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Issue 8 – Saturday, February 6, 2010 • An Offi cial Publication of the Canadian Curling Association.

A ‘Jones’ for glory

’Peg quartet just one winfrom a Scotties three-peat

after punting P.E.I.

Team Canada, with JenniferJones at the helm, put

the boots to PrinceEdward Island 8-5

in Friday night’sPage 1-2 playoff

meeting atthe Essar

Centre.

■ Straightthru to Sunday

Page 2

■ Team Bernardpays a visit

Page 11

■ Ontario crewtops ’Tobans

Page 16

Jones gangwins Page 1-2 playoff game forthe first timesince 2005Larry WoodHeartChart Editor

It was The Champ and The Kid on Friday night at the Essar Centre, and

the champ prevailed.Defending champion

Jennifer Jones of Winni-peg moved to within one victory of a three-peat at the Scotties Tournament Of Hearts by defeating Kathy O’Rourke’s Prince Edward Islanders 8-5 in the Page One-Two playoff battle.

The win avenged a Wednesday-night loss

handed to Jones and her team of Cathy Overton-Clapham, Jill Offi cer and Dawn Askin by an Island outfi t that features 21-year-olds Erin Carmody and Geri-Lynn Ramsay deliv-ering the fourth and third stones respectively.

This time, last-rocker Carmody failed to have the necessary touch. She was scored at 60 per cent and missed last shots that cost the P.E.I. team four points in three ends.

Jones advances to Sun-day’s championship fi nal for the third straight year and the fi fth time in the last six Scotties renewals. That showdown goes at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.

The challenger will be one of O’Rourke, who dropped to Saturday’s semi-fi nal with the loss, former champion Kelly Scott of Kelowna, B.C., or Ontario champion Krista McCar-ville of Thunder Bay.

McCarville and Scott

square off in the sudden-death Page Three-Four playoff at 1 p.m. ET today, with the winner advancing to the semi.

“It feels good to be in the fi nal,” said Jones. “It’s exciting. You win one and you never know if you’re going to get back. Now we’ve won three and having a chance at four is quite something.”

Jones said she felt her team could be sharper.

“But I thought we made a lot of shots and I thought we controlled the game. I hope we can carry that into Sunday.”

There was some argument to suggest the Islanders gave the game away on last-rock miscues.

Carmody had an opportu-nity to derrick theIslanders in front by three points in the second end with an open hit, but threw the out-turn inside and wrecked on a guard that wasn’t pro-viding cover for the target. P.E.I. settled for a single.

See SUNDAY,Page 12

Page 2 HeartChart

Straightthrough to

Sunday!

P.E.I. last-rock tosser Erin Carmody,above, missed a couple of chances

for three-enders Friday. Canada’sDawn Askin, left, recovered

from the challenging momentsto help her team to victory.P.E.I. skip Kathy O’Rourke,

above left, curledat 84 per cent Friday.

PlayoffSchedule

Today1 p.m. — Page Three-Four Playoff: B.C. vs. Ontario7 p.m. — Champion-ship semifi nal: P.E.I. (Page One-Two loser) vs. Page Three-Four winner

Sunday2:30 p.m. — Champi-onship fi nal: Canada (Page One-Two winner) vs. semifi nal winner

Page 3Saturday, February 6, 2010

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COAST TO COAST:TSN’S Brian Mudrykgets the scoop duringin-game interviews withOntario’s KristaMcCarville, left, and P.E.I.’s Kathy O’Rourke, top, asplayoff action began Fridayat the Essar Centre.

Page 4 HeartChart

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Appelez-nous pour discuter de vos idées au sujet de votre communauté.

Loyalists helpto ‘fan’ that

competitive fire

Curling fans come in all shapes, sizes, and age and noise levels.

Some prefer to sit quietly in their seats, intently watching the end-to-end action, while others are a bit more fl amboy-ant, painting their faces, wear-ing funny wigs and energeti-cally ringing giant cowbells or hand clappers.

However, the one thing all curling fans have in common is undying loyalty to their team, particularly when it’s a national curling champion-ship like the 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts here in Sault Ste. Marie.

Throughout the week, looking around the Es-sar Centre, it’s been easy

to spot the individual fan clubs with their provincial fl ags draped over the seats, their provincial team colour jackets and hats, and their spontaneous eruption of cheering and clapping when their team made a particular good shot.

It would be hard to hand out an award for the most boisterous fans over the past week, although Nova Scotia, Newfoundland/Labrador, Saskatchewan, P.E.I. and Manitoba would certainly be among the leaders. And let’s not forget about the fans from La Belle Province, particularly the Quebec gentleman with the full cover pig’s mask, and the Team Canada sup-porters with the huge cowbell that could be heard from one end of the Essar Centre to the other. And, of course, there’s the partisan hometown crowd cheering loudly for Team Ontario during each draw.

Some of the curling teams also had some special guests

on hand. Rex Goudie, a fi nalist in the Canadian Idol competition, was a strong supporter of the Newfound-land/Labrador team during the week. Goudie lives in Burlington, Nfl d., and is continuing his music career.

For some of those in the crowd like Bob and Gloria King from the London, Ont., area, it’s their fi rst major curling event, even though they’ve travelled the world watching sports events including fi gure skat-ing. “We thought we would have a look and see what the curling was like in real life,” says Bob. The Kings were cheering for Ontario on Thursday, but they also say they are proud of Jen-nifer Jones’ Canada rink.

