Weekend Recap Feb 28 - Mar 1

On Saturday the 2009 Winter Universiade concluded with their closing ceremonies. Over the 11 days of competition China amassed 48 medals: 18 gold, 18 silver and 12 bronze while Russia finished second with 51 medals: 18 gold, 14 silver and 19 bronze. Canada finished in 11th place with six total medals: a gold in women’s ice hockey, silvers in men’s ice hockey, men’s short track speed skating 100M and 5000m relay, and women’s curling and a bronze in women’s short track speed skating 3000m relay.

Staying at the university level several CIS championships took place over the weekend. At the 2009 CIS Women’s Volleyball Championship, the second seed University of British Columbia Thunderbirds defeated the fourth seeded University of Calgary Dinos in five sets to claim their second straight title. Top seeded Montreal Carabins, who lost to the Calgary Dinos in their semi-final, beat their Quebec rival, Laval Rouge et Or, in five sets to settle for third. Trinity Western Spartans claimed fifth spot in a come from behind, five set victory over the York Lions. The men’s Alberta Golden Bears team was not going to be outdone and also defended their title by winning the 2009 Men’s Volleyball Championship. The Bears swept Laval Rouge et Or in the final. The Brandon Bobcats held onto third for the fourth straight year by defeating the McMaster Marauders in four sets while the Dalhousie Tigers downed the Thompson Rivers Wolf Pack in five sets for fifth spot.

After a run of ten straight national team titles, the Brock University men’s wrestling team will have to settle for second place behind Simon Fraser University at the 2009 CIS Wrestling Championship. Concordia finished two points behind Brock for third spot. The University of Calgary women gave the host crowd something to cheer about by claiming the women’s team title. Simon Fraser came second while Saskatchewan finished third and Brock came in fourth. Full details of all matches can be found on the event’s website.

Besides the university events taking place this weekend, there were two curling events of note wrapping up as well. In Victoria, BC, Team Canada defended their title at the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts and will travel to South Korea to defend their World title at the end of the month. BC’s team skipped by Marla Mallett played well until the seventh end when they let Jennifer Jones’ team steal two and seal the win. BC lead the round robin going 8-3 while Team Canada finished 7-4 and was forced to win a tie breaker before entering the playoffs. In other curling action, Team Canada defeated Sweden in the finals of the 2009 World Wheelchair Curling Championship. Germany claimed bronze after defeating USA 6-4.

Ontario Teams Went 0-2 In Curling Finals

In the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Junior Curling Championships, a team from Ontario made it to each final but in both cases lost to their opponent.

On the men's side, Dylan Johnston and his team from Northern Ontario got out to an early 3-0 lead in the first end but PEI's team skipped by Brett Gallant chipped away with two points in each the fourth and sixth ends to tie the game. A single by Johnston in the eighth gave N. Ont the lead but Gallant scored another deuce in the tenth for the 7-6 victory.

On the women's side, Ontario's Rachel Homan opened the scoring in the third end with a single before needing two points to tie the game in the ninth (their only multi-point end). Manitoba's Kaitlyn Lawes took a 3-2 lead in the seventh then stole a point in the eighth to force Ontario to get a big score in the ninth. Lawes then grabbed three points in the tenth to seal the 7-4 win and the second consecutive title for Manitoba.

Both winners will represent Canada at the World Junior Championships in Vancouver beginning on March 5.

Manitoba Dominates Mixed Doubles

The 2009 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship concluded last weekend with the team from Manitoba, lead by Sean Grassie, defeating Wayne Tuck’s Ontario team 6-4 in the final. Manitoba went through the round robin with only one loss and a bye into the finals. Ontario had a bit longer journey to reach the finals as they finished tied for third at 8-3 in the round robin. In the tie-break game, Ontario scored an impressive 4 points in the seventh end to end Nova Scotia’s tournament. They then squeaked out a 6-5 win in the semi-final with a single point in the tenth to defeat the Saskatchewan team.

