Registered: Dec 2005
Location: St. Thomas, North Dakota
Posts: 2613

An early and exciting start to the season with a fantastic field in Fort Wayne Women's Cash. That is followed fairly closely by the Stu Sells WCT event. 4 out of 5 of our Mens Trials teams will be there and 3 out of our 4 Womens Trials teams.

Ben Tucker

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: St. Thomas, North Dakota
Posts: 2613

One weekend off (with a HP camp in Blaine), then the Stu Sells in Ontario. 4 of our 5 Men's Trials teams will be there and 3 of our 4 Ladies' Trials teams. Cassie Potter sitting this one out.

Which begs the question: Where is Team Shuster? I have yet to see them entered in anything.

Ben Tucker

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Registered: Feb 2011
Location: Plymouth, MN
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Looks like Shuster is planning 5 spiels before trials:
http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Curling/...SH/John-Shuster

I think all the trials teams schedules should be out now on the USCA bio pages (I didn't bother checking all of them so don't yell at me if I'm wrong! )

Pretty important for these teams to find a good balance of playing a lot but not getting burned out!

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: St. Thomas, North Dakota
Posts: 2613

This weekend off and then the season begins in earnest with the Stu Sells.

Brady Clark and Tyler George both end up in the A Pool with Kevin Koe. I could see one of them making the playoffs, but not both. 7 pools with 14 playoff spots.

Pete Fenson is in Pool B with reigning Canadian champion Brad Jacobs.

Heater McCormick is in Pool C with Gushue. That pool also has Higgs and Johnston...not an easy pool.

The Ladies' side sees Allison Pottinger in Pool B with the likes of Middaugh and Reddick. Erika Brown and Courtney George are in Pool D. I could see all three rinks making the playoffs, but wouldn't bet on it unless I got good odds.

Ben Tucker

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Registered: Dec 2005
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Team Heater jumped all over Johnston, nice win to get started...

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JL

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Registered: Sep 2002
Location: US - CT
Posts: 1431

looks like Heater and George need wins in their last game to qualify.

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Registered: Sep 2002
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So, C. George and Brown qualify with Team Brown making the semis. Good start to the season for them.

On the men's side, no qualifiers but some good wins for some of the teams.

Up next is the Shootout in Edmonton. Team Shuster and Team Potter make their first appearances on the tour. Team Brown and Team Clark try to continue their good starts.

On the Canadian side, Team Martin makes their first trip out with Nedohin at 3rd. I will also be watching Team Nedohin and Webster.

JH
I could name drop but will wait till the season gets going

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I would suggest the idea that we make jhcurl's name-dropping part of the drinking game during live! tour! action! webstreaming! -- except we're all already drunk by the 5th end break because of "holy buckets!"

If we added jhcurl's namedropping, we'll all be sh*tfaced by the second vice rock of the first end.

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[Original Ray's] nom de broom

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: St. Thomas, North Dakota
Posts: 2613

The Tour is off to Kevin Martin's home for the Shoot Out ath the Saville.

Brady Clark and Face Shuster will be playing on the Men's side. Erika Brown-Tetley and Cassie Potter will be on the Ladies' side...in fact, they play each other in the first draw.

Ben Tucker

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Registered: Sep 2002
Location: US - CT
Posts: 1431

To keep you up on tour action, at least until he gets bored. The "man with tall hair" has a new website.

Dean Gemmell makes an appearance

http://www.deangemmell.com/2013/09/...eason-underway/

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: St. Thomas, North Dakota
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Team Brady and Team Face both qualify at The Shootout. Wicked cool. Clark gets Kevin Martin for Round One of the playoffs while Shuster goes up against King.

Erika Brown-Tetley won a couple of games in the A before going thump-thump-thump and out. Cassie never got rolling after losing the opener to Erika. I was looking forward to seeing the results of Cassie vs. the Russian varsity squad...but Cassie lost to the Russian JV and didn't even get to that game.

Don't be too worried about the rusty Cassie. This new mother will take a little while to reclaim her A game. Plus, she was never a really good cashspiel player. That team has always waited until playdowns to really shine. Don't worry about Team Potter. Their focus is squarely on Fargo...where it should be.

Back-to-back pretty good weekends for Team Erika. Good to see.

The most exciting/interesting/intriguing team remains Courtney George. A pretty good opening weekend in Fort Wayne followed by a pretty good Stu Sells...now it is two USA events before a sterner test at the Royal LePage. Will they grow to be the best? Will Courtney continue to thrive as a skip? Will Monica fit in at lead? Will they contend in Fargo? I don't know...but they are new since Courtney and Aileen switched spots and very interesting.