Meanwhile on the other side of the arena, you could say Shea Westcott is full of bull, or more specifi cally, buffalo. Decked out in her bison headgear, Shea has two very important reasons for cheering loudly for Team Manitoba.

Please see CRONIN,Page 14

JIM CRONINHeartChart Columnist

■ Fansin focus

Page 6

Page 5Saturday, February 6, 2010

O N T A R I O C A N A D A

Sault Ste. MarieTourism SSM and the City of SSM

proudly welcome all athletes, family and fans to the 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

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Another totallysubjectiveTop 10 list

The problem, of course, is choosing the criteria when

assigned to select the Top 10 Scotties tournaments in history.

Do you go for the top-10 spectacular last-rock shots to win? Or the top-10 most attended affairs? Or the top-10 most competitive jousts? Or the top-10 warm-weather venues? Or the top-10 party-centrals? Or a mixture of all of them?

Whatever the case, the HeartChart has burrowed deep into the memory banks of its editors and assorted spies to produce the follow-

ing Top 10 Scotties.Dissenters may line up

to the right . . . in orderly fashion.

2009 Victoria

Jennifer Jones of Win-nipeg became the sixth skip to claim back-to-back championships . . . Again, the Jones team was forced to battle from the brink of elimination with four losses in order to emerge victori-ous . . . Won what amounted to fi ve straight sudden-death matches to claim the title . . . Fantastic weather . . . So balmy the media wretches suggested that each and every Scotties should be played at the Save-On Foods Memorial Centre with headquarters in the Fairmont Empress . . . Waterfront location where veteran Vancouver news photog Chuck Stoody was able to tie up his luxury

trawler . . . B.C.’s Marla Mallett had a great week and a less-than-great fi nal . . . Key Jones victory trans-pired in a post-preliminary tiebreaker when the defend-ing champ stole points in the 10th and 11th ends to beat Rebecca Jean MacPhee of P.E.I. 6-5. Last-rocker Robyn MacPhee was faced with tough but makeable shots for a win in both ends after Jones had drawn to bite the button behind centre guards. In both cases, MacPhee’s rocks made con-tact with the target stones but spun off just far enough to give Jones the points she needed . . .

2003 Kitchener-Waterloo

The year of the so-called Atlantic Storm with three eastern teams qualifying for playoffs . . . Colleen Jones and Co., won their third straight Scotties.

Please see WOOD,Page 15

LARRY WOODHeartChart Editor

■ Robin Wilson’s Top 10Scotties

Page 7

Page 6 HeartChart

tothe

salutefans

The Team Canada rink makes fast friends with a young autograph seeker at the Essar Centre.

Top, Nova Scotia skip Nancy McConnerygets some down-home Bluenoser support.

Middle, New Brunswick coneheads out in force.Above, green is the colour!

Localwomen’s hockeyteamsshow some colour.

A love affair with Jennifer Jones’ defending champions.

Fan faveScotties’ Little

Softie, a.k.a.Paul Strandlund.

Page 7Saturday, February 6, 2010

We’re so happy we madeit to Sault Ste. Marie.

A Proud Sponsor of the

Scotties Tournament of Hearts

Cross Country Automotive Services475 Pim Street

Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6B2V3 Canadawww.crosscountry-auto.com

Celebrating 5 Great Years in The Soo.

Robin WilsonFor the HeartChart

The Scotties Tourna-ment Of Hearts has been an incredible

ride providing memories to last a lifetime.

Most important are the friendships made over the last 29 years!

We’ve come a long way since our fi rst tournament in 1982. And I’m extremely proud to have been a part of the growth of women’s curling in Canada.

Choosing my top 10 virtu-ally is impossible because every event was special in it own way. Each year we’d

raise the bar and each year we’d exceed it so that the Scotties just kept getting better and better.

To my many friends in cities and towns right across Canada, my pals on the 29 media benches, the guys and gals at CBC and TSN who have always been so incredibly supportive, the CCA team that I’ve been privileged to be part of, the awesome curlers who were at one point my peers and are now the age (or younger) of my kids; the always warm and friendly host committee volunteers, a huge thank-you from the bottom of my heart!

My top 10:

2009 Victoria

Who can beat this location? The hotel. The shopping. The arena. The weather. The shopping! Great curling with close games and an exciting fi nish. Old-English charm. Horse-drawn buggies in the middle of winter.

1998 Regina

Sandra Schmirler wins gold at Nagano and returns on the day before the open-ing to play in the Scotties

and defend her title as Team Canada. The opening cer-emonies were outstanding and, as the teams marched into the arena, the stand-ing ovation went on for 10 minutes. Total attendance outdrew the Brier that year. And the record still stands!

1999Charlottetown

1999 CharlottetownA packed arena. Incredible

50/50 draws. A HeartStop that never stopped. Wonder-ful food. A lobster starter at the Victory. Banquet that

was a meal in itself. Historic Charlottetown rolled out the red carpet.

1987 Lethbridge

A cavalcade through downtown. A Chinook blew in with 70-degree-plus temperatures. Ice melting to Shorty Jenkins’s chagrin. A dance with Shorty at the Lethbridge Curling Club.

