Tom St Jules has been a member at the BRCC for a very long time. He plays as much curling as he can and he can make alot of shots. He plays in all the leagues and can always be counted on for a tough game. And he's got 3 other brothers that curl at the BRCC as well. Dean, Robin and Royal are also out there playing for various teams. The Family Jules is a BRCC tradition when it comes to the Men's Closing. These 4 brothers get together every year and mix it up in the premiere event of the season. Awesome situation for these guys. It must be cool to have family come together for a tournament. There are others as well that do the same thing. Al Viel gets his brothers Denis and Marcel as well as brother-in-law Kenny McLeod together for the Mens Closing and they always have a blast.
The Mens Closing is just a week away now. Where has the season gone. Although there is still lots of snow, it won't be long before my broom is put away and the camp gear comes out. Bittersweet in a way. I love summer but I will miss the Roaring Game. But, we're not there yet and the action still continues at the BRCC.
The Thursday Mens Play Offs are now down to three teams that remain:
Ben Lemieux won over Bob Villeneuve. The Robb Road Express are through to the final as they will play the winner of the Newfie Bullet and Team Mitchell. You can't take it from the Robb Roaders, they have had an outstanding year and whoever plays them in the final will have to bring their A Game.
Dave Mitchell won over Dan Berthelot. Forced to make a tough last shot, the Mitchell squad are through to the semi-final. Team Dan Berthelot had a great game and the score was tied coming home. It has been a good couple of seasons for this Berthelot crew and there can be no doubt that they will be that much stronger next season. As for Team Mitchell, they are the current club champions. They will take a ride on the Newfie Bullet on Monday night so the opportunity id there for the Bullet to unseat the champs and make their way to the final but that will not be an easy task. This will be a tough match and definitely one worth watching.
Glen Austin won over Ryan Hagger. What a game. This one went into an extra end and the two last shots in this game were humdingers. Ryan's last shot negotiated a tough port with staggered guards on either side. he made it beautifully for full four foot. Incredible shot forcing me to follow him in with a backline number to move him out. It made for an outstanding finish to an outstanding game. Team Ryan Hagger have been outstanding in this, their first season out. Ryan has made quite a splash in his first year skipping and if this team decides to stay together, they will be that much tougher next year. Great year guys! As for the Thursday Newfie Bullet, it will be a tough road ahead as Team Mitchell lies ahead. But it should not be an easy path anyway, and we are all hoping for a good, close game. If that happens, then we are all winners.
I have no results for the other leagues this week but I would like to talk about them in general.
Monday Mixed: This was a league with 10 teams which means there was 1 game in the late draw. That actually worked out this season as there was overflow from the Mens League so they took some second draw spots. The Mixed League is a fun league and alot of couples enjoy coming out and playing a game. There is room for this league to grow so if you are looking for a fun night out, try the Mixed League. It's a cheap night out!
Tuesday Ladies: Excellent league. The BRCC Belles have a 13 team league with more room for joining teams. The ladies league is an integral part of the BRCC success. having a strong ladies league enhances the club's strenbth on so many levels. And these ladies like their league. It is run by Paula Sommers, Jennifer Stanton Smith and Jamie Ellmore. These ladies have done a fabulous job of running the league and planning activities. There were some new skips out there this year, like Jamie Ellmore, for example. Jamie is a third year curler and she enjoys playing the game. She took several turns as skip this year for her team and learned first hand what the "Red Bum" Award really is. But as I have said many times, that is part of the process. What also happened is that Jamie learned the game more and improved her game by having to make difficult shots from time to time. being a third year player and taking on the role of skip is a huge progression and her game will improve as a result so great job Jamie. Then there was Joanna Hammond. I like Joanna's style. She is focused on her game and she goes out there and does her best. They did not win all their games this year, but this is also Joanna's first time as skip and she too had to endure the learning process. But Joanna is a quick study at the Roaring Game...and that should not be a surprise seeing how she loves the game. Joanna is a good candidate for competitive curling and at some point in the future, she should put a crew together and get out there and try to get to a provincial. And what about Team Scholburg. Another squad that made quite a splash this year. These are not new players but they are a new team and Christine Scholburg has not played at the helm regularly until this season. They turned out to be a solid team and once again, Christine got to see the game from another perspective.
