by Joe Pavia

The Russians lost it in more ways than one.

On March 2 in Bern, Switzerland the Gatineau rink of Mike Raby, Andre Guillemette, David Joseph, Mike Cyr, alternate Guy Morin and coach Denise Hoekstra defeated the Russian squad to bring the deaf world title to Canada.

Their championship final game was fraught with Russian antics designed to rattle the Canucks. The bad blood may have begun in the round robin when the Gatineau lads defeated the Russians. The losers came back with a Page 1 victory, forcing the Canadians into the semi-final.

In the final, the Russians made lineup changes by having their fifth come in to call the game but throw third. After the fifth end, Canada led 7-4. While the Canadian men huddled with coach Hoekstra between ends, one of the opposing players stole skip Raby's broom and hid it in their own broom bag.

"It wasn't a mistake." said the coach. "Mike's (Raby) broom looked nothing like the Russian brooms."

Not able to find his broom, the rattled Raby borrowed a broom but ended up giving up a three to tie the game in the sixth.

This incensed Canada -- and second Joseph took action. Now Joseph is about 6-foot-2 and 260 pounds. You don't get in his way. He "opened" the Russian broom bag and found his teammate's brush buried in the bag. A few gestures, perhaps unknown in standard American sign language, were exchanged.

In the seventh frame, Joseph was in possession of the house. He swept an errant enemy rock behind the tee line only to be interfered with by his counterpart. That was it. Joseph pushed the curler out of the way and down to the ice. Canada scored a point then stole a deuce in the eighth and ended up with a 10-8 by Browse to Save">win.

"Kudos to the Russians for vastly improving their technique but they are terrible in strategy and game etiquette. The by Browse to Save">Russian women are even worse," Hoekstra said.

They defeated the Canadian women from Alberta in their final, 9-7.

WOMEN'S WORLDS

Rachel Homan's Team Canada left Ottawa Monday en route to Latvia for the Titlis Glacier Mountain world women's curling championship. Eve Muirhead (Scotland), Anna Sidorova (Russia), Margaretha Sigfridsson (Sweden) and Silvana Tirinzoni (Switzerland) rank just behind Team Canada in the order of merit. This season, Homan has a 2-1 record against Muirhead and a 0-1 record vs. Sigfridsson. The battle to watch will be Canada against Russia. TSN carries all Canada's games beginning Saturday at 1 p.m.

OCA RESULTS

The junior mixed region results were: 1A - Ben Miskew, B - Mac Calwell. Bantam mixed region by Browse to Save">winners were: A - Pascal Michaud, B - Matt Allan. Rod Matheson and Bob Matheson of Ottawa and Merv Roberts from Perth have advanced to the provincial Grand Masters in Thornhill beginning next Thursday.

END NOTES

The Alexander Keith's City of Ottawa Men's bonspiel begins Wednesday at area clubs. The ultimate by Browse to Save">winner of the Open event can win a minimum of $6,000. That final is Sunday at 5 p.m., at the Hunt as is the seniors final. The Senator's final is at the Ottawa on Saturday at 6 p.m. During the sendoff for Team Canada last Saturday evening, lead Lisa Weagle, was presented with a rock guard broom so she could avoid any further burnt rock episodes ... The Canadian seniors championship begins Saturday in Summerside, PEI. The Team Ontario men are from the Rideau, skipped by Howard Rajala while Quebec's women's entry is from Thurso and skipped by Cathy Derick ... The inaugural Canadian mixed doubles championship begins Thursday in Leduc, Alta.

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By Joe Pavia

There aren’t many of them and two are in Ottawa.

Two Slovenians are here in the capital to learn more about curling. Tomas Tisler, at twenty-three, has been in Ottawa since September. His goal is to learn how to make ice and perhaps ply his trade in Europe. “I was volunteering in Innsbruck, Austria at the youth Olympic games, working with the ice crew, when I met Mark Shurek who got me a job over here.” Shurek is one of Canada’s premier ice craftsmen. He approached the Ottawa’s ice maker Jon Wall and the deal was sealed to work there. His girlfriend, twenty-five year old Nadja Pipan, came to Canada for Christmas after she earned her Master’s in pharmacy. Together they are Team Slovenia at the World Mixed Doubles which takes place in April in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

With only 200 curlers Slovenia is not expecting much. “We have a goal of winning two games. If we achieve this we and everybody back home are going to look at this championship as a success. It may sound weird to Canadians but every win for us is like a gold medal for you.”

After seeing curling on television he was hooked because “I love sports that include a lot of strategy.” He saw an ad to try curling in a local arena so off he went. “When I tried curling I just knew that was it! I wanted to stay in it, go places and work in something that has anything to do with curling.”