Tie Breaker Needed at Mixed Nationals

The round robin has ended for the 2009 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship earlier today but the semi-final matchup is still uncertain. The team from Manitoba, skipped by Sean Grassie, easily defeated the team from PEI (5-6) in this mornings draw to earn top spot at 10-1 and a spot in the finals. The team from Saskatchewan, skipped by Darrell McKee, had the morning off but finished in second place at 9-2. They will meet the winner of the tie-breaker.

Ontario, skipped by Wayne Tuck, and Nova Scotia, skipped by Mark Dacey, finished tied for third at 8-3 and will meet in the tie breaker at 3:00 PM eastern time. Nova Scotia needed a win this morning to keep their hopes alive. Their competition in Scott Jones' team from New Brunswick did what they could to give Ontario sole possession of third but a three point eighth end by Nova Scotia was too much for New Brunswick to overcome. Nova Scotia will now need two more wins today to reach the finals.

As previously mentioned, the tie-breaker begins at 3:00 PM eastern while the semi-final goes tonight at 7:30 PM and the final tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 PM.

Multi-coloured Medals for Canada

Team Canada came up a goal short in the final game of the 2008 IIHF World Women's Hockey Championship and will have to settle for a silver medal. After falling behind 4-1 after two periods to the United States, the Canadians battled back to within a goal in the third but could not complete the comeback and suffered their second loss of the tournament to the Americans. Canada allowed only one goal against in the round robin but their defence and goaltending couldn't repeat in the qualifying round and allowed as many goals against as goals scored (6). Finland defeated Switzerland 4-1 for the bronze medal. Below are the final standings:

1. United States
2. Canada
3. Finland
4. Switzerland
5. Sweden
6. Russia
7. Japan
8. China
9. Germany

Kevin Martin's statistics in the world curling championship now includes a gold medal to go along with the silver he won in 1991. After finishing on top of the round robin at 10-1, they were forced into the semi-final game when Scotland stole the page playoff game from them 7-6. In the semi-final game, Norway stole a single point in the tenth end but it was one point too little and Canada won 5-4. The final game saw team Canada to get on the board first by stealing a single point in the second end. The lead was extended to 3-1 by the fifth end break and after a steal in the seventh end and another deuce in the ninth, Canada ran Scotland out of stones in the final end to take the 2008 World Men's Curling Championship on a 6-3 victory.

Canada Does Not Disappoint Home Crowd

Despite being dominated by team Japan in the first half of the semi-final game, Canada fought back and stole the game in an extra end to earn a spot in the 2008 Ford World Women's Curling Championship finals. China, who defeated Canada in the 1 v 2 playoff game, got a bye into the finals and were eagerly awaiting a third game against the host Canada. In addition to the playoff loss, Canada lost their round robin game against China so they were hungry to face Team China for a third time. In the final game, Canada jumped out to a 3-1 lead after two ends and never looked back.

After their loss to Canada, Team Japan played in the bronze medal game against Switzerland Saturday night. They seeemed to have trouble forgetting their earlier loss to Canada as they allowed Switzerland to take an 8-2 lead into the fifth end break. During the break, Japan regrouped and made a valiant effort to come back on Switzerland but it was to no avail. Switzerland held on for a 9-7 win for the bronze medal.

In other curling action, British Columbia repeated as TSX Canadian Wheelchair Curling Champions when they defeated Ontario 8-6. BC, Ontario and Manitoba finished the round robin with a 5-2 record and BC was declared the leader after the round robin and got the bye into the finals. Ontario and Manitoba were left to play a semi-final game to decide the other half of the championship game. Ontario squeaked out a 9-8 victory to advance to the finals. The 2008 Canadian Senior Curling Championships also came to an end today as Pat Sanders' team from BC (10-1 round robin) defeated Ann Pearson's team from Ontario (8-3 in the round robin) 7-5 and Eugene Hritzuk's Saskatchewan team (9-2 in round robin play) beat Russ Howard's New Brunswick rink (9-2 in round robin) 7-5. On the women's side, Ontario beat Sandy Turner's Alberta team (8-3 round robin) in the semi-final game to reach the final while on the men's side, Saskatchewan was forced to play the semi-final game against Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse (9-2 round robin) before eventually winning the championship.

