites.

Change is in the wind for the coming season and

additional types of events will be welcomed onto the Circuit – events that are 'state specific,' such as the Wisconsin Badger, will now be able to join in.

A note to USWCA clubs – if you are having a women's bonspiel, join the Circuit! Nothing changes in your event but the participants gain points toward

2011-12 All-American winners announced

by Gloria Martino, USWCA All-American Chairwoman

W

ith another season behind us the results of the winning teams from across the country have been announced. This event, which has been in existence since 1966, generates exciting competition. Many clubs state what a great time they had with socializing, imaginative themes and great food.

Broomstones celebrated “American Silver” commemorating the 25th anniversary of their Ladies Curling Club. At the Coyotes Curling Club one of their members, Hal McGrady, wrote and performed a poem at the presentation of awards to the winning team.

How special is that?! At Bowling Green one team had an eight-ender: Jennifer Williams (lead rocks), Sharon Gargasz (skip rocks), Scott Helle (vice rocks) and Tim Polesovsky (second rocks). Each member of the Bowling Green championship-winning team experienced their first win in this event. Six clubs were able to host events for their morning and evening leagues.

On behalf of the USWCA, I would like to extend a special thank you to all the USWCA representatives and their club chairpersons for making this event so successful over the years.

USWCA provides a very beautiful pin to all winners, a special award prized by the recipients.

Congratulations to all the winners of the All-American event from the following clubs: EAST Albany: Ethel Cooper, Heather Heins, Mary Arthur, Sarah Weed Ardsley (a.m.): Diane Muldowney, Alison Bankes, Barbara Wilt, Pippa Broadhurst Ardsley (p.m.): Pam Politano, Dolores Redding, Lyn Greaves, Karen Casper, Liz O’Loughlin Broomstones: Sharon Cutter, Nancy Jennett, Marsha Edmunds, Heather Campbell, Elizabeth (Betty) Gulesian Cape Cod: Barbara Enos, Rachel Hutchinson, Laurel Perkins, Jeanie Yaroch Nashua: Marianne Cariddi, Kate Prolman, Stephanie Tipping, Carmel Powlowski Nutmeg: Elly Bockley, Maura Cockey, Julie Pasnau, Maryanne Roggemann Philadelphia: Allyssa Walsh, Lori Dunnam, Maggie McMahon, Robin Flavelle

Plainfield: Suzanne Lindsay, Debra Martin, Charlotte Clark, Maureen Abbey Scorese Rochester: Carol Wood, Sal Gardner, Vicki Odegard, Lara Haase Schenectady: Nancy Wurth, Lori Millet, Liesl Falcon, Cathy Faulkner The Country Club: Pam Ellsworth, Lissa England, Phyllis Vineyard, Charlotte Thibodeau/Sally Hurlbut Utica: Elizabeth Kaido, Audrey Foote, Brenda Citriniti, Diane Engell CENTRAL Bowling green: Molly Wolf, Ed Glowacki, Steve Christman, Cary Brown Chicago (a.m.): Michele Rittgers, Carolyn Lloyd, Betty Duffy, Tom Breem Chicago (p.m.): Debbie Lange, Joby Berman/Donna Slabas, Betty Duffy, Helen Jacek Cleveland: Irina Khusid, Mary Ann Hulme, Sally Granger, Jo Bateman Detroit: Linda Handyside, Wendy Haykus, Laura Wilbert, Heather Underwood Exmoor: Leslie Armstrong, Anneliese Crawford, Ann Hartman Brown, Angela Pyle mayfield (a.m.): Tracie Moore, Bonnie Carlson, Ana Kandra, Margaret Clark mayfield (p.m.): Laurel Cox, Hilary Peterson, Karissa Piper, Paige Dudley WISCONSIN Blackhawk: Deb Richards, Sally Edelman, Patrice Gabower, Anne Fiore Clintonville: Mari Hintz, Lori O’Connell, Pat Mahnke, Nikki Sasse Kettle moraine (a.m.): Janis Duncan, Pat Van Till, Marilyn Morgan, Allison Bedborough Kettle moraine (p.m.): Mollie Lantz, Irene Schuder, Chris Helding, Dona Sebot madison (a.m.): Lori Karst, Mary Ann Jerred, Randie Schlamp, Diana Gettinger madison (p.m.): Cindy Godar, Mamie O’Connor, Abby Podratz, Carol Hessemer medford: Katie Dassow, Sarah Brost, Martha Pflughoeft, Karen Kropp-Mueller milwaukee: Lisa Graff, Jan Homan, Claire Walsh, Ali Ziskin Poynette (a.m.): Ann Johnson, Sue Teeter, Jeanette Lohan, Diane Funk Poynette (p.m.): Sonja Noble, Kyley Falstad, Chris Palmer, Karen Dishno Racine: Lisa Johnson, Kristen Feick, Mandi Kais/Barb VanderLeest, Dawn Flegel Wauwatosa: Pat Heim, Linnea Urben, Holly Elwing, Megan Veldkamp WEST I Arden Hills: Myrna MacKinnon, Jamie Warndahl, Ann Begich, Jill Carlson Duluth: Yvonne Patterson, Bonnie Shea, Joanne Docteur, Wendy Carlberg Heather-mapleton: Carolyn Becker, Gretchen Becker, Laura Johnson, Lori Feldmann St. Paul: Jean McCann, Kristi Erickson, Linda Satrom, Deborah Snow WEST II Coyotes: Lindsey Juillard, Kathie Coolidge, Dan Bossler, Bill Benn grafton: Julie Callahan, Christine Bjorneby, Cindy Thompson, Katie Stark grand Forks: Tierney McCreery, Katie Sigurdson, Donna Pearson, Jen Stancliff Seattle/granite: Cori Tomlinson, Loreen Makashima (San Francisco CC), Erin Lyttle, Suzie Brunzell

the Circuit winnings and qualify for other sponsor bonuses. Last year’s regional winners won nearly $1,000! This year, the winners will have financial awards as well as entry (plus room) to the Hot Shots Curling Camps offered this year in Ardsley, N.Y., and Oakville, Ontario, and gift certificates to

Brooms Up Curling Supplies!

The USWCA is committed to the promotion of women's and youth curling and welcomes all women across the country to join in the fun. We thank our great sponsors: Hot Shots Curling Camps, Rockit Gurl and Brooms Up Curling Supplies.

Support the USWCA; look great doing it

by Jennifer Stannard, USWCA Promotions Chairwoman The USWCA markets items to enable our organization to provide funding for special programs such as the Junior Curling Supply Program for our member clubs. The USWCA has donated more than $14,000 so far.

If you are a USWCA member club, your junior coordinator will receive a survey this month inquiring as to the need for brooms, sliders, etc., as well as to gauge interest in regional Junior Coaching Development sessions.

Please be sure you complete the survey.

To fund these initiatives we need to market and sell the USWCA promotional items. Club supplies will be shipped in the fall, in plenty of time for next season.

Sales have gone very well this season for the new jacket and vest line as well as glass curling pendants and paperweights. A midseason item was the new tie-dyed ‘USWCA Rocks’ T-shirt, which is very popu-

lar with juniors.

The bomber jackets and vests (unisex sizing, so many men are sporting the new look) are a microblend fleece, which pleases the ice crews- no fleece pills on the ice! Custom made for the USWCA, these items are warm and comfortable as well as stylish: $99 for the custom jacket and $89 for the vest – available in navy or red.

Order now through www.uswca.org to support junior curling and show off your new look at summer ’spiels or, your debut next season!

Senior Women’s National Bonspiel invitations sent

by Jeannie Borland, Chair, Senior National Bonspiel The 2012 Senior Women’s National Bonspiel – Jamaica Me Crazy - will be held Nov. 28–Dec. 2 at the Mayfield Curling Club in Ohio. The first invitation and intent forms have been sent to USWCA member club representatives.

A second invitation and intent form will be mailed in August, with the deadline

for intent forms and good faith intent checks Sept. 7.

All participants must have reached the age of 55 before Jan. 1, 2012, and be a member of the USWCA in good standing.

If you are eligible and want to participate in this great Senior Women’s National Bonspiel, check with your club’s USWCA representative for information, or go online to www.uswca.org for more details.

8

Curling News UNITED STATES

mAY 2012

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

Curling News has long, rich history The oldest, and perhaps the largest, curling-only publication is …

The North American Curling News reported in 1946 that Ken Watson had won the Kenora (Ont.) Men’s Bonspiel. Aside from being famous as one of the greatest skips in history, why was Watson’s Canadian ‘spiel win reported in the Curling News?

Well, back then the NACN covered both U.S. and Canadian curling, having been established by Superior’s Glenn Harris as North America’s oldest national scope curling-only publication. Harris turned the NACN over to L.T. “Tink” Kruetzig of Chicago in 1959. Kreutzig changed to a high-quality magazine format, but 20 years later Frank and China Rhyme of Portage, Wis., stepped in to pare costs, changing to a tabloid format and allowing the paper to continue publishing. In 1991, they transferred their stewardship to the U.S. Curling Association, which renamed the paper United States Curling News, to better reflect the now-95 percent-plus U.S. readership.

Readers, who knows the name of the Curling News prior to the fall of 1945? If your answer is, the National Curling News, you are correct, that was Harris’ original name for the publi-

Tales From Sheet Nine

David Garber, dj.garber@charter.net

cation. Today, the U.S. Curling News may have the largest circulation of any curling-only publication in the world, because USCA dues include a subscription.

(The Canadian Curling News, founded by Ted Thonger in 1957, and later owned and edited by the late-great Doug Maxwell, is published today as The Curling News. In 1992, the paid circulation of the Canadian paper was about the same as the U.S. Curling News’, and that is likely the case today.)

First collegiate bonspiel?

The March 10, 1957, Curling News was abuzz about the first National

Men’s Championship (held in Chicago Stadium with key sponsorship of Marshall Field, whose thenchairman, Hughston McBain, was an early inductee in the USCA Hall of Fame). On Page 6, an article with an Appleton, Wis., byline was headed “First Collegiate Bonspiel Staged.” Teams attended from University of Wisconsin (Madison), Marquette, UW-Milwaukee, UW-La Crosse, Lawrence College, and UW-WausauExtension. Notre Dame was slated to compete but withdrew. The winners were skipped by Mike Collins, with Jim Twet, Dennis Grant and Tom Krueger.

Mike’s brother Neil skipped a Lawrence rink to the Second-event title. Several of these young fellows went on to become prominent in Midwest and national curling.

Notes about clubs across the nation in the Curling News in 1940s and 1950s • The tragic fire at the Norfolk Curling Club last December was reported here in January. Fires have plagued curling facilities as long as they’ve existed.

According to the February 16, 1946, issue of the North American Curling News, the Portage (Wis.) Curling Club facility burned in November, and on Feb. 5, fire consumed the

Brookline (Mass.) Curling Club. Both clubs were rebuilt, with four-sheets, the latter becoming known as The Country Club (after its famous golf club parent), and are important curling centers to this day.

• The 1940 Superior Northwest Bonspiel was the largest such event in the U.S., with more than 90 teams, played on 16 sheets of ice.

• Women’s curling was thriving by the 1950s. The USWCA was found in 1947. Ten years later, the Curling News reported the Grand Forks Women’s Curling Club, formed in 1955, per Mrs. Agnes MacVicar Cardy, has made rapid progress. The 1957 women’s ‘spiel drew teams from North Dakota, Minnesota and Canada.

• The Curling News reported that “The Scottish Lady Curlers have accepted the invitation to visit the United States and Canada from Jan. 12 to Feb. 9, 1958. They will be guests of the Ladies Branch of the Ontario and Canadian Curling Associations, and the USWCA.” • The 1945 North Shore league included teams from Skokie, Indian Hill, Exmoor and Milwaukee (the Chicago CC was yet to be built). Sadly, only the Exmoor and Milwaukee clubs from this league still

have curling facilities.

• The 1945 St. Paul International Bonspiel was advertised for “8 sheets of Ice – 6 artificial.”

• A Curling News 1945 list of U.S. curling clubs includes these that seemingly no longer exist: Endeavor, Wis.; Farmington, Conn.; Glencoe, Ill.; Hallock, Minn.; Hartford, Conn.; Lake Mahopac, N.Y.; Portal, N.D.; Saranac Lake, N.Y.; St. Vincent, Minn.; Winnetka, Ill.; and Winnebago, Minn. The great news is, instead of the 50 clubs listed in 1945, today’s count is more than triple that number, including clubs in Alaska, the West Coast states, and several mountain and southern states.

• The 1957 USWCA Bonspiel, held at the Detroit Curling Club, was won by the “Chicago Heathers’ Mrs. Frank Pollen, Mrs. Darwin Curtis, Mrs. Perry Pennington and Mrs. Fred Nichols.” For benefit of our younger readers: Believe me, these women’s first names were not Frank, Darwin, Perry and Fred. They had their own first names, of course, but the custom until the 1960s was to use the title “Mrs.” followed by husband’s first and last name.

Times change.

Have a pleasant summer!

2012 Friendship Tour teams set

by Charlene Fitzgerald, Publicity Chair, Friendship Tour Committee he 2012 USWCA Friendship Tour is scheduled to arrive in Victoria, British Columbia, on Oct. 31. The curling competition begins Nov. 1.

This USWCA-sponsored event takes place every six years, with this being the fourth time the U.S. women have traveled to a Canadian province. The last time the Canadian ladies visited the U.S. was in 2009; their rotation began 18 years ago.

T

Team assignments for the 16-member 2012 Tour are announced: Team 1: Coco Wellington, skip, East region/Cape Cod; Jackie Shuster, vice skip, West region/Chisholm; Anne Vanic, second, Central region/Mayfield; Paula Okray Kalke, lead, Wisconsin region/Racine Team 2: Carla Lynch, skip, Wisconsin region/Madison; Karen Hamilton, vice skip, Central region/Columbus; Wendy Berger, second, East region/Albany; Reilly Mannery, lead, West region/Granite Team 3: Myrna MacKinnon, skip, West region/Arden Hills; Alissa McCann, vice skip,

East region/ Philadelphia; Susan Tortorelli, second, Central region/Detroit; Nancy Myers, lead, West region/Aksarben CC Team 4: Laurie Rahn, skip, Central region/Exmoor; Molly Jensen, vice skip, West region/St. Paul; Martha Mazzarella, second, Central region/ Bowling Green; Joan Partridge, lead, East region/The Country Club For more information regarding the tour, visit http://www.uswca.org/content/friendshiptour.asp There will be information posted on the USWCA website regarding the progress of the tour in November.

USWCA welcomes new members

by Maureen Guay, USWCA President The United States Women’s Curling Association (USWCA) welcomed two new member clubs this year, Denver Curling Club (Colorado) and Charlotte Centre Curling Club (North Carolina).

The Denver Curling Club is based at the Ice Ranch arena in Littleton, Colo. Originally estab-

lished in 1965, Denver had dedicated ice and was home to several championship teams until the doors shut because of a dwindling curling community. The current Denver Curling Club was re-established in 2007 due to overwhelming interest in the sport following the Turin Olympics. Currently it is home to more than 200 active curlers who compete on five sheets, two nights a week during the fall/winter/spring

months. The DCC is a 501(c)3 charitable organization and is currently raising funds to build a dedicated facility.

The Charlotte Centre Curling Club curls at the Extreme Ice Center arena in Indian Trail, N.C., and serves the Greater Charlotte area. Their membership encompasses transplanted northerners with curling experience and novices who have just ‘seen the

game on television.’ In August they will host the first “Grits n’ Granite Bonspiel.” Like Denver, Charlotte Centre is a charitable organization and is seeking to build the first dedicated curling facility in the heart of the south.

The USWCA looks forward to welcoming curlers from Denver and Charlotte to our events and wish them success in their building efforts.

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

n a previous article, we talked about knowing when to sweep. But knowing when to sweep does not do much good if your welltimed sweeping is ineffective. So, what does it take to be an effective sweeper?

Look around during league play or at a bonspiel.

