27/04/2010Outstanding results from Russia for both the Mixed Doubles Team and the Senior Men’s. Congrats to the Senior Men’s team for getting a BRONZE MEDAL at the Worlds! Australia’s first medal at an official Worlds event! The team below (L-R): Hugh Millikin, Ted Bassett, Tom Kidd, Rob Gagnon, Dave Thomas, Anita Cochrane 
Congrats to Kim & Hugh for their great playoff finish in the World Mixed Doubles. http://curling2010.ru/wcdmc.php Fantastic results – we’ll done! We’re excited to hear the stories about the event and the middle of Russia! <Ian Palangio> 19/04/2010The volcanic ash coming from Iceland has caused widespread disruption at the World Mixed Doubles, and World Senior’s Curling Championships in Chelyabinsk, Russia. A WCF report gives a complete list of who has arrived, who has withdrawn, and who is yet to arrive pending flights. Australian teams in both the Senior Men’s and Mixed Doubles have arrived and are ready to play! http://www.worldcurling.org/world-mixed-doubles-and-world-seniors-get-underway-in-russia The arena, shown below, has 11 sheets prepared for the combined event to be played simultaneously. 
Check out the complete photo Gallery from the Opening Ceremonies of the event at http://www.worldcurling.org/world-championships-opening-ceremony For up to the minute results and standings, bookmark the event website: http://www.curling2010.ru/index.php?lang=eng (Some of the content is in English with the results and standings listed in the navigation, but some of the articles are written in Russian and show on the home page) Cheers <Ian Palangio> 15/04/2008During the World's there is a formally organised Autograph session each day. This afternoon was our turn to sign autographs on paper, shirts, flags and random body parts. The session happens in the Broken Broom lounge - which is an Olympic sized hockey arena turned into a bar for the event. There were about 400 people that queued to meet us and get some autographs over an hour and a half.  
 ..
Some of the Aussie cheering squad are pictured here. The Aussies were definitely the second most vocal and supportive group in the crowd.... after the large Canadian contingent who made the trip from Winnipeg to support Team Canada. Photo courtesy of Dallas Bittle. Cheers
<Ian Palangio> 12/04/2008The 4th day of the World's had us against home team USA and the team from France. In the morning draw - we played quite a good game against the US. We maintained a lead in the entire game. In the last end we were up by two points with the hammer. We ran the US out of rocks and won 6-4. 
Our game in the afternoon versus France was a heartbreaking loss. Going into the 9th end, we had a one point lead with the hammer. After Sean's rocks, we were sitting two rocks on the button completely buried behind a lot of guards. The French team made three absolutely incredible shots (two of them I didn't think were possible) to remove the two rocks on the button, and get two of theirs in there. France ended up stealing two in the 9th end. In the 10th and final end we played ordinary leaving me with a tough final shot for the win. It was a delicate tap back around guards to remove the half frozen France stone from the button. I didn't make it and France stole another point for the win. 
This day of 1 win and 1 loss kept us with a winning record of 4-3 and tied for second place in the standings. Continuing with a win/loss record each day for the remainder of the tournament would get us a winning record and good chance to make the playoffs or at least get into a tie breaker game. 
Some of the action in our game against France. Photos courtesy of Dallas Bittle. Cheers
<Ian Palangio> 6/04/2008 Friday was Practice Day here in Grand Forks with a significant buzz from the media about Father vs Son with the Morris'.