Ben Tucker
Canadians need to watch Laycock as this will be an explosive year for them

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Registered: Sep 2002
Location: US - CT
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Teams Clark and Shuster both earn some points. Teams Brown and Potter do not garner any points. OOM standings are updated for this past weekend on the WCT website.

Need to go and see who is playing in the Shorty this weekend. The men's field is really strong. Hoping that there might be some streaming of the event.

JH

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Registered: Sep 2002
Location: US - CT
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To keep this post running at least until the trials.

At the Shorty, Teams P. Fenson, T. George and E. Brown
At the Cloverdale cash is Team Clark
Then at the FSCC cash, lots of teams looking for points including Birr, E. Fenson, C. Brown, Carlson and C. George.
(okay, either some of these teams need to change names or get married or something, two Georges, two Fensons and two Browns, I am too old and get easily confused)

Based on the fields, the Shorty will offer the most points at least on the men's side with 7 of the top 10 on the OOM participating. Team Clark has a chance to get deep at the Cloverdale. At FSCC in Blaine I think only two non-US teams and points available on both sides, not a lot of points but an early season "see where we stand relative to the other US teams".

Good luck to all.

JH
it is all about points baby
PPS - as always just the opinions of a no nothing never was
PPPS - waiting for Tuck to correct whatever I got wrong

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Registered: Sep 2002
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Based on some early completely unscientific and unmathematical calculations here is the points for the weekend.

Team T. George should get somewhere around 15 from the very strong field at the Shorty.

Team Clark gets minimum of around 1.5 points.

Team C. Potter will get 3.5 to 5 points at FSCC, So will team C. Brown. Both teams in the final.

The most exciting result for the weekend is Team K. Dropkin making the finals at FSCC. The Easties continue to shine. Spent most of the day with Momma Howell, her son plays third now for Korey. She is a proud momma and was giddy with the teams' success.

JH
yep, still rooting for the Easties even if they are now in college in the evil empire that is the Midwest.

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Registered: Dec 2005
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I'm thinking that the very young Cory Christensen winning the Four Seasons Early Cash is the most exciting development of the weekend. Quality wins over McCarville and Potter. Dropkin The Younger doing well is also exciting. Tyler George/Chris Plys qualifying at The Shorty is, of course, big news.

Ben Tucker

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: St. Thomas, North Dakota
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Can't talk about the good without also talking about the bad:

Brady qualifies in Canada, but only with a 2/2 record and does not advance in the playoffs. They did, however, beat the Swiss.

Erika is underwhelming in The Shorty while Ott wins.

Pete Fenson and the crew has had success in The Shorty before, but the linescores did not look good this year. The little I saw them on youtube wasn't great.

Cassie makes the Finals, but loses to a Junior team. Not the worst thing in the world. It's a pretty good Junior team. I like to see the Juniors do well. Meyers and Dropkin the Younger did well also.

Most disappointing has to be the Courtney George rink. So exciting to have a new contender, I hate to see them stumble even a little bit.

Dropkin The Elder was loaded for bear with Persinger and The Punk...but didn't even kill a baby cub. New team or not, they should have gotten some wins.

Next week looks to be awesome. Heater makes his single annual trip out west. This time to the Point Optical. There he will see Team Fenson, Team Clark and Team Shuster. Big guns like Martin, Koe, Cotter, Jacobs, Gushue, Stoughton, Virtue, Fowler and Edin will be there. Also names that are looking for true breakout years like Laycock, Lyburn and Jordison. Great field for four of our five Trials teams.

The gals will be in Ontario where the field is not as formidable as some of the events coming up. Middaugh will be there for star power...Spencer, Hasting and Auld might not be as well known but they can really curl. Team George and Team Pottinger will be there from the USA and I think that both can qualify for the playoffs. I think Pottinger (who hasn't done great in cashspiels since becoming a skip and doesn't usually play great in the early goings back when she was more of a pure hitter) can win this thing. If I was to bet on a longshot, however, it would be Ontario's Hastings who might be set for a breakout year.

Ben Tucker
Guessing most of this and making up the rest

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Registered: Dec 2005
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OK weekend. Not great...not bad.

Both Team George and Team Pottinger qualify for the playoffs in Ontario at the KW. It wasn't the strongest field we'll see in Women's this year, but they won some games and cashed some checks. Allison's rink beat Courtney's rink when they met head-to-head.

Team Face and Team Brady managed one win apiece before bowing out of a strong field in the Point Optical. Heater and The Ducklings got a couple of wins. Pizza Pete and Da Boyz lost their opener to the Japanese, but then got a roll in the B side until running into Koe. They missed out in the C bracket as well, but a pretty impressive weekend in a very impressive field.

