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

Quite a ride is in store this weekend for the GNCC Club Championship, with both the Men's and Women's side competing out of the same 3 sheet facility at Ardsley. The winner takes home not just the GNCC trophy, but also a no-expense paid trip to Bismark, ND in March for Club Nationals.

18 men's teams and 3 women's teams are on the very packed schedule with play beginning 8am Wednesday. For the men, a modified triple knockout is in effect with potential tiebreakers on Monday. For the Women, it'll be a double round-robin with double knockout provision, with play beginning on Friday and tiebreakers scheduled for Monday.

It is a mess of a situation, but all things considered, this is probably the best configuration we could have hoped for. Could this be the end of Men's and Women's being scheduled for the same weekend at the same club?

Potomac yields the most total participants with 5 teams (3 men, 2 women), while home club Ardsley produced the most mens teams with 4 participating. Plenty of new and old faces rounding out both events.

For those interested, here are the teams.

Men's
Charles Barnes, Scott Fernandes, Leroy Woodman, Blake Logan: South Shore
Steve Buffington, Leonard Jarabeck, Robert Suhr, Sean Mizerski: Pittsburgh
Caleb Clawson, Eli Clawson, Eric Clawson, Hunter Clawson: Potomac
Brian Damon, Alexander Tynell , Joe Cammarano, Kenneth Thomson: Cape Cod
Brian Dauernheim, Nicholas Datlowe, Adam Kapp, Vincent Serritella: Potomac
Keith Dropkin, Peter Bialek, Todd Hebert, Daniel Naylor: Broomstones
Matthew Gallegos, Michael Spensieri, Derek Kayser, Joe Panella: Ardsley
Michael Greene, John Paccione, Keith Wisbauer, Thomas Lithgow: Long Island
Jeff Hannon, Dave Bykowski, Donn Malner, Kyle Stover: Nutmeg
Dan Machold, Dion Warr, David Longbrake, David Spengler: Schenectady
Gert Messing, Dan Tufaro, Gregory Poole-Dayan, Samuel Williams: Ardsley
Ivo Petrov, John Dejohn, Don Arsenault, Frederick Debberley: Plainfield
Mark Robinson, Nicholas Visnich, Alexander Visnich, Paul Fey: Pittsburgh
Edward Scimia, Jack Miller, Lawerence Bocchiere, Eric Sebastian, Andrew Hancock: Nutmeg
Melvin Shaw, Stephen Enochson, Jimmy Fallon, Joe Rockenbach: Potomac
Michael Stefanik, Charles Brown, Scott Brennan, Jack Stopera: Schenectady
Bill Stopera, Martin Sather, George Austin, Peter Austin: Ardsley
Yushi Yang, Ken Hsu, Jamey Gelardi, John Salmon: Ardsley

Women's
Elizabeth Demers, Courtney Shaw, Stephanie Erstad, Laura Yee: Potomac
Ann Drummie, Laura Heuer, Stacy Slette, Janice Barber: Potomac
Krista Longnecker, Matina Heisler, Marinna Martini, Wendy Scholes: Cape Cod

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Registered: Dec 2011
Location: New York
Posts: 60

I'm both looking forward to it and dreading having to play 8 AM Wednesday

Lots of good teams for this event.

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Registered: Jun 2007
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Posts: 440

What a rat race, sheesh! You all enjoy that.

I might be cheering for a couple of teams here and there....

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

I imagine deserving teams such as Damon (Cape Cod?), Machold, Messing, Shaw and IVO will be seeded high, but I see a changing of the guard arriving. OK, I'm cheating. I've seen the seeding.

Clawson/Clawson/Clawson and Clawson win this. They've been competitive before and should be rapidly improving...at least 3/4 of them should be improving. Stopera pushes them in the Finals. I hear Sax Sather is skipping that team.

As usual, I'll be cheering for Ivo; mostly because his name is easy to chant. Go ahead. Try it. IVO IVO IVO IVO

I'm glad Melvin started a thread. Heck, this site has been so slow lately I'm glad if anyone starts a thread. But in this case, I'm glad it was Melvin. Last year he breezed through the early rounds and then went THUMP THUMP to lose out. (the caps were to express the quality of the thumps) Must have been a tough drive home. Good to see he's jacked up for another run. A lesser man would have committed to a murder/suicide pact with his team (i.e. I promise to commit suicide right after I slowly strangle these three incompetent boobs) But not Melvin. Once more into the breech. Go get 'em, Melvin.

I have a question: How is Steph Erstad in GNCC Clubs? Isn't she still out of Madison?

Another question: How is Keith Dropkin still alive? Isn't he like 90? Weren't they swinging corn at his last Nationals appearance? I think Bud Summerville won it that year. OK, just kidding. Keith is a great guy. Everybody is SO thrilled to see Keith. Mostly because the draw says they are playing Dropkin and they fear it's Shelly or Kory or Stephen. REALLY glad to see Keith and not one of the other Dropkins. Plus, he's a great guy.

My longshot special today is my friend Jeffy The Snark Hannon. He won't outshoot anybody, but he'll outthink everybody.

Demers wins the Women's.

So there you have it. I'm betting the Clawson/Demers Daily Double. I'm betting the Stopera/Clawson exacta box. I'm boxing some bombs for the trifecta with Clawson/Stopera/Hannon/Dropkin. I'm cheering for IVO and hoping Shaw doesn't need a quick Google search for Seppuku.

Ben Tucker

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Registered: Jun 2007
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Steph Erstad (along with husband Joel) moved to Baltimore last summer. She curls out of Potomac now.

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: St. Thomas, North Dakota
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SPMfromPPC forgot the other questions like why is Damon suddenly out of Cape Cod and how can Dropkin The Ancient still be alive throwing granite rocks that are roughly his age and who is going to win.