Pipan was introduced to curling by a friend. That’s how they met. “Once she tried it she couldn’t get away.” She has competed at two women’s and one mixed Europeans. The upcoming tournament in April is Slovenia’s first worlds.

Both of them have seen a bit of Canadian curling. They both volunteered to help with the ice at Renfrew’s provincial masters in January. He also helped out at the RCMP club during a spiel. Tisler was re-united with Shurek in November where he helped him maintain the ice for the Rogers Masters Grand Slam in Brantford. Pipan also attended the final game of the Kingston Scotties where she cheered on Team Ontario.

They love Canadian curling clubs. “There are no curling clubs in Slovenia yet. Hopefully we get one soon if not I am going to be unemployed.” The two feel every club they see looks great. “It’s amazing how much history some clubs have and to see banners with names you see on TV all the time is awesome.”

His curling hero is Wayne Middaugh. Pipan likes Scotland’s Eve Muirhead.

The young ice maker also loves billiards and NFL football. He even travelled to Boston to see his beloved Patriots. The two will remain in Ottawa until the world mixed doubles.

OCA RESULTS: The Huntley bantam team skipped by Jordie Lyon-Hatcher missed winning the provincials on Saturday after finishing the round robin tied for first place with Stroud’s Matthew Hall. Their tie-breaker game ended 6-4 for Hall. Kimberly Gannon’s Toronto based team suffered the same fate as the boys losing their tie-breaker 6-5 to Listowel’s Jestyn Murphy. The Tim Hortons Trophy and Colts region winners were: 1A – Tracy Samaan and Dennis Murphy, B – Laura Payne and Bowie Abbis-Mills. The John Shea Mixed zone victors were: 1A – Bill Woods, B – Don Bowser; 3B – Jeff Guignard. The Senior Mixed zone1A winner was Dave Stanley. In Dominion Regalia Silver Tankard zone 3, the winners were: A – Joe McCaig, B – Bill Adair.

END NOTES: Everyone is invited to the Ottawa Curling Club this Saturday evening at 7:30 for the Team Canada send off to the Worlds.

by Joe Pavia

Curlers looking to follow in Rachel Homan's footsteps are coming to town.

The bantam provincial at Ottawa Navy is as important to these young players as the Scotties was to Homan -- the Tournament of Hearts champion was a four-time bantam winner. Typical is Ottawa's Kimberly Gannon.

"We are excited to have made it." she said.

The 17-year-old is third for the Kelly Hawa rink from Toronto. After Gannon's team aged out of bantams last season, she found out that Gawa's team wanted to play as competitively as she did.

The team won the TCA bantam spiel in December in Toronto

The four girls (except for Gannon, all 16 years of age) only get together at tournaments.

"We keep in contact a lot about things we are working on and it has worked well," Gannon said.

Gannon and many girls may be trying to emulate Homan this weekend after the Ottawa team's win at the Scotties Sunday in Kingston.

"Rachel and her whole team are amazing," Gannon said. "I'm so proud to know them."

Former Glenn Howard third and Sportsnet curling analyst Richard Hart will be in town coaching his two sons in the event. Sons David and Joseph play for Jeff Wanless.

The bantam provincial uses a round-robin format with no playoffs. Sixteen rinks take part -- eight of each gender. The two squads with the most wins are declared the champs.

Representing this area are Pascal Michaud, Jordie Lyon-Hatcher, Marie-Elaine Little (all three from Huntley) and Perth's Hailey Armstrong.

The first draw is at 1 p.m. on Wednesday with morning, afternoon and evening draws daily until the last draw Saturday evening at 8. If tie-breakers are necessary they will take place Sunday morning starting at 9:30. The Navy facility is located at Dow's Lake. Admission is free.

SCOTTIES NOTES

Ontario lead Lisa Weagle, who played the tick shot to perfection, was awarded the Sandra Schmirler most valuable player Award after the championship. Weagle certainly ticked off Manitoba.

In this writer's opinion, every competitive Ontario women's team is thankful that Homan's team goes directly to next year's Scotties in Montreal.

SENIOR MOMENT

Two Ottawa rinks went almost unnoticed Sunday in Pickering at the Dominion Seniors provincial championship.

The Rideau squad of Howard Rajala, Rich Moffatt, Doug Johnston and Ken Sullivan beat the defending title holder, Brian Lewis from the Ottawa, 9-4. Lewis went undefeated in the round robin. Rajala had to defeat his fellow 4-3 round robin finisher, Ray Balachorek of Oshawa, in the semi-final game. The game was actually televised at the same time as the Scotties final.