Team Liz Rouselle had a great come back season. Last season was not their best year but they came back swinging this year and are in top form. They will end up near the top on the leader board. Great season ladies.
I'm pretty sure top Team this year will be Team Anita Moran. This is a real tough squad and they won the vast majority of their games. Well done ladies.
Team Hayley Horton, the BRCC Junior Ladies team made quite a splash this year. These young ladies are so young yet so mature on the ice. They won a few games and they really grew as a team in just this one season. It was a delight to watch them improve. Excellent commitment by all 4 of these girls...curling twice a week in the leagues and practicing at least once as well. Kudos to the BRCC Belles for working with these young ladies to help them improve. When this squad returns next season, look out. I think they will be tough to get by.
The Iron Bridge Belles (Team Tivy) will finish well in the standings. These ladies are absolutely awesome. They have been BRCC members for years and they make the trek to Blind River every Tuesday to play their game. They are true curling chronics and they do well every season. No shocker there, they are a veteran crew.
It was nice to see the Alloway girls still in the mix. These young ladies are nice girls, and they are true curling chronics. Not only that, they are good players too. This may be their last year at the BRCC for a while. I think the Alloway sisters will be heading to college next year so all the best to these girls. All I can say is find a rink wherever you are going and stay with the game.
The other four teams are Beth Laderoute, Shirley Lemieux, Christie Hagger and my beloved Rez Girls. These are all teams that complete the league in so many ways. They can always be counted on for a good game and they all enjoy being out there and playing a good game. Hopefully all 4 teams will stay together and if that happens, there will be alot of strong teams in this league next season.
Wednesday Open 8 Ender: This league has 9 participating teams and it was a fun league. Not many changes, it turns out, despite a new league title. There was a preseason misconception about this league. I think people thought that this league was going to be competitive. But it was the same league with basically the same people. There is also room for growth in this league and yes, that means late games. I know there are those that despise the late draws but in the end it is not every week and for many it's only once a week that they play. By and large, you can be home by 11, just in time for repeats of Two and a Half Men and then Jay Leno's Monologue right after. And another thing that this provided was another league for the Junior Ladies to play in and get more experience. That, to me, is a big plus. Junior curling is the future of curling and the BRCC does it's part in furthering our juniors where we can. Awesome league. Thanks and great job by my pal, Al Viel.
I guess you all know the Ford World Womens Curling Championship kicks off this weekend at 1:00 pm (TSN) ET with Canada's Rachael Homan playing Scotland's Eve Muirhead. And me with a wedding to go to at 3 pm!! I'll catch the beginning and with any luck, they will have a TV in the lobby of this wedding venue where I can steal off from time to time to catch segments of the latter ends. Alot of people have high hopes for this Homan team. They sure were impressive in the STOH. If they play like that at the Worlds, it will be hard for many of those teams to deal with their game. But there are a couple of good teams also here....for one, Sigfridsson from Sweden. With fourth thrower Maria Prytz, this squad is super tough and you be sure they will bring it. And I am interested in seeing what Tirinzoni does for Switzerland since this is the crew that unseated Mariam Ott. And, Andrea Schopp is there again for Germany but she has a newer squad now so it should be interesting. That tough Japanese squad is there and you certainly can't count out Betty Wang from China. And Anna Siderova of Russia has certainly got some game. Real tough to predict the final four in this field but here's my humble best:
Top 4 at the end of the week: Homan, Sigfridsson, Wang, Siderova. Homan goes on to win the Worlds.
Have you thought about going to the Continental Cup of Curling next January (2014) in Las Vegas? I'm pretty sure Team Homan and Team Jacobs will be there. Many of us already have our tickets and hotel booked. Probably not like the Brier, or the STOH, but by now, we have been to lots of different competitions so since Vegas beckons, who can resist 4 days of curling in a city that I love. I'm stoked.
Rock On!
The Curling Chronic
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