You will see almost as many sweeping techniques as there are curlers, and some of them are pretty entertaining. But watch a world or Olympic event – the participants’ techniques are strikingly similar.

Everything is done to create maximum heat via pressure and velocity. Here are some related things to strive for when you are modifying your sweeping technique to achieve maximum results: • Sweepers wear two grippers (sweeping with a slider on one foot is less safe and makes it more difficult to put maximum pressure on the ice) • Sweepers stand behind the back line when the shooter is in the hack and start moving down the sheet as the shooter goes into motion (this also facilitates good communications)

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Curling News Brushing wins the battle UNITED STATES

• Sweepers’ feet move side to side in a shuffle movement (vs. walking down the sheet) • Sweepers face down the sheet and look up frequently (helps judge weight and need for sweeping) • There is one sweeper on each side of the stone • When sweeping, a sweeper’s head is over the head of the brush (this helps put maximum upper body weight on the brush head and thereby create maximum pressure and heat) • The shaft of the broom does not rest on a sweeper’s thigh (that would put pressure on the thigh and not on the ice) • Brushing motion is side to side and high velocity • When not sweeping, sweepers are still in a sweeping position (if you are not in position and the skip suddenly calls for sweeping, there will be a delay, plus you may lose your balance with a related sudden movement) • Sweepers often sweep lightly and continuously to keep the running path clean (this also keeps them in position to respond quickly

Training Tips From Jon

Jon Mielke, jon.mielke@ndsu.edu

and safely for sudden sweeping calls) It is also important to note that there are two basic body positions for sweepers. In one, the sweeper’s back is fairly vertical and the hands are roughly onethird and two-thirds of the way down the shaft of the broom. In the other position, the sweeper’s back is nearly horizontal, with one hand about halfway down the handle and the other hand within about a foot of the brush head.

Wisconsin girls reach playoffs at U18 Optimist International Bonspiel

by Terry Kolesar, Editor

S

ix teams from the United States recently took part in the U18 Optimist International in Toronto, Ontario. All teams had a nice showing, with Kathleen Dubberstein’s rink from the Portage Curling Club in Portage, Wis., advancing to the medal rounds before losing to Manitoba in the bronzemedal game, 6-3.

“The girls exceeded all their own expectations, and certainly mine. We are all proud to show that a team from the USA can play with the best from Canada in our age group,” said Steve Dubberstein, team coach for Kathleen Dubberstein’s U-18 rink representing Wisconsin.

The Optimist International U-18 Curling Championships celebrated its 12th year as an event designed to promote youth curling. Developed in 1999

by Bill Hans of the Calgary Youth Association, and beginning in 2001, the

event has been held in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. 2012 marks the second year that Toronto hosted the event.

Here are the final results: Women British Columbia (gold) Alberta (silver) Manitoba (bronze) #4 – Wisconsin (Kathleen Dubberstein, Leilani Dubberstein, Madison Bear, Annemarie Dubberstein, Coach Steve Dubberstein, Portage Curling Club) #5 – Ontario #6 – Saskatchewan #7 – Quebec #8 – Pennsylvania (Sarah Anderson, Taylor Anderson, Libby Brundage, Christine McMakin, Coach Derek Surka, Philadelphia Curling Club) #9 – Japan #10 – Michigan (Alexis Schroeder, Sidney Schroeder, Kayla Beauregard, Kaely Harmer, Madelyn Graves, Coach Michael Graves, Midland Curling Club) #11 – New Brunswick #12 – Northwest

Territories men Manitoba (gold) Quebec (silver) British Columbia (bronze) #4 – Ontario #5 – Saskatchewan #6 – Alberta #7 – Minnesota (Tyler Runing, Joshua Moore, Keith Dewar, Eric Jaeger, Coach Matthew Carlson, Mankato Curling Club) #8 – Japan #9 – New Brunswick #10 – Washington (Evan McAuley, Luc Violette, Nick Connolly, Blake Sweet, Coach Tom Violette, Granite Curling Club) #11 – Pennsylvania (Daniel Dudt, Cameron Vike, Phillip Mack, Cody Clouser, Andrew Dudt, Coach Brian Dudt, Philadelphia Curling Club) #12 – Northwest Territories All curling clubs are encouraged to contact their local Optimist club and make a connection/presentation on their junior curling club to help further spread the word about this great collaborative event.

Both of these positions are effective but the upright option is easier to teach and puts less stress on the lower back. More accomplished curlers may, however, want to experiment with the more horizontal option. In either case, the sweeper’s legs are angled away from the stone, putting the sweeper into a tripod position involving both feet and the head of the broom. This position transfers the maximum amount of body weight and pressure onto the head of the broom.

Whatever changes you make to your current technique will feel awkward, but don’t give up.

Personally, I remember all the adjustments that I made over the years. I went from a corn broom to a brush, from sweeping with a slider to two grippers, from sweeping strictly on one side of the stone to being able to sweep on both sides, from sweeping with the handle of the broom on my thigh to getting all my body weight going down the broom and on to the ice, etc., etc., etc.

None of these changes came easy but they were all

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9

worthwhile, because effective brushing truly does contribute to winning the battle. It may even be the difference between winning and losing. Good shooting, by itself, does not win games, and good strategy, by itself, does not win games. Similarly, effective brushing, by itself, will not win games. But, all three taken together, along with good team communications and compatibility, are what it takes to be a really good team. Do your part and work at being a good sweeper. It really does make a difference.

Until next time – good curling!

(Jon Mielke is a Level III instructor and a Level III coach. He is the past chairman of the USCA’s Training & Instruction Committee and a member of Bismarck’s Capital Curling Club. All his previous training articles are available online at: USA Curling – Inside the USCA – CNews Columnists – Columns by Jon Mielke).

Top 10 Comments Overheard in Bizarro Curling World (On a cubed world they competed— glorifying the flawed shotmaking... the misshapen sheets... the perverse strategy!)

10] Me explain sport better known as “Whispering Game”— Us draw cube-shaped stones into square houses. Stones on perimeter outcount stones in center.

9] Negative ice help my game. Me really hate it.

8] Me deliberately foul stone, no tell opponent. Me live by “Anti-Spirit of Curling.”

7] Teammate throw draw shot with heavy weight.

Me sweep real hard behind stone to slow it down.

6] Us lie one with hammer in second end. Us take out own stone on last shot and roll out to blank end.

Perfect strategy. Now us have hammer in odd end.

5] Us lucky to get set with mismatched rocks. “3 Red” am very fast. “5 Red” am very slow. Us wise to throw this pair last.

4] Rules clearly state that end not final until both virtue-skips disagree on score.

3] Me shoot 25% in game. Me not miss enough shots. Me must take blame for not losing.

2] Curlers argue about last end scenario. Ask question— better “one down with” or “one up without?” That am stupid. Only idiot not know correct answer— much better am “eight down without.”

1] Bizarro Bob LaBonte wins “Tarnished Broom” Curling Championship by not falling down and not kicking rock. Him terribly upset. Him promptly pronounce “Blessing of Bob LaBonte” on opponent’s entire country.

– Richard Maskel

10

mAY 2012

Curling News UNITED STATES

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

Washington wins 9th mixed title in 11 years

by Terry Kolesar, Editor

W

ashington’s Brady Clark rink captured its fourth straight title and ninth overall since 2002 on March 24 at the 2012 USA Curling Mixed National Championship.

Washington defeated California’s Lyle Sieg, 9-5, with a steal in the 10th end at the Portage Curling Club in Portage, Wis. This is the ninth title for Clark (Lynnwood, Wash.) and vice skip (and wife) Cristin Clark (Lynnwood, Wash.); first title for 2010 junior champion Sean Beighton (Seattle); and eighth for Bev Walter (Seattle).

“The competition was incredible this week. We had a strong week and feel very fortunate to have earned another title,” Brady Clark said. “Every year is a new battle, and we have to play well or teams will take us down. Winning requires excellent execution and teamwork, and we appreciate the opportunity to play against the best teams from around the country.”

Sieg (Tacoma, Wash.) and teammates Britt Rjanikov (Wayland, Mass.), Barry Ivy (Livermore, Calif.), Stacey MacNeil (San Jose, Calif.) and Katie Dubberstein (Portage, Wis.) were seeking the Mountain Pacific region’s first-ever mixed national title but settled for silver.

Through eight ends the California team kept matching Washington’s scoring output. It wasn’t until the ninth end that Washington took a two-point advantage.

Sieg was attempting to sneak his stone through a narrow port in the 10th end with his final stone to make a double takeout and force an extra end but hit the guard, and Washington sealed the win with a twopoint steal.

In the bronze-medal game, Minnesota’s Andy Jukich defeated Wisconsin’s Steve Day, 9-3, to earn Minnesota’s first mixed medal in several years.

Jukich (Duluth, Minn.) and teammates Jill Hansen (Duluth, Minn.), Harold Rutan (Olympia, Wash.) and Mary Shields (Duluth, Minn.) scored three points right out of the gate and

Portage put on great show for Mixed Dear Editor: I would like to thank the entire Portage Curling Club members for their extraordinary efforts to maintain championship curling ice throughout the 2012 USA Curling Mixed National Championship. The efforts of this venue to maintain the ice, with outside temperatures in the 80s, was unprecedented. All the volunteers at Portage deserve a huge thank you from all participants for their efforts: ice crews, officials, kitchen, awards, host families – everyone did a fantastic job.

Thank you, MaryPat Shandor Chief Umpire

College students are the future of curling Dear Editor: As coach/advisor to the University of NebraskaLincoln Curling Team, I am writing in response to last month’s article by Gordon Maclean, Chair, College Curling Committee.

Maclean stated that the National College Curling

Championships will return as an invitational event only. If an invitation only format were to happen, it would mean the demise of college curling for the University of Nebraska as well as other college curling teams where geographical constraints are present.

College students are the future of curling. They are bright, energetic and usually get good jobs upon graduation so that they can afford to curl. We need to do much more to support them.

College sports are primarily organized either formally through the NCAA or informally through a campus recreation or sports club format. If a student does not qualify for a college NCAA sport, they can, as an undergraduate, play for a campus recreation or club team, if the college agrees to support the sport.

Because NCAA does not recognize curling, college curling has often become a

2012 mixed National Championship, Portage, Wis. Round Robin Washington 8-1 Minnesota 7-2 California 6-3 Wisconsin 5-4 Alaska 5-4 Michigan 4-5 Maryland 4-5 North Dakota 4-5 Ohio 1-8 Texas 1-8 *Wisconsin Alaska

Tiebreaker: 200 110 200 1 – 7 011 001 010 0 – 4

Semifinals: *Washington 032 002 10x x – 8 Wisconsin 000 110 00x x – 2 Minnesota *California

000 000 030 x – 3 000 112 203 x – 9

Bronze medal: Wisconsin 001 011 00x x – 3 *Minnesota 320 200 11x x – 9 gold medal: *Washington 201 010 102 2 – 9 California 020 101 010 0 – 5 *last stone in first end

Washington’s team of (l-r) Brady Clark, Cristin Clark, Sean Beighton and Bev Walter won the 2012 USA Curling Mixed National Championship title.

stole two in the second end to quickly build a 5-0 lead.

Wisconsin could only muster a single in the third and allowed Minnesota to score another deuce in the fourth. The early lead proved too large for Day

(Madison, Wis.) and teammates Emilia Juocys (Chicago), Dan Wiza (Waunakee, Wis.) and Heather Van Sistine (Hartland, Wis.) to overcome as they conceded the match after eight ends.

‘club sport’ for those schools that sponsor curling. I have also seen local curling clubs sponsor college curling, but it often is done on an informal basis.

In other words, students who are members of the local curling club recruit other students they know and curling is sponsored outside of the university or college structure. I am not aware of any college or university that has its own curling ice, so generally, college curling relies on local curling clubs – arena or designated ice clubs – to help sponsor them.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) curling team receives university fee (student fee) support as a club sport.

However, the amount it receives is about $500/year for approximately 10 students, or about $50/student.

Therefore, students must either contribute their own money, or engage in fundraising in order to curl.

In addition, most university-sponsored club sports require a faculty/staff advisor or other adult willing to volunteer and work with the team. Because higher education has been hit with serious budget issues, it is unlikely that any college will be able to support all of the expenses related to college curling.

University of Nebraska

students travel 100 miles round trip each week to curl with the Aksarben Curling Club in Omaha, the only curling venue in Nebraska.

Aksarben rents arena ice on Sundays, so students cannot curl more than once a week. The closest college curling team is more than 400 miles away. Given the distance, it would be difficult for students to take travel time to curl with other students, let alone bear the expense of it. On the average, at Nebraska, we can only afford to travel to one college competitive curling event a year. We will never “earn the invitation based on points accumulated by competing again other schools during the curling season.”

USA Curling should not penalize college curlers for the limits of their demographics. I cannot continue to recruit college curlers if there is no opportunity to curl competitively with other college teams on a national level. As a small agrarian state, we will never have the density of higher ed institutions found in more populous states.

I would suggest that USA Curling identify the best practices associated with the recruitment and support of college curling.

Talk to those of us who work in higher ed and sponsor college curling.

gold medalists – Washington: Brady Clark (Lynnwood, Wash.), Cristin Clark (Lynnwood, Wash.), Sean Beighton (Seattle), Bev Walter (Seattle) Silver medalists – California: Lyle Sieg (Tacoma, Wash.), Britt Rjanikov (Wayland, Mass.), Barry Ivy (Livermore, Calif.), Stacey MacNeil (San Jose, Calif.), Katie Dubberstein (Portage, Wis.) Bronze medalists – minnesota: Andy Jukich (Duluth, Minn.), Jill Hansen (Duluth, Minn.), Harold Rutan (Olympia, Wash.), Mary Shields (Duluth, Minn.)

Actively promoting college curling within existing curling clubs is a good start.

Aksarben Curling Club is a great model for college curling. They have admitted college curlers at reduced (junior curling) rates, provided coaching, lent support and are welcoming of young people. College curlers play in regular Aksarben league curling and gain tremendous experience.

There are professional associations for college recreation sports such as NIRSA (National Intramural Recreations Sports Association – Leaders in Collegiate Recreation, www.nirsa.org).

A presentation from USA Curling at NIRSA’s national conference would go a long way to expand college curling. Accessing the existing collegiate sports structure is key to growing college curling. Going it alone is likely to result in failure and frustration.

Who knows, perhaps we can grow college curling and have it eventually sponsored as a NCAA sport.

Meanwhile, let’s work together to promote college curling, not exclude students based upon the location of their schools.

Nancy F. Myers, University of NebraskaLincoln

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

mAY 2012

11

USA finishes 5th, 10th at World Juniors

by Terry Kolesar, Editor wo rookie teams led by USA’s Stephen Dropkin and Cory Christensen finished fifth and 10th respectively at the 2012 World Junior Championships at Z-hallen in Oestersund, Sweden.

The American men concluded the round robin on a high note with an 8-7 win over Switzerland’s Dominik Marki to finish 5-4.

“We played very well, but we made a couple of mistakes. It’s kind of a bittersweet time, but it was really nice to finish off with a win because we were struggling in the last few games … struggling to play like a team as we usually do,” Stephen Dropkin said after the win over Switzerland.

“It’s nice that in the end we finished off strong.”

Christensen and the American ladies finished the week 0-9 after a 7-4 loss to Italy’s Federica Apollonio rink in the round robin finale, but took the opportunity to represent the U.S. as a great learning experience as the young team continues to develop on the world scene.

“It’s definitely been worth the trip. We’ve learned so much through every game.

We’ve been taping all the games and taking stats, so we’ve learned a lot already,” Christensen said. “We’re definitely more motivated than when we arrived. I’m ready for next year.”