2002 Sudbury

The 20th anniversary. Bill, the Tim Horton’s driver, wanted to know “how fast

this sucker can go” (he was talking about his bus) as John McPherson (Jack of Hearts) and I raced back for the seating plans for the Victory Banquet. Freezing rain. Ice storms. Delayed fl ights. Shannon England had the house in tears talking about Sandra and introducing the new Sandra Schmirler Foundation.

1983 PrinceGeorge

Church parade — sermon on circumcision. (Obvi-ously forgetting who was in

the congregation). Our fi rst accident on the ice (a broken arm). Guest speaker at the Victory Banquet who sat next to the church minister used the “F” word (and it wasn’t “faith”) throughout his speech. Mayor fell asleep at the head table. Outstanding warm northern hospitality.

1996 Thunder Bay

Cold. Cold. Cold. Four teams lost in 10-foot-high snow banks. The champi-onship trophy went missing. It was Vic Rauter’s fi rst time covering curling. First-ever male host-committee chair. First time for male team drivers. Wonderful gifts from local artists.

2005 St. John’s

George Street. Hospitality unparalleled. Good crowds. “Atta boy girl.” The scen-ery. The people. The food. The entertainment. Premier Danny Williams saying: “It takes a lot to get you here but once you’re here you always come back.” And every one us will be.

2006 London

The 25th anniversary. Randy Bachman in concert. Return of the old guard.

Please see WILSON,Page 15

Friends from coast to coast to coast

A spectator’s view of the 2010 Scotties at the Essar Centre. Each Canadian women’s championship is unique and special, writes Robin Wilson.

Robin Wilson haspresided over 29Scotties Tournaments.

Robin Wilson rates hertop 10 Scotties tourneys

your guide to what’s goin’ on

Page 8 The Party Line • Your guide to what’s goin’ on

Shuttle service is available daily between the Essar Centre and HeartStop Lounge at the Soo Curlers Association. The service is provided by Tim Hortons and the City of Sault Ste. Marie. Shuttles will depart every half hour to both venues. Departure points are the main parking lot near the front entrance of the Essar Centre and front door of the Soo Curlers Association.

Full schedules are posted at both departure points and online at seasonofchampions.ca

Take a Free Ride

Hit Us With Your Best Shots!Picture Perfect is the “fan’s eye” view from the Soo. When you’re capturing your favourite memories from the Scotties, send them in… they may just show up in The Party Line.

Email pictures to: partylinepics@curling.ca

(Please note: Cameraphone images may not be of suitable quality to reproduce.)

Picture Perfect

Thursday, February 4

Neil Conway - ticket number 10870 - won $3,056.50

It’s Your Turn to Be a Rock Star!Tonight… performing live, onstage… at 10 pm… in the HeartStop Lounge… it’s you! Picture yourself singing Karaoke backed by a live band and you have Rockstar Live.

Just like Karaoke, you’ll have the lyrics right in front of you. The difference is, you’ll feel the power of the music from the professional rockers in “your” band!

Rockstar Live gives you the chance to share the stage with musicians who have toured and recorded with the likes of Moist, David Usher, Helix and Killer Dwarfs.

Page 9Saturday, February 6, 2010

Amarula Cream liqueur is proud and honoured to be the Official Spirit of Championship Curling and Diamond Sponsor of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Amarula Cream is a carefully

crafted, cream liqueur based on spirit derived from the African Marula fruit. Amarula Cream is the world’s second largest selling cream liqueur. It is fresh and smooth, with a creamy consistency complemented with tones of vanilla and caramel. Amarula Cream is best enjoyed over ice or as the perfect complement to coffee or hot chocolate and in a wide range of cocktails. We wish all competitors the best of luck and all patrons an enjoyable week! Good Curling!!

Meet the Sweet SixteenThe Cool Curling playdowns get underway today at 4:30 pm in the HeartStop Lounge. The field of 16 will be pared down to the final four who move on to play on Sunday for cash prizes.

The qualifiers for today’s championship action are:

It’s Simply

Homestyle CookingAvailable Daily 11 am – 8 pm

Provided by Rico’s Catering

Daily MenuPasta and Meatballs $6.00Soup and Sandwich $6.00Salads (Garden, Caesar or Greek) $4.00

Today’s SpecialsServed 6 pm - 8 pm

Dinner Feature Ravioli Dinner $10.00Served with Garden Salad

Vegetarian OptionVegetarian Pizza $2.50/slice

Nightly MenuAvailable Daily 8 pm – 1 am

Provided by Soo Curlers Restaurant

Nacho Chips $5.00Chili & Bread Sticks $5.50Jumbo Hot Dog $4.00Chili Jumbo Dog $4.75Sausage On A Bun $5.00Hamburger $5.00Lemon Pepper Chicken Hoagie $5.00Roast Beef On A Bun $5.50Bbq Beef & Mozzarella On A Bun $5.50Mrs. B’s Pizza By The Slice $2.25Chicken Wings (8) $8.00

HeartStop Lounge Menu

Sponsor of the Day

HeartStop Lounge MC Stuart Brown and Roger Powell, Manager of Talent and Production test the table in preparation for the Cool Curling playdowns.

