Canadaʼs Kevin Martin

(back) urges on his

sweepers Tuesday as his

team rolled over Norway

9-2 for its seventh

straight win and sole

possession of first place

at the Ford Worlds.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 2

Draw to the Button CompetitionParticipating curling clubs in the Maritimes

have held competitions to determine their rep-resentative at the “Draw to the Button Compe-tition. Qualifying round on Friday, April 10th at 1p.m. at Curling Beausejour Inc. The finalistswill compete during the fifth-end break at Fri-day night’s 7:30 p.m. playoff game.

Autograph Session – Proudly sponsored byHansen Signs

Former world champions and the 12 partici-pating teams will be available for autographs inThe Patch each day until Thursday, April 9. OnSaturday, April 11th, 10 of the 12 teams will be onhand. Bring your cameras for a lasting memento.

Schedule:Today 6-7 p.m. — CAN/CHN/FRA/JPNSaturday, April 11th 2-3 p.m. All participat-

ing teams except the semi-finalists

Pin Trading and Map of the World Pin Draw– Proudly sponsored by Lounsbury GroupVisit the Pin Trader booths in the Patch.

Show us where you’re from! Find the worldmap located in the Keith’s Patch and stick apin on your home town, get an entry from theInformation Booth, and enter the draw to win a

wonderful prize. The draw will be made duringthe page playoff game (draw 18) on Fridayevening, April 10.

Up Close and Personal – Proudly sponsoredby InColor, Aliant and Coca-Cola

Come and meet teams, media and interna-tional personalities in the relaxed setting of theKeith’s Patch. Participate in live, informativeinterview with former world champions, TeamCanada, TSN media and other special guests.Asking questions of these guests involves au-dience participation, so join us for what prom-ises to be an informative and fun event.

Today 6-6:30 p.m. — Team Canada Thursday 6-7 p.m. — 2010 Vancouver

Olympics – Neil Houston Sport Manager, Curl-ing; 2006 Olympic Gold Medallist – RussHoward

Friday 6-7 p.m. — TSN commentators

KEITH’S PATCHThe Keith’s Patch is open to the public, but a

ticket or a Patch promotional ticket (green) isrequired.

Curling tickets can be purchased from theColiseum box office up until closing time at 9p.m.

The EYE OPENEREDITOR Larry Wood

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dave KomoskyINFO-CURL QUOTIDIEN: Normand Leger

PHOTOGRAPHER: Mike Burns Jr.PUBLISHED BY: The Times&Transcript

The word is intimidation.They said Kevin Martin’s Edmonton

curling team exuded intimidation at the TimHortons Brier in Calgary.

All Martin and John Morris, Marc Kennedy andBen Hebert accomplished there was 13 straightvictories for their immaculate efforts.

Now they’re bearing witness to the reasons whythe word is again being bandied about . . . this timeat the Moncton Coliseum.

In short, the Canadian champs have everybodyrunning for cover.

The Martinizers wrapped up another unbeatenday at the Ford World men’s curling championshipon Tuesday and head into its final four round-robinassignments today and Thursday with a 7-and-0record.

Nobody in the field is closer than 5-and-2. Andthat team, skipped by Thomas Ulsrud of Norway,was Canada’s seventh victim on Tuesday night . .. by a 9-2 count in a matter of six ends.

It figured to be the most formidable dayin a few weeks for Martin’s crew. And forthe first time since the start of the Brier,the Canadian skip failed to win a button-draw for first-end hammer in the morningor a coin toss in the evening after bothskips covered the pin.

So much for the importance of thehammer. Martin stole two in the first endagainst Switzerland and wrapped up an 8-3 win in seven ends. Then, on the nightshift, Canada stole three in the first endand proceeded to wallop the reeling Norwegianswho had earlier been burned 3-2 by the Swiss inthe afternoon.

“The key game was our loss to Switzerland,”said Ulsrud later. “We shouldn’t have lost that one.We were far too defensive. This one, I think I hadit coming. In the back of my head I was trying totell myself, ‘come on, you can go out there andhave a chance against these guys’. But there was abrutal swing out there and they handled that muchbetter than us and I think that was the biggest dif-ference.

“After the first end I dumped the rocks I wasusing but then I wrecked with another pair. Ithought, ‘hey, at this rate, you’re going to run outof rocks’.”

Of the supposed feature match, Martin, who shot100 per cent over six ends, opined:

“Thomas missed more than I would have ex-pected. We hadn’t seen those rocks before. Scot-land lost to the Czechs with those and now Norwaydidn’t make much against us with those. We get toenjoy those against Scotland on Thursday. So let’sreserve judgment on those until Thursday. There’sgot to be something funny there.”

