Well, curling season's over. And it was a doozy of a year. We had American breakthroughs in the Olympics and the World Championships. We had Quebec representing Canada at worlds. We had women curlers exposing it all for the good of a calendar. And I had a blast playing the game myself.
Canadian trials
In choosing who would represent their country at the Olympics, some nations just sent whoever won their national title from the previous year. Other countries appointed a team. Canada simply up and had another tournament.
Brad Gushue is normally a skip, but he invited veteran — and I mean veteran (52 years old) — Russ Howard to lead the young team as skip. In Howard's advanced age, he threw second stones and defeated Jeff Stoughton's team to earn an Olympic berth.
On the women's side, Shannon Kleibrink had kind of an off year in 2005 but got hot when it mattered most, beating Kelly Scott 8-7 to go to Torino.
2006 Olympics
Team Gushue and the Newfies cut through the competition when they beat up their opponent in the gold medal game, Finland and everybody's easy-to-spell name - Markku Uusipaavalniemi. Canada had never won gold in curling (kind of a shock) but the country was so thrilled over the game, all of Newfoundland cancelled school that day so the kids could watch the pride of Canada curl against the Finnish on TV.
The surprise team — besides the US — was the host country Italy. Young Joel Retornaz became a national rock star for a couple weeks, with the high point of the games being their extra-end victory over Canada.
The USA behind Pete Fenson won the bronze medal game over David Murdoch and the UK, giving the Americans their first ever medal — men's or women's — in Olympic curling.
But what made these Olympics so special for the USA is not simply that they finally won a medal. NBC took a chance and showed live curling on its sister channel USA Network. They even bumped Jim freakin' Cramer on CNBC in lieu of tape-delayed curling. But I think it paid off because the sport received a rather large boom - even bigger than when the Olympics were in Salt Lake.
On the women's side, Team Sweden led by veteran Anette Norberg beat Switzerland and Mirjam Ott in the finals. Kleibrink and Canada finished third. The U.S. women led by Cassie Johnson, despite all the attention they got from guys like me, didn't do so well, winning only 2 games out of 11.
Article comments
1 - Douglas Mays
Yeah, the season is over. I didn't have curling to watch on the CBC this morning. You know, sitting in bed with the Seattle Times, coffee and curling on the tube (and sometimes doing that 'wake and bake'-herb reference). I'll miss my sedate sunday mornings till the season starts again (I'm not into watching golf).
Your coverage has been great, Matthew. Thanx man!
peaceloveguidance
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
Thanks Douglas for tuning in. Should be another doozy of a year in '06-'07. If I'm playing good enough we might look into getting into the playdowns, even though I know I don't have a shot at making any kind of national tournament. It'd just be for the experience.
3 - John White
Great to see another knowledgable curling critic in the U.S.! Keep the updates coming.
4 - gk
Props to you in today's TCN Blog Matthew... have a great summer!
5 - Matthew T. Sussman
I got a copy of The Curling News mailed to me a few weeks ago. I didn't sign up for it. Was that my gift?