Mie BradleyBrooke KennedyMargo KellsTom KuuskmanJerry DubenvilleLance LalondeTrevor LeveilleKathy GodfreyAl OffidaniKim GignacMartin BuzoraB. WestcottM. SabourinStephanie CormierJoe DinelleNancy Wissell

Photos contributed by: Neil MacEwan

Page 10 HeartChart

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Jim CroninHeartChart Columnist

Sandra Randa, thelocal chair of the 2010 Scotties Tour-

nament of Hearts, has no plans to put her feet up after the closing ceremonies on Sunday.

As a matter of fact, Randa, who has been working day and night for the past two years on this event, will be among the volunteers at the Soo Curlers club bright and early Monday morn-ing helping with the heavy lifting as the HeartStop Lounge is dismantled and the building is returned to a curling rink.

As she looks back over the last two years of the Scotties project, she credits the 450 volunteers who put in thousands of hours with the success of the event.

“Many of those volun-teers, maybe 30 per cent, are curlers, but wanted to be involved in supporting this national event,” she says.

And many of those volunteers took time off their regular jobs to devote themselves to making the Scotties a success.

Randa also gives credit to the Canadian Curling As-sociation offi cials who have been working hand in hand with the local organizing committee providing valuable advice and guidance through the entire Scotties process.

As far attendance at the Scotties, Randa would have loved to have fi lled the arena for each and every draw of the nine-day event, but was happy with the fan turnout later in the week as

the excitement built towards the fi nal draw.

Thursday evening’s fi nal round-robin draw, featuring a showdown between host Ontario and Team Canada, drew 3,507 fans, the week’s largest crowd to date, bring-ing attendance to just over 34,000 for the fi rst 17 draws of the Scotties.

“Early in the week, at-tendance was disappointing but gathered momentum through the week,” says

Randa, who’s predicting a sold-out crowd of just over 3,968 for Sunday’s fi nal game at the Essar Centre.

Meanwhile, city offi cials believe the success of the 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Sault Ste. Marie will be of huge benefi t in attracting other national and international events to this community.

Ian McMillan, the ex-ecutive director of Tourism Sault Ste. Marie, has been

working with the local Scotties committee going back to when the group was preparing to bid on the 2010 event two years ago. He said that in addi-tion to the direct economic dollars-and-cents impact of the Scotties on the city, the national exposure of Sault Ste. Marie through the TSN television coverage is boost to tourism.

“It gives us exposure on a national level that we could never afford to purchase,” says the city offi cial.

McMillan also points

out that word of mouth is a powerful market-ing tool and when you have thousands of out-of-town visi-tors leaving with a good feeling about the Sault, it can’t but help boost tourism. “We don’t have to take a backseat to anybody in

terms of our hospitality,” he says. “When people come and visit our community, es-pecially for events like this, they always leave feeling they have made friends for life and have had a warm welcoming experience in our community.”

Randa agrees: “People from out of town were happy, the teams were happy and got a taste of great northern hospitality.”

Now as the national cham-pionship nears an end, Mc-Millan is looking on building on the momentum creating by the Scotties: “It’s another feather in the cap of this city and continues on with a strong legacy of hosting aid national and international events in our city.”

Hearts are trump this week,thanks to Soo’s volunteer spirit

Sandra Randa, left and above with Ian McMillan, says as many as 30 per cent of the Scotties’450 volunteers arecurlers themselves.

Todd KimberleyHeartChart Associate Editor

They’ll be sliding out of the hack on home soil, less than 700

kilometers from theirCalgary headquarters.

But in another respect, Cheryl Bernard, Susan O’Connor, Carolyn Dar-byshire and Cori Bartel are heading into the great unknown.

Such is life wearing the Maple Leaf and going for gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.

“We had some conversa-tions (with Edmonton’s Kevin Martin, who’ll be repre-senting Canada at his third Olympics), and even he said: ‘It’s at home. It’s in Canada.’ He doesn’t even know what to expect,” said Bernard on Friday afternoon.

“You don’t really know what you’re going to get, with this event being in Canada,” added O’Connor. “It’s going to be different. It’s the great unknown, and we’ll just enjoy it when we get there.”

Skip Bernard, third O’Connor, second Dar-byshire and lead Bartel swept their way into the spotlight’s glare on Dec. 12 at Edmonton’s Rexall Place, when they edged 2006

Torino Olympian Shannon Kleibrink and her outfi t 7-6 in an all-Calgary women’s fi nal at the Olympic Trials.

Bernard’s fi nal shot, a draw to the eight-foot ring for the win, was heavy on the drama — and appeared to be heavy out of the hack. But it bit just in time at the back of the eight, and the Bernard foursome was able to book its tickets to Vancouver.

The Calgary Winter Club foursome leaves for the West Coast on Feb. 10, and opens its round-robin schedule Feb. 16 with games against Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott and Germany’s Andrea Schopp.

The gold-medal hopefuls made a special appearance

at the 2010 Scotties Tourna-ment of Hearts on Thursday and Friday. The Bernard quartet took in Thursday evening’s draw at the Essar Centre, which featured a showdown between host Ontario and Jennifer Jones’ two-time defending Team Canada.

During the noon hour on Friday, they played a quick, private six-end game against Shelley Nichols’ Newfound-landers on Essar Centre ice before fi elding questions from the local and national

media. And the Stampede City gals also made a special visit to the Heart-Stop Lounge on Friday evening, with an Up Close and Personal Q&A opportunity and autograph session.

