Registered: Sep 2011
Location:
Posts: 6002

well, dropkin puts polo in at 3rd and they cruise over birr but its to little to late. maerki winning means they are locked out.

i still dont fully get what happened to dropkin there. its disappointing after a great start and they were looking good.

shuster will probably win . they've looked great all week.

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

Still no love from Misty. No props. No respect. Maybe on Valentine's Day.

While we are second guessing HPP coaching and Joe Cool not playing as much as results would indicate, we are missing another story.

The Junior team on the Women's side is being handled extremely well. Patti Lank comes in as skip. They can play at this high level without hurting confidence. They get to learn from Patti, play good games and leave with the confidence them came with.

This is a very good way to handle a young team. They rotated. They did well. Good plan. Good execution. Props.

Ben Tucker

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Registered: Sep 2011
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quote:

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Originally posted by tuck
Still no love from Misty. No props. No respect. Maybe on Valentine's Day.

While we are second guessing HPP coaching and Joe Cool not playing as much as results would indicate, we are missing another story.

The Junior team on the Women's side is being handled extremely well. Patti Lank comes in as skip. They can play at this high level without hurting confidence. They get to learn from Patti, play good games and leave with the confidence them came with.

This is a very good way to handle a young team. They rotated. They did well. Good plan. Good execution. Props.

Ben Tucker

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Registered: Oct 2004
Location: Twin Snowbanks
Posts: 2068

Alaska vs Alaska in the women's semi final, no? Who are the Alaskan's cheering for? Sinclair is the favourite, but Traxler, a new name to me, has been steady!

__________________
Lots of major youth (<21) events. Nice for Murdoch... and us :-D.

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

Sinclair was born in Alaska when her father was stationed there. To the best of my knowledge, she's never thrown a rock in Alaska. Persinger at second, on the other hand, is born and raised Alaskan from a great curling family.

Traxler did a very good job of skipping some very young Alaska Junior teams over the last few years. You would have had to be attendance to see it, but she was a star early on. Cousins comes from a very nice curling family in Boston and been pretty good for awhile now.

It's hard for me to focus on anything outside of the Tabs Peterson story. Quite the year. Quite the story. Quite the curler; but we've always known that.

Ben Tucker

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

In hindsight, I wonder if we were focused on the wrong Dropkin. Elder brother Stephen looked very good from what little I saw of him.

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

We've been quick to indict HPP coaching for Polo sitting out too much in the face of stellar results when he has been on the ice for Dropkin. I've been less so, because I'm not there and I don't know the dynamics of team.

HOWEVER, the fact that Sarah Anderson has barely seen the ice at all this year (except for excellent results in Mixed Doubles) doesn't require my presence. I can indict the entire system for that waste of talent.

Very impressive show being staged by Eastern Washington. Good crowds and great ice.

Ben Tucker

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Registered: Sep 2011
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sinnett was pretty impressive this week. unfortunately just seems like a late game collapse or a bad end by them but they pushed ruohonen hard in their semi.

i named them as my dark horse coming in so im not to surprised but will they even get the attention from the us program or is this just a nice story

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

It will be hard for the HPP to notice Sinnett the same week that Violette beats Canada at World Juniors. There is only so much room in the current HPP system. You can't kick out Dropkin, Howell and Polo. Who leaves to make room?

We really do need to find methods and money to keep people like the Elder Dropkin, Andrew Stopera, Chase Sinnett, Sarah Anderson and other talented curlers on the ice. If only to build a system that has them testing Shuster and Peterson, we need a system that fosters talent instead of choosing talent...and often choosing poorly (Shuster was kicked out the HPP at least twice)

But I digress into old conversations. Props to the USCA and Eastern Washington for a great Nationals. Respect to a fair amount of curlers who really earned some respect this week.

Ben Tucker (going back to not posting)

Last edited by tuck on 02-15-20 at 12:19PM

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Registered: Feb 2020
Location: Ohio
Posts: 167

That was an exceptional final!

Ruohonen played out of his mind.

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Registered: Jan 2015
Location:
Posts: 234

Yep. Incredible final

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