“He (Ulsrud) hardly ever misses a draw. And he

wrecked on his first shot practically every end —four out of six, I think. He made a lot of his secondrocks. And the ones he didn’t make stayedstraighter.”

Martin said the morning win over Switzerlandwas Canada’s best team effort to date. But he side-stepped the intimidation question.

“We mean to be aggressive wherever we can,”he said. “That’s just the way we play. If you see alittle oil leaking you want to go after it, so we nor-mally try to step it up if you can pick up the otherteam in trouble or struggling with a spot in the ice.If they make every shot one end they’ll probablyget two or three points. But you take that risk. Youwant to take advantage of every situation.”

Stoeckli had one opportunity to square accountsin the game with a well-placed guard in the third end.

“He had us in big trouble,” admitted Martin. “Ifhe makes a good guard I don’t know what wewould have done. We’re not getting two, that’s forsure.”

The swing was from a possible 2-2 to 4-1 forCanada.

“We gave him points easily all game,” saidStoeckli, who is 3-and-4. “It was always like, we

have them in trouble, we have a bad missand they have an easy shot for two.”

In the afternoon, the Swiss shuffled thedeck with second Markus Eggler assumingskipping duties, Stoeckli tossing last rocksand third Jan Hauser dropping to second.

“I wasn’t comfortable with where to putthe broom,” explained Stoeckli. “And thatwas affecting my shooting. I wanted tofocus more on myself and my shots.”

Eggler skipped the last Swiss world win-ner back in 1992.

“We’re taking it game by game now,” addedStoeckli. “We just have to feel more comfortableout there and we’ll do whatever we can to facilitatethat.”

Five teams finished Day Four at the Worlds with4-and-3 records — Germany, Scotland, the U.S.,France and Denmark.

Only the top four teams advance to Page playoffsstarting Friday and Canada already appears to be alock for the Page One-Two playoff which leads di-rectly to Sunday’s 7:30 p.m. championship final.

Germany and Denmark each won twice — Ger-many 7-5, when French skip Thomas Dufour misseda routine double with his last rock for a winningdeuce, and 8-4 over Kalle Kiiskinen of Finland;Ulrik Schmidt’s gang 9-6 over John Shuster of theU.S. and 8-4 over Yusuke Morozumi of Japan.

France and the Yanks split on the day while2006 champion David Murdoch of Scotland wasshocked by a pair of rank outsiders — China (9-7)and the Czechs (5-4). It was China’s first-ever winover the Scots but the Czechs’ second in as manyworld championships.

“It’s not looking good,” moaned Murdoch. “Ithink that’s the first time in a few years that we’velost two in a row, maybe the first time ever.”

They’re running for coverBy LARRY WOOD

Eye Opener Editor

Martin crashing, burning through World field

SEESCORES,Page 13

Scotlandʼs DavidMurdoch wasshocked by a pairof outsiders andtumbled down thestandings.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 4

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 5

The Wood file

“One thing about the (Ford) Worlds,”Kevin Martin was saying, “it’s all aboutwhere everybody finishes.

“That’s huge.“I don’t think it matters to some of these

teams whether they play Canada or not. It’s allabout where they finish at the end of the week.

“There are a lot of different scenarios so it’sneat to watch. The Europeans all are intense. Itdoesn’t matter what their record is. The idea isto get as many wins as possible for their coun-try’s standing in the world of curling.

“It’s different than what we’re used to inCanada and that’s pretty cool.”

T’is a strange paradox in elite world curlingtoday. North Americans, and particularlyCanadians, play the game for (a) money, and(b) country. In Europe, it’s the other wayaround. And the impetus behind the Europeanphilosophy is something called the Winter

Olympic Games.It’s no secret Martin and

his Edmonton troopswould love to representtheir country at Vancouver2010, too. But there aremore than a few otherteams in Canada with thesame goal in mind. Andthe national thinking is en-tirely different.

In Europe, the pressureis much greater. And thefunding is channeled inonly one direction — the

medal podium.“In France,” skip Thomas Dufour was mus-

ing the other day, “the Olympics are very bigbut the world curling championships and Eurochampionships, they are nothing.”

Scotland’s David Murdoch, a professionalcurler backed by U.K. Sport, sings a similartune.

“We save our game for the championships,”says the Scottish skip. “We put a lot more em-phasis there. It’s the be-all and end-all for us.When we come over here to Canada and playon the tour it’s about practice, getting in agroove and playing well. But, for us, medalsmean everything. I don’t care if I take homeone dollar or a fistful from Canada as long aswe play well and it puts us in line for gettingmedals.