It’s all part of becom-ing an overnight celebrity, something the Bernard rink has learned since mid-December.

“You know, it’s funny. It takes a while to get through the grocery store now. It used to be so quick,” laughed Bernard. “That’s the biggest thing I’ve no-ticed. And just that people will say, ‘Hey, Cheryl!’ I always think it’s someone I know, and it’s an absolute stranger.

“And I bet there were close to 500 e-mails after we won” at Edmonton,” added Bernard. “I’m still not through it all. That was a bit overwhelming, because

I’m a person who likes my inbox cleaned out.

“But you know what? It’s great. I’ve never complained . . . I’ll just have to leave more time for groceries.”

Noted O’Connor with a chuckle: “Cheryl’s the face of the team, so I think she gets it a little more than the rest of us do. She tried to leave the (Essar Centre) last night, and was stuck for 45 minutes. Somebody grabs you, somebody else wants to talk to you, and it’s all wonderful.”

Still, the Bernard rink has done its best to keep focus and perspective.

“I still go home and have to make lunches for my kids before they go off to school,” grinned Darbyshire.

“We’d be exhausted by the time the Olympics come, if we were to stay at that intensity level for weeks and weeks,” added O’Connor. “We’re trying to stay steady and prepare the best we can.”

Bernard’s rink, which had participated in two of the past three Scotties tourna-ments, was sorely tempted to squeeze in Alberta play-downs and a possible berth in the Canadian women’s championship between Olympic Trials and the Olympics.

“You want to be greedy. You want to play in every-thing,” laughed Bartel.

In the end, though, logic prevailed.

“The Scotties is such a wonderful event, and you defi nitely know what you’re missing,” said O’Connor.

“It’s hard to watch. This is what you love to play in — the arena, the feeling,” added Bernard. “We could have (gone for it). We talked about it. But to get up for two big competitions like this, it was advised that we should reconsider. And that was tough for us.”

Page 11Saturday, February 6, 2010

Bernardquartet

preps forfive-ring

feverAbove, from left, skip Cheryl Bernard, third Susan O’Connor, second Carolyn Darbyshire and lead Cori Bartel pose for a photo Friday at the Essar Centre. At right, Bernard calls a shot during a quick test vs. Shelley Nichols’ rink from the Rock.

Darbyshire, left, andBernard bask in victory on Dec. 12 at Edmonton.

“People will say, ‘Hey, Cheryl!’I always think it’s someone I know, and it’s an absolute stranger”

Cheryl Bernard, onadjusting to sudden fameas a Canadian Olympian

In the third end, Carmody wrecked on a guard, leaving Jones a draw for a deuce.

Carmody saved the Island-ers from tumbling into an early grave in the fourth, when she drew to the four-foot looking at fi ve Team Canada counters.

But in the fi fth, Carmody again wrecked with her last stone, leaving Jones a four-foot draw with backing for another deuce.

The Islanders missed another opportunity for three in the sixth end when Carmody rolled out on a takeout. It left P.E.I. with two and a squared account.

Jones came right back in the seventh with another deuce, and Carmody was a hair heavy on a four-foot draw in the eighth, yielding a stolen single.

The Islanders then were forced to settle for a single in the ninth, leaving Jones with a two-spot and the hammer. She was left with an easy double to wrap it up

in the fi nal exchange.“We felt those misses,”

admitted O’Rourke, who throws second rocks, after-ward. “Erin was doing the best she could. If we’d had the three in the second end, it would have been a whole different game. But we have to put that behind us. I thought we still created a lot of scoring opportunities which goes to show us we can compete out here and it wasn’t just a fl uke we were in this game.”

Still, there were suffi cient scoring opportunities to give the Islanders the game.

“Erin struggled on a cou-ple of out-turns on which she didn’t quite get out to me,” said O’Rourke. “For sure, if she’d have cracked the one in the second end she would have had a much better feel for the rest of the

game. It is a game of confi -dence. Sometimes when you miss an easy one like that, it isn’t easy to get your head back in it.”

Jones admitted the game might have been a different story had P.E.I. not “rubbed a couple . . . but I think we made the tough shots for deuces, too.”

Jones doubted the sugges-tion that experience was a major factor in the match.

“I don’t think experience hurts,” she said. “But I don’t think you need experience, either. You have to win your fi rst one at some point.”

Jones noted one change ahead for her team.

“The way we usually win is with our choice of rocks, no hammer, nothing,” she said. “It will be a pleasant change on Sunday.”

O’Rourke was philosophi-cal in defeat: “I told the girls, we had so much fun out here tonight we’re going to come back tomorrow and hopefully again on Sunday.”