Galt's Judy Oryniak took the women's side. The Thurso team of Catherine Derick, Sylvie Daniel, Chantal Gadoua and Cheryl Morgan will represent Quebec at the national seniors in PEI beginning March 16.

OCA RESULTS

The bantam mixed zone winners were; 1A - Matt Allen, B - Camille Daly; 2A - Hayden Richmond, B - Austin Gibeau; 3A - Pascal Michaud, B - Marie-Elaine Little; 4B - Hannah Wallingford. Junior mixed zone winners were: 1A - Gannon, B - Matt Jackson; 2A - Ben Miskew, B - Spencer Richmond; 3A - Ryan McCrady, B - Lauren Horton; 4B - Katie Vance. Senior mixed zone 2A winner was Ian Bridger. John Shea Insurance mixed zone winners were: 1A - Celeste Butler-Rohland; B - Chris Gardner.

WINNER'S CIRCLE

The Russell Curling Club staged its first Rick Kargus men's bonspiel last weekend. Matt Paul defeated Alexander Dyer to capture the top prize. Playing with Paul were Don Bowser, Billy Woods and Andrew Hamilton. Other event winners were Jean-Michel Menard, Frank Van Ryckeghem and Rob Kennedy.

END NOTES

The Tim Hortons Brier begins Saturday in Edmonton. The first televised game is at 3:30 p.m., on TSN. Like the Scotties, there will be no weekday morning draws until the Thursday.

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by Joe Pavia

Kingston - For an organization not known for their bilingualism, Montreal will be a test.

The Canadian Curling Association announced on Sunday at the Kingston Scotties that the 2014 women’s national championship will take place at Montreal’s Maurice Richard Arena February 1 – 9.

The public voice of CCA events has always been English. Indeed about the only French found were the word “Arbitre” on the backs of the umpire jackets and the mandatory French verse of “Oh Canada”.

Over the past few years the Association has made strides in reaching French speaking Canadians. The Moncton (New Brunswick) Worlds and the Sorel-Tracy (Quebec) junior nationals were conducted bilingually according to the CCA’s CEO Greg Stremlaw. “We had a fully bilingual presence in Moncton and it worked very, very well.”

Moving the event to the second largest French city in the world could be a huge opportunity or a bad mistake. With only 65 curling clubs in a province with 27% of the population shows that curling en francais isn’t the most popular pastime in La Belle Province. But the ground has been broken. “The new deal with RDS that previously saw CCA events get no coverage on French language television, to now getting 300 hours a year of live broadcast coverage on RDS or RDS2.” observed Stremlaw.

Two things are obvious at the Kingston Scotties – there is a large walk up crowd and plenty of casual fans who don’t curl. How will these potential French speaking curling fans interact with the Scotties? According to Stremlaw “There will certainly be far more French content as we intend to do most things in both official languages. There will be all sorts of elements in French given the location of the event, including the programs, announcements, collateral materials, and so forth.” Then there is the social venue known as the Heart Stop lounge. How will the previously English only festivities be handled? “Just like any area in the country we go to, we will include local talent and yes there will be all sorts of different entertainers, some from Montreal and popular with the francophone population.”

A Montreal press conference was held to coincide with the Kingston media conference on Sunday. The four major daily Montreal newspapers (3 French, 1English) reported on the announcement as did both sports radio stations (1 in each language) as did CTV Montreal, RDS and TVA (French) television.

“Overall, I think we will see the sport grow there and we hope Montreal is successful, as that opens up other venues and markets to stage large championships for the CCA. That certainly is a positive aspect of such a hosting should we find the business model to make it work next year.” said Stremlaw.

SCOTTIES NOTES: After Ontario’s thrilling game against BC the Homan team should be named the Heart Stoppers…Wear a jacket because the arena is cold…The free shuttle buses to the Heart Stop Lounge cease running 15 minutes after the last evening game ends…Another problem organizers are having was summarized by visiting Winnipeg skip (his wife is Dawn Askin (Manitoba lead) Mike McEwen “Kingston’s pub life is so good you don’t want to leave downtown.”

WINNERS CIRCLE: The Perth squad of Hailey Armstrong, Lindsay Bell, Audrey Wilson and Danika Thompson-Lepage won the Ontario Gore Schoolgirls on the weekend. Brett Lyon-Hatch skipped his Carleton Ravens rink to a bronze medal and earned a trip to the CIS nationals in March.

END NOTES: The Dominion Senior provincials begin today in Annandale. Representing this area are Brian Lewis, Barb Kelly, Howard Rajala and Janet LaPierre.

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