I've been told that just six weeks after accepting the job, Bryan Elliott has left the Ontario Curling Council. The OCC is the official Provincial Sporting Organization for curling in Ontario and deals with the Ontario government over things such as funding for the sport of curling in the province. Its board is made up of representatives of the OCA and the NOCA. No reason has been given as to why Elliott...
Brent Laing is leaving Team Howard. Glenn Howard confirmed today to Murray McCormick in the Regina Leader-Post that his longtime second will move over to Kevin Koe's Alberta rink and apparently replace the departing Carter Rycroft. Glenn Howard said Thursday that second Brent Laing, who has curled with him since 2004 and shared in two Brier and world championships, will be moving on after this season....
The first shoe in the revolving team lineups fell on Friday when it was revealed that Brent Laing was heading to Alberta to play for Kevin Koe. At first, it was thought that Laing would replace the retiring Carter Rycroft. But it’s been learned that Laing won’t be the only change to the team lineup. A number of sources are telling me that Koe will also bring in Marc Kennedy at third and Ben Hebert...
Multiple sources have told me that the Canadian Curling Association will be, in short order, issuing a clarification concerning the statement that appears on the OCA's web site. That would be this one. Apparently the CCA doesn't think this accurately represents the situation as it occurred and that it wasn't what the two parties agreed to when the national body lifted the sanctions a few weeks back....
So, have you ever wondered about curling in the Czech Republic? Didn't think so. However, just in case that topic comes up at your next cocktail party, here's a good background piece on the Roaring Game in that country, written by the Ottawa Citizen's Gord Holder. Basically, it all flows through one guy, Karel Kubeska. If you want to find out about curling in the Czech Republic, Karel Kubeska is the...
If you thought the actions of the OCA board couldn't get any stranger, well. . . Here's the latest bizarre chapter for this crazy group. First it turned down the request for a Special General Meeting made by a group of zone reps, saying it wasn't in compliance with the Corporations Act. Then it ignored (so far) the call for a meeting made by current vice-president Dale Curtis, which is slated...
It might be a little late in coming, but the folks in the have-not provinces are mounting a charge to try and deal with the relegation nonsense. While the system has been in place since the 2011 Mixed, it's come to the forefront due to it rearing its ugly head at the Scotties and Brier. In PEI, Connor MacPhee has started a petition that's already garnered close to 2,000 signatures. MacPhee...
It might not rank up there with the EQ brush head, but a couple of Mississauga, Ont., entrepreneurs can get a small bit of credit for helping Canada's Olympians take home gold medals from Sochi. And it's all thanks to a frying pan and the cord from a vacuum. As the Caledon Enterprise detailed, Laura Piggot and Robert Fischer designed the system that puts those custom designs on the broom...
Lots of developments today in the battle between the OCA and the curlers of Ontario. To recap: A group of zone reps petitioned the OCA to have a Special General Meeting. Under the by-laws of the association, this group met all the demands of the constitution but president Baby Doc Ian McGillis, in a one-sentence response, said the petition was not in compliance with the Corporations Act and therefore...
As Jim Armstrong continues to lead his Canadian team towards another gold medal at the Paralympics in Sochi, he's getting more attention. The skip, who has appearances in six Briers, has won gold in the last two Paralympics, but since his 2010 medal, he's had a brush with the law and been sidelined with a doping charge. And the stories of his disability have always haunted him a s this story by Gary...
It is beyond shocking. It is well past arrogant and more than appalling. Just who do the directors of the Ontario Curling Association think they are? Last night, I received emails from a handful of zone reps – who were part of a group that, following the OCA by-laws, requested a Special General Meeting of the OCA to deal with all the problems, embarrassments and secrecy going on with that body. What...
The numbers are in for Sunday's curling coverage and once again, the Brier final became one of the biggest TV audiences of the year as far as a sports show goes. The final brought in a healthy 891,000 viewers which is great considering it was on Sunday evening, the biggest night on TV. The bronze medal game somehow attracted 503,000 viewers which is astounding since it appeared the game was over in...
Kevin Koe won the Tim Hortons Brier Sunday evening in a game that wasn’t exactly a nail-biter. The Alberta rink rang up three-enders on the flat B.C. team and I’m sure lots of TVs were clicking over to The Walking Dead before the Velcro final got ripped after nine. The scribes on the scene told the tale of Team Koe’s impressive performance and the Edmonton Sun’s Terry Jones detailed how the...
d think that the winners of those events would then move on to the world championships. Nope. Under a new system, the national championships don't necessarily determine the world rep. A complicated points system -- that included participation points! -- was put in place to see who would go to the world final. Here's the story from the Bemidji Pioneer: This season USA Curling officials changed...
s statement concerning the CCA-OCA dispute. This is only about three months late in coming, but here you go. I...
Just two weeks after he watched his son win a silver medal at the Sochi Olympics, David Murdoch was reeling with the sudden passing of his father from a suspected heart attack. Matt Murdoch, who inspired his son to take up the roaring game, was a three-time Scottish champion. ‘He was a brilliant dad to us all. My mum and dad inspired me, my brother and sister to take up curling and have done so much...
s built in tradition and history? It's now, unquestionably, going to work out that way here. How did this happen? Believe it or not, it's because the fans who usually go to the Brier every year decided to go to Las Vegas this year instead. "I think Las Vegas got a lot of them," said Brier boss Warren Hansen. "I think a lot of people went there who would have come here. Attendance...
Delay, delay, delay -- that's the OCA It’s now been two weeks since a large gaggle of zone reps sent a letter to the Ontario Curling Association requesting a Special General Meeting. The letter came in the wake of the OCA’s battle with the CCA, which was ignited when the CCA made the provincial body a “member not in good standing,” and then threatened to suspend it fully. The details of how this happened...
s Tim Hortons Brier, the thought of possibly moving the big show to one of Canada's major centres seems to be off the front burner. As Jim Morris writes in the Vancouver Courier , curling's popularity in the Western city is slipping and the chances of bringing another major event there seem remote. Even Vancouver resident and CCA head-of-all-things-Brier Warren Hansen appears to have admitted...
t want to see the biggest curling event in the land. According to Paul Wiecek of the Winnipeg Free Press , attendance at the Tim Hortons Brier is a disaster with only around 2,500 folks a draw coming out to watch Stoughton, Koe and good old Eddie Mackenzie. That's less than Just 10,427 fans attended the first four draws on Saturday and Sunday, an average of just 2,607 per draw for an event...