Next week has really strong fields in British Columbia. BC? Yep, really good fields. Brady Clark is entered. If you need a longshot, bet on Richard. He has TeeMan at third and Jay Wakefield at second. If you want to bet a favorite, look for Cotter/Morris or Koe. The Chinese usually play well in this one.

On the Ladies side in BC, there will be Swiss, China, Scotland and two of our Trials teams...Pottinger and Potter.

The St. Paul Ladies would have had a very good field if these two teams had played at their home club. I don't blame the gals, however. They are looking for points to get into Slams and Worlds. St. Paul will have a couple of really good Winnipeg teams in Montford and Meakin. The field is deep. I'd hate to have to pick out the worst team...they are all pretty good.

The St. Paul Men's side should be interesting. Heater McCormick is making a rare appearance in the USA. Which Stopera will throw better...young Andrew for Team Dunham or old Bill for The Ducklings? It will be Bill by a mile. The young Dunham rink is wading into uncharted territory for them. It will be great for them in the long run. I see Burgess vs. Birr in the finals.

Ben Tucker

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Registered: Sep 2002
Location: US - CT
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I notice a post is missing. THANK YOU GERRY!

It will be an interesting weekend especially in St. Paul. Non-HP teams trying to earn points and HP teams seeing where they stand perhaps. No idea, I have no dog in this fight although I do have friends in this fight. Good to see some of the younger teams getting in some good games against the "senior" crowd.

To Tuck's post - Team C. George and Team Pottinger earn minimum points (less than 2) and make a tiny dent in the lead of Team E. Brown. However Teams T. George and E. Brown (seriously, someone needs to change their names) get invited to the first Grand Slam in Abbottsford where they can earn points for wins prior to qualifying (I think).

JH
all about the points baby

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: St. Thomas, North Dakota
Posts: 2613

Nobody giving me props for picking Hastings last weekend? Come on now...it was a gem.

Ben Tucker

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: New York
Posts: 592

There's your props my friend.... My question is where's our Edin, Where's our Ulsrud, Where;s our Liu? Nobody can deny Mr. Fenson his bronze medal he earned it. ( had a guy nanmed Shuster on board). The 7-1 start in Boston at the worlds was awesome, the 3 straight losses not so much... The guys I listed above are Professional curlers, Pete makes Pizza's ( Great ones from what I've heard) Point is we should be competitive every week and we're not. The game is passing us "bye", if your job description is not professional curler, well then you see the results.. Everybody has a dream, but we can't all be Canada. Once again where's our Edin, Ulsrud or Liu??


Middle of the night sleeping in a recliner for 25th straight day, typing with 1 finger left handed, don't blow your shoulder out it sucks..

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We'll see you on the Ice! Willy

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: St. Thomas, North Dakota
Posts: 2613

Thanks for the tip on blowing out a shoulder. I'll try to remember that one.

Finally a debate between us is fair. My feeble typing skills vs. your one finger hunt and peck.

Our Edin is not from Sweden where curling is not growing. Our Ulsrud is not from Norway where curling is not growing. Our Liu is not from China where curling is not growing despite having the full attention of the WCF and all of their plans/hopes.

Nor is our future pinned to the likes of Murdoch and Muirhead...from Scotland where curling is not growing.

Our future is pinned to the likes of Heater McCormick and Cassie Potter...more likely younger verisions, but maybe their age. It should be and can be like Canada...where top players win money and get sponsorship to become mostly professional. Based on the quadrennial explosive growth in the USA, we will rise in numbers and sheets of dedicated ice. The rest will follow...unless we do something stupid and mess it up.

Willy, my friend...wait until after Sochi to resurrect the cry for handpicked semipros. You'll still be wrong, but you'll have emotion and current history on your side.

Ben Tucker

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: New York
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With all due respect, your passion is greatly appreciated. Best of luck to our guys and gals in Russia.(if the guys make it) But growing our sport and being competitive internationally are not necessarily co-dependent.. Edin , Ulsrud and Lui are professionals.....

gotta get some sleep before I get in trouble.....

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We'll see you on the Ice! Willy

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Registered: Sep 2002
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Nice first round win by Team Potter over C. Bernard.

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Registered: Aug 2012
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 57

St Paul Cash webstreaming

Any news on if there will be webstreaming of this event?

We're getting spoiled. I just kind of expect it now.

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Registered: Aug 2011
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There is a curl cam point to sheet 5 so you can see a bit of curling but not that much.

https://stpaulcurlingclub.org/index...cility/curl-cam

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