Registered: Oct 2013
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So I wanted to give this event its own thread. The events start Tuesday 5/10 at 4:30pm. The event format has been changed this year from a double knockout spiel bracket to a modified round robin. There are 20 men’s teams, so 4 pods of 5 teams, and there are 18 women’s teams, so 3 pods of 6 teams. Below are a list of teams competing this year. If you want to see the rosters for each team, you can go here: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Curling/...pionships/Teams

For the men’s teams, I believe that the 4 teams that played in the playoffs all return. I know that the Cincinnati roster is 100% the same, not sure about the rest.

Men's Teams
Bowling Green
Cedar Rapids
Cincinnati
Circle City
Curling Club of Houston
Dallas-Fort Worth
Des Moines
Jersey Pinelands
Kansas City
La Crosse
Lansing
Las Vegas
Lone Star
Long Island
Ocean State
Oklahoma
Palmetto
Pittsburgh
San Francisco
Wine Country


Women's Teams
Bowling Green
Cedar Rapids
Cincinnati
Circle City
Curling Club of Virginia
Dakota
Dallas-Fort Worth
Jersey Pinelands
Kansas City
Lansing
Oklahoma
Palmetto
Pittsburgh
San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
San Fracisco Bay Area
Wine Country
Wine Country

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Registered: Feb 2011
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Glad to see that the number of teams has expanded! Good luck to all teams and to a great week of curling!

Picks:
Men = DFWCC - Same team as last year, just with a new lead
Women = SFBACC - Same team as last year

Cheers

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Registered: Oct 2013
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Agreed that it is nice to see the field increase. Also, with the new format, all teams are now guaranteed 4 games rather than 3 (Women are actually guaranteed 5 this year due to fewer teams). To me this is great, because for any curler, more games on great ice against good teams will only make you better.

They wanted 20 and 20, but getting 2 more women's teams proved a bit difficult at the last minute I believe. I think that the partial round robin format should be much better, but the proof will come in a few days.

As someone who was lucky enough to participate in this event once, it is a great opportunity for arena curlers, and I am very glad that it takes place every year.

And if there were Vegas odds on the event, DFW men and SFBACC women would be the betting favorites.

edit - the SFBACC team that won last year Walsh is the one I refer to

Last edited by curlky on 05-09-16 at 12:44PM

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Registered: Jul 2015
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SFBACC Men's is a different team. There are three SFBACC Women's teams; SFBACC Woman's 1 is last year's team.

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Registered: Sep 2002
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I will be there representing the USCA. Great to see this event expand and continue to grow.

Of course as an Eastie, I am rooting for the Eastie teams. Pittsburgh does a lot of curling on the road so should be used to good ice. The Pittsburgh women also have some of the best jackets you will ever see. Basically, skulls on the front and back.

Long Island on the men's side can be tough.

Should be a great event.

JH
Braves on a path to 120+ losses, that is a good thing

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Registered: Apr 2011
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We've got one geek on-site who will be providing coverage between volunteer shifts. Tentative broadcast schedule is posted on the home page: https://games.curlinggeek.com/

First game should be: Tuesday 4:30 PM - Pittsburgh vs. Cedar Rapids (Womens)

If anyone else wants to help share the games from this great event, send an email to geek@curlinggeek.com

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Registered: Oct 2013
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jh, cincy's men and women team have each have a former Plainfield curler, so feel free to join them into your rooting world.

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Registered: Jun 2013
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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Thanks for the shout-out, JH. We'll certainly do our best this week!

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

Are we supposed to be making predictions? Newbie picked obvious favorites. I'm not questioning his manhood...oh, wait...I guess I am.

Dakota wins the Women's.

Dallas looks like a mortal lock to win the Men's, so I'm picking Lansing.

Good luck to all...especially my picks. JH is representing the USCA? For this I pay dues? Just kidding. I'm glad that the USCA continues to support a championship that covers a significant percentage of our players.

Ben Tucker

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Registered: Jan 2005
Location: the Banana Belt
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Been to Plainfield Curling Club before, crazy curling in a two sheet club.

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Not for picking a winner, but in general, the GLCA teams that are competing should bring a good level of skill to the event with Cincinnati, Circle City (Indianapolis), Bowling Green & Lansing.

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Registered: May 2016
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quote:

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Originally posted by tuck


Dakota wins the Women's.

