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| 03-24-15 02:53AM |
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doubletakeout
Swing Artist
Registered: Feb 2005
Location: Manitoba
Posts: 480 |
2015 Ford World Men's Curling Championship
Okay folks, here we go! Only two major events left for us on the curling season. Better get in all the TV games you can while we still have some!
I thought I'd kick off the Worlds discussion here. Should be an interesting week - Team Canada had a magical run at the Brier but they've played very little this season, and even less in this configuration! Thankfully, all four players are extremely experienced and know what it takes to win. Plus they've got their "not-so-secret" weapon in Carter, who is a master of team dynamics and seems to always know what to say to make everybody around him better. We've got four strong players who have gone through fire together and should be top contenders for the World title. If Pat can continue playing like he did at the Brier, these guys should be in the final for sure.
I think Canada and Sweden are well clear of the remaining teams. Norway are the defending world champions, but really haven't played much this season and have looked less than their best. Look for a Canada-Sweden final - and if that's the case, flip a coin as far as predictions go. This should be a battle.
The exciting thing is I think there is a lot of parity - much like in the women's field this year - and we could see a tough race for the playoffs. China and Japan should be close to playoff spots. Norway should be able to reach the top 4 if they play to their usual level. Switzerland is new, but we should know better than to discount anyone who emerges from that program. USA might be able to crack a spot this year - I'll certainly be cheering for that result as that program seems to really need a flash of hope.
Czech Republic are good when they're on their game. Italy has their strongest combination in years.
Scotland was disappointing last year and I don't see a much better performance coming from Ewan McDonald. Murdoch and Brewster must both be disappointed in their seasons, failing to qualify for either the Worlds or Euros. Russia and Finland will gain good experience and enjoy some Keith's.
Here's hoping for a good week, good crowds, good ice, and good conversation here. The Women's thread was an absolute trainwreck and I hope we can hold ourselves to a more respectful discussion.
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| 03-24-15 08:17AM |
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misty1
Supreme Champion!
Registered: Sep 2011
Location:
Posts: 6002 |
The favorites:
Canada - tons of experience here. 3 quarters of this team return from last year wanting to make up for a disappointing 4th. if pat plays anything like he did in the brier as skip then they will be hard to stop
Sweden - probably second faves after canada. had a good season , still lost more than normal but won the euros and finalist last week so building momentum
Norway - struggled at euros and have been off this year but still one of the best teams here
The Dark horses:
United States - lots of talent and experience on this team. in a field such as this they could get the US back on the podium
Japan - can they repeat last year or was that a one off? thats the biggest question here
The unknowns:
Scotland - tons of experience here and world champion gold on this team but they only play part time and last year struggled.They could do well here, they could also struggle for wins again
China - havent had the best season. usually good for somewhere between 5 and 6 wins. could they maybe break through this year?
Czech republic - have come close before to playoffs and always seem to have 1 or 2 upset wins. They never play much on tour so its hard to judge form coming in.
the others:
Switzerland - shock win out of switzerland for this team. they are the 3rd best team in switzerland right now but have no experience at this level. that didnt hurt alina patz much but i dont think they will be going on that kind of run here
Russia - solid young team and did respectably at euros but dont see them being a factor here
Italy - a team who did great at euros then fizzled at playoffs. interesting to see if they can find that kind of form here. if they can they might vault into dark horse for a playoff spot.
Finland - they have had a good season on tour and they might start well but much like the women i expect that after a possible hot start they will fade away
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| 03-24-15 08:48AM |
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greenroad
Drawmaster
Registered: Feb 2007
Location: Mid-Atlantic
Posts: 706 |
quote:
Originally posted by misty1
The favorites:
Canada - tons of experience here. 3 quarters of this team return from last year wanting to make up for a disappointing 4th. if pat plays anything like he did in the brier as skip then they will be hard to stop
Sweden - probably second faves after canada. had a good season , still lost more than normal but won the euros and finalist last week so building momentum
Norway - struggled at euros and have been off this year but still one of the best teams here...
Certainly these are the three to watch. Nice to have it in a decent time zone. As well as being a Scot I am a big fan of Ewan MacDonald and I hope "my guys" do well.