Christensen (Duluth, Minn.), 17, who was the youngest skip in the women’s field, and teammates Elizabeth Busche (Duluth, Minn.), Anna Bauman (Duluth, Minn.), Sonja Bauman (Duluth, Minn.) and Becca Funk (McFarland, Wis.) finished the event in 10th place in their first trip to the World Juniors. That final placement likely will not affect next year’s World Juniors. The only way the Americans can lose their berth at the World Juniors is if a nation in the Americas region would challenge them similar to Brazil’s recent challenges for the Americas berth at Men’s Worlds. No such Americas challenge for the junior berth has ever been played. In the past, the U.S. has played in a Junior B event but that format changed several years ago

T

2012 World Juniors Women’s Round Robin Scotland Czech Republic Russia Sweden Japan Canada Norway Switzerland Italy USA Japan *Sweden

7-2 6-3 6-3 6-3 6-3 6-3 3-6 3-6 2-7 0-9

Tiebreakers: 020 010 010 x – 4 100 300 101 x – 6

*Canada Russia

102 001 203 1 – 10 040 310 030 0 – 11

Page Playoffs 1-2: *Scotland 030 101 010 0 – 6 Czech Republic 100 020 101 0 – 5 *Russia Sweden

Page Playoffs 3-4: 101 020 010 0 – 5 000 101 102 1 – 6

*Czech Rep. Sweden *Sweden Russia

Semifinal: 011 030 000 1 – 6 100 300 001 0 – 5

Bronze medal: 001 020 010 x – 4 000 203 101 x – 7

gold medal: Czech Rep. 010 100 100 20 – 5 *Scotland 002 001 002 01 – 6 *last stone in first end Sportsmanship Award: Jocelyn Peterman, skip, Canada USA round robin results: Switzerland 9, USA 5 Czech Republic 8, USA 4 Japan 7, USA 4 Scotland 8, USA 7 Canada 8, USA 4 Russia 6, USA 4 Sweden 11, USA 5 Norway 9, USA 8 Italy 7, USA 4

and no longer includes the Americas teams.

Dropkin (Southborough, Mass.) and his team of Korey Dropkin (Southborough, Mass.), Thomas Howell (Brick, N.J.), Derek Corbett (Rochester, N.Y.) and Cameron Ross (Princeton Junction, N.J.) finished in fifth place overall. It was the final year of junior eligibility for Stephen Dropkin and Corbett.

“I’m frustrated because I think we should have done better. Three games came down to an extra end. There are teams out there that I feel we should have beaten, but, hey that’s curling,” Stephen Dropkin said. “My junior career is over now, so I’ll be thinking about the good times I’ve had with my team.”

The Canadian men went on to defeat Sweden, 10-4, to earn the gold medal.

Scotland got past Norway, 7-3 to win the bronze. On the women’s side, Scotland went to an extra end to defeat the Czech Republic, 6-5. Russia slid past Sweden, 7-4, to win the bronze medal.

Photo captions (from the top): Stephen Dropkin keeps his eyes down the ice as teammates Derek Corbett (left) and Thomas Howell III apply light brushing.

USA’s Becca Funk (l-r), Cory Christensen and Anna Bauman made their first appearance at the World Juniors.

Elizabeth Busche and Sonja Bauman sweep during round robin play in Sweden.

Vice skip Korey Dropkin delivers a stone during the 2012 World Junior Championships.

Photos by Richard Gray, World Curling Federation

2012 World Juniors men’s Round Robin Canada Sweden Scotland Norway USA Switzerland China Czech Republic Italy Finland

Sweden *Canada

8-1 7-2 7-2 6-3 5-4 5-4 4-5 2-7 1-8 0-9

Page Playoffs 1-2: 010 101 00x x – 3 201 030 30x x – 9

Page Playoffs 3-4: *Scotland 030 030 011 0 – 8 Norway 102 302 000 1 – 9 Norway *Sweden

Semifinal: 001 001 020 x – 4 010 410 101 x – 8

*Norway Scotland

Bronze medal: 001 001 01x x – 3 110 110 30x x – 7

gold medal: *Canada 102 020 50x x – 10 Sweden 010 101 01x x – 4 *last stone in first end Sportsmanship Award: Sander Rolvag, lead, Norway USA round robin results: USA 9, Italy 2 Canada 9, USA 6 USA 6, China 5 USA 10, Czech Republic 3 Scotland 11, USA 8 USA 7, Finland 3 Norway 7, USA 6 (extra end) Sweden 8, USA 4 USA 8, Switzerland 7 (extra end)

Curling world loses 2012 junior champion

Busche

USA Curling is deeply saddened to report the passing of 2012 U.S. junior champion Elizabeth Busche, 19, after a short battle with a rare cancer.

Elizabeth, of Duluth, Minn., represented the U.S. at the recent World Junior Championships in Sweden. She was a college student and curled this season at the FargoMoorhead Curling Club.

Additional details were not available at press time. Please check the USA Curling website at www.usacurl.org for memorial information.

12

mAY 2012

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

USA women rebound for 5th at Women’s Worlds

by Terry Kolesar, Editor

O

ne bad end haunted the Americans when they met Canada on day one of their first round robin game. It was one bad end again six days later as USA’s seven-game win streak was stomped on by Canada’s Heather Nedohin rink in a 9-8 tiebreaker loss at the 2012 Ford World Women’s Championship on March 23.

The U.S. lost its first four games of the championship at the Enmax Centre but came storming back to win seven straight games and force a tiebreaker match with Canada for the final playoff berth. The fifth-place finish by Allison Pottinger (Eden Prairie, Minn.), Nicole Joraanstad (Verona, Wis.), Natalie Nicholson (Bemidji, Minn.), Tabitha Peterson (Eagan, Minn.) and Cassie Potter (St. Paul, Minn.) earns the U.S. eight points toward qualifying for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, in the first year where points can be secured.

“I think we learned a bunch about ourselves as a team this week. We’re really gritty, and we want to come back and do better,” Pottinger said. “I think that’s the thing that’s going to keep us fired up for the next couple of years. I am incredibly proud of the girls. Even today they played super well. It was not them that let us down this game.”

Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott won her first world title when the Swiss defeated Sweden, 7-6, in the goldmedal game. Canada defeated Korea, 9-6, to win the bronze medal.

The U.S. was trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2007 but came up just short after a disastrous second end that left the Americans chasing in the tiebreaker match.

After the first end was

USA’s Allison Pottinger (above) stares down the broom prior to delivering a stone during round robin play at the 2012 Women’s World Championship. Nicole Joraanstad (left) and Natalie Nicholson sweep during round robin action at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge, Alberta. The American ladies finished fifth after a slow start to the tournament.

Photo by Richard Gray, World Curling Federation

blanked, Canada put up the corner guard and both teams had minor hiccups that could have put the momentum in either team’s direction. Pottinger’s freeze attempt with her first stone over-curled and situated itself behind the Canadian stone in second position to the far side of the house, allowing Canada to go after USA’s shot rock and lie three. Pottinger then flashed her takeout and Canada had a draw into the 8-foot for four.

“I don’t know that there were nerves in play but the ice was moving more today and so my first shot is the actually the one that sets it up where we curl a little bit too much. At that point we’re sitting one, and I just have to sit somewhere over in the eight-foot … and it over-curled,” Pottinger said after the game. “We had nice weight, and it overcurled, just not the right broom. And, same thing – broom placement – on my second one. We just need more ice. I can’t throw an in-turn that hard and make

2014 Oympic Winter games Qualification Points Standings – Women Country 2012 2013 Total Switzerland 14 14 Sweden 12 12 Canada 10 10 Korea 9 9 USA 8 8 Scotland 7 7 Germany 6 6 Denmark 5 5 Russia* 4 4 Italy 3 3 China 2 2 Czech Republic 1 1 *Russia as host country for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games has guaranteed qualification. **Points for Great Britain are gained by Scotland at World Wheelchair Curling Championships.

How Olympic berths are gained: At the conclusion of the 2013 World Champoinships, the top seven nations plus Russia as host earn berths to the 2014 Olympic Games. The final two spots will be determined at a World Curling Federation challenge event Dec. 11-14, 2013 (site TBA) to bring the total field to 10 teams.

that double with that kind of broom. So, broom placement was the problem.”

After putting themselves in the early deficit, the Americans patiently tried to get back into the game and started to dig out in the second half.

“When you get a four early, you just go ‘phew.’

But then you start to think it’s hard to maintain a lead.

But four is a nice number early in a game,” Nedohin said. “The one thing I took away from all the e-mails and texts we got last night was to keep believing. And we believe.”

USA was forced to draw into the four-foot for a single in the third end to get on the scoreboard. In the fourth end, the Americans tried to take advantage of a miss by the Canadians. The U.S needed Pottinger’s second stone to have curled just a few more inches to give Nedohin a trickier takeout for two points for Canada in the fourth.

The U.S. tried in earnest to get a deuce set up in the fifth end with Pottinger sealing the deal with a double takeout to cut the deficit

to 6-3 at the midway point.

After Canada was forced to draw for a single in the following end, the Americans continued to crawl back into the game as they got the deuce set up and Pottinger made a nose hit for two in the seventh.

“We were going hard for the steal in the eighth,” Pottinger said. “We could hit and sit three, but at that point we’re not even in the four-foot even if I hit that one. We really felt like we had to steal in the eighth and get closer to them so we took the risk and we were trying to draw under … I did not think I threw that kind of weight, and it just kept sliding.”

Needing to score at least two in the ninth end to keep the game close, Pottinger made a double takeout with her final stone to cut the game to a two-point deficit once again. The opportunity to steal the necessary points in the 10th end faded early in the end and Canada eventually clinched the win.

2012 Women’s World Championship Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada Round Robin Sweden 8-3 Switzerland 8-3 Korea 8-3 Canada 7-4 USA 7-4 Scotland 6-5 Germany 5-6 Denmark 5-6 Russia 4-7 Italy 3-8 China 3-8 Czech Republic 2-9 Tiebreaker: 001 020 202 1 – 8 040 201 020 0 – 9

USA *Canada

Page Playoffs 1-2: Switzerland 011 001 020 10 – 6 *Sweden 200 100 102 01 – 7 *Korea Canada

Page Playoffs 3-4: 001 000 100 2 – 4 000 101 010 0 – 3

*Switzerland Korea *Korea Canada

Semifinal: 200 102 003 1 – 9 030 000 120 0 – 6

Bronze medal: 100 201 020 0 – 6 021 030 101 1 – 9

gold medal: Switzerland 000 210 020 2 – 7 *Sweden 002 002 002 0 – 6 *last stone in first end Frances Brodie Sportsmanship Award recipient: Eve Muirhead, skip, Scotland Team USA stats/rankings: Skip, Allison Pottinger, 85%, 1st Vice skip, Nicole Joraanstad, 88%, 1st Second, Natalie Nicholson, 83%, 5th Lead, Tabitha Peterson, 88%, 5th Alternate, Cassie Potter, did not play Team, 86%, 2nd

USA’s Allison Pottinger (l-r), Natalie Nicholson and Tabitha Peterson share a light moment in between ends of a round robin match at the 2012 World Women’s Championship in Alberta.

Photos by Richard Gray, World Curling Federation

Team USA round robin scores: Canada 8, USA 7 Switzerland 11, USA 7 China 8, USA 4 Korea 8, USA 3 USA 7, Scotland 2 USA 9, Germany 7 USA 10, Italy 1 USA 6, Czech Republic 4 USA 7, Russia 2 USA 6, Sweden 5 (extra end) USA 8, Denmark 5

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

mAY 2012

13

American men finish eighth in Switzerland

by Terry Kolesar, Editor

2012 men’s World Championship Basel, Switzerland Round Robin Canada 10-1 Scotland 8-3 Norway 8-3 Sweden 7-4 New Zealand 7-4 China 6-5 Denmark 6-5 USA 4-7 Switzerland 3-8 France 3-8 Germany 2-9 Czech Republic 2-9

T

eam USA ended its week on a high note with a 7-6 win over the Czech Republic to finish eighth overall at the 2012 World Men’s Championship at St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland.

With the defeat of Jiri Snitil’s team, Heath McCormick (Sarnia, Ontario) and teammates Bill Stopera (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.), Martin Sather (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.), Dean Gemmell (Short Hills, N.J.) and Craig Brown (Madison, Wis.) finish with a 4-7 overall record and earned five points for the United States toward qualifying for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

“It was a nice way to end a disappointing week,” McCormick said. “I think we’re all going to learn something, and hopefully we’ll get back at this and use these experiences for future world championships and the Olympic Trials. My guys have not played in a lot of big events, and we have not all played in a world championship before so I think everybody learned a few things on and off the ice. I think we’ll be better if we get the opportunity again.”

Canada’s Glenn Howard defeated Scotland’s Tom Brewster, 8-7, in an extra end to win the 2012 world championship title.

Sweden’s Sebastian Kraupp rink – playing without skip Niklas Edin, who was injured – defeated Norway’s Thomas Ulrsud rink, 9-8, in an extra end to win the bronze medal.

“It was important to win, for some Olympic points and so on and so forth, but we were good tonight. It was a tight game, we missed a couple of key shots but held in there and were able to come through in the end,” McCormick said.

The final round robin win was also the difference between an 11th place finish and just two Olympicqualifying points compared to an eighth-place finish and five points.

The U.S. had an opportunity for two set up in the first end but McCormick’s draw was heavy and Czech vice skip Martin Snitil swept it out of the rings.

The U.S. had full control of the second end until McCormick missed a takeout with his final stone and the Czechs were able to draw for two. The U.S. had a deuce set up again in the

*Sweden New Zealand

USA skip Heath McCormick (above) yells out to his sweepers during round robin play at the 2012 World Men’s Curling Championship in Basel, Switzerland. USA’s Martin Sather (below, left) and Bill Stopera sweep a lead stone.

Photos by Richard Gray, World Curling Federation

third end until Jiri Snitil was able to convert a double takeout with his final stone and McCormick had to settle for a draw for one.

The U.S. would get one of those lost points back in the third end when McCormick played a perfect hit, and rolled his shooter behind the Czech rock in the eight-foot. Jiri Snitil was off target with his promotion takeout and never made contact with the American stone. The American men continued to control the match and had five stones scattered around the house when Jiri Snitil drew his final rock into the four-foot for a single in the fifth.

The U.S. scored two points when McCormick made a hit and roll with his first stone and a promotion takeout with his second.

The Americans again got multiple rocks in play and forced Snitil to draw for a single in the seventh to maintain the lead.

The U.S. got a nice end set up in the eighth and capitalized when Czech second Jindrich Kitzberger left his draw well short of the house. Already with two

Tiebreaker: 210 200 5xx x – 10 000 020 0xx x – 2

Scotland *Canada

Page Playoffs 1-2: 000 110 102 10 – 6 001 001 040 01 – 7

Sweden *Norway

Page Playoffs 3-4: 012 200 201 0 – 8 100 011 020 1 – 6

Sweden *Scotland

Semifinal: 010 101 101 1 – 6 101 030 020 0 – 7

Norway *Sweden

Bronze medal: 001 020 210 20 – 8 200 203 001 01 – 9

gold medal: Scotland 100 201 020 10 – 7 *Canada 003 010 201 01 – 8 *last stone in first end Colin Campbell Sportsmanship Award recipient: Sean Becker, vice skip, New Zealand Team USA stats/rankings: Skip, Heath McCormick, 73%, 11th (tie) Vice skip, Bill Stopera, 77%, 10th Second, Martin Sather, 76%, 10th Lead, Dean Gemmell, 82%, 9th Alternate, Craig Brown, 79%, 4 games Team, 77%, 11th (tie)

stones in the rings, the U.S. drew in a third counter, but Martin Snitil answered with a raise to move a Czech rock onto the button. When Jiri Snitil tried to guard the stone, he was heavy and actually tapped the U.S. rock onto the button and moved the former Czech shot rock out of scoring contention. McCormick tried to guard to prevent an additional tap but left an opportunity for Snitil, who was unable to make the most of it. Instead of just being content with the one point secured already on the button, the U.S. played a promotion takeout, possibly for three points, but still ended up with one after the

measurement.

The Czechs capitalized on a miss by McCormick with his final rock of the ninth end to draw for two and tie the game at 6-6.

