The 2013 Season of Champions Curling Championships

[kylet3]

Wow Ontario absolutely played it lights out last night. So impressive! Solid as a rock and they really didn't miss much. I am really pulling for them in the final tonight.

Today is a day that that Team Canada will not reflect on well. They had their chances to win that semi this morning against MB but that steal of 2 in 8 pretty much killed them. so back to the final it is for the wench from Manitoba.

and can I just absolutely say YAY for Team BC! It absolutely floors me when people say "She's too nice or too sweet!" I just every time I hear that. Curling couldn't have had a nicer and classier bunch of ladies to represent it. They had their best game of the week today and really deserved that win. What a wild game too but I knew they were more than capable of beating Nedohin and they finally did that today. Kelly is the kindest woman you'd ever want to meet so for her to come back and get up and be motivated for this game is great.

This should also guarantee them a spot into pre-trials as well.

Onto the final! Hope for a repeat of last night!

[Cachoo]

Question from someone with VERY limited curling info (I saw the movie with Paul Gross and Molly Parker if that counts for anything.): Is Team Canada represented by individuals from different teams or by the team that emerges on top in a playoff?

[Dave of the North]

Question from someone with VERY limited curling info (I saw the movie with Paul Gross and Molly Parker if that counts for anything.): Is Team Canada represented by individuals from different teams or by the team that emerges on top in a playoff?

Team Canada that played this week is last year's champion (Heather Nedohin) - they got a bye to this year. The winner this year (Ontario) goes to Worlds and becomes Team Canada next year. Team Canada is not individuals from different teams.

Quite a final, momentum swings both ways; key misses by Jones were very costly.

[clarie]

Yeahhhh Team Ontario. These girls are crazy talented. Too many great shots to mention.......

[kylet3]

WHEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rachel Homan is the 2013 Scotties Tournament of Heart Champion! That's awesome! You would figure that there would be some nerves in that final but nope! They were rock solid again and showed that they aren't afraid of any shot regardless. I actually think now that they are the favorites going in to the World Championships. That being said, with them being held in Latvia, ice conditions will probably be a lot straighter than they are used to but hopefully they bring in some good ice makers to the venue because rock for rock, right now, if Homan plays like she did this week, only Eve Muirhead is who stands in her way right now. That is going to be an intense and bitter rivalry for many years to come, could be a preview of the Sochi Olympic Final.

Many congrats to Rachel and to Team Ontario, as well to Team BC for rebounding and winning that bronze medal! I would have liked to have seen BC or Nova Scotia win it this week but I'm just as satisfied with Rachel Homan winning it. They were the best team on the weekend and came through with that Scotties trophy. They are only in their 20's, the amount of titles they could win yet still is just scary.

[Cachoo]

Team Canada that played this week is last year's champion (Heather Nedohin) - they got a bye to this year. The winner this year (Ontario) goes to Worlds and becomes Team Canada next year. Team Canada is not individuals from different teams.

Quite a final, momentum swings both ways; key misses by Jones were very costly.

Thank you---I like the idea that you live and die as a team. I plan to know more by the time the Olympics start.

[heinz]

What an awesome game last night!! I love the Homan team. It is so refreshing to see a woman's team that has worked hard to play the upweight so accurately, but can still draw and play the quiet game. I think she's here for a long time and will only get even better with more experience.

[clarie]

Team Ontario is the only team I know of that "ticks" the guards (at least here in Canada), but I bet more will be trying it next year. Great that all of them can do the "up weight" with total accuracy. If they don't win Worlds this year (and I agree they will be the favs), then it will be another year. I hope they make it to the Olympics in Sochi. It does look promising. They like the noise in the arena when they are playing, and their "outside voices" are not as piercing as most others (I didn't have to "mute" for their shots I also like that they are more subdued when they make a great shot.......great sportsmanship. (I wish I could do that at the club level ). Great evening, great curling!!!!

[Seerek]

The fact that Rachel was still playing quite aggressive without last rock in 8th even though she was already up 7-4 - shows that Ontario is capable and willing to play any style of game, actually confusing teams in the process...I wonder if this will start a trend away from the old-school mentality of teams being only offensive/defensive modes for the entire game.

[judgejudy27]

I think they can win Worlds but I dont agree they are the favorites. They will be facing Eve Muirhead who dominated them for years in juniors, and has much more international experience at the adult level, a Swedish team who played extremely well last year and bested the greatest of all time Anette Norberg to make it to Worlds for a 2nd straight year, and a veteran Swiss team which beat reigning World Champion Mirijam Ott to make it to Worlds. Also Canada wins so rarely at the World level anymore (last was in 2008) that it is hard for me to think of them as favorites until they do again.

[kylet3]

A) They never played at the World Junior Curling Championships against Eve Muirhead and B) this is Women's play and not junior play, it's a totally different world from one to another and these girls are so past that point.

Just because one team beat another does not mean that is going to automatically translate into success at the World level. Tirinzoni has been to worlds several times and her best record is 6-5, perhaps she will do better this year, but Ott got hot at the right time last year and it translated into success for her by finally winning a world title. Tirinzoni can be good, but they can also be very inconsistent.

Sigfriddson will be tough to beat, but with Homan, they are more than capable of beating them. Homan came through this week more mature and subdued than I have ever seen her, they made the right call at the right time and didn't get down when things may not have been going their way. I also attribute that to Earle Morris who has really done a 180 with this team. The calibre of shot making that I saw out of Homan this week was something that I have not seen in a Canadian Ladies team in a very long time. Even with Jones at the top of the heap this week, the runbacks and run doubles and ticks and slashes were extremely difficult and done with ease and precision.