As for last team standing, well I thought Jenn would whizz through in Sapporo so I will refrain from predictions.
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| 03-24-15 10:57AM |
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Tap Back
Super Rockchucker
Registered: Feb 2005
Location: Calgary
Posts: 1096 |
This is the World Mens Championship...ladies were done a week ago!!!!
quote:
Originally posted by Manitoba Legend
Sad as it is for me to say this but Simmons and Morris are far steadier back-end performers than Lawes & Jones.
Lawes and Jones have proven to slump more than occasionally and enable lesser teams to compete with them or completely TKO them.
Sad as it is for me to say but you just never can comment on anything without bringing up Jones and Co. OMG it is just relentless and over the top. My bet is you will have a train wreck on this thread too before it gets to page 2!!!
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| 03-24-15 08:29PM |
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Jimbobogie
Drawmaster
Registered: Feb 2014
Location:
Posts: 538 |
I just hope that the airport doesn't get "snowed out"
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| 03-25-15 07:55AM |
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misty1
Supreme Champion!
Registered: Sep 2011
Location:
Posts: 6002 |
teams should start arriving today or tomorrow if they can
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| 03-25-15 09:22AM |
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greenroad
Drawmaster
Registered: Feb 2007
Location: Mid-Atlantic
Posts: 706 |
quote:
Originally posted by Jimbobogie
I just hope that the airport doesn't get "snowed out"
Only flurries forecast over next 36 hours.
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The tragedy is not in losing; it's in almost winning.
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| 03-28-15 08:31AM |
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Stoner
Drawmaster
Registered: Mar 2013
Location:
Posts: 614 |
Ok, so the 3 title contenders are Canada, Sweden and Norway. As to who will grab the 4th playoff spot it's anybody's guess, The young Swiss could do well, I think the US has a good shot at it, Scotland has a chance, but they are weaker than past years, it's a different Chinese team than past years, so they are unknown, Italy could do well and surprise as they had a strong Euro's, the Czech team has been here before, but have under performed, I hope they make it this time and Japan have a chance too. I will say that certainly Finland and Russia will not make the playoffs.
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| 03-28-15 08:34AM |
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Stoner
Drawmaster
Registered: Mar 2013
Location:
Posts: 614 |
Previewing draw 1: I have Japan over Russia, pretty easy pick, The Swiss over Czech's, tough pick, Italy over Scotland believe it or not and Sweden over Finalnd easily.
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| 03-28-15 08:39AM |
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Stoner
Drawmaster
Registered: Mar 2013
Location:
Posts: 614 |
On a side note it's pretty amazing how team Stjerne have fallen off the curling map, a couple of years ago they were at least playoff contenders, then last year they finished worst at the Worlds, then this year they finished bottom at the Euro's and got relegated, what happened there.
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| 03-28-15 09:13AM |
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greenroad
Drawmaster
Registered: Feb 2007
Location: Mid-Atlantic
Posts: 706 |
quote:
Originally posted by Stoner
Previewing draw 1: I have Japan over Russia, pretty easy pick, The Swiss over Czech's, tough pick, Italy over Scotland believe it or not and Sweden over Finalnd easily.
Don't sell the Scots short...but if they can't get by Italy it could be a long, dreary week for them.
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The tragedy is not in losing; it's in almost winning.
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| 03-28-15 09:41AM |
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misty1
Supreme Champion!
Registered: Sep 2011
Location:
Posts: 6002 |
quote:
Originally posted by Stoner
On a side note it's pretty amazing how team Stjerne have fallen off the curling map, a couple of years ago they were at least playoff contenders, then last year they finished worst at the Worlds, then this year they finished bottom at the Euro's and got relegated, what happened there.
inconsistancy i guess. you look at his junior years and he was always one good year, one bad year too. never anything consistant.
anyway the team have dropped mikkel krause and johnny frederiksen has come back on the rink at 3rd . he's committed to a 3 year cycle leading to 2018.
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| 03-28-15 09:44AM |
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misty1
Supreme Champion!