The 10th end didn’t go exactly as planned for the U.S. but McCormick saved the game with a draw through a port of five scattered guards to finally remove the Czech shot stone on the button with his first rock. Jiri Snitil answered with a draw down into the four-foot and looked to have the scoring point so McCormick had to throw his last rock and

nudged it out of the way for the win.

“As early as Tuesday we knew we were in big trouble, so we had to start changing from trying to make the playoff mode to trying to get some Olympic points and trying to have some fun at the same time – I think we managed to do that fairly well,” McCormick said.

2014 Oympic Winter games Qualification Points Standings – men Country 2012 2013 Total Canada 14 14 Scotland 12 12 Sweden 10 10 Norway 9 9 New Zealand 8 8 China 7 7 Denmark 6 6 *Russia – Automatic berth USA Switzerland France Germany Czech Republic

USA’s Dean Gemmell (left) and Bill Stopera sweep during round robin action of the Men’s Worlds in Basel, Switzerland. The U.S. men finished eighth overall.

Photo by Richard Gray, World Curling Federation

USA round robin game scores: Germany 8, USA 6 France 8, USA 6 Canada 8, USA 7 USA 7, Denmark 6 China 7, USA 5 USA 10, Sweden 1 Norway 9, USA 4 Switzerland 7, USA 5 USA 10, New Zealand 4 Scotland 8, USA 6 USA 7, Czech Republic 6

5 4 3 2 1

5 4 3 2 1

*Russia as host country for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games has guaranteed qualification. **Points for Great Britain are gained by Scotland at World Wheelchair Curling Championships.

How Olympic berths are gained: At the conclusion of the 2013 World Champoinships, the top seven nations plus Russia as host earn berths to the 2014 Olympic Games. The final two spots will be determined at a World Curling Federation challenge event Dec. 11-14, 2013 (site TBA) to bring the total field to 10 teams.

mAY 2012

14

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

Washington women, Minnesota men clinch 2012 Club Nationals titles 2012 Club National Championships Women’s Round Robin Minnesota (St. Paul) 8-1 Washington I (Granite) 8-1 California I (San Francisco) 7-2 North Dakota I (Grand Forks) 6-3 Illinois (Chicago) 5-4 Washington II (Granite) 5-4 Colorado (Denver) 3-6 North Dakota II (Grafton) 2-7 Michigan (Detroit) 2-7 California II (San Francisco) 1-8

by Terry Kolesar, Editor

T

he Washington women and the Minnesota men captured the 2012 USA Curling Club National Championships March 10 at the Mankato Curling Club in Mankato, Minn.

Em Good and the Washington ladies won the region’s first-ever gold medal at the Club Nationals as Good’s Granite Curling Club team defeated Shelly Kinney of Minnesota, 7-6.

Good clinched the gold medal with a last-rock takeout to score three points for the win at the Mankato Curling Club. Good (Seattle) and teammates Jill Lamberts (Seattle), Jennifer Westhagen (Seattle) and Hannah Volkman (Shoreline, Wash.) upgraded to gold after a silvermedal finish last year.

In the bronze medal game, North Dakota’s Beth Bohlman rink defeated California’s Gabrielle Coleman, 7-6.

Kinney’s St. Paul Curling Club team of Amy Lou Anderson (Plymouth, Minn.), Theresa Hoffoss (Minneapolis, Minn.), Julie Smith (St. Paul, Minn.) and Jennifer Vieth (Hastings, Minn.) held a two-rock lead heading into the 10th end but guards got left in front of the house, which allowed Washington to pile rocks into the house. The lead changed throughout the game with Minnesota holding an early 3-2 lead at the break after Good was forced to make a takeout for one. Washington then stole two in the sixth end when Kinney inadvertently chipped in a second Washington stone on her final shot.

Minnesota was forced to hit for a single in the seventh end to tie the game at 4-4. The St. Paul teammates put the pressure on Washington in the eighth end with Kinney drawing around stones in the top of the eight-foot to put a stone into scoring position.

Good’s takeout attempt jammed and Minnesota stole a single. Kinney’s squad applied the pressure again in the ninth end and stole one more point when Good’s final stone wrecked on a center guard. The 10th end didn’t go as planned for Minnesota, however, as Washington quickly got two stones in the house behind guards that Minnesota had trouble removing. Kinney’s final takeout left her in scoring position, but the

Semifinals: *Minnesota 210 031 01x x – 8 North Dakota 001 100 10x x – 3 *Washington California

103 000 010 3 – 8 020 011 101 0 – 6

Bronze medal: North Dakota 002 011 201 0 – 7 *California 120 100 010 1 – 6 gold medal: *Minnesota 100 200 111 0 – 6 Washington 010 012 000 3 – 7 *last stone in first end

2012 USA Curling Club National Champions include Washington’s team of (l-r) Hannah Volkman, Jennifer Westhagen, Jill Lamberts and Em Good and Minnesota’s team of Aaron Wald, Trevor Andrews, Attituc Wallace and Josh Bahr.

stone didn’t get the roll they had anticipated and Good had an open takeout for three and the win.

Bohlman and teammates Kyleigh Smith, Amy Bushaw, Dawn Zimney and Gail Ingwalson (all of Grand Forks, N.D.) fell behind early to California as Coleman (Mountain View, Calif.) and her team of Regan Mizuno (Menlo Park, Calif.), TC Altus (Campbell, Calif.) and Stacey MacNeil (San Jose, Calif.) took a 3-0 lead after stealing two points in the second end. North Dakota didn’t take its first lead until stealing two points in the seventh end. After limiting California to singles in the eighth and 10th ends, North Dakota clinched its second straight bronze medal.

Two-time U.S. junior champion Aaron Wald of Minnesota led his team to a gold-medal victory over Seattle’s Doug Kauffman to win the men’s title.

Wald’s Bemidji Curling Club teammates Trevor Andrews, Josh Bahr and Atticus Wallace (all of Bemidji, Minn.) earned the 9-5 win and their first Club Nationals title. This is Minnesota’s fifth overall win and third straight at this event, which began in 2005. Greg Wilson’s team from Illinois had to go to an extra end to defeat Roger Smith’s North Dakota squad, 9-8, for the bronze medal.

After Minnesota jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead after two ends, Kauffman

(Edmonds, Wash.) and his Granite Curling Club team of John Rasmussen (Edmonds, Wash.), Ken Trask (Seattle) and Andrea Callegari (Seattle) got on the scoreboard with a deuce and then stole a single in the fourth end when Wald attempted an angle raise takeout using a stone out in the weeds that didn’t convert. Wald’s team got back on track in the fifth end and tried to split two stones at the top of the rings into the house for three but settled for two to extend the lead to 6-3.

Washington was forced to a single in the sixth but they kept pace by holding Minnesota to a takeout for one point in the seventh.

Minnesota applied pressure in the eighth end and made Kauffman draw for a single to pull within three points again. Washington made Minnesota earn its single in the ninth and ran out of rocks in the 10th when Wald made an open takeout.

The bronze medal game was back-and-forth as well with Smith (Bismarck, N.D.) and his Capital Curling Club teammates Curt Bradbury (Bismarck, N.D.), Matthew Shappell (Steele, N.D.) and Todd Ussatis (Bismarck, N.D.) taking the early lead.

However, Wilson (Vernon Hills, Ill.) and his Chicago Curling Club team of David Durrant (Chicago), Michael Rane (Glencoe, Ill.), Jim Wilson (Winnetka, Ill.) and Colin Rittgers (Highland Park, Ill.) took control in

the second half with two ends in which they scored three points to maintain a lead. Trailing by two points in the 10th end, Smith’s rink was able to get the necessary points in the house and survived to play an extra end when Wilson couldn’t convert the double takeout. In the extra end, however, Wilson connected with a draw into the eightfoot to secure the bronze medal for Illinois.

2012 Club National Championships men’s Round Robin North Dakota (Capital) Illinois (Chicago) Minnesota (Bemidji) Washington (Granite) Colorado (Denver) Michigan (Detroit) Wisconsin (Superior) New Jersey (Plainfield) Utah (Ogden) California (Hollywood)

8-1 7-2 6-3 6-3 5-4 5-4 3-6 3-6 2-7 0-9

Semifinals: *North Dakota 100 10x xxx x – 2 Washington 034 03x xxx x – 10 *Illinois Minnesota

010 201 010 0 – 5 101 010 100 3 – 7

Bronze medal: North Dakota 200 101 101 20 – 8 *Illinois 011 030 030 01 – 9 gold medal: Washington 002 101 010 0 – 5 *Minnesota 220 020 101 1 – 9 *last stone in first end

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

Curling News UNITED STATES

mAY 2012

15

USA teams finish 5th, 14th at World Seniors

by Terry Kolesar, Editor

P

am Oleinik and the American ladies finished fifth after an 8-5 tiebreaker loss to Scotland at the 2012 World Senior Championships at the Tårnby Curling Club just outside Copenhagen, Denmark.

The U.S. men, led by Ian Journeaux (Plover, Wis.), had an up-and-down week and finished ranked 14th overall with a 3-4 record in their round robin group.

Oleinik (Brookfield, Wis.) and teammates Laurie Rahn (Lake Forest, Ill.), Stephanie Martin (Barrington, Ill.), Julie Denten (Northbrook, Ill.) and Joni Cotten (Mount Prospect, Ill.) never led in the match against Barbara Watt “This game was very close, there were a lot of rocks in play every end.

You always hear the quote ‘you’re on the wrong side of the inch’ on taps and hits and that was sometimes the case with us,” Cotten said.

“We had an in-turn open hit to tie and take the game into overtime (an extra end), but it didn’t get made, so you wish the other team well in the semifinal, that’s how curling goes.”

Scotland went on to win its semifinal game but couldn’t earn the gold medal when the Canadian ladies defeated them 12-2 in the final. Sweden got past New Zealand, 10-3, to win the bronze.

“For two of the girls here, the front end players, Stephanie and Julie, this is their first world experience.

They played really well, rose up to the challenge.

Without question the team has learned a lot,” Cotten said. “You have all this international flavor here, so when you’re playing in a championship mode, there’s practices and referees and certain things that go along with this. It’s always a learning experience and what you take away from this, win or lose, is that you want so badly to get back again – it drives you.”

Journeaux (Plover, Wis.) and teammates David Carlson (Portage, Wis.), Timothy Funk (McFarland, Wis.), Kenneth Spatola (McFarland, Wis.) and Mark Swandby (Madison, Wis.) were eliminated from playoff contention after suffering a 6-4 loss to Switzerland near the conclusion of the round robin.

The American men began the tournament with backto-back losses before defeating Scotland to get in the win column. It was an uphill battle after that as the Americans really needed to win out at this point to try to make the quarterfinals.

The rest of the week was highlighted with wins over Latvia and Russia coupled with losses to England and the Swiss men.

Ireland went on to capture the men’s gold-medal with a single steal in the extra end to win the nation’s first-ever gold

2012 World Senior Championships Women’s Round Robin group A Canada 6-0 Scotland 4-2 USA 4-2 Ireland 3-3 Denmark 2-4 Finland 1-5 Russia 1-5 group B: Sweden 6-0 New Zealand 5-1 Switzerland 4-2 Czech Republic 3-3 Japan 2-4 Italy 1-5 Slovakia 0-6 Tiebreaker: 200 120 21 – 8 011 003 00 – 5

*Scotland USA

Semifinals: Canada 100 501 00 – 7 *New Zealand 021 010 11 – 6 Sweden *Scotland

000 300 20 – 5 111 041 01 – 9

Bronze medal: New Zealand 010 101 0x – 3 *Sweden 201 040 3x – 10 gold medal: Scotland 010 100 0x – 2 *Canada 202 032 3x – 12 *last stone in first end

USA’s Pam Oleinik (back) watches as Julie Denten (left) and Stephanie Martin sweep during round robin action at the 2012 World Senior Championships in Denmark.

Photo by Richie Laurie, World Curling Federation

medal in curling. Sweden defeated Norway, 8-4, to earn the bronze medal.

The 2013 World Senior Championships will take place April 13-20 in Fredericton, New

Brunswick, Canada. The U.S. teams will be determined at the 2013 USA Curling Senior National Championships, Jan. 23-27 (site to be determined).

The USWCA would like to thank our Circuit Sponsors for their support of this past season’s Successful Event: HotShots Curling Camp Visit their Website for Upcoming Camps www.hotshotscurling.com

USA’s Ken Spatola (above, left) and Ken Funk sweep during the 2012 World Seniors in Denmark. Men’s skip Ian Journeaux below, left) watches his stone curl down the ice. USA vice skip Laurie Rahn (bottom, right) keeps her eyes on the broom as she delivers a rock.

USA round robin results: USA 8, Ireland 4 Canada 12, USA 1 USA 11, Russia 3 USA 9, Denmark 3 Scotland 6, USA 5 USA 7, Finland 2 men’s Round Robin group A Canada New Zealand Scotland Italy Japan Netherlands Hungary group B Ireland Finland Switzerland England USA Latvia Russia Slovakia

7-0 6-1 5-2 3-4 3-4 3-4 1-6 0-7

group C Norway Sweden Australia Germany Austria Czech Republic Wales Denmark

6-1 6-1 6-1 4-3 2-5 2-5 1-6 1-6

*Italy Scotland

Tiebreaker 010 002 020 – 5 102 010 102 – 7

Quarterfinal qualification game: Switzerland 002 002 010 – 5 *Scotland 010 110 201 – 6 Scotland *Canada

Quarterfinals: 001 001 00 – 2 100 020 02 – 5

Australia *Norway

010 110 0x – 3 101 004 0x – 6

*Ireland Finland

101 011 4x – 8 010 300 0x – 4

*Sweden New Zealand

002 102 00 – 5 000 010 12 – 4

*Sweden Canada *Ireland Norway

Rockit Gurl Visit www.Rockitgurl.com for information on apparel and philosophy.

6-0 4-2 3-3 3-3 3-3 2-4 0-6

*Sweden Norway

Semifinals: 201 010 1x – 5 030 303 0x – 9 010 002 101 – 5 100 020 010 – 4 Bronze medal: 003 030 2x – 8 100 102 0x – 4

gold medal: Ireland 000 400 011 – 6 *Canada 001 012 100 – 5 *last stone in first end USA round robin results: Finland 5, USA 2 Ireland 7, USA 3 USA 8, Scotland 2 England 7, USA 2 USA 10, Latvia 3 Switzerland 6, USA 4 USA 9, Russia 3

16

Curling News UNITED STATES

mAY 2012

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

Eight ends or 10? You can help decide

by Jim Pleasants, USCA President & Past VP of Championships The spring Board of Directors meeting and annual Members Meeting took place April 20-22 in Bloomington, Minn. Several of the USCA’s committees met in conjunction. Here are some highlights from the Championships Committee: • A poll will be taken of past participants in the mixed national

championship and club national championships asking how they would feel about reducing the games to eight ends.

• Discounts for early playdown registration will return next year.

• A USCA icemaker will be sent to the Club Nationals in 2013, recognizing that this has become our most popular championship (80 men’s teams and 23 women’s teams registered for playdowns).

• The Men’s and Women’s

Senior National Championships will return to its traditional calendar slot and will take place Jan. 1630, 2013.

• Melissa Fox has been elevated to a Level 3 official.

• The 2013 Winter World University Games have been changed to take place Dec. 11-21, 2013, in Trentino, Italy. The event was previously set to take place in Maribor, Slovenia, in January 2013 but the host city had to back out

Host sites needed for upcoming championships

by Christy Hering, USA Curling Administrative Assistant & Site Selection Committee Member

U

SA Curling is currently looking for clubs interested in hosting a curling championship event/playdown for the 2012-13 and 201314 seasons. If you have never hosted a USA Curling championship event, now is your chance! Clubs that host play an important role in the qualifying which determines our national teams, and in turn our Olympic Teams as well. Without you, none of this would be possible.

