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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by Joe Pavia

Do you need a fix?

For a sport that used to get little coverage curling in now “blessed” with an abundance of television exposure – TSN, Sportsnet, Rogers, Cogeco all got into the act. From the Dominion Tankard to four provincial men’s championships to even blind curling, the sport seemed to be everywhere.

However curling is still relegated to an afterthought by much of the main stream media. Just try getting your bonspiel results in the newspaper. TSN televises curling because the Canadian Curling Association pays them to do it. The coverage is a television buy to satisfy their sponsors. Sponsors realize that a great many people who do not curl actually watch curling. Sportsnet got into the act because they realize this as well. Locally Rogers realizes that they have plenty of eyeballs glued to their curling telecasts.

If you want curling to compete with professional sports and up and coming sports like soccer and cricket, it is up to you to let media outlets know what the television folks know.

BRIER FIELD: The Tim Hortons Brier now has more star power. Kevin Martin’s Alberta squad will try to help the “Bear” to be the first player to skip five Brier champions. The record is now 4 which Martin shares with Randy Ferbey and Ernie Richardson. He could also be the first player to skip Brier champions in three different decades. Rumour has it that Martin’s son Karrick will be his fifth man. Karrick – watch out for shoe polish on the binoculars. By winning Ontario again, Glenn Howard eclipses his big brother Russ with his 15^th appearance. Other provincial winners are Brad Jacobs (Northern Ontario), Jeff Stoughton (MB), Paul Flemming (NS), Brad Gushue (NL), Brock Virtue (SK), rookie Andrew Bilesky (BC) and Eddie MacKenzie (PE) . Gatineau’s Pierre Charette is the Quebec fifth for Jean-Michel Menard. Menard’s wife, Annie Lemay, is the fifth for Team Quebec at the Scotties.

CRYSTAL HEART WINNERS: The open section was won by Katie Morrissey with Sandra Morrissey, Denise Allan and Sharon Lee. The runner-up was Sandy Mutart. Other winners were: Second event – Debbie Waller; Third event – Nathalie Blaois; Fourth event – Heather Dufault; Consolation event – Tara Holland. The Senior event winner was Betty Bush with Joanne Miller, Joanne Gizzi and Lil Rynbend. The runner-up was Hilary Casey. Second event winner – Lois Graham; Third event – Karen Moon and the Consolation event went to Catherine Burnside.

OCA RESULTS: Dominion Stick regional winners were: 1A – Ron Hutchinson, B – Bruce Merklinger. Tim Hortons Colts and Trophy zone results: 1A – Matt Dupuis; 3A – Heather Dufault. In the John Shea Insurance mixed zones winners were: 3A – Dave Cormier; 4A – Rob Dickson, B – Dave Collyer. Senior mixed zone winners were: 1B – Jim Marshall; 2B – Bob Ray; 3A – Dwayne Lowe, B – Kerry Johnson; 4A – Gary Rusconi, B – Randy Hutchinson.

WINNERS CIRCLE: Chris Lewis won the Ontario Junior Curling Tour championship on Sunday. He curled with Jack Lindsay, Matthew Haughn and Cole Lyon-Hatcher.

END NOTES: There are still a few spots left in the open, seniors and senators divisions of the Alexander Keith’s City of Ottawa Men’s Bonspiel. The deadline is February 17… Winchester’s Jordan Mark will be carrying the NWT/YK flag at the Scotties next Wednesday. The 17 year-old won an essay contest… Last week’s column highlighted the Team Nunavut girl’s squad at the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors. Their goal was to score 3 points in at least 3 games. They reached their goal during their last game where they lost 11-3. Skip Sadie Pinkson and Coach Lynn Kreviazuk were awarded the Fair Play trophy in their respective positions…The Ottawa club is hosting a send off for Team Homan this evening beginning at 7:30. All fans are invited. The squad heads to Kingston on Thursday.

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