Registered: Sep 2011
Location:
Posts: 6002 |
quote:
Originally posted by Stoner
Previewing draw 1: I have Japan over Russia, pretty easy pick, The Swiss over Czech's, tough pick, Italy over Scotland believe it or not and Sweden over Finalnd easily.
I agree with most of your picks
Japan should beat russia
sweden over finland is an easy one to call
scotland v.s italy is pretty tough. italy was great at euros but it remains to be seen if that was a one off. Retornaz has been around for forever so his experience should help calm the young ones down.that one is tight..but im leaning toward italy
the one i disagree with is switzerland over the czech republic. I think the czechs get the win here
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| 03-28-15 10:54AM |
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Stoner
Drawmaster
Registered: Mar 2013
Location:
Posts: 614 |
quote:
Originally posted by misty1
The favorites:
Canada - tons of experience here. 3 quarters of this team return from last year wanting to make up for a disappointing 4th. if pat plays anything like he did in the brier as skip then they will be hard to stop
Sweden - probably second faves after canada. had a good season , still lost more than normal but won the euros and finalist last week so building momentum
Norway - struggled at euros and have been off this year but still one of the best teams here
The Dark horses:
United States - lots of talent and experience on this team. in a field such as this they could get the US back on the podium
Japan - can they repeat last year or was that a one off? thats the biggest question here
The unknowns:
Scotland - tons of experience here and world champion gold on this team but they only play part time and last year struggled.They could do well here, they could also struggle for wins again
China - havent had the best season. usually good for somewhere between 5 and 6 wins. could they maybe break through this year?
Czech republic - have come close before to playoffs and always seem to have 1 or 2 upset wins. They never play much on tour so its hard to judge form coming in.
the others:
Switzerland - shock win out of switzerland for this team. they are the 3rd best team in switzerland right now but have no experience at this level. that didnt hurt alina patz much but i dont think they will be going on that kind of run here
Russia - solid young team and did respectably at euros but dont see them being a factor here
Italy - a team who did great at euros then fizzled at playoffs. interesting to see if they can find that kind of form here. if they can they might vault into dark horse for a playoff spot.
Finland - they have had a good season on tour and they might start well but much like the women i expect that after a possible hot start they will fade away
Sweden - Well maybe they haven't done as well overall because Edin has a new squad, but they have excelled when it counts, like at the Euro's and at last weeks Elite10.
Norway - Well they are the defending champs, so they most certainly are contenders no matter what the form is.
The US - While I do think they maybe have a good chance at the playoffs, they did have a poor Olympics, so could be hard to predict.
Japan - I agree that they may be a one off, but they are ranked #22, so should be in the hunt.
Scotland - they are a wild card, they boast a champion like you said, but it wasn't as a skip and they don't play as much.
China - This is a different/new team from China than the one who did well at the Olympics last year, they are ranked #25 though, so should be fighting for #4.
Czech Republic - They have played most if not all of the tour events in Europe this season.
Switzerland - They probably won't win, but will challenge for playoffs I'm sure.
Italy - I would hardly call losing to Edin fizzling in the playoffs, it is hard to know if they can ever find that form again, since they don't play the tour, it's maybe quite unlikely and they could finish as one of the worst.
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| 03-28-15 10:58AM |
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Stoner
Drawmaster
Registered: Mar 2013
Location:
Posts: 614 |
quote:
Originally posted by misty1
I agree with most of your picks
Japan should beat russia
sweden over finland is an easy one to call
scotland v.s italy is pretty tough. italy was great at euros but it remains to be seen if that was a one off. Retornaz has been around for forever so his experience should help calm the young ones down.that one is tight..but im leaning toward italy
the one i disagree with is switzerland over the czech republic. I think the czechs get the win here
Retornaz may have been around for awhile, but he hasn't been at the Worlds since 06', I don't know how many Euro's he's been to either. It may have been a fluke week at the Euro's.
I think the Swiss will win, but I hope it's the Czech's.
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| 03-28-15 11:19AM |
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Stoner
Drawmaster
Registered: Mar 2013
Location:
Posts: 614 |
You you'd have thought since they are in Canada this time that the coverage would be better, but it's not, draw 1 is not being shown anywhere, what a fail.