“It’s obviously very different for the guysover here. They need the money to play inmore and more tournaments. For us, it’s dif-ferent. We lose our funding if we don’t getmedals. So it’s a big, big thing and, of course,there’s the Olympic program and curlingneeds to do well in order to get the money forthe Olympic program.”

Murdoch made numerous appearances inCanadian bonspiels last fall. So did Norway’sThomas Ulsrud and Ralph Stoeckli ofSwitzerland. Sweden’s three-time worldchampion Peja Lindholm pioneered the prac-tice.

There is, however, a divergent attitude inEurope toward the necessity of playingagainst top teams and on fast ice in Canada inorder to increase the prospects for medals.

“We don ‘t come over because we can’t af-ford it, no chance,” says Germany’s AndyKapp, a certain Olympic qualifier.

“It’s not a matter of the costs. We could getthe funding if we asked for it. But we can’t getaway from work. We all have our own busi-nesses.

“If you count everything we’re looking atfor next year, we’ll be away 11 weeks already.It would be impossible to come over for an-other two tournaments in Canada. You can’tjust fly over and play for a weekend. You haveto stay for two weekends at least. And if youarrive the first weekend and play the next day

you are totally smashed because you are in jetlag.

“We feel if you stay too long away fromhome and work, and only for curling, you getburned out. In our team we have 10 or 11 kidsbetween the five of us. And if you go awaywith a bad feeling at home you can’t perform.Curling isn’t our whole lives, it’s just a littlepart of them.”

Kapp insists the European tour — competi-tion every second weekend — is improvingby the year, and that goes for the ice surfaces,too.

“The standard is getting close to Canada,”he says. “We’re getting much better arena ice.We play the same people we’re playing herefor the most part. Murdoch is doing the wholetour. The Swiss and Norwegians, too.

“We just don’t feel the constant travel over-seas is that big a benefit to us. Yes, we’d playagainst more Canadian teams. But we like theEuro tour much more because we can driveFriday morning, play eight or 10 games andthen drive back.

“You have to determine how much timeyou spend and then look at the result. Wedon’t think it pans out for us.”

Germany’s pre-Olympic practice schedule,aside from the Eurotour, will include one tripto Canada for a Slam tournament at Toronto inlate October and, then, the Euro championshipat Aberdeen, Scotland, in December.

“This event is one more preparation for us,”says Kapp. “So every game on this champi-onship ice is practice.”

Says Stoeckli, whose team has been strug-gling big-time this week.

“There’s pressure, of course. We have tofinish top eight here. There are so many topteams and you can win or lose to anybody onany given day. But at least it’s a game. I’m notgoing to die if I fail.

“But, yes, it’s our dream to get back to theOlympic Games and that’s why we spend somuch time and effort.

EDITOR Larry WoodASSOCIATE EDITOR Dave KomoskyINFO-CURL QUOTIDIEN: Normand LegerPHOTOGRAPHER Mike Burns Jr.PUBLISHED BY: The Times&Transcript

PLEASE SEE WOOD P12

6 Wednedsday, April 8 2009

LARRYWOOD

Cash is nice, but it’s all aboutthe podium for European curlers

RALPH STOECKLI KEVIN MARTIN

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 7

SKIPBorn: Chamonix.Age: 36.Residence:Chamonix.Family: Single.Employment: Skiguide.Years curling: 20.First major suc-cess: French juniorchampion, 1990.Won: Silvermedal 1992 worldjunior champi-onship, bronzemedal, 1993world juniorchampionship.

Thomas DufourTHE COUNTRY

Population: 65,073,482Area: 674,843 km sqLocation: Bordered by Belgium andLuxembourg (north), Germany, Switzerland, Italy(east), Monaco, Andorra, and Spain (south).Status: France is the largest country in theEuropean Union and the second largest inEurope and possesses the fifth largesteconomy in the world, according to nomi-nal GDP figures. It is the most visited coun-try in the world, receiving 82 million foreigntourists annually. France is one of thefounding members of the European Union,a founding member of the United Nations,and a member of the Francophonie, the G8,NATO, and the Latin Union.Motto: “Liberty, equality, brotherhood.”Capital City: ParisPrincipal Products and Industries: Franceis the world’s fifth-largest exporter and thefourth-largest importer of manufacturedgoods. It is also the most energy independ-ent Western country due to heavy invest-ment in nuclear power, which also makesFrance the smallest producer of carbon

dioxide among the seven most industrial-ized countries in the world. France theleading agricultural producer and exporterin Europe. Wheat, poultry, dairy, beef, andpork, as well as an internationally recog-nised foodstuff and wine industry are pri-mary French agricultural exports.