Page 12 HeartChart

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Friday’s Page 1-2 Playoff 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 TP.E.I.* 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 5Canada 0 0 2 0 2 0 2 1 0 1 8%age Lead Second Third Skip TeamP.E.I. 84 84 76 60 76Canada 73 86 80 78 79

Friday’s Tiebreaker 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 TOntario* 0 3 0 2 0 3 2 x x x 10Manitoba 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 x x x 3%age Lead Second Third Skip TeamOntario 82 93 86 79 85Manitoba 96 91 59 68 79

SCOTTIES SCHEDULE AND RESULTS

PlayoffSchedule

Today1 p.m. — Page Three-Four Playoff: B.C. vs. Ontario7 p.m. — Champion-ship semifi nal: P.E.I. (Page One-Two loser) vs. Page Three-Four winner

Sunday2:30 p.m. — Champi-onship fi nal: Canada (Page One-Two winner) vs. semifi nal winner

From Page 2

SUNDAY

Page 13Saturday, February 6, 2010

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of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts

French Cross is the #1 Selling Brand in Ontario** Source ACD, 12 months ending October 11, 2009

QofD: Jill Officer (Mani-toba) in 2008.2. Emily Farnham, Pat Sanders.3. Saskatchewan, B.C.4. Farnham won the Cana-dian women’s in 1974 and the Canadian senior wom-en’s in 1989. Sanders won the Canadian women’s in 1987 and the Canadian senior women’s in 2008.5. Ada Calles, British

Columbia; Nancy Kerr, Saskatchewan; Sheila Rowan, Saskatchewan.6. Ina Hansen (Calles), Marj Mitchell (Kerr), Vera Pezer (Rowan).7. Anne Dunn, Fern Irwin, Jill Greenwood, Pat Reid, Sheila Ross, June Shaw.8. Susan Seitz.9. 1981 at St. John’s, Nfld.10. Three skips since have won the championship

with less than 10 victories, one of them twice.11. Colleen Jones (1982), Penny LaRocque (1983), Alison Goring (1990), Col-leen Jones (2001).12. Linda Moore, British Columbia, 1985.13. Connie Laliberte, Mani-toba, 1995.14. Cathy (Pidzarko) Shaw, 1978, seven wins at Sault Ste. Marie.

Larry WoodHeartChart Editor

QUESTION OF THE DAY:Only one previous Ford Hotshots champion is in the current Scott Tourna-ment of Hearts field. Name her, her province and the year she won the Hot Shots. 2. Name the only two curlers who have skipped teams to victory in both the Canadian women’s and Canadian senior women’s championships.3. Their home provinces?4. How about the years they won each title?5. Three other Cana-dian senior champion skips also won Canadian women’s titles but not in skipping roles. Name them and their

home provinces.6. Name their skips in the Canadian women’s championship successes of each.7. Name curlers who have skipped Ontario (or North-ern Ontario) teams in both the Canadian women’s and senior women’s com-petitions. (Hint: Look for six of them).8. Name the first skip in Canadian women’s curl-ing championship history who was required to win 10 games in order to claim the title.

9. What year did she win and where was that cham-pionship played?10. How

many skips since then have won the Canadian title with less than 10 wins?

11. Name them and the years.12. Name the first skip ever to win 11 games in the Canadian women’s championship, her home province and the year.

13. How about the first skip ever to win an even dozen? Oh yes, and her home province and the year.14. One Canadian women’s champion was required to win less games in order to claim her title than any other in history. Name her, the year, the location and how many wins?

Time out for trivia

Answers

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Her sister Raunora is lead for the team, and her father Ron is the coach. “It’s been so much fun. There’s so much energy in the crowd and it makes it easy for us to go a little wild sometimes,” says the Manitoba fan.

And then there are Tom and Mary Coulterman from here in the Sault, who’ve been on the edge of their seats at the Scotties. Their daughter, Tara George, is the third for Team Ontario, and she has been playing in front of a support-ive hometown crowd.

Jan Wainright and Vic Freidin, from Toronto, have been across Canada many times following the trail of the Brier, the men’s national curling championship, and the Scotties. For them, the trip to Sault Ste. Marie for the 2010 event was a no-brainer. Jan is originally from the Sault and

wasn’t going to miss world-class curling in her home-town. “‘We’re going’ were the fi rst words out of my mouth. We just had to decide which of our friends in the Sault were going to be our hotel,” she says.

Her husband Vic was also enthusiastic about coming here for the Scotties and the opportunity to renew friend-ships with former curling buddies here. He also has a special place in his heart for curling in the Sault.

“My fi rst date with Jan was at a Ministry of Natural Resources bonspiel here in the Sault,” he says, “and now she is my wife.”

Although attendance at the 2010 Scotties was a little low during the fi rst part of the championship, those in attendance at those early games still raised the noise level to the roof of the Essar Centre on several occasions.

Fans arrived at this year’s Scotties in Sault Ste. Marie from as far away as Yel-lowknife in the Northwest Territories, and as close as a few blocks from the arena.

But no matter where they call home, they all share a love of the cries of “Hurry! Hurry!,” the crash of granite on granite, and the proud knowledge that our country has some of the best curlers in the world.

From Page 4

CRONIN:Raisingthe roof

Manitoba fans Shea Westcott and brother Brandy.Vic Freidin and Jan Wainwright of Toronto.

Page 15Saturday, February 6, 2010

Friends of the Scotties

A Thymely AffairArthur Funeral Home Avery Construction & TransportationJet Ice LtdMcDougall EnergyRowswell & Associates Engineers LtdS & T Group

Bob Stewart — still one of the greatest supporters of Canadian women’s curling. An outdoor curling rink. Celebrating Shannon Kleibrink’s return from the Olympics.

