Registered: Sep 2002
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Here are the teams for the OQE that will be competing against team Shuster. Note that Dufour is not playing in the European championship, which I find interesting.

Japan, Korea and New Zealand just finished 2,3,4 at the PACC.

Again, I see a four team race for the two spots. US, Czech, Japan, NZ.

Picking the US and Czech Republic.

JH
Tuck will now call me an idiot

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Not only are the French sending a B Team to the Europeans, but so are the Finns. Not to get too off topic, but I think it provides Latvia a great opportunity to remain in Group A this time around.

Germany, however, are sending the same team to the Europeans and Olympic qualifier. Even if neither of the teams qualify it will be interesting to see which strategy works best, both for Sochi and next year's Euros.

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I can tell you that Finland is not sending their "B team" to the Europeans. Team rantamaki will be their reps and they are the defending finnish champs. I believe kauste came third. Also rantamaki had quite some success on the champions tour this year, including qualifying first in their group in Edinburgh.

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I didn't know Kauste's team finished third at their Nationals. They were Finland's representatives at the World Championships and are going to the Olympic qualifier so I assumed they were the top team. It's good that they have at least two teams that are relatively equal in quality with two major events close together.

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Early in the ECC, Czech Republic and Finland are 0-fer and Germany is undefeated. Tough to judge how France will do since Dufour is not playing in the ECC.

Revising my call a bit on the OQE, looks like US, Japan and Germany in 3 team race.

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Now wait just a dang minute! I was kind'a trashed in a different thread by Misty and some other guy I've never heard of before (Jerry Guertzie?) for merely suggesting that the dear old USA could even compete with the might Czechs and unstoppable French. Shall we give them a chance to recant?

JH is proceeding well in his effort to pick every Men's team in the field to qualify. In private (well, private before I decided to blab it in a public forum), he was all about the Kiwis all the time. Practically guaranteeing a NZ romp on their way to Sochi. (I intentionally overstated his position to get a rise in his blood pressure. It amuses me.)

I'm tellin' ya again: The key to international success is week after week of tough competition. Ask any World champion. Check their bios.

If that is true, then you have to look towards the USA and Japan to come out of The Men's Olympic Qualifier. Olympic committees in the other nations will come to regret withholding significant funding until after the Qualifier.

Now curling is curling and strange things happen. I think that, if you played this event 10 times, USA and Japan would advance about 5 times. However, the German team playing at home might surprise me. New Zeeland is coming off their winter, so that might be an edge (an insight that I stole from JH). Still, I consider the USA as one of the favorites and Japan as the best longshot.

Ben Tucker

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Are neglecting the Women's side of The Qualifier? I realize that our gals are straight in for Sochi, but the Ladies' in Fussen should also interest us here in the USA threads.

Most interesting, in my mind, is that you can pretty much write China down in ink for one of the two Sochi spots. 7-0 in the very early Fort Wayne Cash...won another early spiel in Alberta...undefeated crushing of a very good field in the Prestige Hotels...lost the finals of the Autumn Gold...then was on the wrong end of one-point games in the Slam.

We in the USA need these talented Chinese ladies to lose The Qualifier. I don't see it happening, but curling is curling and upsets happen all the time.

That, unfortunately, is not my prediction. I predict a Pacific Tsunami as China and Japan roll through this field.

Ben Tucker
Would love to go to Fussen

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Ok, my turn. Tuck, your an idiot(inside joke folks). Jiri Snitil is not there at the ECC this week. Not sure why but Martin Snitil is skipping. So, I am back on the Czech band wagon unless he is seriously hurt. Any info out there?

JH
Yes, unfortunately, Tuck is a friend of mine

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Let's also not forget that Germany is undefeated in the B-group at the ECC, so they are not playing as tough a group of teams as the Czechs and Finns are.

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The Czechs have really been struggling in Stavanger and their stock come down quite a bit heading into the Olymmpic Qualifying event. Jiri Snitil skipped the first 3 games for the team, but has been on the bench since after posting numbers of 61, 55 and 67% in those games.

The team will need to get things turned around in Stavanger just to get the country back to the Worlds before they even consider this event.

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I read that Jiri is sick and wants to make sure he is available and not worn out for the OQE. They are struggling in the ECC.

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Come on, Gerry...drink the Kool-Aid. Predict one of the spots for the USA. Do it.