Host sites are still needed for the following 2012-13 events: • U.S. Mixed Doubles, Dec. 6-9 • Men’s Qualifier Midwest North, Jan. 2-6 • Men’s Qualifier Midwest South: Jan. 2-6 (bid pending from Medford) • Men’s Qualifier West: Jan. 2-6 • Men’s Challenge Round: Jan. 17-20 • U.S. Senior Nationals, Jan. 23-27 (bid pending from Fairbanks) • Mixed National Championship, March 16-23 For the 2013-14 season, we are accepting bids for all championship events.

Please note that the bid process for the

National Championships is separate.

Please be aware that many events are accordion in nature, meaning that the start and end dates are moveable, depending upon how many teams are participating.

A document outlining some of the benefits your club can look forward to when hosting an event as well as a host bid form can be found on the USA Curling website at both www.curlingrocks.net and www.usacurl.org/curlingrocks, which is the championships portal of the website. Bid forms need to be turned in to christy.hering@usacurl.org by June 15. Your bid will then be forwarded to the Championship Committee for review.

We hope you will strongly consider the possibility of hosting a 2012-13 championship event. If you have any questions or need further information to make your decision, you may contact any of the following people: • Dean Gemmell, Site Selection Committee member, 862-216-6096 or dgemmell@thecurlingshow.com • Dawn Leurquin, Event Services Manager, 715-344-1199, Ext. 201 or dawn.leurquin@usacurl.org • Christy Hering, Administrative Assistant, 715-344-1199, Ext. 207, or christy.hering@usacurl.org.

Upcoming championship dates and sites Event 2013 U.S. Wheelchair Team Selection 2013 Mixed Doubles Championship 2013 Nationals Men’s Qualifying Round 2013 Continental Cup 2013 Nationals Challenge Round 2013 Junior Nationals 2013 Senior National Championships 2013 National Championships 2013 World Wheelchair Championship 2013 World Junior Championships 2013 Club National Championships 2013 U.S. College National Championship 2013 U.S. Mixed Championship 2013 World Women’s Championship 2013 World Men’s Championship 2013 World Senior Championships 2013 World Mixed Doubles Championship

2014 U.S. Olympic Team Trials 2013 World University Games 2014 U.S. Junior Nationals 2014 Olympic Winter Games 2014 Paralympic Winter Games

2012-13 season Dates Oct. 18-21 Dec. 6-9 Jan. 2-6 Jan. 10-13 Jan. 17-20 Jan. 26-Feb. 2 Jan. 23-27 Feb. 9-16 Feb. 16-23 Feb. 28-March 10 March 2-9 March 8-10 March 16-23 March 16-24 March 30-April 7 April 13-20 April 13-20 2013-14 season Nov. 11-16 Dec. 11-21 TBA Feb. 7-23 March 7-16

Site Madison, Wis. TBA The Country Club + 3 other sites TBA Penticton, British Columbia Rochester, N.Y. Wayland, Mass.

TBA Green Bay, Wis. Sochi, Russia Sochi, Russia TBA Duluth, Minn.

TBA Riga, Latvia Victoria, British Columbia Fredericton, New Brunswick Fredericton, New Brunswick

Scheels Arena, Fargo, N.D. Trentino, Italy Seattle, Wash.

Sochi, Russia Sochi, Russia

due to financial difficulties. How the U.S. teams are selected for the 2013 WWUG will be determined

by USA Curling’s High Performance Director, Derek Brown, and an advisory group.

• Host venues for several 201213 playdowns as well as for the 2013-14 season are needed. If your club is interested in hosting a playdown, check out the host bid package on the USA Curling website at www.usacurl.org/curlingrocks.

Athletes make generous donations

by Dawn Leurquin, Event Services Manager The 2010-11 season showed just how cool our competitive curlers could be by providing close to $150 in donations within their online registrations for playdowns.

The 2011-12 season showed even greater support from our competitive athletes with donations totaling more than $1,000! The biggest donation made individually was $50 and the smallest amounts were as little as $5. Some athletes who played in multiple events generously donated more than once.

It just goes to show that there really is power in

numbers!

With the U.S. Olympic Committee’s matching grant program, these donations from our athletes are doubled. And that makes our supporters exponentially cool!

Thank you to each and every athlete who contributed when paying their entry fees. We’re very proud of you and are happy that you see the value in USA Curling. Our members are our driving force and focal point. We’re glad that you see hope as we continue to grow and support our members and those who strive to become national and world champions.

Go curling! Support your sport!

The U.S. Curling Association is proud to recognize the following sponsors who support our sport and organization:

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

Curling News UNITED STATES

mAY 2012

17

Colorado curlers play big role in veterans clinics

by Matt Briston, Department of Veterans Affairs, Public Affairs Specialist

A

motley crew assembled inside the Aspen Ice Rink March 26 to learn the art of curling – men and women, black and white, young and old – all veterans of the United States Armed Forces. They came from across the country to Aspen, Colo., to take part in the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic.

The clinic provides disabled veterans with expert instruction in adaptive winter sports, including curling. On this day all eyes were on John West from the Broadmoor Curling Club near Colorado Springs as he traces the history of the sport. West has been curling for more than five decades, and his passion is evident, as he talks about adaptive curling.

Some in the audience seem a little Broadmoor Curling Club member John West apprehensive. Steve Sanner, a Marine assists Pete Ricotta at the National Disabled Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Aspen, Colo. is trying to figure out how to hit the Photos by Robin Risemas, Department of Veterans Affairs Photographer button when he can’t even see it. “I lost my eyesight three years ago,” said Sanner, who lives near Salt Lake City, Utah. But he’s willing to give it a try, and that’s enough to motivate West and align your chair with the target and get his team of instructors. you in a better position,” he said, help“The best part is when they realize ing Ricotta adjust. they don’t have a disability when it Adaptive curling may be a small comes to curling. They’re just as effecniche in the sport, but teaching it to tive on the ice as I am,” said Jean Otto, military veterans is clearly a labor of an instructor for the day from the love for West and his team. “A lot of Broadmoor Curling Club. Instructor times, they come out here and they’re Jorgette Krsulic agreed. “Curling lends like ‘Curling, what’s that?’” Otto said. itself to adaptability – the ice is the “But by the time they leave they are so great equalizer,” she said. pumped and can’t wait to come back.”

West heard about the Winter Sports That is exactly what the Winter Clinic while hosting a Learn to Curl Sports Clinic organizers hope to event in Aspen in 2006. He thought achieve – to inspire veterans as they ‘Why not open the sport to disabled rehabilitate from injury, illness or disveterans?’ and contacted the clinic ease. Adaptive sports can be powerful organizers and pitched the idea. The medicine, according to Clinic Director following year, curling was officially Teresa Parks, a certified recreation therintroduced. Since then, West calculates apist at the Grand Junction, Colo., that his team has taught 247 veterans Veterans Affairs Medical Center. “Our how to curl. goal is to help veterans redefine their As Sanner made his way to the ice, potential and give them a reason for he was greeted by his coach – Rusty hope,” she said. “Even small accomSchieber, assistant coach for the United plishments, like learning a new sport, States Paralympic Curling team. can help veterans heal both physically Schieber explains that the button is and emotionally.” about 120 feet away and guides Sanner Celebrating its 26th year, the through the motion of delivering the National Disabled Veterans Winter stone. Sanner bears down on his handle Sports Clinic has been a leader in helpand lets it rip. In his first curling throw, ing veterans with disabilities rehabiliSanner landed 20 feet short of the buttate by introducing them to adaptive ton. “I didn’t shove it too hard so I winter sports on the majestic Colorado think I can get there next time,” he said Rockies. with a look of determination.

All of the participants were veterans Nearby, West is coaching Pete with traumatic brain injuries, spinal Ricotta, an Air Force veteran who cord injuries, orthopedic amputations, served in the Gulf War. Ricotta, who visual impairments, certain neurological lives in Buffalo, N.Y., tried curling once conditions and other disabilities. This before at the Albany Curling Club and includes veterans who are enrolled for is eager to give it another go. He health care through the Department of wheels up to the line, sets his sights on Veterans Affairs (VA) and active duty the button and drives his handle formilitary servicemen and women. ward. His stone glides down the sheet, The Clinic, held March 25-30, 2012, stopping short of his mark. “I took a lit- is co-sponsored by VA and the Disabled tle bit off that one,” he said, clearly dis- American Veterans and made possible satisfied. “I’m not doing very well.” by a number of sponsors who make West is quick to seize a coaching monetary and in-kind donations. For moment and assured Ricotta that he has additional information, visit www.wina trick that will help. “We just need to tersportsclinic.va.gov.

Winners of the Dutch Shoe Bonspiel were (l-r) Jennifer Stannard, Joy Campisano, Maura Cockey and Jayne Beattie.

Albany Women’s The Dutch Shoe Bonspiel took place Feb. 23-26 at the Albany Curling Club in Albany, N.Y. Here are the results: 1EW—Nutmeg: Jennifer Stannard, Joy Campisano, Maura Cockey, Jayne Beattie 1ERU—Plainfield: Linda Carubia, Gail Knight, Cindy Vallier, Mary Lou Mitchell 2EW—Chesapeake: Julie Tsamoutales, Ruth Horton, Carol McKee, Pam Parks

2ERU—Albany: Ethel Cooper, Flo Sprinstead Jeanette Davidson, Chris Hall-Finney 3EW—Schenectady: Bette Sovik, Alice Rubin, Maureen Rice, Lisa Filkins 3ERU—Broomstones: Maria Spitzak, Amy Hawrylchak , Sian McAplin, Sarah Burns 4EW—Cape Cod: Martha Kenney, Carol Arakelian, Linda Pistilli, Martha Balas 4ERU—Petersham: Karen Simpson, Loree Haney, Sherri Dungan, Amy Gerstle

Winners of the 43rd Annual Evergreen Bonspiel at Mayfield Curling Club were (l-r) Dave Kaun, Ashley Falconer, Amanda Zufich and Jason Beierling.

mayfield Open The 43rd Annual Evergreen Bonspiel took place Feb. 23-26 at the Mayfield Curling Club in South Euclid, Ohio. Here are the results: 1EW—KW Granite: Dave Kaun, Amanda Zufich, Jason Beierling, Ashley Falconer 1ERU—Hamilton Victoria: John Scott, Judy Scott, Ken Phillips, Nancy Phillips 2EW—Mayfield: Robb Borland, Jeannie Borland, Dan Maisonville,

Mary Jane Maisonville 2ERU—Mayfield: Bill Forsythe IV, Beth Forsythe, Doug Dedolph, Rita Dedolph 3EW—Bayview Golf & Leaside: Neil Collinge, Keely Abbott, Karen Abbott, Ross Abbott 3ERU—Detroit: Linda Duby, Gerry Tortorelli, Susan Tortorelli, Jim McCutcheon 4EW—Mayfield: Rick Nosan, Cheryl Drake, Rick Drake, June Nosan 4ERU—Columbus: Bob Baroni, Barb Baroni, Karen Hamilton, Jerry Baugh

Winners of the Dar Curtis Bonspiel at Exmoor were (l-r) Dave Murawski, Sandy Stevenson, Phil Calcutt and John Brennan.

Exmoor Open The 67th Dar Curtis Bonspiel took place Feb. 25-26 at Exmoor Curling Club in Highland Park, Ill. Here are the results: 1EW—Exmoor: Sandy Stevenson, Phil Calcutt, John Brennan, Dave Murawski 1ERU—Chicago: Terry Nicola, Cheryl Dudeck, Andrius Eringis, Nicole Eringis 2EW—Chicago: Robert Corn, Pat Gellatly, Will Hsiung, Dan Laurence

2ERU—Chicago: David Meyer, Jim Klann, David Brieta, Karen Brieta, Cokey Evans 3EW—Chicago: Tri Banh, Sunil Joseph, Ray Laurin, Anthony Giannini 3ERU—Chicago: David Style, Denise Erazmus, Peter Erazmus, Tate Tobkin 4EW—Chicago: Mike Barry, Matt Sherry, Wes Strange, Pete Kahout 4ERU—Chicago: Ralph Bendler, Aidan O’Dowd-Ryan, Kevan Young, Luke Nienhaus

18

Curling News UNITED STATES

mAY 2012

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

Members can opt out of curlingrelated mail

by Sandy Robinson, USCA controller

Winners of the Twin City Iron Ranger Scholarship Bonspiel, Competitive Division, in St. Paul, Minn., were Art Ruohonen, Rich Ruohonen (skip), Chris Plys and Brad Caldwell.

A father-son duo won the first two events of the Howard Woodside Memorial Men’s Bonspiel in Stevens Point, Wis. Winning the first event was (front, l-r) Myles Brundidge, Brian Bush, Scott Stensberg and Tom Okray. The second event was won by the team of (l-r) Jed Brundidge, Ethan Brundidge, Drew Brundidge and Adam Oleson.

Stevens Point men’s The Howard Woodside Memorial Men’s Bonspiel took place March 9-11 at the Stevens Point Curling Club in Stevens Point, Wis. Here are the results: 1EW—Wausau: Myles Brundidge, Brian Bush, Scott Stensberg, Tom Okray 1ERU—Waupaca: Zach Waitrovich, Kirt Johsnon, Ryan Johnston, Ben Waitrovich 2EW—Tri-City: Jed Brundidge, Ethan Brundidge, Drew Brundidge, Adam

Oleson 2ERU—Eau Claire: Jim Beirne, Scott Biederman, John Bass, Len Vetch 3EW—Madison: Richard Berling, Brian DeBaker, Rick Hammes, John Fredericksen 3ERU—Appleton: Bob Kriewaldt, Beau Kriewaldt, Scott Armstrong, Greg Thoreson 4EW—Marshfield: Dana Haagenson, Steve Borgemoen, Andy Krahn, Mike Behling 4ERU—Marshfield: George Spindler, Rob Kraft, Lucas Olli, Ken Rotar

Winners of the Twin City Iron Ranger Scholarship Bonspiel’s Regular Division were (l-r) Dave Rugg, Howard Fulk, Chris Rugg and Mike Staffaroni.

St. Paul Open The 24th Annual Twin City Iron Ranger Scholarship Bonspiel was held Feb. 4-5 at the St. Paul Curling Club to raise scholarship money for students on Minnesota’s Iron Range. Here are the results: Competitive Division (20 teams):

1EW—St. Paul: Rich Ruohonen, Chris Plys, Brad Caldwell, Art Ruohonen 1ERU—Curl Mesabi: Tom Scott, Tom Schleppegrell, Mike Crea, Steve Schleppegrell Regular Division (20 teams): 1EW—St. Paul: Mike Staffaroni, Chris Rugg, Dave Rugg, Howard Fulk 1ERU—St. Paul: Tom Lickteig, Troy Lockwood, Todd Thomas, Mike Spragg

Winners of the Blackhawk Last Chance Bonspiel were (front, l-r) Bill Ehlert, Nate Beer, Jim Lisafeld and Sonny Villwock.

Runners-up were (back, l-r) Paul Rudkin, Phil Boutwell, Aaron Richards and Mark Olson.

Blackhawk men’s The Blackhawk Last Chance took place March 23-25 at the Blackhawk Curling Club in Janesville, Wis. Here are the results: 1EW–Pardeeville/Waltham: Bill Ehlert, Nate Beer, Jim Lisafeld, Sonny Villwock 1ERU–Blackhawk: Paul Rudkin, Phil Boutwell, Aaron Richards, Mark Olson 2EW–Madison: Tony Roth, Craig Lee, Chuck Evers, Garrett Perry

2ERU–Madison: Craig Cullum, Don Rottscheit, Bill Swanson, Chuck Basford 3EW–Pardeeville: Pete McCormick, Travis Phillips, Alex Taft, Andrew Smith 3ERU–Madison: Walt Erbach, Reed McGinn, Chris Stuntebeck, Mark Hartman 4EW–Kettle Moraine: Smiley Gebert, John Geason, Mike Neimon, Tim Koeppen 4ERU–Green Bay: Team Amundson

Winners of the Green Bay Shamrock Bonspiel were (l-r) Kate Wolter, Nikki Bernetich, Linda Even and Lisa Graff (skip).