FRANCE AT THE WORLDS2008 — Thomas Dufour, Chamonix (6-5).2007 — Thomas Dufour, Chamonix (6-6).2006 — Failed to qualify2005 — Failed to qualify2004 — Thomas Dufour, Chamonix (2-7).Last championship: None.

DID YOU KNOWn France’s first global curling appearancewas in the 1966 Scotch Cup world men’scurling championship at Vancouver.

FACTS

Profile: FranceCHAMONIX CURLING CLUB (CHAMONIX)

Richard Ducroz

SECONDBorn: Chamonix.Age: 25.Residence:Chamonix.Family: Single.Employment:Bartender, LeGrenier Restaurant.Years curling: 12.First major success: French junior cham-pion, 2001Won: 2009 French men’s championship.

Tony Angiboust

THIRDBorn: Chamonix.Age: 25.Residence:Chamonix.Family: Single.Employment:Sports club man-ager.Years curling:Eight.First major success: French junior cham-pion, 2001.Won: N/A

Jan Ducroz

LEADBorn: ChamonixAge: 37Residence:ChamonixFamily: SonsNiklas (15), Theo(12).Employment: Skiresort owner.Years curling: 24.First major success: French junior cham-pion, 1990.Won: Silver medal, 1992 world juniorchampionship.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 8

SKIPBorn: Harbin.Age: 27Residence: Harbin.Family: Single.Employment: Curler,Harbin WinterSports TrainingCentre.Years curling:Eight.First major suc-cess: 2007 Pacificcurling champi-onship.Won: 2007 asnd2008 Pacificchampionships.

Fengchun WangTHE COUNTRY

Population: 1,330,851,865Area: 9,640,821 km sqLocation: Bordered on the west with theHimalayas and the Tian Shan mountainranges forming China's natural borderswith India and Central Asia. In contrast,China’s eastern seaboard is low-lying andhas a 14,500-kilometre long coastlinebounded on the southeast by the SouthChina Sea and on the east by the EastChina Sea beyond which lies Korea andJapan.Status: China’s importance in the worldtoday is reflected through its role as theworld's third largest economy nominallyand a permanent member of the UNSecurity Council as well as being a mem-ber of several other multilateral organiza-tions. In addition, it is a nuclear state andhas the world's largest standing army withthe second largest defense budget.Motto: “One world, one dream.”Capital City: BeijingPrincipal Products and Industries: Thestate still dominates in strategic “pillar”

industries (such as energy and heavyindustries), but private enterprise (30 mil-lion private businesses) now accounts forapproximately 70 per cent of China’snational output.

CHINA AT THE WORLDS2008 — Fengchun Wang, Harbin (7-6).2007 — Failed to qualify2006 — Failed to qualify2005 — Failed to qualify2004 — Failed to qualifyLast championship — None

DID YOU KNOWn China’s first global curling appearancewas in the 2005 world junior women’s curl-ing championship at Pinerolo, Italy, and inthe 2005 world women’s curling champi-onship at Paisley, Scotland.

FACTS

Profile: ChinaHOME CLUB: HARBIN CURLING CLUB (HARBIN)

Rui Liu

THIRDBorn: Harbin.Age: 27Residence: Harbin.Family: Single.Employment:Curler, HarbinWinter SportsTraining Centre.Years curling:Seven.First major success: 2007 Pacific curlingchampionship.Won: 2007 and 2008 Pacific champi-onships.

Xiaoming Xu

SECONDBorn: Harbin.Age: 24.Residence: Harbin.Family: Single.Employment:Curler, HarbinWinter SportsTraining Centre.Years curling: Eight.First major success: 2002 Chinese cham-pionship.Won: 2007 and 2008 Pacific champi-onships.

Jialiang Zang

LEADBorn: Harbin.Age: 21Residence: HarbinFamily: Single.Employment:Curler, HarbinWinter SportsTraining Centre.Years curling: Six.First major success: 2006 Chinese juniorchampionship.Won: 2007 and 2008 Pacific champi-onships.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 9

Info-curl quotidien10 Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Les amateurs de curling ont la chance cettesemaine de rencontrer des amis et de relaxerau Rendez-vous Keith’s Patch qui se trouvedans l’édifice de l’agréna en annexe auColisée de Moncton.

Plusieurs activités de divertissement s’yretrouvent et c’est grâce au travail du vice-président, Rick Melanson, et de ses cinqdirecteurs qui ont mi le paquet pour offrir unprogramme varié de musique et de bouffe detous les goûts.