JH has picked 5 nations so far...only three to go. You can do it, Snarky (yep, we're friends). Korea isn't bad at all.

Just kicking back and having some fun. Now on to more serious stuff:

It has been mentioned that Face's young front end has limited experience and that may prove to be detrimental. Possibly true, even if I don't see it happening. Tough to pick the perfect front end. You want youth on those brooms, but experience is always a plus. In this case, I think they are experienced enough and their talent will outshine their inexperience. The one thing I hope to see is them settling themselves before Face throws a clutch shot. It is far harder to sweep an important draw then it is to throw one. Sweepers need to take deep breathes...just like good shooter.

I love Shoostie's game. He does have a tendency to overthink one or two shots per game and his front end does not yet tell him when he is over-the-top. In general, Shoostie's ability to call a good game will be one of the team's strengths, but he does tend to draw an extra rock into the four-foot when he probably should just rip a guard (against Brady in the first round robin and against Pete in first playoff game).

Tons of talent and plenty of brains. I love our chances of advancing to Sochi.

Ben Tucker

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So I will add Canada, Norway, Sweden and Scotland to my picks to contend at the OQE. Wait, they aren't playing? Crap.

So, US, Czech Republic, NZ, Japan. Germany, who knows. France, why would be they not be at the ECC. Finland, Korea yeah would need some kind of major stomach flu to hit the OQE.

I will go back to my original concept - US, CR, NZ and Japan. Final two - US and NZ.

JH

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quote:

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Originally posted by jhcurl
So I will add Canada, Norway, Sweden and Scotland to my picks to contend at the OQE. Wait, they aren't playing? Crap.

So, US, Czech Republic, NZ, Japan. Germany, who knows. France, why would be they not be at the ECC. Finland, Korea yeah would need some kind of major stomach flu to hit the OQE.

I will go back to my original concept - US, CR, NZ and Japan. Final two - US and NZ.

JH

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The French team at the Euros is not the one that will be at the OQE. Dufour is playing in the OQE, Vincent playing in the ECC. Doesn't make sense.

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quote:

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Originally posted by jhcurl
The French team at the Euros is not the one that will be at the OQE. Dufour is playing in the OQE, Vincent playing in the ECC. Doesn't make sense.

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Thomas Dufour lost the Semifinals of the French Championship last February to a team from Megeve, who went on to lose the final to Joffrey Vincent of St. Gervais. The French National Champions are the team selected to compete in the European Championships.

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Letting your National champions advance? Now that is just crazy talk.

Ben Tucker

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quote:

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Originally posted by tuck
Letting your National champions advance? Now that is just crazy talk.

Ben Tucker

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quote:

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Originally posted by curlo
I can tell you that Finland is not sending their "B team" to the Europeans. Team rantamaki will be their reps and they are the defending finnish champs. I believe kauste came third. Also rantamaki had quite some success on the champions tour this year, including qualifying first in their group in Edinburgh.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Gerry


...

Poor results at International events will have a devastating effect on funding at home. Would the USOC still fund curling the same in the USA if teams start missing the Olympics?

Luckily for the USA, they're not part of a qualifying system where they need to be worried about missing the World Championships on any given year.

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More to the point:

Should France then send Dufour over and over again until he finally dies of old age? Nope. Send Vincent or whomever won the right to go. Even in a curling outland like France, depth matters and right is right.

Ben Tucker

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quote:

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Originally posted by dbsdbs


But given the American men's iffy status for the 2014 Olympic games and given all the $$$ that US television antes up to cover the games, might we see those $$$ getting the IOC to change Olympic curling to include 2 teams from the western hemisphere for future games?

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I think more likely would be the Olympics giving Curling 2 more teams per gender, so 12/12.

This would mirror the Worlds, have minimal impact on Olympic facilities (20 more athletes, no need for more facilities, as nothing other than curling happens at the curling venue, so even if the event has to go an extra day, no issue).

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Seems to me that if Dufour can't win the French championship, and the team that does win it can't do well enough to reach Worlds, why assume that Dufour automatically would do well enough? I mean, either have a championship or don't.

The knee-jerk reaction of cutting funding after failing to reach Worlds is pretty unfortunate and misguided, given that a result like that more likely means that the team or teams need MORE funding to compete better. Now if they bump up funding for a couple of years and there's no improvement, you have a justification there.

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