If there's one thing that Eve Muirhead shown is that while she is capabale of dominating, she can also be wildly inconsistent, she proved that at the Worlds last year with many expecting her to win, she didn't even make playoffs and lost to the Russians at the recent European Finals, so you never know what you're going to get. Homan also beat her this season in an arena at a Grand Slam event, so I'm not worried about their ability to beat Murihead.

I think we'll see Homan do quite well this year.

[Alixana]

Enjoyed Scotties final. Look forward to watching Team Homan at worlds. I think Earle Morris has done a wonderful job coaching them. They have a calm, unruffled look even when they're down.

[AragornElessar]

I am so happy I'll be able to cheer Team Canada on at the Womans Worlds in Latvia in a few weeks. If The Princess and the team had won, that wouldn't have been happening and I hate it when that happens. Anyway....

So thrilled for Rachel and the Girls. They made some great shots the past week and none better than that double take out last night. I didn't see a whole lot of the game due to the Oscars, but I saw that one.

And ITA w/what you said about Kelly Scott. The way she and the rest of Team BC treated Team Quebec after their last Round Robin game was proof of that. As they were shaking hands, you could clearly hear Kelly and the others saying...

"Thanks for the game and have a safe trip home...It was great getting to know you this week, hope to see you again soon...Hope you have a problem free trip home..."

And so on...Mom was impressed, but all I said was that it wasn't any surprise to me, as over the years I've always had that impression of Kelly and her Team. I really do hope her finish here gets her and the girls a Trials spot, as they've still got game in them and would be worthy of being our Team Canada on the Women's side of things in Sochi.

As would Rachel and her Team too. However, they've got a World Championships to represent us as Team Canada at first and I wish them all the luck in the World going to Latvia. I also think that if the team we saw this week shows up there, then Eve Muirhead has some problems on her hands.

That's the Scotties. Next stop is the Brier and what a field too!! Can't wait for Saturday to roll around and the coverage to start.

[Dave of the North]

Brier starts in less than 24 hours!

Fun twitter :

https://twitter.com/FakeCCA

ETA: latest tweet: "So we are going with the opening draw and no Martin-Stoughton or Howard. I got a set of big ones, don't I"

This sort of comment annoys me, there was a lot of whiny comments like that during TOH. Only three rounds can feature a match-up between Martin-Stoughton-Howard. That leaves 14 that won't have a match-up between them. Even if you extend to include NL and NO that's only 10 rounds max that would have a "marquee match-up".

[judgejudy27]

It is such a shame the lack of respect the great Jennifer Jones gets on this site. She is arguably the greatest Canadian womens team of all time and deserves respect. She is also a wonderful and classy lady.

The Brier will be a good event with 3 proven Champions who have roughly equal chances to win. On form this season I would probably pick Stoughton slightly though.

[Habs]

She is also a wonderful and classy lady.

That's debatable, at least in my experience.

[AragornElessar]

It is such a shame the lack of respect the great Jennifer Jones gets on this site. She is arguably the greatest Canadian womens team of all time and deserves respect. She is also a wonderful and classy lady.

*blinks*...*snort*...*snicker*....BAHWAHAHAHAHAHAH AHA!!!

Oh...Forgive me. You're actually serious. Well, I've noticed parallels over the years when it comes to people and the athletes they like/cheer for, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. But hey, I guess if you think someone who acts like an entitled little witch, who does not treat the fans well, treated Cathy Overton-Claptom the disgusting way she and the others did, has a reputation of not showing up for fan things at the Worlds she's been to and thanks to my Cousin who works at Rama who told me the way she acted and treated the Staff there during the one and only time she's ever been invited to the Skins Game over the years; that she did *not* win any friends or influence people is a "wonderful and classy lady", then that's your right.

Just don't come in here and try to defend Jennifer and then get all upset and outraged over how the rest of us and majority of fans that I've chatted w/over the years feel about her. There's a reason why she gets called The Princess or Her Highness around this house and it's not because of how she plays. I always say there's more to being a Champion than what you do on the field of play and that's why Jennifer belongs to the group of athletes I refer to as Title Holders only. Not a Champion. Not even close.

That's debatable, at least in my experience.

I'm not going to ask, as it's up to you if you want to share, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I also wasn't curious.

Hmmm...Some interesting play so far and also some comments about the rocks too. Is it just the First Day of Play and the ice hasn't really been "broken in" properly yet or could something have happened to the Rocks between the Scotties and the Brier? These are the same rocks being used, right? Regardless, Kevin's just a wee bit "off" for some reason and he wasn't really playing that well before Christmas on the Grand Slam circuit either, so....Hmmm!!

And no sooner do I say that...LOL!!! What a shot and Way To Go Boys for getting him there too!!

[Dave of the North]

Jennifer Jones is so last week. It's Brier time, baby!

That shot NS played this afternoon, then gave up 5 - I think we already have a winner for worst shot of the week...

[Habs]

I'm not going to ask, as it's up to you if you want to share, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I also wasn't curious.

Nothing really... just observations/encounters at a few events over the years, plus a good friend who works in sports media has told me some stories about her that make "wonderful and classy" seem kind of farfetched.

Good game between Martin and Howard tonight. Gushue played lights out in both of his games today (granted, against weaker opponents).

[kylet3]

Greatest Canadian Women's Team of All Time? Pfft...

Sandra Schmirler anyone? Or even Colleen Jones... But without question Sandra and her team are the greatest Canadian Women's Team ever.