« Je suis content de succès du Rendez-vous,a dit Melanson. Nous avons des artistes derenommée et je sais que les gens découvrentpetit à petit cet établissement tout en appuyantle mondial du curling. Notre objectif était decréer un lieu de rassemblement ou les genspeuvent se rencontrer après les matches etmanger tout en écoutant de la musique. Lesgens me disent qu’ils aiment bien l’atmo-sphère. Nous avons déjà plusieurs billets devendus pour les quatre derniers soirs. »

Les gens sont rappelés qu’il est nécessairede se pourvoir un billet pour entrer auRendez-vous à moins d’avoir un billet pour

le curling. L’histoire des 50 dernières annéesdu curling est également racontée pour ceuxqui s’y intéressent et il y a même une sectionpour les entreprises qui veulent y tenir unerencontre.

Le Rendez-vous est ouvert de 11 h à 1 hdu matin tous les jours et le public est invitéà s’y rendre.

Le Championnat mondial de curling masculin Ford attireune foule intéressante de spectateurs cette semaine auColisée de Moncton alors que les meilleurs joueurs de

curling au monde se font la lutte pour la suprématie mondialedans ce sport.

La région du Moncton Métropolitain est considérée commeun lieu fortuné pour le curling et plusieurs adeptes de ce sportfréquentent régulièrement les trois clubs de la région. Un desspectateurs le plus âgé cette semaine ne manquerait pas uneminute de l’action. Ben Lavigne a eu 90 ans en janvier et lui etson épouse, Lorine, ont acheté leur abonnement pour le champi-onnat plus d’un an passé parce qu’ils ne voulaient pas rater dematch.

« Je passe ma semaine ici, a dit Lavigne qui joue depuis 51ans au club de curling Beauséjour. Je veux assister à toutes lesparties d’Équipe Canada parce que les joueurs sont très habileset intéressants à voir. Je n’ai pas été trop impressionné par lesautres équipes jusqu’à présent, les joueurs ratent plusieurs jeux.Parfois, j’aimerais aller sur la glace et les aider », a-t-il ajouté enriant.

Ben Lavigne et son épouse sont encore actifs sur la scènelocale. Ben joue deux ou trois fois par semaine et est un bénév-ole actif du club. Il a participé à plusieurs championnats provin-

ciaux ainsi que des tournois divers. La famille a acheté ses bil-lets dans l’extrémité sud du Colisée pour voir tout ce qui sepasse sur la glace. Lavigne dit avoir rencontré plusieurs person-nes depuis le début du tournoi, des gens qu’il n’avait pas vudepuis des années.

« Ce tournoi me donne bien des souvenirs et me rappel leBalai d’Argent Air Canada en 1980. Je ne voulais pas manquerce tournoi. Je joue encore au curling une ou deux fois parsemaine et je vais probablement jouer au golf cet été. J’ai égale-ment remis mes tests à l’hôpital cette semaine afin de ne pasavoir de rendez-vous pour ne rien manquer du curling. »

Pour sa part, Lorine a remporté le championnat de curling deMoncton en 1975 et a joué pendant 28 ans. Leur fille Denises’est distinguée en remportant plusieurs honneurs chez les jun-iors. On signale que Ben peut encore glisser le long de la glaceaussi bien que des jeunes et en signe de reconnaissance pour sagrande contribution au curling, la ligue du mardi après-midiBeauséjour-MCA a pris le nom de Curling Ben Lavigne.

Ce couple a grandement œuvré au développement de ce sportdans la région et dans la province.

Ben et Lorine Lavigne présents au Colisée.

ParNormandLéger

Ben et Lorine Lavigne sont de fidèles spectateurs

Le Rendez-vousKeith’s toujours

prêt à vous accueillirRendu à mi-chemin du Championnat mondi-

al de curling masculin, le président du comitéorganisateur, James Lockyer, est enthousiasteet heureux de l’appui de la communauté enverscette activité d’envergure interna-tionale.