Another Great Sports Weekend and It Begins Today!

This weekend will be another weekend full of sports action. Besides the regular NHL, NLL and NBA schedules, the NCAA Men’s Division 1 basketball tournament begins today along with the CIS Men’s Hockey Championship, the quest for the cup, ah, that is the Memorial Cup, began yesterday and two curling events begin Saturday: the Canadian Seniors Curling Championships and the Ford World Women’s Curling Championship. If we’re lucky we may even see some spring training baseball.

The road to the final four is perhaps the most anticipated and, next to the FIFA World Cup, the most watched sporting event of the year. Action begins today when Georgia takes on Xavier at 12:20 Eastern time followed by Portland State at Kansas at 12:25 and Temple at Michigan State at 12:30. Games will be played well into the night as the last game of the day between Mississippi Valley State and UCLA tips off at 9:55 PM Eastern. When everything is said and done, twelve games will have been played and six spots in the second round on Saturday or Sunday will be claimed.

In Canadian Interuniversity Sport, the men’s hockey championship will be decided this weekend with six teams in the hunt. The top seed University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds, winners of the AUS, are heavily favoured to win the national title and open the tournament this afternoon at 2:00 PM against the Brock Badgers (OUA finalists). At 7:00 PM tonight, the host Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleus take on the Canada West Champion University of Alberta Golden Bears while the CW finalist Saskatchewan Huskies and the OUA Champion McGill University Redmen begin play tomorrow against the losing teams of today’s games. The teams are split into two pools and the winner of each pool faces of Sunday evening for the championship.

The road to the Memorial Cup also begins this weekend with four Ontario Hockey League games tonight. The OHL playoffs even started last night with the Belleville Bulls taking the first game from the Peterborough Petes by a 4-1 score. All playoff teams in both the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League will start their playoff run tomorrow night. In each league, sixteen teams made the playoffs while two from the QMJHL, four from the OHL and six from the WHL are watching from the sidelines. The winners of each league, along with the host Kitchener Rangers, will be heading to Kitchener in May to play for the Memorial Cup in what is the best Canadian tournament.

If basketball and hockey is not your sport, maybe you’d enjoy a little curling. The Ford World Women’s Curling Championship begins Saturday afternoon from Vernon, BC. TSN will be broadcasting the round robin games, at least Canada’s round robin games, and CBC will likely be showing the semis and final game next weekend. I’m sure anyone who is interested will figure out the broadcasting schedule in their area. For fans in the Prince Albert area, they can check out the Canadian Seniors Championships starting Saturday at the Prince Albert Golf & Curling Club. There will be four draw times with six sheets seeing action every day from Sunday to Thursday with three draw times Saturday and next Friday. The semis and the finals will be played next weekend.

This weekend will be a great time to sit at home and keep the batteries charged in your remotes as there are tons of sports to check out. For me, I will take a break from watching sports Saturday as I make the two hour drive to Buffalo to check out the Bandits vs Rock game. With the Leafs in Buffalo Friday night, this weekend has been touted the ultimate sports weekend by the Buffalo sports community. At least the Sabres organization that put together a great sports package with tickets to both events and a night at a hotel is touting this the ultimate sports weekend. I honestly cannot agree more with this statement. Go Bandits!

Brier Ends in Perfection

The 2008 Tim Horton's Brier concluded Sunday evening with the Kevin Martin team from Alberta finishing the tournament with a perfect 13-0 record. In a tough final against the defending world champion Glenn Howard team from Ontario, the Martin team held on to a 4-2 for three ends before the Ontario team could get two to tie the game in the ninth. The hammer went back to the Martin team for the tenth end and it took a draw to touch the button by Kevin to win the title. With the win, the Alberta team gets to represent Canada at the World Curling Championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota in April as well as a berth in the olympic pre-trials tournament next year.

