National Teams

18/01/2010

Hi again from Japan and the Australian Junior Men. The last few days of the comp were somewhat up and down for the team with the first of our local derbies with the Kiwi’s going their way with a score of 11-2. The same score line followed the next morning in our game against china. Our next two games on the second day were disappointing losing to Japan 12-3 and then to Korea 14-1 after such a close game on day 1. Our second last day of the tourney started better with a tough tussle with New Zealand in the second of our trans-Tasman games. We stole 1 shot on the first end before giving up a 3 on the second. We then took another 1 with the hammer and were able to steal 1 on the fourth with a well buried stone on the button. We stole another after the halftime break before New Zealand struck back with 1 on the sixth. With the hammer on 7 we were able to make 5 consecutive hits and eventually blank the end to maintain hammer for the last. The last end was played well by both teams with New Zealand taking full advantage of the free guard zone. Our team made a number of peels before the Kiwi Skip, Kris Miller, executed two consecutive short guards, making our last shot a tough back house weight tap up. Unfortunately we were unable to convert giving the Kiwi’s a steal of 1 and the game. In our evening game against china we found our self 8-1 down after 4 and finished with a final score of 11-4. Our last game of the tourney was against the local team (and eventual silver medalists) from Japan. This was our closest game of the tournament taking Japan to an extra end with a final score of 7-6 in Japan’s favour. Eventually the tournament went the way of China in both the men’s and women’s sections. Our friends from across the ditch left with a bronze medal for the second year running in the men’s division. Despite not winning a game in the Championships the team was pleased with what we were able to achieve, pushing some of the best teams to their last stone. Given more practice over the next year we are looking forward to a strong showing in next year’s Pacific Juniors to be held in New Zealand. Until next time,

Cheers,

Angus

Posted at 9:19 PM by Angus Young | Category: National Teams | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

12/01/2010

PJCC Training Day and 1st Game

G'day from the Australian Junior Men's Team.

The First Day of the PJCC has started today after a day of training yesterday and the Opening Ceremony last night at the Grand Hotel Fujika, our host for the championships. Doug Wright has primed the ice for the competition and it was fast and swingy during training. The Opening Ceremony was great event with an array of Japanese Food as well as a performance by a local traditional drumming troop.

Our First game for the competition was against Korea. We started strongly taking one shot with the hammer on 1 then stealing a shot on the 2^nd. Korea fought back strongly however to be up 3-2 at the break after a steal of two on the 4^th. Korea took the first two ends after the break to be up 5-2 after six before we got a shot back on the seventh. The last end was played well by both teams with Korea needing to make a number of peels and their final shot to hold us to one shot on the last end and win the game 5-4. Our next game is against the old foe, New Zealand, later tonight.

Scores from the competition can be seen at: http://results.worldcurling.org/default.aspx

Top Right: (L-R) Mitchell Frew, Daniel Ross, Dave Thomas (coach), Max Thomas and Angus Young.

Posted at 3:40 PM by Angus Young | Category: National Teams | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

6/01/2010

Training in New Zealand

Hi again from the Australian Junior Men's Team. Over the last 3 days we have been in Naseby, training around 3 hours each day as well as playing 3 games against the New Zealand Junior Women's Team. Our first day was very scratchy having not played in 2 months however we have now really started to get into the curl of it. On Tuesday we also managed to find the Kiwi's answer to the pub with no beer; the pub with no food. Luckily Wendy and Peter Becker's café was stocked up and ready for our teams onslaught! We will be training in Naseby until Thursday before flying to Japan for the beginning of the Pacific's starting on the 11^th of January.

Posted at 12:31 PM by Angus Young | Category: National Teams | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

4/01/2010

Australian Junior Men's Curling Team

This blog entry is written by guest writer Angus Young, a member of the Australian Junior Men’s Curling Team.

The Australian Junior Men’s Curling Team will be in Naseby, New Zealand over the next week for some valuable ice time ahead of the upcoming Pacific Junior Curling Championships in Nayoro, Japan. The team is: Angus Young (myself), Daniel Ross, Mitchell Frew and Max Thomas (skip). Our team hails from the sunny state of Queensland and recently finished runners-up in Queensland Curling's league competition. Over the course of the next couple of weeks I will update this blog and keep you posted on the progress of our country’s future curlers. We would like to thank our families as well as our coach, Dave Thomas, manager, Dianne Ross and all others who have had any part in the team. A special thank you also is extended to Carpentaria Explorations for the sponsorship of our team's kit bags.

Posted at 1:39 PM by Angus Young | Category: National Teams | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

11/11/2009

All Time List of Australian Men’s Representative Players

<Updated with a minor correction on Dan Joyce place, and added Ted Bassett from this years Pacific’s, plus fixed changes to the URL’s that the WCF changed on their history pages).

We have compiled a list of Men who have ever played for Australia Internationally at a World Curling Federation or Olympic Event.

Below, ladies and gentlemen, are the Rock Wallabies of this Earth (to date).

The appearance order is numbered, and I get lucky number 13!