Winners of Potomac’s Cherry Blossom Bonspiel were (l-r) Anne Hewitt, Pete Morelewicz, Catherine Coslick and Kim Belf.

Potomac Open The Cherry Blossom Bonspiel took place March 23-25 at the Potomac Curling Club in Laurel, Md. Here are the results: 1EW–Potomac: Catherine Coslick, Pete Morelewicz, Kim Belf, Anne Hewitt 1ERU–Ardsley: John Noble, Dan Tufaro, Matt Gallegos, David Wagenheim 2EW–Plainfield: Aaron Dubberley, Melanie Dubberley, Mike Matts, John

Pantina 2ERU–St. Catherine’s, Ontario: David Smith, Jane Barnett, Adrian Barnett, Jean Smith 3EW–Schenectady: Michael Stefanik, Ann Drummie, Chuck Skinner, Candace Stefanik 3ERU–Ardsley: Jeff Klein, Andy Eaton, Ken Hsu, Joe Panella 4EW–Triangle: Murray Jackson, Jim Jackson, Kathy Jackson, Maureen Jackson 4ERU–Potomac: Rob Chester, Bryan Breen, Mark Lawrence, Mike Ellison

2012 Badger State Games men’s gold medalists were (back, l-r) George Goyke, Gordon Hetzel, Greg Adams, Hank Bowman and Blair Slaminski (front).

USCA members’ personal information is collected by your club or state/region annually, listed in our online database, and kept unless you, your club or state/region indicate change or deletion. Your club’s information in this members-only database is available only to your club (or your club’s designee, e.g., your state/region) and the USCA office. In addition, each individual member has access to his/her own information.

The database is password protected and secured to a high standard. The USCA uses your name, mailing address and e-mail address primarily to mail your issues of the U.S. Curling News and to email Stone Soup. In addition, USCA policy allows for rental of the member mailing list to curling-related entities, such as vendors of curling clothing and equipment; hosts of bonspiels, curling championships and other curling-related events (such as instructional camps and seminars); USCA corporate sponsors; and clubs with nation-wide fundraising efforts. However, members can at any time decline to have their name and mailing address included in any rented lists through an “optout” process.

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USA Curling ... Dare to curl

UNITED STATES

mAY 2012

19

Nutmeg Open

Winners of North Dakota’s State Senior Curling Championships were (l-r) Doug Sturlaugson, Ken Sambor, Marvin Masset and Jon Mielke.

Winners of the Nutmeg NEON Junior Bonspiel were (l-r) Elizabeth Pettee, Ellen Schoder, Emily Winter and Abbey Suslavich (skip).

Nutmeg Junior The Third Annual Glow in the Dark and Nutmeg NEON Junior Bonspiel took place Feb. 24-26 at the Nutmeg Curling Club in Bridgeport, Conn. Here are the results: 1EW–Nutmeg: Abbey Suslavich, Emily Winter, Ellen Schoder, Elizabeth Pettee 1ERU–Broomstones: Jenna Burchesky, Lily Wadsworth, Allison Howell, Abby Morley, Abby Winter 2EW–Broomstones: Evan Mullaney,

Nick Glaser, Hunter Secor, Erin King 2ERU–Nutmeg: Stephen Scott, Robbie Suriani, Justin Arndt, Andrew Vojt 3EW–Schenectady: Sebastian Elliott, Blake Hagberg, Valerie Spencer, Sean White 3ERU–Schenectady: Julie Gaines, Jordan McBride, Linus Berglund, Connor Chew 4EW–Albany: Nick Van Eck, Aaron Bailey, Asaph Ko, Deanna Ryder 4ERU–Philadelphia: Rane Anderson, Sarah Ogawa, Susan Dudt, Sailor Anderson

Winners of the 2012 Miller Lite Mardi-Gras Bonspiel held at the Owatonna Curling Club in Owatonna, Minn., were (l-r) Aaron Olson, Darren Zempel, Jerah Flynn and Matt Whalen.

Winners of the Superior Northwest Bonspiel were (l-r) Seppo Sormunen, Roger Hendrickson, Pete Buerke and David Bopp.

Superior men’s

Winners of the 2012 Pardeeville Men’s Red Baron Bonspiel were (front, l-r) Neil Feil, Dave Kawecki, Bob Cuomo and Tim Koeppen. Runners-up were (back, l-r) Henry Hagenbuch, Keith Desjarles, John Thomson and Larry Wilson.

Pardeeville men’s The 2012 Pardeeville Men’s Red Baron Bonspiel took place Feb. 24-26 in Pardeeville, Wis. Here are the results: 1EW—Kettle Moraine: Neil Feil, Dave Kawecki, Bob Cuomo, Tim Koeppen 1ERU—Waltham: Henry Hagenbuch, Keith Desjarles, John Thomson, Larry Wilson 2EW—Waukesha: Bob Brenckle, Greg Dunlop, Jon Brenckle, Chris Dunahee

The Northwest Bonspiel took place March 2-4 at the Superior Curling Club in Superior, Wis. Here are the results: 1EW—Duluth: Seppo Sormunen, Roger Hendrickson, Pete Buerke, David Bopp 1ERU—Eau Claire: Ron Parks, Mike Peplinski, Stuart Lorentz, Bob Heacox 2EW—Port Arthur: Kory Carr, Len Carr, Jack Carr, Rob Carr 2ERU—Fort Frances: Adam Bolen,

Derek Jackson, Dale Jackson, Kyle Wodell 3EW—Superior: Bill Anderson, David Podratz, Bud Somerville, Ray Mickolajak 3ERU—Port Arthur: Kim Westlund, Eric Kwisses, Jim Hudson, Brian Ball 4EW—Duluth: Jess Brozic, Tom Brozic, Filipe DelSalvo, Reid Johnson 4ERU—Superior: Tony Nelson, Ron Bichler, Anders Silverness, Allan Watkins

2ERU—Blackhawk: Mark Olson, Tony Jacobson, Steve Cleveland, John Nelson 3EW—Poynette: Jim Falk, Jeff Falk, Louie Falk, Cody Falk 3ERU—Madison: Jason Hagenow, Mike Bennett, Sean Sagger, Nate Carlson 4EW—Madison: Rob Schultz, Mark Harris, Leo Schultz, Graham Hoke 4ERU—Pardeeville: Randy Branton, Stew Wild, Josh Heieke, Bob Schoenherr

The Golden Handle Bonspiel took place March 15-18 at the Nutmeg Curling Club in Bridgeport, Conn. Here are the results: 1EW—New York Caledonian: Jeff Lesuk, Robin Gestring, Katie MacKinley, Matt Gallegos 1ERU—Plainfield: John Wilman, Barbara Klug, Dean Roth, Seanna Miller 2EW—Nutmeg: Diane Muldowney, Vic Huebner, Chris Conley, Karen Shane 2ERU—Ocean State: Lou Urban, ToniMarie Achilli, Jason Achilli, Kevin Koretzki 3EW—Leaside (Ontario): Rob Cummings, Jackie Horner, Bill Horner, Mary Cummings 3ERU—Nutmeg III: J. Michael Kriz, Jonathan Gibbons, John Lawson, Ron Herrick 4EW—Nutmeg IV: Sean Mayne, Mike Hope, Matt Bertonica, Heather Mercik 4ERU—Albany/Potomac: Marilyn Goldstein, Martha Naber, Eric Goldstein, Dimitri Garder 5EW—Bayview (Ontario)/Nutmeg: Doug Cummings, Steve Mannik, Sil Mannik, Michele Cummings 5ERU—Nutmeg: Jim Meinhold, Peter De Jong, Casey Hardin, Trish Ryan

Schenectady Open The Schenectady Open Bonspiel took place Feb. 2-5 in Schenectady, N.Y. Here are the results: 1EW–Thistle (Canada): Kevin Adams, Elaine de Ryk, Sonny Normandin, Barb Verhoef 1ERU–Schenectady: Jack Stopera, Nancy Wurth, Dave Hooper, Denis Quinn 2EW–Lacolle (Canada): Perry Anderson, Denise Anderson, Paul Dingman, Janet Dingman 2ERU–Schenectady: Eileen Kelliher, Susan Streeter, Lori Millet, Barb Kimmie 3EW–Broomstones: Bryan Fink, Sue Fink, Dave Fink, Nancy Myers 3ERU–Schenectady: Victor Rodriguez, Art Merkley, Lisa Nieradka, Liz Lansing 4EW–Schenectady: Brian Damon, Brandon Alois, Sara Machand, Nate Alois 4ERU–Utica: John Davis, Kathy Davis, Jim Rishel, Jan Rishel

Tri-City men’s The 54th Tri-City Men’s Bonspiel took place March 2-4 in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. Here are the results: 1EW–Portage: Harry Erdman, Chuck Miller, Ron Holl, Arlie Klipstein 1ERU–Rice Lake: Greg Dahl, Bill Kind, Chris Buergi, Mark Berger 2EW–Eau Claire: Chris McMahon, Brad Ewert, Ken Krueger, Dan Herzberg 2ERU–Alpine: Brian Woelfel, Steve Johnson, Mike Taft, Matt Olson 3EW–Portage: Don Wagner, Jake Wagner, Jason Brandsma, Jim Swan 3ERU–Poynette: Stew Wild, Jim Falk, Mark Kretzmann, Peter Caldwell 4EW–Green Bay: Tim Amundson, Bob Lex, Tim Christman, Dan Scott 4ERU–Green Bay: Dale Stensberg, Morris Koepke, Mike Hannon, Harry Maier

Wauwatosa men’s Winners of the MoPac Five-and-Under Bonspiel were (l-r) Ralston Barnes, Mike Greenberg, Phil Lorin and Roland Gong of the San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club.

granite Open

Winners of the Last Chance Bonspiel, which took place March 30-April 1 in Hibbing, Minn., were Duluth’s Dustin Tomasetti, John Landsteiner, John Shuster (skip) and Eric Beste.

The Mountain Pacific Region’s Five-and-Under Bonspiel took place April 21-22 at the Granite Curling Club in Seattle. Here are the results: 1EW– San Francisco Bay Area: Mike Greenberg, Phil Lorin, Roland Gong, Ralston Barnes 1ERU–San Francisco Bay Area: Jesus Barajas, Jessica Tudor, Evan Elliot, Kate Garfinkel 2EW–San Francisco Bay Area: Andy Trapani, Danny Trapani, Chris Trapani,

Michael Fox 2ERU–Hollywood: Matt Gamboa, Peter Hagstrand, John George, Ashlee George 3EW–Orange County: Amanda Calhoun, Adriana Camarena, Stephen Wolff, Olivia Wolff 3ERU–San Francisco Bay Area: David Wiesen, Adam Kapp, Dan Myers, Chris Mina 4EW–San Francisco Bay Area: Tom Dias, Brian Davidson, Matt Dance, Kate Gardiner 4ERU–Evergreen: Joe Petsche, Patton Echoles, Patrick Julian

The 71st Annual Wauwatosa Men’s Invitational Men’s Bonspiel took place March 9-11. Here are the results: 1EW–Stevens Point: Ian Journeaux, Dave Carlson, Tim Funk, Ken Spatola 1ERU–Wauwatosa: Greg Touchette, Mike Elwing, Erich Gross, Doug Dryczinski 2EW–Winona Yacht and Gun Club: David Brown, Dan Brown, Mark Brown, Thom Kieffer 2ERU–Wauwatosa: Neil Freund, Peter Muller, Andrew Bergeson, Jason Platek 3EW–Milwaukee: Matt Goelzer, Fred Blizzard, Bill Geller, Curt Crimmins 3ERU¬¬–Chicago: Anthony Giannini, Tri Banh, Ray Laurin, Sunil Joseph 4EW–Madison: Dean Zoesch, Steve Hogan, Bob Como, Jim Stephens 4ERU–St Paul: Kraig Ketola, Don Hutchinson, Scott Masloroff, Tom Havas

20

Curling News UNITED STATES

mAY 2012

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

St. Paul Junior The 2012 Kyle Satrom Memorial Junior Bonspiel took place Feb. 10-12 at the St. Paul Curling Club in St. Paul, Minn. Here are the results: Division A: 1EW—Mapleton: Will Howieson, Jesse Jaeger, Cole Jaeger, Tyler Lemmon 1ERU—Mapleton: Russell Passmore, Tanner Lemmon, Nick Osmundson 2EW—Waupaca: Hannah Johnson, Sylvia Veleker, Jacci Cuff, Cydney Pufahl 2ERU—Capital: Cullen Reiser, Kaelen Kosse, Ross Neumann, Sam Swanson 3EW—Waupaca: Zac Waitrovich, Ryan Johnston, Dan Wasrud, Austin Schroeder 3ERU—St. Paul: Derek Peterson, Ali Creeger, Alex Patterson, Ian Mathis 4EW—Mankato: Melissa Runing, Katelyn Furst, Aly Deegan, Katie Flannery 4ERU—St. Paul: Aly Pascuzzi, Noah Johnson, Emma Ausen, Liese Peterson Division B: 1EW—Waupaca: Anthony Knoeck, Aubrey Schroeder, Alyssa Knoeck, Ben Waitrovich 1ERU—Mapleton: Sam Huck, Nick Steinhaus, Trevor Lemmon, Seth Doering 2EW—Mapleton: Jared Moore, Nathan Moore, Eric Langworthy, Lincoln Arndt 2ERU—Bemidji: Emily Quello, Hope Puro, Tyra Langhout, Katie Sanford 3EW—Hibbing: Patrick Stahl, Justin Barrett, Grant Monsrud, Zach Lee 3ERU—Mankato: Aimee Hiniker, Mackenzie Page, Abbie Page, Bethany Hiniker 4EW—St. Paul: Zelda Tobias-Kotyk, Anya Normandeau, Hannah Ruohonen, Brianna Ruth, Mairin Barrett 4ERU—Stevens Point: Suzanna Viau, Rachel Kawleski, Sydnie Schneider, Anissa Zaske

Division A winners of the Kyle Satrom Junior Bonspiel were (l-r) Will Howieson, Jesse Jaeger, Cole Jaeger and Tyler Lemmon.

milwaukee mixed The 2012 Kiltie Bonspiel took place Jan. 6-7 at the Milwaukee Curling Club.

Here are the results: The results are as follows: 1EW—Exmoor: E.J. Stern, Debbie Lange, Paul Lange, Carol Falasz 1ERU—Chicago: Greg Touchette, Julie Denten, Eric Gross, Stephanie Martin 2EW–Kettle Moraine: Ken Van Till, Pat Van Till, John Geason, Stella Geason

2ERU—Madison: Rich Lepping, Cindy Godar, Tom Godar, Beth Lepping 3EW—Chicago: Colin Rittgers, Michele Rittgers, Wilson Gottschild, Karrie Gottschild 3ERU—St. Paul: Howard Fulk, Judy Fulk, Craig Carlson, Carol Carlson 4EW—Chicago: David Durrant, Marilyn Wilson, Bob Wilson, Kathy Thalmann 4ERU—Chicago: Terry Nicola, Cheryl Dudeck, Will Hsiung, Nicole Eringis

Divison B winners of the Kyle Satrom Junior Bonspiel were (l-r) Anthony Knoeck, Ben Waitrovich, Alyssa Knoeck and Aubrey Schroeder.

Winners of the Plainfield Bonsqueal were (l-r) Jason Valetutto, Derek Surka (skip), Scott Burns and Charrissa Lin.

Plainfield Open

Winners of the Kettle Moraine Mixed Bonspiel were (l-r) Marc Palmeri, Haley Yaple, Rob Yaple and Rita Cook.

Winners of the 2012 Kiltie bonspiel were (l-r) Debbie Lange, Paul Lange, Carol Falasz and E.J. Stern.