More CIS Champions Crowned

The Laurier Golden Hawks earned two more coats of gold on Sunday as both the women`s and men`s curling teams were successful in the final of the inaugural 2008 CIS/CCA Curling Championship. The men's team finished the round robin on top of Pool A with a 5-1 record before defeating the University of Guelph Gryphons 8-3 in the quarter finals and dominating the Brock University Badgers 10-2 in the semi-finals. In the final, it took Laurier nine ends to finish off the Dinos from the University of Calgary when they scored five points to put the game out of reach 10-4 (the score has since been reduced to 5-4 with the last two ends crossed out so I am not sure what happened there but Laurier is still the winner).

The women's side had a tougher time getting to the final as they finished the round robin at 3-3 tied with three other schools. With only two available playoff spots, the four teams were on to the tie breaker games. Laurier squeaked by the University of Regina Rams by a 4-3 score in their tie breaker game. They then defeated the Brock Badgers 9-6 in the quarter finals and Laurentian University Lady Vees 9-3 in the semi-finals. The University of Manitoba Bisons put up a good fight in the finals but Laurier were able to steal four points in the last three ends to take the title game 7-4.

Shortly before the curling champions were decided, the 2008 Men's Basketball Championship final began between the seventh seeded Brock Badgers and the fifth seeded Acadia Axemen. This tournament started on Friday with eight teams. The host Carleton University Ravens were the top seed and were favoured to win their sixth straight championship. That dream was shattered late Saturday night by a gutsy, double overtime performance by Acadia in the semi-finals (82-80).

Prior to that semi-final game, Acadia defeated the fourth seeded Universite de Laval Rouge et Or 85-77 in the quarterfinals. The Brock Badgers snuck into the final game by defeating the second seeded University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 83-78 in the quarterfinals and the sixth seeded University of Western Ontario Mustangs 85-75 in the semi-finals. The eighth seeded University of Alberta Golden Bears were defeated in the quarter finals by Carleton while the third seeded University of Saint Mary's Huskies lost their quarter final game to the Mustangs 75-70.

Before the men's final was played, the Rouge et Or defeated the UBC Thunderbirds 86-84 to claim fifth spot. For some reason there is no game played to determine third place. Surprisingly, Acadia did not look to suffer from their tough game against the top seed and dominated the final match early on. Brock did not let up though and they kept the score tight heading into the last six minutes of the game. In an exciting finish, Brock clung to a one point lead before sinking a long two with just 11 seconds left. After an Acadia time out, a Brock defender forced the play out of bounds, leaving two ticks on the clock and a Brock possession. With a 64-61 score, the 2008 Brock University Badgers claimed the school's second men's basketball title. Not bad for a seventh seed.

Congratulations to the Brock Badgers and also congratulations to the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks (x2).

The last stop on the CIS winter sport season is the Universite de Moncton next weekend for the 2008 CIS Men's Ice Hockey Championship. Let's see if the Badgers can surprise all again and keep the championship party going on the St Catharines campus.

World Curling Results

As the Tim Horton's Brier heads into its last two days, both the 2008 World Seniors Curling Championships and the 2008 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship have ended. Team Canada was knocked out of the mixed doubles tournament in their second qualifying game after a 9-8 loss to Finland. Prior to that loss, Canada beat Hungary 7-4 in a tie breaker then dominated the Czech Republic 11-3 in their first qualifying game. Finland went on to the finals but lost 5-4 to Switzerland while Sweden downed Norway 9-2 to take the bronze.

The teams from Canada had better success in the seniors tournament as both the women's and the men's teams won the championship. The women's team finished atop the ten team field during the round robin with a 7-2 record before defeating Switzerland 8-3 in the semi-final and Scotland 10-2 in the final. The Canadian men finished a perfect 8-0 to lead group Red in the round robin. In the semi-final game they defeated Scotland 7-2 and in the final game they shut out Sweden 8-0. Team USA claimed the bronze on the men's side with a 6-4 victory over Scotland while Switzerland took the women's bronze with a 7-6 win over Finland.