Cheers

Posted at 10:48 AM by Ian Palangio | Category: National Teams | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (2)

21/02/2008

Silver Medal in Karuizawa

The Men's team has arrived back from Karuizawa with a Silver Medal.

After finishing second in the Round Robin with a 5-2 record, it qualified the team for the play-off's.

The Semi-Final was an aggressive game with a critical steal in the extra-end for the win, and a berth in the final against Canada. This was interesting after beating Canada in the Round Robin portion of the tournament.

The final was a quality game, but lost to Canada 7-3.

This is a fantastic result in a quality International Championship.

Cheers
<Ian Palangio>

Posted at 8:11 PM by Ian Palangio | Category: National Teams | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

31/01/2008

All Time List of Men's Representative Players

We have compiled a list of Men who have ever played for Australia Internationally at a World Curling Federation or Olympic Event.

Below, ladies and gentlemen, are the Rock Wallabies of this Earth (to date).

The appearance order is numbered, and I get lucky number 13!

Cheers

Posted at 9:48 AM by Ian Palangio | Category: National Teams | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

16/11/2007

Training in Vancouver

I'm here in the Air Canada lounge in Vancouver airport about to fly out. Before competing in Beijing at the Pacific's the Men's National Team travelled to Vancouver, Canada to get some ice time in. It's like our second home we have trained here so much in the past 5 years.

As a bonus Earle Morris, our coach, was able to join us and work on our game at the same time.

We managed to get 6 days of training in, plus played in a spiel at the Golden Ears Winter Club.

We lost the semi-final of the spiel in a close game. I missed a shot I'd expect to make most days.

The training went well, with 3 or 4 hours spent on the ice each day under the guidance of our wise coach. We are extremely pleased with the way we are playing, and have given ourselves a great opportunity to play well in the Pacific's.

There is no event web site for the Pacific's this year - much to all of our surprise! I believe the World Curling Federation will be posting scores on their site here:

http://results.worldcurling.org/Curlhome/Statistics/tournament.asp?tid=342

See ya - they are just calling our flight now....

Oh, and week two of Movember shows me with the following soup strainer...

Ian Movember Week 2

Posted at 5:23 AM by Ian Palangio | Category: National Teams | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

14/10/2007

Curling Camps in New Zealand

In preparation for the Pacific Championships in November, the Men's National Team is spending some time in New Zealand at the curling facilities. We are between training sessions today as I type this in Dunedin - on the South Island of NZ.

There are two dedicated curling facilities in New Zealand with a 4 sheet club in Naseby and 4 sheets of ice in Dunedin.

New Zealand has a long history of curling - with games being played since the 1800's. The traditional game in New Zealand is played on Natural Ice (ie a frozen pond) and using Crampets. While the number of Crampet curlers in NZ is still larger than hack curlers... this is bound to change with the availability of the facilities in these locations.

Naseby

When we arrived in Naseby - we appreciated what a small quiet town it was. The population is 525 people.

But wow - what an impressive curling club they have built. The Maniototo Indoor Curling Rink opened 3 years ago. The designers took all of the good ideas they have seen from curling clubs around the world and incorporated those ideas into the facility. For us it was just like stepping into a brand new modern club somewhere in Canada. It was instantly comfortable and provided an extremely friendly environment to spend time in.

Plus - the ice is great. Nice and swingy and provides the ability to play lots of different types of shots. Curling also has the attention of Drivers with the "Curlers Crossing" sign near the club.

Many thanks to Fred (the club manager), the Becker family and everybody else for making us feel very welcome.

Dunedin

Dunedin also has a fantastic facility at the Dunedin Ice Stadium. It is not your traditional club that you would see in Canada. There is 4 sheets of dedicated curling ice - but the facility is shared with a hockey rink.

The curling ice is just next to the arena ice with shared "air space". This means that while curling there may be a hockey game, speed skating or public skating happening.

While playing there on Friday night, with 2 ends to go the Speed Skaters finished up and the Public Skating started up. So the arena cranked up the music, turned down the lights, started the disco ball and had a laser show. It was a new and interesting distraction for me! :)

A link to some pictures of the facility is on the Ice Stadium site: Curling Ice Pictures

But the curling ice is great. A bit straighter than Naseby which is great to practice on and have some varying conditions between the two clubs.

Thanks to Neal, Edwin Harley, and Dan Mustapic for organising ice time and practice games too!

Cheers
<Ian Palangio>

Posted at 2:40 PM by Ian Palangio | Category: National Teams | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (1)

29/06/2007

The Rock Wallabies

Did you know that the Men's National Curling Team has a team name and a mascot.

Seeing as Australia typically names the National Teams for sports – such as the Wallabies (Rugby), Socceroos (Soccer), and Kookaburras (Hockey) we felt the Men's Curling needs a team name as well. A few years ago the team decided on the Rock Wallabies! It seemed like a better choice than "Curleroos J ".

We also have a team mascot – named Skippy. So, a stuffed animal mascot – this is something that is not normally seen outside the ranks of Junior Women's curling – we are proud of him and his role. Most tournaments Skippy is our coach, and Joey in the pouch is our 5^th man. A picture of Skippy and Joey at the Opening Ceremonies at the Pacific Championships is included here.