« Je dois beaucoup aux plus de500 bénévoles réunis dans 36comités et appuyé par sept vice-présidents, a dit Lockyer lorsd’une courte pause dans ses alléset venues. Nous avons eu despépins que nous avons pu réglerassez rapidement comme la con-dition de la glace et certainescommunications entre nos diverscomités. La glace est excellentepour la compétition et je suisheureux que le championnat sedéroule très bien. Tous les bénév-oles me disent qu’ils sontheureux de leurs tâches cettesemaine. »

Il a fait chaud samedi dans le Colisée et laglace n’était pas à son meilleur état. Cependant,le skip de l’équipe canadienne, Kevin Martin, aindiqué que la condition de la glace est excel-lente et même samedi lors de la chaleur, il a

indiqué que le tout était acceptable.Les foules ont été nombreuses jusqu’à

présent, ce qui plait bien à M. Lockyer et auxmembres de son comité. « Je dois préciser

qu’il y a encore de très bons bil-lets à vendre pour les autresmatches, incluant les parties dela fin de semaine. Je reçoiségalement des commentaires trèsintéressants des gens que je ren-contre et tous sont heureux etmême apprécient beaucoup ceque nous avons fait cettesemaine. Les gens parlent beau-coup des cérémonies et surtoutde la jeune Isabelle Pelletier. Lesspectateurs apprécient beaucoupêtre prêt de la glace pour bienvoir tout ce qui se passe en plusde la disponibilité des joueursqui sont de calibre mondial. »Il y a 18 mois que le comité

organisateur s’est mi en branle et avecl’énorme travail accompli jusqu’à présent, leprésident Lockyer est un homme heureux.« Nous avons démontré que nous savons faireles choses en grand; les gens savent qui noussommes et surveillez-nous dans l’avenir. »

Un championnat appuyépar la communauté

James Lockyer

Richard Melanson.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 11

While curlers in Canada are accustomedto being in the spotlight, representativesfrom the other countries are getting a

taste of the rock star treatment at the Ford WorldMen’s Curling Championship in Moncton.

When Canada’s Ben Hebert and John Morrisdropped in to the Keith’sPatch, the watering hole ofchoice for many fans at thetournament, neither curlerneeded to buy a drink. Thepair spent most of theevening signing autographsand posing for pictures.

“There are some nightswhen you just want to puton the ‘Guy Incognito’ cos-tume and go in and no oneknows who you are and you can just go have abeer with your buddies,” says Morris.

“But it’s part of the game and I’ll never turndown an autograph. I’ve seen guys get too big fortheir britches and I’ll always make time availableto make sure I’m there for the fans.”

Making time for fans isn’t something ThomasUlsrud worries much about back home where theNorwegian skip would never be recognized on thestreet, let alone asked for an autograph.

“I’m happy with two weeks of fame here at theWorlds,” says Ulsrud. “That’s good enough forme. Back in Norway no one recognizes us exceptfor those people who also curl.”

Curlers from around the globe get the chance tolive the high life when world championships areheld in Canada. There are autograph sessions set

aside for all the teams and a chance to interactwith appreciative fans.

“This is perfect for us,” says Ulsrud. “Twoweeks of playing curling on great ice and bigcrowds and people want to talk to you and haveautographs and things like that. It’s perfect.”

Skip Kevin Martin, the four-time Brier cham-pion and defending world champion, has beendealing with celebrity status for decades.

“Here it’s fine but in a restaurant at home withmy family it’s a little different,” Martin says with agrimace. “That’s something that my son, who is19 now, has grown up with since he was little. Ourfamily just gets used to it and you deal with it.

“If you don’t like it stay home and have supperand barbecue on your deck.”

The rock star status even carries over whenMartin goes on vacation.

“If we go to somewhere like Florida or California— of course it’s all Canadians down there,” he says.“So it’s the same thing when we go to vacation spots.”

Ulsrud, who will represent Norway at the 2010Winter Olympics, thinks curling’s popularity willget a boost in his home country once it is televisednext year.

That’s not likely to happen in the Czech Repub-lic where skip Jiri Snitil estimates there are about500 curlers in the whole country.

“People don’t care about curling much otherthan a few articles in the paper,” says Snitil as heheads to an autograph session. “Back home it’ssoccer and hockey.”

Even with the attention he gets in Canada, Snitilsays he doesn’t feel like a star.

“It’s nice that people do recognize us and peo-ple like our autographs and pictures,” he says.

“But we don’t feel like stars. We’re just guyswho are hoping to win a game and play as good aspossible.”

By BILL GRAVELANDSpecial to the Eye Opener

GRAVELAND

Curling on the world stage means playersmust make shots . . . and time for their fans

Canadaʼs(l-r) JohnMorris,MarcKennedyand BenHeberthave rockstar status.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 12

WoodFrom Page 6

“It’s true we’re not over here to win money.That’s the difference between Kevin Martin andthe Canadians and the Europeans. We come hereto play the best teams in the world. All of theseCanadian teams could represent Canada on theinternational stage. So first of all, it’s great toplay those teams, and secondly, you play themon perfect ice conditions. It allows us to learnhow to play curling on perfect ice. We suppos-edly know how to play it on bad ice.“

The Swiss spent two weeks on tour this season.“The prizes are nice to aim for because you want

to play as many games as possible,” says Stoeckli.“You don’t want to play three games and go home.But it’s not the main reason we play here.