The 2012 Bonsqueal Mardi Hogs took place April 11-15 at the Plainfield Curling Club in South Plainfield, N.J. Here are the results: 1EW–Nutmeg/Plainfield: Derek Surka, Jason Valetutto, Charrissa Lin, Scott Burns 1ERU–Coastal Carolina/Triangle: Brad Forrest, Sue Mitchell, Kalon Self, Kristy Brennan 2EW–Plainfield: Karl Andersen, Dan

Festerling, Frank Sharp, Sienna Miller 2ERU–Plainfield: Craig Ingwer, John O’Brien, Bryan Urbanowicz, Flo Urbanowicz 3EW–Philadelphia: Steve Meschino, Cindy Bush, Zac Grey, Dicky Scott 3ERU– Potomac: Doug Andrew, Laura Heuer, Arthur Heuer, Lisa Andrew 4EW–Nutmeg/Plainfield: Mike Hope, Giuseppe Russo, Sarah McCulloh, Jeff Kotz 4ERU–Plainfield: Bill Nickle, Sue Lindsay, Mickey Mangold, Sheila Nickle

Winners of the Arlington Senior Men’s Bonspiel were (front, l-r) Larry Manthe, Clif Erstad, Dave Qualle and Lewie Falk.

Runners-up were (back, l-r) Shane Lay, Tony Perma, Tom Wood and Steve Sirianni.

Arlington Senior men’s The Arlington and Poynette curling clubs hosted the 11th Annual Arlington Senior Men’s Bonspiel on March 23-24.

Here are the results: 1EW–Arlington: Lewie Falk, Dave Qualle, Clif Erstad, Larry Manthe 1ERU–Wausau: Steve Sirianni, Tom Wood, Tony Perma, Shane Ley 2EW–Portage: Harry Erdman, Chuck Miller, Joe Viney, Don Roeker 2ERU–Lodi: Gerald Peterson, Merlyn

Holerud, Pete Taylor, Jim Krinke 3EW–Arlington: Gary Hellenbrand, Bill Clemens, Bill Stewart, Al Jefson 3ERU–Madison: Steve O’Connor, Dan Lynch, Tony Wendricks, Al Hafeman 4EW–Poynette: Barney Lohan, Nick Panas, Jerry Trumm, Sam Sampolinski 4ERU–Poynette: Dick Schuster, Mark Kretzman, Tim Larson, Andy Ross 5EW–Arlington: Dan Deeren, Dan Schwarl, Mark Geiger, Randy Guthrie 5ERU–Waupaca: Jeff Martin, Tom Olmstead, Mike Tenant, Perry Schroeder

Kettle moraine mixed The Kettle Moraine Mixed Bonspiel took place Feb. 24-26 in Hartland, Wis. Here are the results: 1EW—Northwestern University: Marc Palmeri, Haley Yaple, Rob Yaple, Rita Cook 1ERU—Wauwatosa: Neil Freund, Cindy Scheuing, Steven Scheuing, Kristi Sachs 2EW—Blackhawk: James Krutilla, Pauline Krutilla, Paul Rudkin, Kimberly Rudkin 2ERU—St. Paul: Dennis Abraham, Meg Abraham, Jim Lillesve, Marti Lillesve 3EW—Racine/Alpine: David Wolter, Lisa Johnson, Bob Johnson, Jan Wolter 3ERU—Kettle Moraine: Larry Maier, Katie Carrera, Jeff Moylan, Cyndy Seitz 4EW—Wauwatosa: Michael Elwing, Pat Heim, Rick Heim, Holly Elwing 4ERU—Kettle Moraine: John Geason, Mary Rasmussen, Herb Rasmussen, Stella Geason 5EW—Chicago: Greg Touchette.

Michele Heinze, Doug Boyd, Carla Pryor 5ERU—Wauwatosa: Kara Sacia, Joe Corrao, Deb Holger, Pete Guenette

Winners of the 140th Gordon Emmett/GNCC Men’s Championship were (l-r) Rich Dimperio, Jeff Pulli, Jason Scott and Chris Lopez.

Schenectady men’s The 140th Gordon Emmett (GNCC Men’s Championship) took place March 8-10 at the Schenectady Curling Club in Schenectady, N.Y. Here are the results: 1EW—Rochester: Rich Dimperio, Jeff Pulli, Jason Scott, Chris Lopez 1ERU—Schenectady 2: Dan Machold, Dion Warr, Dave Hooper, Scott Brennan 2EW—Cape Cod: Russ Lemcke, Scott Tynell, John Kenney, Stephen O’Neill

2ERU—Albany 2: Steve Ryder, Ken Rice, Doug Shanley, Fred Mackintosh 3EW—Albany 1: Dan Keller, Bret Sentiwany, Dimitri Garder, Rick Nelville 3ERU—Broomstones 2: Dave Fink, Ted Paul, Rob Klees, Dan Muller 4EW—Schenectady 1: Brian Damon, Mike Stefanik, Pete Dreschler, Art Merkley 4ERU—Potomac 1: George Shirk, Richard Chin, Connor Mulvey, Nick Datlowe

Winners of the Marshfield Lobstein Mixed Bonspiel were (l-r) Craig DeGrand, Merrie DeGrand, Mary Neitzel and Pete Neitzel.

marshfield mixed The Marshfield Mixed Lobstein Bonspiel took place March 2-4 at the Marshfield Curling Club in Marshfield, Wis. Here are the results: 1EW–Wausau: Pete Neitzel, Merrie DeGrand, Craig DeGrand, Mary Neitzel 1ERU–Marshfield: Todd Besler, Julie Dietz, Rob Brown, Diane Schuenemann 2EW–Rice Lake: Steve Schleppegrell, Marlene Gargulak, Jim Gargulak, Kathy Laffin

2ERU–Marshfield: Jeff Schliesman, Karen Schliesman, Rob Schooley, Maria Judge 3EW–Marshfield: Luke Behling, Jillian Behling, Mike Behling, Lisa Behling 3ERU–Marshfield: George Spindler, Andrea Schmidt, Lucas Olli, Amberg Wigent 4EW–Stevens Point: Jack Konopacky, Karen Konopacky, Robin Engum, Jackie Engum 4ERU–Wausau: Dan Dougherty, Rebecca Nguyen, Scott Campbell, Tiffany Reilly

Curling News

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

UNITED STATES

mAY 2012

21

Nominate a great volunteer

Winners of the 77th Fairbanks International Bonspiel, women’s division, were (above, l-r) Joanne Hufman, Lacy Birklid Simko, Kaye Hufman and Cathy Shuttleworth. Winners of the 77th Fairbanks International Bonspiel, men’s division, were (at left, l-r) Pete Lundquist, Steve Shuttleworth, Greg Persinger and Jason Ostnes. The bonspiel’s theme was “Bondspiel” in memoriam to Roger Moore, longtime Fairbanks curler and icemaker.

Hall of Fame nominations sought

Winners of the Green Bay Junior Bonspiel competitive division were (l-r) Evan Jensen, Zach Taylor, Ron Bichler and Kelly Traska.

Winners of the Granite State Men’s Bonspiel were (l-r) Paul Sofuolis, Dan Dacey, Dan Naylor and Rick Purdy.

Nashua men’s The Granite State Men’s Bonspiel took place March 1-4 at the Nashua Country Club in Nashua, N.H. Here are the results: 1EW–Canadian Club of Boston: Paul Sofuolis, Dan Dacey, Dan Naylor, Rick Purdy 1ERU–Granite: Peter Lyons, Nate Clark, Ben Clark, Chris DuPre’ 2EW—Boston: Sam Williams, Bill

Chandler, Greg Eisenhauer, Jeff Marchand 2ERU–Nashua 1: Ed Clark, Mark Kanakis, David Annand, Doug Folkins 3EW–Can/Am: Ken Lloyd, Dean Diorio, Al Nesbitt, James Eaglesham 3ERU–Petersham: John Griffiths, Chuck Hartwell, Alan Wiktorski, Andrew Charbonneau 4EW–Nashua 3: Darryl Dinsdale, Eli Whitney, Mark Cariddi, Bruce Denner 4ERU–Belfast 1: Jeff Dutch, Joe Baiungo, Joe Zdrojowy, Jeff Wiley

Winners of the Green Bay Junior Bonspiel novice division were (l-r) April Weatherbee, Lisa Browne, Thor Gust and Joey Niemon.

green Bay Junior The 2012 Green Bay Curling Club Junior Bonspiel took place March 16-18 in Green Bay, Wis. Eighty-eight junior curlers, ages 8 to 21, participated in the weekend-long event. Here are the results: Novice Division: 1EW—Kettle Moraine: April Weatherbee, Lisa Browne, Thor Gust, Joey Niemon

1ERU—Appleton: Mitchell Armstrong rink Competitive Division: 1EW—Wausau: Evan Jensen rink 1ERU–Wausau: Jeremy Stubbe rink 2EW—Waupaca: Ryan Johnston rink 2ERU—Portage: Cody Falk rink 3EW—Kettle Moraine: Jesse Laux rink 3ERU—Green Bay: Grace Gabower/Erin Wallace rink 4EW—Wausau: Melissa Sandquist rink 4ERU—Kettle Moraine: Wes Cuomo rink

!

Nominations are now being accepted for consideration for the USA Curling Hall of Fame. Curlers can be nominated in three categories: curler, builder or curler/builder based on the candidate’s contributions to the sport.

Nomination paperwork can be found online at www.usacurl.org/goodcurling. The deadline for submissions is June 1, 2012.

Submit supporting information to the USA Curling office via e-mail to Dawn Leurquin at dawn.leurquin @usacurl.org, via fax to 715-344-2279, or by mail to 5525 Clem’s Way, Stevens Point, WI 54482.

Selection is determined by the USCA Athlete/Curler !Recognition Committee.

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Winners of the Desert Ice Bonspiel were (l-r) Terry Ukrainec, Jill Ukrainec, Brenda Elder and Darcy Elder from the Oilsands Curling Club in Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Coyotes Open

Winners of the Duluth International Bonspiel were (l-r) Scott Scheirbeck, Mike Clabaugh, Sam Perrella and Ross Litman (skip)

The U.S. Curling Association is proud to roll out its Volunteer of the Year Award. Nominations will be accepted through June 1, 2012, with the inaugural winner being announced next summer.

The Volunteer of the Year Award honors one great volunteer who stands out for his/her work to help promote the sport of curling. Please help spread the word about this great award to thank the backbone of our organization – our volunteers!

Criteria and a nomination form can be found online at www.usacurl.org/usacurl.

Thank you to all our great volunteers. For more information, contact the USCA office at 1-888-CURLERS (287-5377).

The Ninth Annual Desert Ice Bonspiel took place April 20-22 in Scottsdale, Ariz. Here are the results: 1EW–Oilsands (Alberta): Terry Ukrainec, Jill Ukrainec, Darcy Elder, Brenda Elder 1ERU–North Hill (Alberta): Warren Ferguson, Doug Watt, Dale Kiefer, Stan Ball 2EW–Exmoor: Russell Armstrong, Marcus Fisher, Andy Meyers, Leslie Armstrong 2ERU–Coyotes: Mel Richards, Gary Boorse, Cassie Matras, Chuck

Hasslacher 3EW–Red Rock (Ontario): John Foulds, David Houston, Wendy Houston, Melanie Sigurdson 3ERU–Coyotes: Peter Philpott, David Butler, Lynn Butler, Joan Philpott 4EW–Ardsley: Matt Scheiner, Matt Gallegos, Mike Spensieri, Sharon Gallegos 4ERU–St. Paul: Vince Bernet, Bob Bernet, Bob Wacloff, Jocely Wacloff 5EW–Caledonian: Susan Lang, Kenda Richards, Randy Juillard, Denise Juillard 5ERU–Orange County: Ryan Harty, David Krause, Bob Krause, Vinita Harty

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22

Curling News UNITED STATES

mAY 2012

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

2013 Nationals venue to host bonspiel

by Harry Maier, Green Bay Curling Club Winners of the Governor’s Bowl held in Albany, N.Y., were (l-r) Pat Fitzgerald, Art Merkley, Jeff Mayott and Brad Austin.

Albany men’s The Governor’s Bowl Bonspiel took place Jan. 26-29 at the Albany Curling Club in Albany, N.Y. Here are the results: 1EW—Schenectady: Pat Fitzgerald, Art Merkley, Jeff Mayott, Brad Austin 1ERU—Philadelphia: Paul Latour, Garnett Howells, Dan Cooper, Jay Rusek 2EW—Philadelphia: Joe Philips, Ian

Alexander, Kevin Stayer, Dickey Scott 2ERU—Nashua: Darryl Dinsdale, Tony Trembley, John Hennessey, Chris Dupre 3EW—Schenectady: Bob Travis, Dan Machold, Tom Lancaster, Brian Damon 3ERU—Albany: Gary Conn, Matt Kirk, Mike Geis, Nick Fahrenkopf 4EW—Schenectady: Dennis Quinn, Merek Rzonca, Dave Hooper, Lou Horton 4ERU—Albany: Dan Keller, Brian Costello, Bret Sentiwany, Bill Koniowka

Winners of the competitive division of the Serrano Memorial Junior Bonspiel in Chisholm were (l-r) Stephen Taylor, Taylor Skalsky, Ryan Riihinen and Tanner Blagoue.

Chisholm Junior The Serrano Memorial Junior Bonspiel took place March 17-18 at the Chisholm Curling Club in Chisholm, Minn. Here are the results: Competitive Division: 1EW—Hibbing: Stephen Taylor, Taylor Skalsky, Ryan Riihinen, Tanner Blagoue 1ERU—Duluth: Evan Host, Courtney Osbakken, Patrick Bauman, Fayth Yecoshenko 2EW—Hibbing: Maggie Furlong, Jack Furlong, Keke Sirjord, Rebbecca Rebrovich 2ERU—Chisholm: Nick Jordan, Skylar Appelman, Zach Skurla, Laney Ryan 3EW—Hibbing: Patrick Stahl, Justin Barrett, Grant Monsrud, Zach Lee 3ERU—Curl Mesabi: Wade Ross, Jake

Heitzman, Brendan Hietala, Warren Ross Beginner’s Division: 1EW—Hibbing: John Borland, Mark Borland, Nick Furlong, Michael Sullivan 1ERU—Chisholm: Caleb Smilanich, Jonah Giermann, Jake Giermann, Dylan Cianni 2EW—Mankato: Nick Lustig, Sam Csizmadia, Cole Deejan, Evan Furst 2ERU—Curl Mesabi: Brody Haavisto, Michael Mattson, Ben Pettinelli, Madeline Potts, 3EW—Curl Mesabi: Paige Maki, Sydney Patrow, Austin Harvey, Bryce Wainio 3ERU—Hibbing: Sara Fu0rlong, Maggie Zieske, Claire Furlong, Cheyenne Smith

Winners of the 2012 Curl Mesabi Men’s Springspiel were (l-r) Kyle Linberg, Todd Hammond, Cody Trim and Chad Anderson (skip).

Curl mesabi men’s The 2012 Springspiel Mens bonspiel took place March 16-18 at Curl Mesabi in Eveleth, Minn. Here are the results: 1EW–Centerville: Chad Anderson, Cody Trim, Todd Hammond, Kyle Linberg 1ERU–Curl Mesabi: Rory Malner, Tony Norland, Reese Coldagelli, Rich Kinnunen 2EW–Rice Lake: Bill Kind, Leo Diehl, Mark Turner, Bruce Smith

2ERU–Curl Mesabi: John Kuitunen, Bob Pontinen, Dan Englund, Chris Lintula 3EW–Elmwood (Winnipeg): Allan Ramm, Bobby Stuart, Brian Stevens, Mike Hill 3ERU–Curl Mesabi: Seppo Sormunen, Greg Jaminski, John Krenz, Roger Nelson 4EW–Curl Mesabi: Mike Kolb, Mike Manick, John Strukel, Craig Doughty 4ERU–Jim Newman, Denver Young, Gary Hultman, Bobby Damkroeger

Winners of the 2012 Badger Senior Women’s Bonspiel were (front, l-r) Jackie Stetina, Phyllis "Flip" Flemming, Carol Stevenson and Judy Maier (skip). Runners-up were (back, l-r) Judi Page, Teri Gleason, Jo Lippitt and Kathy Vinge (skip).