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| 03-28-15 11:28AM |
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misty1
Supreme Champion!
Registered: Sep 2011
Location:
Posts: 6002 |
quote:
Originally posted by Stoner
You you'd have thought since they are in Canada this time that the coverage would be better, but it's not, draw 1 is not being shown anywhere, what a fail.
the only time tsn shows a world game that doesnt involve canada is if its the olympics. so thats not surprising
but the fact that world curling tv isnt broadcasting a game at all in draw 1 is embarrassing
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| 03-28-15 12:19PM |
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Stoner
Drawmaster
Registered: Mar 2013
Location:
Posts: 614 |
quote:
Originally posted by misty1
the only time tsn shows a world game that doesnt involve canada is if its the olympics. so thats not surprising
but the fact that world curling tv isnt broadcasting a game at all in draw 1 is embarrassing
I know that TSN will only show Canada games, but that needs to change.
As for WCTV, there really is no excuse for not showing a game in draw 1, I mean it's the 1st draw after all, they aren't showing draw 3 either, but I think that's because it's a 2 game one, which is normal I suppose, they are showing the rest of the event however and 2 games in draw 2.
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| 03-28-15 12:57PM |
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CurlingGeek
Swing Artist
Registered: Apr 2011
Location:
Posts: 208 |
CurlingGeek will have limited coverage this week. Check out our site to see if we are covering a particular draw...in most cases the decision will be made very close to game time (based on volunteer availability)
https://games.curlinggeek.com
First up: Sweden (Edin) vs Finland (Kauste) on Saturday at 2:30pm AT (1:30 ET)
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| 03-28-15 01:06PM |
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StonePunter
Harvey Hacksmasher
Registered: Mar 2012
Location: 185.5 cm
Posts: 65 |
Normally I defend broadcasters and TV orgs that take flack from idiot fans who can't wrap their heads around why they can't have an equivalent of Curling Red Zone whenever there are four sheets of ice in use.
But JFC really Curling Canada, WCF and WCTV? You really had a meeting and decided that you'd just pass on game one of the MWCC? Felt Sweden Finland wouldn't have the viewership draw? Scotland can't bear to watch Italians? Honestly what could've been behind this decision.
Garbage you guys. Do better.
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| 03-28-15 04:50PM |
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misty1
Supreme Champion!
Registered: Sep 2011
Location:
Posts: 6002 |
look, as much as i want to see all games televised by tsn that wont happen.
viewers who watch curling worlds are mostly casual fans who only have an interest in watching canada. the die hard fans who dont care who we watch, we just want to watch the game are far out weighed by the casual fan who is only interested in canada and tsn knows this.
heck, im sure there are a lot of avid curling fans who only want to watch canada.
we , on this forum might want to see every game but we are a tiny percentile
it sucks but its true and its likely never going to change
even if most fans and viewers wanted the see the whole tournament it wouldnt matter because tsn simply does not like curling and they dont care what we want
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| 03-28-15 04:59PM |
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doubletakeout
Swing Artist
Registered: Feb 2005
Location: Manitoba
Posts: 480 |
if tsn didn't like curling, they wouldn't have ramped up their coverage of all season of champions events to their highest-ever levels.
jesus, what more do you possibly want from the network? multi-sheet coverage of the brier. ALL team canada games at both world championships. semis AND finals of the juniors. coverage of the canada cup round robin in addition to the playoffs. complete continental cup coverage.
but no, that's still not good enough, apparently.
curling fans have got to be the biggest bunch of whiners and complainers out there. give your head a shake.
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| 03-28-15 05:22PM |
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Stoner
Drawmaster
Registered: Mar 2013
Location:
Posts: 614 |
So Japan expectedly defeated Russia, The Swiss eked out a win over the Czech's in an extra end, Italy did the same to Scotland and Sweden had some trouble with Finland but pulled through in the end.
Previewing draw 2: Norway will take out China, Japan will keep winning over Scotland, The Czech's will make it past the Fins, and Canada will defeat the US.
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