Competitive League week 4

The big news this week is Team Surka did not win. Of course, they did not play so maybe not so big.

Teams J. Smith, Mannick, Bagley and Hirx all were on the correct side of the scoreboard. First win for teams Bagley and Hirx. Both looked much improved. Team Mannick continues to roll along like a well oiled machine. Team J. Smith scored a big end on team Hannon and they just couldn't recover.

Team T. Smith was at a slight disadvantage as skip Terry is a bit under the weather. They will make a comeback once Terry gets back to his old self. Team Ryan continues to battle hard and lose very close games.

Lots of subs needed for next week if anyone is available.

Run with the big dogs or stay on the porch.
JH

Flowers Cornwall Mixed

Derek and I went to the Flowers Cornwall Mixed this past weekend with our mixed competitive team (Rachel Sethi and Sean Murray from Potomac). The weekend was a hectic blur as our travel plans got thrown into disarray. We had decided to fly to Ottawa (Cornwall is about an hour from Ottawa) rather than doing the 7-7.5 hour drive figuring that we would have more time up there and be somewhat more rested. So we got up early Friday morning (4:40am to be exact), schlepped down to LaGuardia, and did all the parking/checking in/security things. Then they announced that our flight was cancelled due to the heavy fog (in fact the flight from Ottawa had been en route, but was turned around because it couldn't land in the fog) - they were going to try and reroute us through Montreal or Toronto, but they had no idea if those flights would get going, delayed or not. So we had to make a quick decision and we decided to get our bags and our car and drive up to Cornwall. So much for rest!

We arrived at 3:30pm on Friday and left on Sunday around 3pm. Within those 48 hours, we played 5 games and I tried to get some work done - crazy. The competition was good, the ice was good and fast (although dished) - it was great to play on keen ice. We won our first two, lost our third which caused us to drop into the B event, won the semi and then lost the B final (different than in the GNCC, if you lose your first game, you drop to the C event not the B). I have mixed feelings about it all - happy to be in a final in Canada, but still feeling like we can do more - those two losses were definitely winnable.

It was a very fun and friendly club, they were really excited to have some Americans there, and the Saturday banquet was delicious (prime rib, yum).

Competitive League week 3

Week 3 in the league sees three teams without a loss so far. They are team Surka, Mannick and Hannon. Team J. Smith follows closely with just one loss. Team J. Smith plays team Hannon next week in a big match.

In action last night for the first time was new experienced curler Cindy Pick, late of Ontario. Cindy moved down here for work as a nurse at Yale. She was happy to find Nutmeg and was recruited heavily for several committees at the post game table. She has little rocker coaching experience as well as entertainment experience at bonspiels. President Jennifer will have a new member of the Golden Handle chorus it looks like.

Team Bagley was looking sharp against team Hannon but couldn't find the range on a couple of draws that would have made the difference. Robert Kwan seems to be figuring out the ice at Nutmeg and looked impressive on the neighboring sheet. Opponents for that game was team Ryan and vice Rob Chebetar was making a lot of doubles to bail out his team from trouble. Team Surka played the early game against team T. Smith so not much to report from that game. In the late game, team J. Smith ran away early from team Hirx. Skip Dave reported after the game that a missed draw in the third was the difference as there was a 5 point swing on the scoreboard. It was a closer game than the scoreboard showed.

Run with the big dogs or stay on the porch.
JH

Founder's bonspiel at Plainfield

Jeff and Sally made the trip down to NJ for the Founder's bonspiel. They played with two curlers from Plainfield. Twenty two teams in all were competing for shovels. A win on Saturday night got them to Sunday morning (good) but they lost the semi final game of the third event (bad).

They did get a chance to play against and spend some time talking with the team from Columbus (OH) curling club. This is a group of curlers who until this year were curling on hockey ice. They raised some money, rented space in a warehouse and put in two sheets of dedicated ice. If you haven't been to the website to check out the pictures you should. They are also having a bonspiel this year in the middle of December with free beer and wine included. The ice equipment they bought will support four sheets and they have hopes to start building a warm room after this season.

The next bonspiel at Plainfield is the Thrifty at the end of January. Low cost and lots of fun. If you are looking for the that first away bonspiel, put a team together and make the short drive to NJ.

JH

Update

The Duluth Curling Club website is not providing any real information it seems. Derek's team lost a close one yesterday mid-day and won their game at night. I'm not sure what's happening today yet (b/c my husband never calls me... sniff)

Follow the action in Duluth

This weekend Derek Surka will be playing with his men's team (Tim Ho, Broomstones; Sean Murray and Ron Aubin, both of Potomac) at the Duluth Cashspiel. It doesn't look like they'll have line scores, but you can still follow the overall progress of Derek and his team through the draw and root them on from afar!

Try this link: http://www.duluthcurlingclub.org/CashSpiel.asp

Who has Reserved the Most Practice Ice Time at Nutmeg?

At last count she had over 200 hours ice time booked with much more for the rest of the season. She is my Hero!!!!