Stevens Point Senior Women’s The 2012 Badger Senior Women’s Bonspiel took place March 2-4 at the Stevens Point Curling Club in Stevens Point, Wis. Here are the results: 1EW—Kettle Moraine: Judy Maier, Carol Stevenson, Phyllis “Flip” Flemming, Jackie Stetina 1ERU—Madison: Kathy Vinge, Jo Lippitt, Teri Gleason, Judi Page 2EW—Racine: Barb VanderLeest, Diane Kelly, Paula Kalke, Lisa Janecky

2ERU—Poynette: Marilyn Noble, Mary MacLeish, Sumiko Maeda, Jeannette Lohan 3EW—Arlington: Elaine Podoll, Kathy Erstad, Donna Hughes, Barb Bauer 3ERU—Waupaca: Carol Peotter, Linda Eskritt, Cheri Wolverton, Beth Oestrich 4EW—Green Bay/Poynette: Doris YelkWilberg, Mary Parker, Laurie Walters, Jan Carlson 4ERU—Stevens Point: Sandra Kawleski, Patti Schulz, Marilyn Slusarski, Sue Suchocki

Winners of the Appleton Stick Bonspiel were Michael Dry (left) and Debbie Dry of Racine, Wis.

Appleton Stick The 6th Annual Appleton “Big Stick” Bonspiel took place March 3 in Appleton, Wis. Here are the results: 1EW—Racine: Michael Dry, Debbie Dry 1ERU—Kettle Moraine: Ken Van Till, Herb Rasmussen 2EW—Pardeeville: Steve Thompson,

Nate Hazen 2ERU—Pardeeville: Barry Pufahl, Margo Pufahl 3EW—St. Paul: Jeff Hogden, Terry Wilson 3ERU—Wausau: Richard Waack, Andy Anderson 4EW—Wausau: Mike Mullan, Mike Linder 4ERU—Wauwatosa: Sue Dropp, Kevin Crotty

Winners of the Chicago Heather Bonspiel were (l-r) Pam Oleinik, Julie Denten, Stephanie Martin and Joni Cotten.

Curlers looking to compete on arena ice in the facility where the 2013 Nationals will be held, should turn to Green Bay, Wis. Green Bay is moving its summer Tailgate Bonspiel to the Cornerstone Community Ice Center on six sheets of ice July 20-22.

For the past four summers, the event has been held at the Green Bay Curling Club. However, the club’s board of directors decided not to have ice this summer and instead will be testing the ground below the ice to determine whether there are frost problems. As a result, the event will be held at the Cornerstone, which also will be the scene for the 2013 Nationals competition. The top 10 men’s and top 10 women’s teams will be competing with the winners moving on to the playdowns to determine the U.S. entry in the Olympics in 2014.

Derrick Casper is chairman for the event and says he is planning for 32 entries, and already has a good number on file. To find out more, contact Casper via e-mail at derrickcasper@hotmail.com.

Nominate a great coach Nominations for 2012 Coach of the Year and 2012 Developmental Coach of the Year are being accepted through May 15.

Nomination criteria can be viewed at www.usacurl. org/curlingrocks.

Completed nominations should be sent via e-mail by the deadline to Dawn Leurquin at the USA Curling office at dawn.leurquin@usacurl.org.

Is your copy of the Curling News going to the wrong address or missing altogether?

Send updates and inquiries to Christy Hering at christy.hering @usacurl.org.

Curling News

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

mAY 2012

UNITED STATES

23

Which road should we take to the Olympics?

T

he question I get most frequently from both curlers and non-curlers is “How do we select our Olympic and World teams?” The question is just a setup. It is always followed by “Why don’t we just send an All-Star team?”

These are some loaded questions. To answer them, you have to look at things like fair vs. unfair, the nature of curling, the nature of team, American idealism, short-term success, long-term success, money and lots of other considerations. It is my belief that the most important consideration must be the growth of curling in the USA. Currently, our method is to take teams that formed themselves and let everybody compete to be our Olympic team. All you need to do is be the gold or silver medal winner at the 2012 Nationals in Philadelphia or 2013 Nationals in Green Bay. Heater McCormick, Pete Fenson, Allison Pottinger and Cassie Potter earned the first four spots in Philly this year. There are provisions to add some teams should one of those make the finals in Green Bay or if a highly respected team comes up short. Those teams formed themselves exactly like most teams are formed. They will be joined by next year’s finalists from Green Bay and compete for the right to go to Sochi, Russia.

Another way to pick an Olympic team would be to send an All-Star squad.

Simply get a few people to pick the top four or five men and the top four or five women in the nation. If you picked ones that could really be dedicated (even ignoring their current jobs for a couple of years), they could be funded to the extent of making them professional curlers. Fans who promote this idea are usually thinking about a team that is made up by four skips or three skips and one good sweeper.

A third way to pick an Olympic team would be to recruit 10 guys and 10 gals who can set aside their lives for a couple of years. You could fund them enough to make them semi-professional curlers. These candidates would then go on the cashspiel road where they would be mixed and matched into different teams every weekend. In the end, the coaching staff would choose the skip, vice, second, lead and fifth.

So, here are the questions that I have for you: Which process would yield the most Olympic medals

Tucked in the Back Page

By Ben Tucker tuck@usacurl.org in the near-term? Which process would yield the most Olympic medals in the long-term? Which process is the best for the health of curling in the USA? For what little it is worth, here is my thinking: You should throw away any idea about sending some All-Star team of four skips or three skips and a strong sweeper. I’ve seen teams like that bomb when they formed themselves.

I’ve seen lots of them totally bomb. If you add the trouble you get by picking a team and not letting teams form themselves, I can pretty much guarantee the All Star team would lose. Team chemistry is a huge factor in all curling and especially at the higher levels. For all three questions (medals now and medals over the years and best for curling), none are best answered with an All Star Team.

Establishing a pool of talented players who are willing to suspend their personal lives and jobs for a couple of years is an intriguing idea. A staff of coaches could drag them all over the globe and field different lineups every weekend. The coaches could keep statistics and make notes about which players play best with others. They could see which curlers have the best skill set for each position on the team. I am pretty convinced that this process would give the USA a better chance at medals in the immediate future. The reason that I am convinced is it is so difficult to put your career and even your life on hold while you attempt to win an Olympic medal for yourself and your country. Yet this is the level of dedication that we see in most Olympic sports. Most of that dedication, however, is fueled with sponsorship dollars.

But, which process gives us the best chance at medals in the long term?

Which process is best for curling to grow in the

USA? First, I think that you should know my belief that those two questions are inseparable in my mind. It is my thinking that, in the long term, the nations with the most curlers and the most sheets of dedicated curling ice will win the most medals in the long run. They will have the deepest talent pool and have the game as part of their culture. Of course, some nations with only a few curlers will pay for a team to live in Canada and be professional curlers.

Other nations will be lucky and get a few particularly talented and dedicated curlers. The nations with the most ice and the most curlers won’t always dominate the medal stand, but they will have a huge advantage.

This is where we need to be careful. Since getting medal status at the Olympics, curling is rapidly growing in the USA … particularly in our more populated areas. What makes this amazing is that we were declining right before becoming an Olympic sport. It looks more impressive if you make it into a chart. Statisticians call this a “trend reversal.” Trend reversals are rare and important.

But curling is not growing everywhere and certainly not as fast as here in the USA. We may be the darling of the Winter Olympics and it is critical that we don’t screw that up.

Straying too far from our open, democratic and amateur Trials process could mess up our image. It could harm our growth. If our World and Olympic teams don’t finish well and we lose our spot at the Olympics, however, that could really stunt our growth. These are high stakes if you love this game.

So it is my belief that our current system of picking our Olympic teams is the best way. It is closest to the ideals of the Olympics, America and curling. Most importantly, you would have to be crazy to change things too much in the middle of this lifesaving growth. I do concede that we need to invest more into preparing our top competitors for international competitions. I have to admit that, to some extent, it is about the medals.

For the good of the game I watched The Masters because a goof named Bubba with an interesting golf swing was doing well.

He used a pink driver and that reminded me of Bill

Stopera using a pink broom as he won gold at Nationals shooting third for Heater. It is a gawdawful ugly broom, but Bill purchased it to support cancer research … a charity dear to him. Way to go, Bill … but it’s still an ugly broom.

Senior Writer David Garber (and by senior, I mean really, really, really old) suggested in his column a few issues back that we should no longer seed Nationals because they don’t seed Worlds. I respect his thinking on this. One should mirror conditions at Nationals to whatever the players will see at Worlds.

If they have swingy ice, we should have swingy ice, etc.

However, I have to dis-

agree on this one. It is important that we do whatever we can to see to it that we send our best team.

Setting up the draw by seeding seems to be wise toward that end. That being said, Dave is smarter, more experienced and much older than me.

If you have any thoughts on any of this stuff, shoot me an e-mail. An e-mail about curling always makes it a better day for me.

Tucker is a member of the Grafton Curling Club and makes his living farming in North Dakota. Send questions or comments to Tuck at tuck@usacurl.org.

Send complaints to his dictatorial editor (terry.kolesar@usacurl.org).

Winners of Aspen Curling Club’s Open League include (l-r) Dave Paschal, Fred Wilson, Jason Creamer and Michael Tande.

Key: O–Open; X–Mixed; XD–Mixed doubles; M–Men’s; W–Women’s; S–Senior; Wc–Wheelchair C–Cashspiel; J–Junior; St–Stick Events are listed Friday through Sunday but some may begin earlier.

Check the club’s website for more information. mAY 18–20 Park City, UT–Utah Open O mAY 25–27 San Francisco, CA O JUNE 8–10 Granite, WA–Summerspiel O JUNE 16–17 Coastal Carolina–Lighthouse O JUNE 30 Orange County, CA O JULY 5–8 Pittsburgh, PA–Tropicurl O Hollywood, CA–Blockbuster O JULY 12–15 Cape Cod, MA X JULY 15–18 Cape Cod, MA W JULY 19–22 Cape Cod, MA M Capital, ND O Green Bay, WI O JULY 23–26 Cape Cod, MA Wc JULY 27-29 Anthracite, PA–Diamond City O

AUg. 3–5 Green Bay, WI SM Kansas City, MO–BBQ O Triangle, NC–Carolina Classic O AUg. 10–12 Charlotte, NC–Grits ‘n Granite O AUg. 17–19 Fort Wayne, IN–Summerspiel O AUg. 31–SEPT. 2 Vacaville, CA–The Crush O SEPT. 7–9 Wenatchee, WA–Desert Rocks O OCT. 18–21 Chicago, IL–Windy City O OCT. 25–28 Madison, WI–Halloween O OCT. 25–27 Las Vegas, NV–Midnight Mad O NOV. 9-11 Mayfield, OH–Invitational M NOV. 30–DEC. 1 Milwaukee, WI–Kiltie W Las Vegas, NV–New Year’s O 2013 JAN. 18–20 Portage, WI J Don’t see your event listed or it’s listed incorrectly? Send bonspiel dates and corrections to Terry Kolesar, terry.kolesar@usacurl.org. The next deadline for submitting bonspiel results is July 6 for the online-only Summer edition.

Advertising disclaimer “None of the advertisers in this publication are agents of the U.S. Curling Association, which hereby disclaims any liability for acts of any of the advertisers.”

24

mAY 2012

USA Curling ... Dare to curl

Clarks turn in USA’s best-ever World Mixed Doubles result with fourth-place showing 2012 World mixed Doubles Championship Erzurum, Turkey Round Robin, Blue group: Switzerland 8-0 USA 6-2 Estonia 5-3 New Zealand 4-4 Japan 4-4 Czech Republic 4-4 Germany 3-5 England 2-6 Ireland 0-8

by Terry Kolesar, Editor

D

espite leaving Turkey without a medal, USA’s team of Brady Clark and Cristin Clark of Lynnwood, Wash., recorded the USA’s bestever finish with a fourthplace showing at the 2012 World Mixed Doubles Championship in Erzurum, Turkey.

The Americans fell to Austria’s Christian Roth and Claudia Roth, 12-7, in the bronze medal game April 29 at the Milli Piyango Curling Hall. This was Austria’s first ever world curling medal.

“We hope to continue to improve and learn some lessons from this year, and hopefully win the U.S. another time and come back to improve our rankings,” Brady Clark said after the game. “We had opportunities. We wish we could have medalled. It is what it is. It was a great championship, and congratulations to the Swiss.”

Switzerland clipped Sweden, 7-6, as Swedish last-rock thrower Per Noreen tried to score three points to win the gold medal but one of the Swiss stones he was trying to remove jammed and remained in second count and the Swedes came up short. Switzerland has now won four of five gold medals since the event debuted in 2008.

This was the third appearance for the Clarks, who also have won nine U.S. mixed national titles, and their best finish after reaching the playoffs for the first time for the U.S. last year in St. Paul.

“Well, it’s better than last year. I guess we were seventh last year, and now we’re fourth,” Cristin Clark said after the game.

After Austria opened with a deuce, the Americans answered with four points in the second end to take their first lead.

Austria quickly answered with another deuce to tie the game 4-4. The U.S. was limited to a single in the fourth when Brady Clark was forced to throw away his final stone as there wasn’t a shot to make more than one point. With the momentum now in their corner, the Austrians capitalized, tapping forward a stone of their own stone to score four points in the fifth end. The Austrian duo scored four more again as they capitalized on missed

Red group: Canada China Austria Latvia Finland Slovakia Turkey France Norway

8-0 7-1 5-3 4-4 4-4 3-5 2-6 2-6 1-7 Yellow group:

Scotland Sweden Denmark Italy Hungary Spain Korea Australia Romania

USA team of Brady Clark (above, left) and Cristin Clark strategize during the bronzemedal game of the 2012 World Mixed Doubles Championship in Turkey. The Clarks finished fourth – the best finish to date for the U.S. at this event, which began in 2008. Brady Clark (right) comes out to sweep Cristin Clark’s rock during round robin play at the World Mixed Doubles.

6-2 6-2 5-3 5-3 4-4 3-5 3-5 3-5 1-7 Tiebreaker: 040 010 04 – 9 102 202 10 – 8

Denmark *Italy

Quarterfinal Qualification game: *Estonia 020 400 101 – 8 Denmark 103 011 010 – 7 China *USA

Photos by Volkan Atar, World Curling Federation

Quarterfinals: 100 001 0x – 2 031 210 1x – 8

Estonia *Switzerland

010 100 xx – 2 203 023 xx – 10

*Sweden Canada

211 103 2x – 10 000 010 0x – 1

Austria *Scotland

210 310 4x – 11 002 002 0x – 4

*Switzerland USA

shots by the U.S. in the seventh end, which prompted the Americans to concede the match.

“It’s a really great feeling to win a medal,” Claudia Toth said. “Austria’s never won a medal, neither at Europeans or Worlds. We thought we could make it but we just tried our best and we’re still getting our head around that it actually happened.”

USA games that were featured live on the webstream are archived at http://www.wmdcc2012.cur lingevents.com/live-video.

The 2013 World Mixed Doubles Championship will take place April 13-20 in the new Grant-Harvey Centre in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. This will be the first time Canada has hosted the World Mixed Doubles.

Semifinals: 030 003 21 – 9 103 120 00 – 7

*Sweden Austria

503 110 3x – 13 010 002 0x – 3

*Austria USA

Bronze medal: 202 040 4x – 12 040 102 0x – 7

gold medal: Switzerland 010 103 20 – 7 *Sweden 102 020 01 – 6 *last stone in first end Team USA round robin scores: USA 6, New Zealand 4 USA 7, Germany 4 USA 9, Japan 5 USA 9, England 4 USA 8, Estonia 5 Switzerland 7, USA 6 USA 8, Ireland 3 Czech Republic 7, USA 4

Curling family grows The USA Curling office family grew bigger in March when Christy Hering, administrative assistant, and her husband, Troy, welcomed their first child, Marco Steven Hering. (She insists the Marco name is NOT from reading it on the hacks in the warehouse here in Stevens Point, Wis.)

www.united.com/usoc – Both codes below must be used Z code: ZMGP and Agreement Code: 716372