Keen ice for January 30 2007 by Jim Duncan

The January 17^th visit to the Miramichi Curling club by the Afternoon Seniors went very, very, well. Their new club is a $4.5M multipurpose building in which the large front hall will be utilised by Tourism New Brunswick and the lounge on the mezzanine, which will hold 180 people, will be available for functions. The ice shed includes a state of the art 20 tonne ice plant with a system to recover the heat from the compressor and use it to contribute to heating the building. The ice area is climate controlled with two heater/dehumidifiers keeping the ice shed cool, but not excessively cold. The six sheets of ice were fast – 22 to 25 seconds hogline to hogline – and curled a good three feet. Our twenty-four curlers acquitted themselves well on this surface, which is quite kind to those who perhaps have a little trouble throwing weight. The Miramichi teams changed sheets after four ends to ensure the chance to meet as many visitors as possible. Their hospitality was excellent, as ever, with soup and sandwiches provided before the game and lots of socialising and discussion after. We look forward to their return visit tomorrow.

All this was followed by an excellent funspiel on the evenings of Friday January 19^th and Saturday January 20^th. Organised by Omer and Lynn Fontaine and strongly supported by the afternoon seniors, a mere $7 brought a Beef Bourguignon supper on Friday followed by a ‘curl between the sheets’ game. This was a revelation to some of our players, consisting of hanging sheets across the ice so that you cannot see the other end. Signals are given by holding the broom up and there is one sweeper either side of the sheet. It is amazingly difficult to judge the weight when you can’t see the house! On Saturday the format was a break and change of ice every two ends. Finger foods were available and plentiful and all had a great time. Thank you Omer and Lynn, we are amazed at what you did for $7 and look forward to the next one.

Saturday past saw the usual frantically successful ‘Curl for Cancer’, which was a roaring – and I do mean roaring – success. Financial results are reported elsewhere, but this event is mutually beneficial to the club and the sponsoring organisation.

On Sunday January 21^st the UCT results were: Raj Chettiar beat Albert Mazerrolle, Alvin Lavigne beat Andy Savoie, Val Saulnier beat Joel Roy and John Ferguson beat Emery LeBlanc.

On Monday January 22^nd Emile Babineau defeated Omer Fontaine, Pat Maher defeated Fred Elhatton, Alvin Lavigne defeated David Godin, Bob Nicolle defeated Paul Laframboise and Marc Imbeault defeated Andy Savoie.

Tuesday January 23^rd was a bit sparse for results showing John Leblanc over Raj Chettiar, Wells Chapman over Ken Brown and the Comeau team beat Dale Glendenning.

On Thursday January 25^th (Robbie Burns Day!) …

(Editor’s note: Check Today’s Northern Light for more details)

Pictures of the Miramichi visit below.

Our Curlers visiting the new Miramichi curling club

Our thanks to Marie for the great photos.

Our Curlers visiting the new Miramichi curling club

Our thank to Marie for the photos:

Our curlers visiting the new Miramichi Curling Club

So you think you love curling; think again

This picture taken on December 31, 2006 at the cabin of Debbie, a cousin of Cheryl's (waving from the cabin in a blue jacket), note the "curling rink" with stones made of sawed off pieces of telephone pole. Now that's curling!

Thank you Steven for the photo.

Click on photo to enlarge.

Team Comeau will represent NB at ScottiesTournament of Hearts 2007

Congratulations on your win over Team Kelly and good luck in Lethbridge.
Our thanks to the New Brunswick Curling Association for this photo.

Curling Under the sheets can spice up your life!

Curling under the sheets can spice up your life!

Yup, Curling under the sheets is something that we all can get into; the young, the not so young but definitely everyone, not only that but in groups is even better:-)
If you haven`t tried it yet well you`ve missed your opportunity this weekend at the Bathurst Curling Club. The evening started off with a very romantic Boeuf Bourguignon supper made by the delicate hands of Lynn and her favorite helper, followed by very rich chocolate desserts with a variety of favorite drinks. (Who could resist what followed.)
Of course what followed was the main event which was curling under the sheets. Please review the following pictures to entice you to join our group at the next fun spiel;-)

Curling Under the sheets party time

Great Party Omer and Lynn, thank you!

Curling Under the sheets then it's Party Time

Our reason to party!

Curling Under the sheets then it's party time

Curling under the sheets 2

There are suprising object under the sheets;-)

Curling under the sheets pictures 1

And Icing on the cake!

