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Congratulations to Team Fujisawa for becoming the fifth Asian team to reach a Grand Slam final...and the first to win it!

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quote:

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Originally posted by hailstone
Congratulations to Team Fujisawa for becoming the fifth Asian team to reach a Grand Slam final...and the first to win it!

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Very Very happy to see them win Always happy win or lose Met them in New Glasgow at the slam a few years ago. Great ambassadors for curling worldwide

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quote:

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Originally posted by decade


Betty Wang ( aka Bingyu) won the Autumn Classic in 2010 . It was considered a Grand Slam event then, Kevin Martin didn't even get it right.

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Team Fujisawa really deserved to win! And then many people say here and here that this is not so! But I think that their game was just good!

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quote:

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Originally posted by hailstone

The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling, which is what most people mean when they use the term "Grand Slam" in a curling context, has always consisted of the same four events: the Canadian Open, Masters, National and Players’ Championship. Women weren't invited to these events until 2012, so they had their own "Grand Prix" before then. So while Bingyu won a "Grand Prix" event, she didn't win one of the Grand Prix events that we talk about today.

This may seem like splitting hairs, but you wouldn't say that the Houston Aeros are former NHL hockey champions just because they won titles in the WHL.

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quote:

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Originally posted by decade


" The Autumn Gold Curling Classic is held annually in Calgary, Alberta, and has been held 42 times (as of 2019). It offers a total purse of $50,000. It was removed from the Grand Slam lineup starting in the 2015–16 curling season.""

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Registered: May 2018
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The Men's and Women's Japan National Champions begin this weekend, with the play-in games for the Wildcard spots taking place on Saturday, and the full Round Robin tournament beginning the following day.

As was the case last year, quite a few of the games will be broadcast on Youtube (though unfortunately the finals are all on Japan NHK television). The links are not active yet, but eventually you should be able to get to the matches from this link (pass it through Google Translate if necessary)

https://japan-curling.jp/schedule/

Most notable Wildcard play-in matches are the Loco Solare sister team Loco Stella (Team Sasaki) against Team Kanagawa (will be shocked if Loco Stella loses that), and Consadore against Team Iwate (will be slightly less shocked if Consadore loses that, but shocked nonetheless)

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No shock on either front, as Loco Stella and Consadole won comfortably and have moved on to the main draw.

The other team I was interested in on the ladies side was Team Karuizawa, lead by Shiori Fujisawa, the older sister of Satsuki Fujisawa, but unfortunately they lost to Team Suzuki of Aomori, and did not advance to the main draw.

All of the games to be broadcast on Youtube will be broadcast from this channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@CurlingJapan

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Strange that Yoshimura isn't in attendance.

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quote:

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Originally posted by MeaghanEdwards
Strange that Yoshimura isn't in attendance.

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Oh darn, such bad timing!

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It's not often that you see the team with the better draw percentage lose 15-4.

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Hokkaido Bank vs Chubu Electric was a pretty great game! Worth a look if you're interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s-EeAK_Fco

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There have been some good matches, enjoyed watching it in May.

Interesting that they have their linescore up on their website but not Curlingzone.

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The NHK site has linescores that update in semi-real time. Additionally, for the games airing on NHK, they offer a small highlight video from each end.

Here you can watch Morozumi give up a steal of five in the second end of the match with Consadole that just ended:

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/sports/speci...result/men.html

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/sports/speci...sult/women.html

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Hokkaido Bank has caused quite a logjam at the top by losing when they were supposed to win against SC Karuizawa, and winning when they were supposed to lose against Loco Solare. The result is a five way tie for first at 2-1 between those three teams, as well as Chubu Electric and Aomori Curling Association. The men's side is a bit more stable, with SC Karuizawa, Consadole, and Kitami Assocation all undefeated at 3-0.

There was a funny moment in the fourth end of Loco Solare's second match of the day where Fujisawa slipped so badly on her delivery that she bellyflopped like a seal. She still got the stone off and successfully made the take out, but lost her shooter in the process, leading the Hokkaido Bank getting a big end and turning the match around.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/sports/assets/BzfTvoHEm8tyFC.jpg

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I saw that clip of Fujisawa -- what a good sport she was about it!

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quote:

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Originally posted by MeaghanEdwards
There have been some good matches, enjoyed watching it in May.

Interesting that they have their linescore up on their website but not Curlingzone.

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Last edited by hailstone on 02-01-23 at 01:02AM

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The men's teams advancing to the playoffs have been determined: defending champions SC Karuizawa (team Yanagisawa), Kitami Association, Consadole, and TM Karuizawa (team Morozumi). Last year's runner-up team from Sapporo International University will not advance. SC Karuizawa has secured a top two spot. If Kitami Association defeats SC Karuizawa today, they will also advance to the 1-2 game for a spot in the finals; otherwise, the number two spot will come down to DSC.

The women's picture remains as clear as mud, with seven of the nine teams maintaining a mathematical chance of advancing. Team Fujisawa should be fine, but every other team still has some work to do...or a lot of work and a lot of praying. Regardless, it will all be clear in a little under 12 hours from now.

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quote:

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Originally posted by hailstone
SC Karuizawa (team Yanagisawa)
TM Karuizawa (team Morozumi)

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quote:

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Originally posted by curlingclips

Does SC and TM stand for anything?

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Team Fujisawa dodged a bullet against their sister team Team Sasaki, as they needed to steal in the final end to secure the victory. If they had lost, they would have needed to defeat Philoseek Aomori in their final game to make the playoffs, but at 6-1 they should be well and truly safe.

The other teams remaining in contention are the 5-2 teams Chubu Electric, SC Karuizawa, and the aforementioned Philoseek Aomori, while Hokkaido Bank is 4-3. Hokkaido Bank needs to win their match against Aomori CA and get a good deal of help to advance, and even that may not be enough depending on DSC numbers, which are not made public until the end. The winner of the SC Karuizawa vs Chubu Electric match will likely get the #2 spot, but that's not a given if Philoseek Aomori upsets Loco Solare.

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Philoseek Aomori is the real deal! They not only beat Team Fujisawa, they dominated them 8-3 in nine ends.

Loco Solare, Chubu Electric, and Philoseek Aomori all finished round robin play at 6-2, but because they all finished 1-1 against each other, Loco Solare and Chubu Electric took the top two spots by virtue of DSC. They will play each other for a spot in the finals, while Philoseek Aomori progresses to the semi-final play-in game against SC Karuizawa, who tied with Hokkaido Bank at 5-3, but advance by virtue of their head to head victory.

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What's the history between Aomori and Kitami curling communities?

On a glance, it looks like the women representatives at Worlds & Olympics were usually either Aomori or Kitami, with a few exceptions.

Mari Motohashi is of course notable for moving from Aomori to Kitami. So I guess she's responsible for the growth in Kitami and subsequent dominance over Aomori in recent years?

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