SPM can't make a pick with so many friends in the field, so we'll give him Stefanik. Good pick. Solid team.

Ben Tucker (I imagine that Keith is still alive because Shelly babies him)

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Registered: Jun 2011
Location: Framingham, MA
Posts: 15

Does anyone recall who was the only team to beat Summerville/Nichols at nationals that year (1981) in Fairbanks?

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

I will be rooting against Melvin because he hurt my feelings when he called me old.

Yes, somehow I got convinced to play. Good thing is that the games will be well spaced so I can consume mass quantities of Advil between games. All props to the draw masters. This had to be really tough to figure. There are possibilities of a complete day off in the draw but 21 teams on three sheets is nuts when only 4 draws a day are possible. Very long days for the officials and the ice crew. I hear that Sather will be doing the ice, I don't think that will last very long.

A couple of the teams had a warm up this weekend past at the men's spiel in Norfolk. I think the brewery tour might have influenced their performance.

Looking forward to it, been a long time since I played 10 ends. As long as I don't do the 13 end thing again it should all be good.

JHcurl
might need a second suitcase for pain killers

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: St. Thomas, North Dakota
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No. Nobody recalls who beat Summerville/Nichols in 1981. Why? Because most of the players are now dead. The younger Alaskans who may have been in attendance were probably too drunk and didn't recall it even the following morning.

I hadn't even thrown my first curling shot yet in 1981. Who was president? Kennedy? Eisenhower?

If I get down close to the Grafton Sunset Retirement Home today, I'll ask who beat Bud in '81 on the way to Bud's World silver.

Ben Tucker (Hannon and Dropkin...beware of the old guys)

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Registered: Jan 2012
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Half the players listed weren't alive in 1981, let alone curling then. Which is higher, the number of players alive in 1981 or the number of curlers that started before 2002?

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

OUCH! Take that, Dropkin The Ancient! I'd hate to this thread degrade to picking on Keith.

That's a lie. I'd love to see us fill 3 pages teasing Keith. Who is older; Hannon Dropkin or Alaskan statehood?

Ben Tucker
Not as mean as VAcurler

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

quote:

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Originally posted by jhcurl
I will be rooting against Melvin because he hurt my feelings when he called me old.

Yes, somehow I got convinced to play. Good thing is that the games will be well spaced so I can consume mass quantities of Advil between games.

...

JHcurl
might need a second suitcase for pain killers

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Registered: Dec 2011
Location: New York
Posts: 60

Ardsley will be webstreaming the event at https://youtube.com/c/ardsleycurling

Melvin - You may have the beard but Hannon's working on a sweet grey moustache, at least at the Calder last weekend

Speaking of old guys let's not forget the front-ender players Jack Stopera and George Austin. That's a lot of collective experience

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Registered: Aug 2012
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 41

quote:

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Originally posted by tuck

I have a question: How is Steph Erstad in GNCC Clubs? Isn't she still out of Madison?

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Registered: Sep 2011
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I'm calling for a Potomac Sweep, with Shaw and the Clawson Clan contesting the finals, Shaw winning out.

On the women's side, it will be the Demers rink over the Drummie rink.

As a side teaser, I'm taking the UNDER on peculiar rules weirdnesses causing 5+ page thread discussions on CZ as a result of a game which ended up ultimately being meaningless...Vegas set the line at 0.9 after last year's Klock Kerfuffle...and I'm *guaranteeing* no one makes a similar mistake this year...

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Registered: Jan 2012
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Speaking of bets, can we get lines here? I'll agree with Alan's side bet - no clock issues this year.

I like the Potomac team on the women's side. And to prove that I'm not a complete homer I'll take the Stopera rink playing at home.

Jason

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

Here is a side bet. Over/under on wins by the two old skips. Line is 6. Me and Dropkin the Ancient (tm Tuck).

As far as lines, hopefully Tuck can come up with something. If he puts me at less than 50-1 he is an idiot.

JH
buying a case of beer tomorrow so you know I am serious

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Registered: Mar 2009
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quote:

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Originally posted by kdropkin
Does anyone recall who was the only team to beat Summerville/Nichols at nationals that year (1981) in Fairbanks?

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Registered: Sep 2002
Location: US - CT
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George Dyer went to Nationals quite a few times. Back in the day, that was the team to beat from the GNCC. He is still missed by us old timers. Great guy.

One of the sad losses from the Norfolk fire was the plaque that had all the national teams attending from the GNCC.

One of the reasons that I always like to go to Norfolk for men's is the history. John Calder played in the Olys in Lake Placid. It is an honor to play for the Calder Cup each year and I am proud to say I have won it.

Back to the topic. Tuck won't set odds, he has too many friends in the field. He is afraid. He also doesn't realize that I might be the only one that is his friend. Ivo hates him.

JH
late night sarcasm hence why they call me Snark

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Registered: Jan 2012
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quote:

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Originally posted by Frykenstein

Tuck's obviously not gonna get off his ass and answer this, so I will.

mf

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

Dropkin the Ancient is throwing lead and skipping. That could change the odds.

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Registered: Mar 2009
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So is the GNCC playing 8 end games in this championship? I know MOPAC does for time considerations. I would imagine with so many teams that is the case here.

Looks like WarrMachine's premonition about todays 8:00 was correct.

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Registered: Aug 2012
Location: Washington, DC
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Nope. Still doing 10 end games.

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Registered: Mar 2009
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quote:

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Originally posted by courtneyshaw
Nope. Still doing 10 end games.

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Registered: Aug 2012
Location: Washington, DC
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quote:

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Originally posted by biterbar


CZ had the scoring lines at 8 ends. Nice job by the way updating the scores here.

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