Curling Events Aplenty This Week

Curling fanatics cannot be any happier this week as three more curling events got started yesterday. Eight provincial teams took to the ice on the first day of the Canadian men's national championship (the Tim Horton's Brier) Saturday while over seas, the 2008 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships and the 2008 World Seniors Curling Championships began.

The two world events are taking place in Vierumäki, Finland. The World Mixed Doubles Championships consists of 24 teams divided into three groups while the Senior Championships consists of 18 men's teams divided into two groups and 10 women's teams in one group. For stats, standings and game results visit Curling.fi result service.

To close out the week of curling is the CIS Curling Championships from the Guelph area. This tournament will begin Wednesday and the final game will be played on Sunday.

World Junior Curling Final

The 2008 World Junior Curling Championships have come to end with Sweden and Scotland the winners.

The Canadian men finished first in the round robin at 7-2 while Sweden, also at 7-2, came in second followed by USA (7-2) and Norway (5-4), winner of a tie-breaker game against Switzerland. In the playoffs, Canada lost to Sweden 9-6 in the 1 v 2 game then they lost to USA 8-6 in the semi-final game. Sweden went straight to the final game after beating team Canada while USA defeated Norway 7-3 in the 3 v 4 game before defeating Canada to earn their spot in the final. Canada regained their composure to beat Norway 5-3 in the bronze medal game while USA beat Sweden 7-5 to take the gold medal.

On the women's side, team Canada finished tied for fourth at 5-4 in the round robin and defeated Denmark 10-7 in the tie-breaker game to earn a spot in the playoffs. Russia got the better of them in the 3 v 4 playoff game (7-5) however, to end Canada's gold medal bid. Sweden defeated Scotland 8-2 in the 1 v 2 game to earn a spot in the final while Scotland went on to defeat Russia (7-6) in the semi-final game to force a rematch of the 1 v 2 game. In the gold medal game, Scotland scored a big 6 points in 6th end to take an 11-2 lead en route to a 12-3 gold medal victory. Canada re-grouped and were able to defeat Russia 9-8 to take home the bronze medal.

World Junior Curling Update

I have to admit I haven’t been following this event, could have something to do with the lack of television coverage perhaps. I did check the website this morning though and the round robin is set to conclude tomorrow. The Canadian women are just out of the playoffs right now at 4-4. The men, however, are currently sitting on top with a 6-1 record. All men’s teams are in action this morning at 9 AM Sweden time (you can tell I’m not so worldly as I can't convert the time difference but with the best hockey, lacrosse and curling teams why would I need to leave Canada). The results and standings can be found at www.curlingkanalen.se.

Champions Contiune to Emerge This Curling Season

On Sunday, the 2008 Strauss Canada Cup came to an end with Stephanie Lawton's Saskatoon rink and Kevin Koe's team from Edmonton being crowned champions. With this championship win, these two teams have secured a place in the qualification tournament for the 2010 Olympics. Lawton beat Keely Scott's team 7-4 while Koe beat Kevin Martin 6-5 to claim their wins.

One week ago Sunday saw Winnepeg's Jennifer Jones win the 2008 Scotties Tournament of Hearts by beating Alberta's Shannon Kleibrink 6-4. The Kleibrink team finished 10-1 in the round robin before winning the 1 v 2 page playoff to get the bye into the final. Jennifer Jones' team struggled to a 7-4 round robin record and had to play a tie breaker game to make it to the 3 v 4 page playoff game. They beat Newfoundland/Labrador 6-3 in the tie breaker, Quebec 6-5 in the playoff game and Ontario 9-8 in the semi-final to earn a berth in the final.

Next stop for the Season of Champions is in Winnepeg, MB on Saturday as the Tim Horton's Brier gets underway. Meanwhile, the 2008 World Junior Curling Championships are already underway in Östersund, Sweden.

I Don't Get It!

I was watching the semi-final game for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and something happened on the last shot that totally confuses me. Team Ontario scored 2 points in the ninth end to finally regain the lead and held Team Manitoba to one in the tenth end to force an extra end. Team Ontario had the hammer in the eleventh and looked to be in a great position for the victory. Jennifer Jones, the skip for Team Manitoba, left Sherry Middaugh, Ontario's skip, with a choice of shots for her last rock: a double takeout or a draw.