The Official Team meeting kicked off the day that covers the rules, clothing, sponsors, media, draw etc information for all the teams and coaches to understand. Nothing unusual was brought up - and we all understood the few minor differences to some rules that are implemented this year. It was also practice day. Each team is given 15 minutes of time on each of the 4 curling sheets of ice to do whatever we want. We want to get a feel for the ice, learn the rocks to see if any may be different to the others, and practice some set shots like draws, come around guards, and hack weight hits. During the practice time we also need to execute the Draw Shot Challenge. The goal is to have a low distance. This distance is used to break ties at the conclusion of the round robin. It is also used to break ties in the Draw Shot Distance process. Draw Shot Distance Rule from WCF: A total of four team players deliver one stone each to the tee at the playing end with sweeping allowed. Teams with only three players have each player deliver one stone and the average distance is recorded for the fourth stone. All stones finishing in the house are measured and the cumulative distance from the tee recorded and kept confidential unless required. Stones that do not finish in the house are recorded as 185.42 cm. (6 ft. 1 in.). Stones that finish so close to the tee that they cannot be measured are recorded as “0”. The team with the lesser cumulative distance receives the higher ranking. Draw Shot Challenge Rule from WCF: For round robin games, at the conclusion of the team’s pre-game practice, one player delivers one stone to the tee at the playing end with sweeping allowed. The team with the lesser Draw Shot Distance (DSD) has the choice of delivering first or second stone in the first end. If neither team has a stone that finishes in the house, or both teams record the same distance (ie both cover the button), their Draw Shot Challenge results will be used, and the team with the higher DSC ranking will have the choice of delivering the first or second stone in the first end. If this all sounds confusing... the detailed rules of curling are found here: Click HERE to download WCF Rules of Play, updated June 2007 This scenario of both teams covering the button in DSD happens frequently - for us at the Pacific's it happened twice. We then finished the day with the Opening Ceremonies on ice, a team Meet and Greet, and the Opening Banquet with 500 attendees. Some recent media clips about the event and about Australia Winnipeg Sun: http://winnipegsun.com/Sports/Curling/2008/04/05/5200181-sun.html Edmonton Sun: http://www.edmontonsun.com/Sports/OtherSports/2008/04/05/5202116-sun.html Edmonton Sun: http://www.edmontonsun.com/Sports/OtherSports/2008/04/05/5202126-sun.html World Curling Federation: http://www.worldcurling.org/content/view/371/90/ SLAM Sports: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Columnists/Jones/2008/04/04/5192711-sun.html EuroSport: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/03042008/58/world-curling-championship-preview.html The Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Curling/article/410498 The Sports Network: http://www.tsn.ca/curling/news_story/?ID=233526&hubname=curling 4/04/2008The team arrived in Grand Forks today and got settled into our rooms at the Holiday Inn. We shared a bus with Team Norway from Winnipeg to Grand Forks. We've bumped into most other teams (Czech Republic, China, Germany, USA, Norway, Sweden, and Scotland) mostly at the Grand Forks Curling Club where we were all getting some last minute ice time in. We also stopped in for a quick tour of "The Ralph". "The Ralph" is short form for The Ralph Engelstad arena. We've been hearing for months what an amazing building it is. It sure is. There is no exposed concrete, and the floors are entirely marble or polished Granite. The 11,000 arena has been ranked the #4 sports stadium in the World. Each seat is padded leather with cherrywood arm rests. Quite flash for a University Hockey arena. Apparently Ralph built and donated the $110 Million building to the building to Grand Forks and the University of North Dakota. He made his  money in the construction business in the 40's and 50's. Then, he focused the construction business in Las Vegas. According to locals - he built the structures in Las Vegas, including modern day things like the Las Vegas Motor Speedway NASCAR Race Track. Now, the family manages things including a few Casinos, and has just sold the Race Track. Ralph died in 2002 - but is a well known philanthropist and not shy of a controversy. Some details about his life are found here: http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2002/Nov-28-Thu-2002/news/20162770.html A picture I took of the arena today is included here in the post. We are just heading off to a team meeting to plan out tomorrow's busy day of official meetings, opening ceremonies, practice details, and what clothes to wear. We definitely have lots of clothes this year ... I didn't need to bring any with me! Here is the front page of the World Curling Championships 10-page Fan Guide that outlines the details of the event, and the entertainment scheduled for the 10 days in the Broken Broom Lounge. There is 19 bands playing over the 10 days. 
Cheers
<Ian Palangio> 26/03/2008There is a number of things that are unique in the sport of curling. However, the sportsmanship demonstrated around the world is found at a level in no other sport.
For instance, before every game teams shake hands and wish each other a good game. At the club level, the winning team buys the losing team a round of drinks after the game.