“The Swiss association funds us and theywant medals. We’d love to spend even moretime here but to do that we have to become moreprofessional in Switzerland. We’re small and wedon’t have enough competitive teams. So youhave to support less people but in a better way.

“The other problem is we all have to work toget our money and we all have families and it’snot so easy to just come over like the Chinese doand spend three months training and practisingand getting paid for it. I would do it right away ifsomeone pays me the money.”

Ulsrud’s philosophy is simple. To be the bestyou have to play the best.

“We have to be able to play these teams on the

good ice,” he says. “Playing on the best ice youcan play on against the best teams you can play.

“I remember the first time we came over wewere 0-and-5 in Winnipeg. The last Slam beforethe Worlds this year we qualified for the play-offs. It just proves it helps.

“You just have to do that. Get used to your op-ponents, making every shot, figure out that if hedoes this, I do that. When you play Kevin Mar-tin, he goes there, I go there. You learn what thebest are like and what the best will do.

“If we win some money it’s an extra bonusbut the main aim is getting the practice for theWorlds and the Olympics. That’s our main goal.

“We have to give credit to the NorwegianOlympic Committee this year. They provided uswith the funding to travel to Canada. We had ameeting with them and told them, ‘Hey guys, weneed money, we need to go over and play thosecrazy Canadians on all that good ice.

“The committee wants medals so we make a dealwith them. We go to Canada and play in all thesetournaments and we give them medals in return.”

Ulsrud has flown to Canada four times thislong winter.

“We played two Slams, the Continental Cupand now the Worlds. That’s the most we’ve everplayed here. We managed to win our Europe tour,too, so this season it would be perfect to crown itoff with a gold medal, or at least a medal here.”

The Norwegian skip claims to be a far morecomposed shotmaker as a result of playing abroad.

“Every time you play here in Canada it goesdown to last rock,” he says. “So after a whileyou don’t get so nervous, you know? And youmake more last rocks.”

W LCanada (Martin) 7 0Norway (Ulsrud) 5 2USA (Shuster) 4 3Denmark (Schmidt) 4 3France (Dufour) 4 3Germany (Kapp) 4 3Scotland (Murdoch) 4 3SUI (Stoeckli) 3 4China (Wang) 2 5Czech Rep. (Snitil) 2 5Japan (Morozumi) 2 5Finland (Kiiskinen) 1 6

TUESDAYDRAW 910 a.m.

Canada (Martin) 202 020 2xx x — 8SUI (Stoeckli) 010 101 0xx x — 3 S P % S P %CAN 56 206 92 SUI 56 169 75

China (Wang) 300 100 302 x — 9Scotland (Murdoch) 012 002 020 x — 7 S P % S P %CHN 80 278 87 SCO 79 265 84

Japan (Morozumi) 000 100 xxx x — 1USA (Shuster) 212 004 xxx x — 9 S P % S P %JPN 48 137 71 USA 48 179 93

France (Dufour) 002 001 020 0 — 5Germany (Kapp) 000 200 202 1 — 7 S P % S P %FRA 79 255 81 GER 80 285 89

DRAW 103 p.m.

USA (Shuster) 100 010 202 0 — 6Denmark (Schmidt) 021 002 020 2 — 9 S P % S P %USA 80 225 70 DEN 80 254 79

Germany (Kapp) 023 101 10x x — 8Finland (Kiiskinen) 100 010 02x x — 4 S P % S P %GER 66 204 77 FIN 67 205 76

SUI (Stoeckli) 100 100 000 1 — 3Norway (Ulsrud) 001 000 001 0 — 2 S P % S P %SUI 79 283 90 NOR 79 273 86

Scotland (Murdoch) 020 100 001 0 — 4Czech Rerp. (Snitil) 101 001 010 1 — 5 S P % S P %SCO 80 285 89 CZE 80 250 78

DRAW 117:30 p.m.