I am far from an expert in curling but I have watched several events and when one point is needed, the teams generally go for the draw. I have never actually curled but I have played other games where objects are thrown or shot into others (billiards, lawn bowling, shuffleboard)and I know how difficult it is to line up combos (or double takeouts in curling terms). I don't know if there were any high guards blocking a draw attempt because the television coverage only showed the house but the announcers kept talking about the draw so it must have been possible.

Team Ontario decided on the double takeout. Sherry Middaugh didn't catch enough of the first rock, missed the double and gave up the steal. If anyone reads this, saw the match and can explain the decision to me, I'd be grateful to them. I am sure there is a very valid reason and I would love to know it to add to my very limited curling knowledge so I will sound somewhat knowledgeable of the sport in any future posts.

The Season of Champions Begins!

Unbeknownst to many in Canada, the 2008 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Junior Curling Championships wrapped up yesterday afternoon in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. The week long event began on February 2 with 13 mens teams and 13 womens teams competing for top spot and a chance to represent Canada in Sweden at the World Junior Championships in March.

On the women's side, the team from Manitoba, lead by Kaitlyn Lawes, beat Team Saskatchewan, skipped by Stephanie McVicar, 7-6 in the final to earn the title of Canadian Junior Champions. Team Manitoba advanced straight to the finals after posting a 10-2 record in the round robin while the Saskatchewan team finished the round robin at 8-4 and were forced to play two tie-breaker games and a semi-final game for the right to play Manitoba in the finals. Team Saskatchewan defeated Team Alberta 8-7 and Team Northern Ontario 6-5 in the tie-breakers and beat Nova Scotia 8-7 to earn their hard-fought berth in the finals.

On the men's side, Team Quebec, lead by William Dion, held on to defeat Team Onatrio, lead by Travis Fanset, 8-6 to earn the Canadian Junior title. Similar to the women's side, Team Quebec posted a 10-2 round robin record to get the bye into the finals while the team from Ontario needed to get through a tie-breaker game and the semi-final game to earn their spot in the finals. In the tie-breaker, Team Ontario easily defeated Team Saskatchewan 7-2 before ending Team PEI's hopes in the semi-final in a tight 4-3 match.

While the Junior's were playing in Sault Ste Marie, the 2008 TSC Tankard (Ontario men's provincial championship) was being held in Waterloo. Thanks to Rogers Television, Ontarians were able to watch this tournament unfold. The World number 1 ranked Glenn Howard team was poised to duplicate last year's result by going unbeaten in the tournament until they met Mike Harris' team in their last round robin game. After the loss to Mike Harris' team, the Howard rink lost the 1-2 page playoff game to the second seed team skipped by Peter Corner (8-2) and were forced to play in the semi-final game.

The second half of the semi-final matchup was not so clear cut. Two tie-breaker games were needed to decide the fourth place team before the 3-4 page playoff game could take place. In a rare midnight draw, Wayne Tuck's team defeated the team skipped by Wayne Middaugh 9-4 before losing the second tie-breaker game to Rob Lobel 9-8 in an extra end. With that win, Rob Lobel lived to play one more game but unfortunately for his team, one more game is all they played as they lost the 3-4 page playoff game to Mike Harris 8-7.

The semi-final was set and looked to be a good one until the game began. Glenn Howard opened the first end with a three spot then after two blanked ends, they stole their fourth point in the fourth. The fifth end saw Team Harris get on the board with a single but after the break Team Howard scored two more to put the game away. The game ended in a 7-2 score. Glenn's domination continued into the final match as they scored four points in the opening end against Peter Corner en route to a 9-4 victory. This win marked the third consecutive provincial win for Howard's team. They will now play for the National title in the Tim Horton's Brier in early March.

Up next for the Season of Champions: the Scotties Tournament of Hearts beginning Saturday.