Bathurst 2007 Special Olympics

Schedule: 2007 Special Olympics Bathurst Winter Games at the following site:

http://www.2007sonbwintergames.ca/curling.html

The following is the Curling Club's Scheduled events:
Friday February16

8:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.

Curling

Bathurst Curling Club

Saturday February 17

8:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.

Curling

Bathurst Curling Club

Jim's Keen Ice

Winter is certainly full of surprises!

It extended golf seasons, kept rivers open and left little snow. My Calvinistic soul says we will have to pay, for this is proving to be right! But new equipment and technology is helping us.

The ice has to be kept below a certain temperature to be good for curling: If Mother Nature doesn’t do this, the refrigeration plant must.

This winter the plant has been working hard to keep the ice shed in playing condition.

Members remember when we had condensation inside the roof, which became drips that fell on to the playing surface. It was not uncommon to see players grabbing the hand scraper to shave away the knobs on the sheets.

Nowadays we have dehumidifiers, which chill the moisture out of the air and send it outside before it can do damage.

So, we have the compressor and brine pump churning to cool the ice and the dehumidifiers running to dry the air.

Because of this new equipment we now have the greatest ice east of the Rockies;-)

UCT play on January 7^th saw Andy Savoie beat Emery LeBlanc, John Ferguson beat Raj Chettiar, Val Saulnier beat Albert Mazerolle and Alvin Lavigne beat the Joel Roy team that is replacing Roe Doucet’s.

On January 14^th Albert Mazerolle beat Emery LeBlanc, Raj Chettiar beat Joel Roy, John Ferguson beat Alvin Lavigne and Val Saulnier beat Andy Savoie. Monday January 8^th fell victim to the weather, being cancelled.

January 15^th saw Babineau beat Giberson, Godin beat LaFramboise, Nicolle beat Maher, Savoie beat Glendenning and Lavigne beat Fontaine. Tuesday, January 9th saw Amy Anderson defeat Marc Brown, Dale Glendenning defeat Cletus Boucher, John LeBlanc defeat Terry Wilbur and Raj Chettiar defeat Wells Chapman.

January 16^th saw Comeau over Wilbur, Chettiar over Anderson, Boucher over LeBlanc, Chapman over Glendenning and Brown over Savoie.

On Thursday January 11^th Babineau defeated Brown, Assaf defeated Homiak, Gagne defeated Giberson, Wilbur defeated Fontaine and MacDonald defeated Gallagher. Finally, on Thursday, January 18^th …

The second funspiel of the year will be held on January 19^th and 20^th already 10 teams registered with more planning to participate.

Hanley’s Horde, the afternoon seniors, were at Miramichi on January 17th to visit the brand new clubhouse. The hospitality was typically Miramichi, as was the camaraderie in the splendid, six sheet, climate controlled ice shed. The ice was fast and curled a good three feet both ways. We played two four end games enabling as many curlers as possible to meet and mingle. There will be a return visit by the Miramichi seniors on Wednesday January 31^st.

Is stick Curling for you?

Thanks to the Penticton Western News for this article: Please Read On

By Kim Kirkham is the Penticton Curling Club’s spokesperson.

Stick curling is the newest addition to the curling family.

This sport continues to grow, and the association dedicated to the sport, wants to make it a fully sanctioned sport within Canada with hopes to someday bring the sport to Olympic status.

To do this they need to know how widespread the sport has become and to estimate the number of participants

You can help by registering your stick curling bonspiel on their website.

Stick curling leagues are being formed across Canada and internationally based on the two-person team rules.

Stick curling encourages active participation for people of all ages and capabilities while enhancing the fun and vibrancy of the game.

Stick curling allows people with physical disabilities such as knee, back, heart, shoulder, hip, ankle, or foot problems, or just simply advanced age to continue curling, long after the conventional methods become impossible.

The rocks are handled with a curling stick from a standing or sitting position (for example wheelchairs).

Rules

1. Each stone must be delivered with a curling stick.

2. Sweeping is allowed only from the hog line to the back of the house.

3. Each team is comprised of two curlers.

4. One member of each team stays at each end of the rink, and must not cross center ice

5. The two throwing curlers alternately deliver six stones each per end, while the teammate skips that end.

Then roles are reversed, and the partners throw the stones back.

6. All games are six ends. In case of a tie, an extra end is played; with each player throwing three stones (skips and throwers exchange ends at the midpoint of an extra end).