Finland (Kiiskinen) 010 001 xxx x — 2France (Dufour) 100 340 xxx x — 8 S P % S P %FIN 48 136 71 FRA 46 147 80

Czech Rep. (Snitil) 110 010 0xx x — 3China (Wang) 001 401 3xx x — 9 S P % S P %CZE 56 150 67 CHN 56 171 76

Denmark (Schmidt) 011 301 011 x — 8Japan (Morozumi) 000 030 100 x — 4 S P % S P %DEN 72 250 87 JPN 72 246 85

Norway (Ulsrud) 010 100 xxx x — 2Canada (Martin) 302 004 xxx x — 9 S P % S P %NOR 48 148 77 CAN 48 178 93

STANDINGS

LINESCORES

TODAY Draw 1210 a.m.A — CZE vs. JPNB — NOR vs. FRAC — FIN vs. CAND — DEN vs. CHNDraw 133 p.m.A — CHN vs. GERB — CAN vs. USAC — FRA vs. SCOD — JPN vs. SUIDraw 147:30 p.m.A — SCO vs. NORB — SUI vs. CZEC — GER vs. DEND — USA vs. FINTHURSDAYDraw 1510 a.m.A — DEN vs. CANB — FIN vs. CHNC — NOR vs. JPND — CZE vs. FRADraw 163 p.m.A — SUI vs. FRAB — SCO vs. DENC — USA vs. CZED — GER vs. NORDraw 177: 30 p.m.A — FRA vs. USAB — JPN vs. GERC — SHN vs. SUID — CAN vs. SCO

SHOOTING PERCENTAGES (CUMULATIVE)

CAN SCO FIN CZE SUI NOR JPN GER CHN FRA DEN USA Skip 86 79 66 71 77 78 69 74 65 71 77 73Third 87 88 75 69 70 80 80 79 75 79 74 77Second 88 84 76 75 78 80 79 80 81 78 82 78Lead 88 83 83 81 86 87 81 88 84 81 77 81TEAM 88 84 75 74 78 81 77 80 79 77 77 77

DRAWSCHEDULE

Switzerlandʼs Simon Strubin (left)and Jan Hauser work up a sweat.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 13

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 14

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 15

The Eye Opener

On the cusp of being dumped from the Olympic Gamesafter failing to qualify for this week’s Ford Worlds, 11-time Australian skip Hugh Millikin says missing a shot at

playing in the Moncton Ford Worlds is “killing me more than youcan imagine”.

Millikin, Australia’s only national coach who apppeared inseven straight Worlds from 1991 to 1998, then returned for fourstraight from 2005 through 2008, told CanWest Media’s AllenCameron on Monday via telephone he thought Australia’s chancesof competing at Vancouver 2010 “are pretty slim”.

Heading into this championship, Australia sat ninth in Olympicqualifying points but that position is locked. And No. 10 China,No. 11 Denmark and No. 12 Finland all are playing at the Coli-seum, hoping for sufficient points to surpass idle Australia, if notidle No. 7 Sweden.

Australia has 10.5 qualifying points and Sweden has 11. Chinahas 9, Denmark 7.5 and Finland 6.5.

The point allotment from this final qualifying competition: First,14 points; second 12, third 10, fourth 9, fifth 8, sixth 7, seventh 6,eighth 5, ninth 4, 10th 3, 11th 2, 12th 1.

“It’s killing me . . . from a whole bunch of different aspects,not the least of which is that it hurts our Olympic dreams butalso because I think Moncton was going to put on a fantastic

show. It would have been great to be there,” said the 51-year-oldMillikin.

“It’s very frustrating to not control your own destiny. All we hadto do was win the Pacific championship and we were in. Therewasn’t much else we had to do. So it’s a very ugly position to bein. I don’t like to cheer for anyone to lose because I know all theseguys so I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place because you

really want your own interests to go forward.”Millikin was flabbergasted when told that Pacific champion

China had lost its first four games.,“Wow!” he exclaimed. “I’m stunned at that, absolutely stunned.

They’re very good, and I think their expectations were that theywere going to follow in the footsteps of the women’s team.”

Millikin claimed the sport “would benefit hugely if China andAustralia were to make the Olympics”

“There’s never been a Southern Hemisphere team as close (tomedal contention) as us at the Olympics (when it’s been a medalsport). New Zealand didn’t win a game in Torino. So if we couldget there along with China, it would be great.

“But the real answer is that if you look at the growth of the sportand you had to choose between China and Australia, then I wouldsuggest that the World Curling Federation would get a lot moremileage out of China being there at this time than Australia.

“Of course, I do have a bit of a personal perspective on it. TheOlympic committee here was just getting really enthusiastic aboutcurling, and I think they saw that if we were to qualify, they wouldreally push hard for a dedicated facility in Australia.

“If we don’t go, it basically sets us back four to 10 years in curl-ing’s growth in Australia.”

Fact is, though, curling hasn’t enjoyed much growth since Mil-likin first appeared on the international scene in 1992. His hasbeen, in effect, Australia’s only curling team.

Aussie skip decries blown opportunity in Moncton

Hugh Millikin is frustrated heʼs not in Moncton.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 16