When your opponent makes a great shot - you congratulate them. Indeed - this was demonstrated at the 1999 Brier Semi-Final when Guy Hemmings made a great shot to win. Check out the shot here http://www.curling.ca/video_library/index.asp?c=3&thisFile=13. Sure, Guy's team was happy about the shot. But his opponents, Gerald Shymko and Gerry Adams, gave him a big hug too. I can't think of any other sport where you would even consider hugging the opponent when they beat you.
In a less dramatic fashion.... the Australian team is currently being hosted by the Canadian team while here in Calgary, Canada. So, three of us are staying at John Morris' (from Team Canada) house until we travel to the World Championships to compete against each other.
Additionally - we need a player for a game tomorrow night at the Calgary Winter Club when we play Current World Junior Men's champion Charlie Thomas. Ben Hebert , who is part of Team Canada and will be playing against at the World's, has agreed to train with us and play on our team in this game against Charlie.
I think it is these kind of stories and situations that is really starting to capture the imagination of developing curling countries.
Gotta go, John has just made us some omelette's.
Cheers,
<Ian Palangio> 19/03/2008After spending some time at the Canadian National Championships - the Brier - I wanted to reflect a little on the experience for the benefit of Australian's who may not have experienced a big time curling event like that before. I blogged about how the final was setup to be a classic with the two best teams in the world playing some great curling throughout the week. In the end, it was not the most entertaining game we all expected, but Kevin Martin (Alberta) won the championship game with a cool draw to the button against Glenn Howard (Ontario). The game was somewhat lulled by different and changing ice conditions compared to the rest of the week. There was several picks that changed the outcome of ends. And, both teams were playing a conservative style of strategy - I presume because they did not trust the ice or that sheet. So there wasn't the high octane extreme strategy being exhibited that both these teams are comfortable playing. Perhaps there was actually some nerves showing from both teams???? Speaking with Glenn Howard after the game - he agreed that the scenario was setup for one of the greatest games of all time. He was really hoping that both teams would play at 95% and really put on an unforgettable show. It didn't turn out that way. Still - there was an audience of over 10,000 people watching the game. Television crews and photographers abound along the edge of the ice while the game is on. There is constant noise and cheering from the crowd - sometimes while attempting to deliver a rock. The good players just block it out and don't even hear it. Rookie players in this environment sometimes can get distracted from the additional things going on around the game. The event dominated the local media. Each day the front page of the Winnipeg Free Press was all about curling. The first 5 pages of the sports section was all about curling. The Brier itself publishes a daily newspaper to go deeper into the event and what was happening both on and off the ice. 
Add to that - there was 1200 volunteers that took a week or two off of their jobs to help make the event a success. The need for drivers for the team and VIP vans, Media organisers, team support, logistics, ice crew, umpires, tickets, accreditation is huge to make the event smooth. From what I hear from the Organising Committee, the event went very well.... except for the 6 vehicles involved in smashes (include one accident where one of the vans hit another one - ooops). The OC is probably busy filling out claim forms. Both teams are already household names - in similar stature and media coverage as, say, Australian Cricketers. For Team Martin, they will continue to train and practice for the World Championships in April. For a lot of the other players at the Brier, they will finish with a couple of Tour events, and then head back to their day jobs. In the end, the attendance was about 170,000 people for the week , which puts this Brier just a little behind what the World Championships had last year of 184,000 in Edmonton. Big attendance, big revenue, big costs, big media coverage, lots of people involved - all for our little fascinating sport on ice. We'll be seeing Team Martin in Grand Forks. It will be a funny situation of John Morris (CAN) vs Earle Morris (AUS). Catch the action in game three of the World Championships when it is Father against Son. We may just have to give Earle that game off if wants to just sit back and watch two of the competitive teams he is involved with play against each other. Cheers
<Ian Palangio> 6/12/2007
I've been following the European Curling Championships happening in Fussen, Germany.
The Men's Round Robin for the A-Group is now over, which decides 7 of the 8 teams to qualify for the Worlds and join China and Australia in Grand Forks.
If I get this right...
The Countries going to Grand Forks will be:
- Norway
- Denmark
- Switzerland
- Germany
- Scotland
- Sweden
- France
- Winner of CZE-IRL playoff game on Friday night
Cheers,
<Ian Palangio> |
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