Ben Tucker

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: St. Thomas, North Dakota
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She's got the right third and she's probably fashioned a blissful marriage out of proving you wrong repeatedly (that's how it usually works).

Ben Tucker (kids, do yourselves a favor...get a great third and a smart wife)

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Registered: Sep 2011
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Headed up for my officiating stints Thursday through Saturday as soon as I finish up some business at the office here.

Question for anyone on site who can answer: How warm/cold is it at the *timer* stations? That's always the most variable job, temperaturewise, if I understood the preevent brief correctly, it's on the ice, so probably at least chilly, but I wanna know for sure before I overpack my winter gear

Already have to bring some, since I'm on-ice observer/official for a couple draws as well...but do I need to bring 3 days worth?

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Registered: Jan 2005
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How do teams qualify for this event, some scores seem really lopsided? Does each region send an entry? What are the rules for this gig?

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Registered: Feb 2011
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There is no qualification or regional playdown process for this event as of now (as this event is only a few years old and still being developed)

The current process is clubs express interest in sending a team to the USCA, then through a regional allocation + random drawing system, clubs are granted a spot into the event. It is within the club to determine who to send (aka playdowns within the club).

So yes there are probably clubs who just throw together a team just for the fun of it vs clubs who have many teams play down to be their representative, so mismatches and lop-sided scores are not surprising.

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Registered: Oct 2013
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quote:

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Originally posted by dugless_zone 13
How do teams qualify for this event, some scores seem really lopsided? Does each region send an entry? What are the rules for this gig?

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Registered: Feb 2011
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quote:

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Originally posted by curlky


I believe that if your team medaled the previous year, then you get to come back the current year

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quote:

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Originally posted by USAnewbie



This is NOT the case. The only guaranteed spot(s) go to the host club, 1 Men's team and 1 Women's team.

It is possible that you can win one year, and not get invited back to compete the following year due to the allocation & draw system. Its not a perfect system by any means, however without having a playdown system in place, it was the only system thought of where each club has an equal chance of getting selected.

This event is considered more of a development event.

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Registered: Jan 2005
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Okay, so Arena clubs are like "paper clubs", they don't have a dedicated curling club but rather they rent ice at an arena, scribe in rings etc and play?

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Registered: Oct 2013
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I would not use the paper club, as I think of that as a club that is only in planning stages, and actually does not yet curl, but that is just a syntax difference.

For the most part there are 2 levels of arena curling clubs, those with good relationships with a hockey arena, and those that do not. The ones that do not tend to have to scribe circles onto the ice, have no easy cold storage of rocks, and get at most 2 draws per week, many times getting ice time slots like 10pm on a Sunday night or some other wretched time. The ones that have better relationships tend to have arenas that have allowed them to actually paint houses and hog lines on top of the hockey lines so no scribing necessary. They also might have an area to store the rocks cold, although off the ice either in a freezer or some other means.

Both types of arena club face ice conditions ranging from very bad to miserable, with huge amounts of negative ice and terrible runs. At best you cannot play both out turns and in turns, you only get one or the other. Runs you might ask come from the zamboni machine that "levels" our ice. As an example, I played one game this year where the zamboni blade was messed up, and there was a 1/4" deep gouge in the ice that ran the entire length of the ice at the foor foot line extended. You should see what a rock does as it falls down a 1/4" tall cliff.

So for this national event, USA curling brings in national level ice makers and they make championship quality ice. They are only given a few days to work on it so it might not be quiate as nice as ice at the worlds, but it is pretty darn close if not as good. They work their butts off to get it into awesome shape. This events help bring experience to players with good ice conditions for a change.

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Registered: Dec 2014
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OK, I'm just going to say it. Is "national championship" really the appropriate title for this event?

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Registered: Jan 2005
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A paper club is a club that exists on " paper" , which means they have a membership but do not have a dedicated curling facility and thus rent ice, usually ice hockey facilities. We have one or two in our area.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lis...e_United_States

Last edited by dugless_zone 13 on 05-11-16 at 05:00PM

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quote:

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Originally posted by BumperUp
OK, I'm just going to say it. Is "national championship" really the appropriate title for this event?

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Registered: Feb 2012
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Arena Nationals has playes from coast to coast. Just missing Alaska and Hawaii so far. The other nationals are headed to inviting only those high enough on OOM lists. Which are truly the real nationals?

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