1993 Brandon

Western theme. Crazy games and costumes. Horses and riders storming the HeartStop Lounge. Host commit-tee chair stepped aside to play for Team Mani-toba. Incredible fi nal — Schmirler vs. Bonar. Packed house. The wave. Prairie gourmet feast fea-turing Buffalo tenderloin, wild boar and walleye.

A footnote . . . Actually, every cham-

pionship was “the best ever.” Each one had its own distinguishing memories. Every one can make a top-10 list because each was unique and special.

The common thread throughout are the volunteers who continue 29 years later to work so hard to showcase their cities and to welcome all of us — curlers, sponsors and fans — from across Canada with open arms and hearts. Friends from coast to coast-to-coast.

Or as our beloved Cathy Stephenson would say, ”We are family!”

From Page 7

WILSON:Family

It was also Jones’ fourth title in fi ve years, thanks to a 9-7, extra-end win over New-foundland’s Cathy Cunning-ham 9-7 . . . Jones completed the victory with an open out-turn hit after Cunningham wrecked on her draw attempt behind a corner guard . . . Newfoundland appeared to have it wrapped by setting up a winning split for a deuce in the 10th before third Peg Goss rolled out her shooter on a hit to maintain the split . . . Prince Edward Island’s youth-ful Suzanne Gaudet rolled through the round robin, win-ning 10 of 11 . . . Faded in the plasyoffs.

1995 Calgary

Manitoba’s Connie Lalib-erte twice defeated defending champion Sandra (Schmirler) Peterson of Regina, who was looking for a three-peat, and conquered former national junior champion Cathy (King) Borst of Edmonton 6-5 in a tension-packed champion-ship fi nal . . . Laliberte won a whopping 12 of 13 games in all . . . Borst provided the only blemish to the Ice Queen’s week . . . The start of the Heart Chart, as we know it today . . .

2000 PrinceGeorge

Kelley Law and her New Westminster team recorded one of the great rebounds in the history of the Scotties . . . Law faced not one, not two, not three, not four, not fi ve, but six straight sudden-death matches in her quest and won all six . . . Defeated three-time Canadian champion Con-nie Laliberte, who’d lost the Page One-Two match 6-4 to

Ontario’s Anne Merklinger — Laliberte cracked a three in the eighth for a 6-4 lead but Law and Co., fi nagled the tying deuce in the ninth and stole the winner in the 10th when Laliberte missed her last shot . . . Law stole a deuce in the fi fth end of the fi nal for fi rst-time control, then added a crushing three in the seventh and ran away — 9-4, only the second loss of the entire tournament for Merklinger.

1982 Regina

An unprecedented fi ve-team fi rst-place tie at 7-3 developed from the round robin . . . Youthful Colleen Jones of Halifax had blood in her eye, after losing the fi nal two years previous despite a superior record . . . Arleen Day of Regina beat former champion Cathy (Pidzarko) Shaw of Edmonton 7-5 in a tiebreaker . . . Jones avenged a fi rst-round loss in the semis . . . Day stormed in front 3-0, then Nova Scotia turned it on to win 11-4 . . . Jones hit for four in the fi rst end of the fi nal but Dorothy Rose of Manitoba scored three right back, then stole a tying single. The decisive manouevre for Jones was a one-point steal in the eighth which set up the eventual 8-7 win . . .

2001 Sudbury

Colleen Jones of Halifax starred in this show, winning three at the outset, then sud-denly losing four in a row and appearing out of it, then toss-ing up the the barricades and winning an unbelievable six straight . . . every one of them, sudden-death . . . Defending champ topped the round robin at 8-and-3, then lost the Page

One-Two to Jones . . . The most controversial fi nish in Scotties history . . . Law as-sumed a 5-2 lead after seven ends but Jones fashioned a tying three in the eighth, stole control in the ninth and forced Law to settle for a tying single in the 10th with a clutch shot through a narrow port. In the 11th, Team Canada placed two counters in the rings, both in the eight-foot, one hidden. Jones needed not only her pat-ented out-turn hit on the open rock — the path out there in the frost — but a roll inward to reach shot-rock position. At the last second, the rock picked up swing and moved inward an inch or so off the hit while both second Mary-Anne Waye and lead Nancy Delahunt, who called traffi c for skip rocks in the rings, be-gan sweeping. What followed was near-pandemonium. An offi cial measure indicated the Nova Scotia rock was the winner (7-6). But there was the matter of two sweepers in the vicinity of the teeline or just behind it, a breach of the game’s rule that allows only one sweeper per team in that area. The fooferaw extended beyond 24 hours before the offi cial result was upheld.

2005 St. John’s

The winning shot, probably was Canadian women’s curl-ing’s equivalent of Al Hack-ner’s Shot Of the Century at the 1986 Brier in Moncton . . . Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones, trailing Ontario’s Jenn Hanna by two points heading into the last end, won in dramatic style

by playing and executing a diffi cult angle double-takeout from a stone in the top corner of the 12-foot to a hidden On-tario shot rock on the button. Jones’s in-turn rock hit the outside stone at the perfect an-gle and caromed to the centre of the rings to pluck Hanna’s counter off the pin and score a four-ender to win 8-6 . . . The Ottawa team advanced to the fi nal by knocking over (in order) Cathy King, Sandy Comeau, Stefanie Lawton and Kelly Scott . . . Comeau, in a tiebreaker, eliminating the champ of the last three years running. An emotional exit for Colleen Jones.