7. All stones must be released before reaching the hog line, and from within two feet of the centre line.

8. Other rules and etiquette of regular curling apply.

About the equipment

Using a curling stick — place a small piece of rug in the corner or behind the hack on to which the rock can be slid, and with a bit of rotation, this will achieve cleaning the bottom without having to turn the rock over and without having to bend down in the hack.

Cleaning the rock in this manner cannot be performed with all sticks.

About the sticks ­—There are two types of sticks available on the market.

The first type, a curling stick enables you to perform the delivery as well as enables you to perform all of the other physical activities required during the play of curling from an upright position.

The second type is a delivery stick which only enables the user to perform the delivery from an upright position.

The Penticton Curling Club has several members that use the stick in regular league play and, in the past couple of years it has gained popularity. Some of the stick curlers are trying to organize a stick curling bonspiel in Penticton.

Jim's Curling News as it appears in the Northern Light on Jan 9 2007

Firmly astride another of this season’s hobbyhorses, I found interesting articles in the December 2006 Curling News. In the “60 Years of the Curling News” section were letters regarding the curling ‘code of ethics’ and the threat of ‘spreading professionalism’.

Joe Marriott of Edmonton, in a letter from February 25^th 1958, takes not only issue, but umbrage with one Eric Bishop of radio station CFAC and the Curling news regarding “The Case in Favour of Car Spiels” (Teams curling with a car as the prize) for having referred to “curlers without the ability to participate in these events along with veteran curlers associations officials, who have seen the game pass them, by providing all the vocal protests. Car Bonspiels are the beginning of the end, they babble foolishly, and the game is being corrupted beyond recognition …”

The umbrage is evident when Mr Marriott refers to “… my resentment of your unkind, disrespectful, cowardly, malicious, brazen, unsportsman-like attempt to lay the blame for the failure of Car Spiels on the veterans who through long years, before you were even a gleam in your Daddy’s eye, helped to maintain and endeavour to improve the game which is now, for you and a younger generation to enjoy, in comfort.” Now that is calling a spade a shovel! Even I do not wax that lyrical.

He also says: “A good curler, in my book, is a person that is a member in good standing in a club that plays for the Love of the game and the good fellowship that prevails in every healthy club and respects the code”.

The Canadian Curling News ‘Opinion’ from October 1968 refers to three Ontario curlers suspended for playing for snowmobiles but adds that they are “sacrificial lambs who prompted the OCA to move back in line with the rest of the Dominion.

While New Brunswick still persists with the code of ethics their stand was never one to be considered seriously …” “ … The code of ethics sprang in to being in an attempt to offset, restrain or eliminate the growing tendency of professionalism … there was a threat, many said, that as the idea spread there would soon be a wholesale takeover of the so-called pro’s on the Brier Scene.” Guess what? They were right! That is both with regard to the pro’s taking over and the need for a code of ethics to protect amateurism. This situation still cries out to be corrected!

On the final day of 2006, the UCT results show Emery LeBlanc downing Alvin Lavigne, John Ferguson beating Andy Savoie, Val Saulnier overcoming Raj Chettiar and Roe Doucet defeating Albert Mazerolle.

Monday was New Year’s Day and there was no curling and the Tuesday night draw was minimal with two games primarily involving spares, and a ‘scratch’ game on the other sheet. I think we will just put this past week’s results under ‘reorganisation’ and expect a full turnout for this week.

I know that Bud is reorganising the afternoon senior’s teams for the second half of the season. He is hoping to have five sheets in play; we shall see this afternoon I expect.

Tomorrow is the next in the series of Ladies’ Wednesday Nights with Eastside Steak Subs on the menu, sponsored by Moosehead. Sign up and keep this important initiative for our Ladies Club going.

Two of out Junior Boys, Brenden Sealy and Jesse Arseneault, were at the Provincials this past weekend; this was their second such trip and an achievement in that alone.

Here we go in to another year of ‘the roaring game’, my New Year wish to all club members is that they continue to enjoy this, the best of winter sports for all ages and, above all, have fun! See you on the ice.

Canada's Team of the year - Gushue

From left, Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Russ Howard, Jamie Korab and Mike Adam pose with their gold medals on the podium at the Halifax Metro Centre in December, 2005 after winning the Canadian Olympic curling qualifying trials. The team advanced to the Turin 2006 Olympics and won the gold medal. (Eric Wynne / Staff)