1998 Regina

Edmonton’s Cathy (King) Borst surviving several near-coronary fi nishes en route to 12 wins in 13 games, including no less than three heart-stopping victories at the expense of Anne Merklinger of Ottawa, the key matches of the entire piece . . . Alberta stealing what proved to be the difference in the eighth end of a 5-4 opening-round conquest, stealing the duke again seven nights later, this time 7-6 in an extra-end Page One-Two playoff . . . In the fi nal, climactic battle Borst stealing a key point in the third end, going up 5-2 after fi ve and then withstanding a withering rally from Merk-linger’s troops to win with the last rock of another extra end. Again, 7-6 . . . Triumphant homecoming from Olympic glory for defending champion Sandra Schmirler of Regina but script wasn’t one Regi-nans would have preferred . . . Schmirler’s three-time champs, battling Olympic-induced exhaustion and acute

jet lag as well as some tough opponents, losing four of 11 in the prelims and faring no better than a tertiary fi nish.

2008 Regina

Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones staged a miraculous come-back and won her second Scotties championship in four years, stealing the title from Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink 6-4 in a thrilling fi nal . . . Jones executed a cold bury with her last rock and Kleibrink narrowly missed a last-rock raise-takeout in which she needed to spill both Manitoba stones . . . Eight straight wins for Jones off a 3-4 record in her opening seven . . . Kleibrink romped through the round robin with a 10-1 record.

1993 Brandon

Sandra (Schmirler) Peterson of Regina, always riding the edge but always possessing the shot when it was needed . . . An immense fi rst success for Schmirler’s team considering she faced two strong host teams from Manitoba among a galaxy of others with abundant experience . . . Maureen Bonar of Brandon, 2-3 after fi ve rounds, won her last six including clutch conquests of defender Connie Lal-iberte, Julie Sutton (Skin-ner) and Colleen Jones, then prevailed over Anne Merklinger of Ontario in the semi, setting up an edge-of-the-seat fi nal match that will be remembered with the best of them and probably the most thrilling in Scotties history — an extra-ender with Schmirler needing the hammer to win it 7-6.

From Page 5

WOOD

Page 16 HeartChart

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Ontario runs riot in rout of ManitobansLarry WoodHeartChart Editor

One gutsy, early shot turned the tide in favour of Ontario at

the Essar Centre on Friday afternoon.

Provincial champion Krista McCarville skipped her Thunder Bay team to a 10-3 tiebreaker thrashing of Manitoba’s Jill Thurston, reducing the fi eld in the Scotties Tournament Of Hearts championship chase to four teams.

McCarville executed a spectacular last-rock runback, literally papering one of her own stones, and erasing an enemy counter to score three in the second end after a blank opener.

The call was a calculating one for McCarville and de-fl ating for Thurston’s forces who never recovered.

“We decided it was risk for reward, you miss, you only give up a steal of one but to make it meant a huge momentum shift,” said the Ontario skip. We fi gured if we didn’t make it or just chipped it out and scored a deuce, it was still early.

“We were really pumped af-ter that. My team just played so well, we just never let them back into it. We never got down and just kept fi ring.”

Thurston agreed with the assessment.

“She made a great shot, they defi nitely played great, we were not so good, so . . . that’s what happens in curl-ing,” said the petite Manitoba skip. “I can see her call. It was a low-risk shot. We were only counting one. You might as well go for it. But it was a killer for us. We had opportu-nities to put rocks in the right places after that but we didn’t do that and they were right

on the money, they made everything.”

McCarville and her team of Tara George, Ashley Miharija and Kari MacLean advanced to the sudden-death Page Three-Four playoff today at 1 p.m. ET against two-time champion Kelly Scott of Kelowna. That winner will advance to the semi-fi nal at 7 p.m. ET.

Thurston was left with an open hit for a deuce in the third but McCarville fi nagled those points back in the fourth. She missed a twin-kill in the fi fth after Thurston has executed a double but, with a near-free draw, Thurston pulled the string on her last rock and settled for a single.

McCarville came back fero-ciously in the sixth and ham-mered another three-count on the board, stole two more in the seventh when Thurston inadvertently knocked her

own counter out of the rings and the jig was up.

“Step 1 is done but we have some more tough games starting tomorrow,” said McCarville. “We’re not satisfi ed here. We’ll be satisfi ed at the top.

“We’ve been here and we know how tough the games are going to be. Emotionally and physically, it is tiring, but we know we can do it again. So we have to feed off that. We’re at that stage where we know that we’re good enough to be here and we have to continue believing in ourselves, that’s really key.”

McCarville agreed a partisan Ontario crowd is benefi cial. A total of 2,474 took in the contest.

Thurston bemoaned too many “half-shots” in the game. “You can get away with those in cashspiels, but not up here,” she said If you don’t make all your shots all

the time here you’re going to lose and that’s what hap-pened today. I mean, I miss that draw for two in the fi fth, you can’t do that! You can’t draw, you can’t skip.”

The Winnipeg skip said she was satisfi ed with the week but not the playoff match: “This wasn’t indica-tive of the way we played during the week.”

Ontario’s Tara George, left, keeps an eye on the action in the house, as does Manitoba’s Raunora Westcott.