#4
Date sent: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 16:54:54 -0500
From: Jeff Timson
Subject: 2001 Canadian Curling Trials start Saturday in Regina
CANADIAN CURLING TRIALS START SATURDAY IN REGINA
November 26, 2001 Canada's best curlers will take to the ice Saturday
at the Agridome in Regina, when the Canadian Curling Trials get
underway.
The Trials, to be contested December 1-9, bring together 10 men's and
10 women's teams battling for the right to represent Canada at the
2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, when curling will again
be an official medal sport, as it was for the first time in 1998. The
curling competition takes place in Ogden, Utah, February 11-22.
There will be extensive television coverage of the Canadian Curling
Trials. TSN will carry the entire round robin (three draws daily)
plus the two semi-finals on Friday, December 7. CBC-TV is scheduled
to televise the women's final Saturday, December 8 and men's final
Sunday, December 9. Both games will start at 12:30 pm CT (1:30 pm
ET). RDS in Quebec will carry several round robin draws , a
semi-final and the women's final.
On the men's side, there are world champion skips Kerry Burtnyk
(1995), Russ Howard (1987, 1993), Greg McAulay (2000), Wayne Middaugh
(1998) and Jeff Stoughton (1996). In addition, three-time Brier
winner (1988, 1989, 2001) Randy Ferbey, the current Canadian men's
champion after capturing the 2001 Nokia Brier in Ottawa, won a worlds
as third for Pat Ryan in 1989, while Bert Gretzinger also won a
worlds, as second for Rick Folk in 1994.
Kevin Martin is a two-time Labatt Brier winner (1991, 1997) while
Kevin Park also won the 1991 Brier, as third for Martin. Skip John
Morris has two world junior crowns (1998, 1999) to his credit.
The women skips include the 2001 Ford Worlds and three-time Scott
Tournament of Hearts champion (1982, 1999, 2001) Colleen Jones, the
2000 world champion Kelley Law, Sherry Middaugh, the 2000 women's
curling tour champion and currently the 2001 tour points leader, 1998
Hearts winner Cathy King (Borst) and 1999 Karcher Canadian Junior
winner Marie-France Larouche.
Completing the field are the 1999 women's tour champion Sherry
Anderson, 1990 Scott Tournament of Hearts runner-up Heather Fowlie,
two-time Hearts participant Sherry Fraser, 1992 Canadian Junior
champion Amber Holland and Michelle Ridgway, who has competed in five
Canadian women's curling championships.
The Opening Ceremonies take place Friday evening November 30,
starting at 6:00 pm and admission is free. The first women's draw is
Saturday morning at 8:30 am CT, while the first men's draw starts at
12:30 pm CT Saturday afternoon.
The competition format is a round robin, after which the first place
teams advance directly to their respective finals. After any
required tiebreakers, the second and third place teams meet in a
semi-final to determine who advances to each final. The Trials will
also be conducted under the four-rock rule, similar to Olympic and
world competitions.
The Agridome is nearing a sellout, with 6,195 tickets for each draw.
There are still seats available for certain draws, though.
Organizers are hopeful of selling 'standing room only' later in the
week.
Six provinces are represented on the women's side: Kelley Law
(Coquitlam) and Sherry Fraser (Vancouver) of British Columbia;
Heather Fowlie (Calgary) and Cathy King (St. Albert) of Alberta;
Sherry Anderson (Delisle), Amber Holland (Regina) and Michelle
Ridgway (Regina) of Saskatchewan; Ontario's Sherry Middaugh (Victoria
Harbour); Marie-France Larouche of St-Jean-Chrysostome, Quebec and
Colleen Jones of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
On the men's side, Greg McAulay (Richmond) and Bert Gretzinger
(Kelowna) are the British Columbia representatives, joining three
skips from Alberta, Randy Ferbey (Sherwood Park), Kevin Martin
(Edmonton) and Kevin Park (Edmonton); Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk and
Jeff Stoughton, both from Winnipeg; Ontario's Wayne Middaugh
(Victoria Harbour) and John Morris (Ottawa) and Russ Howard from
Moncton, New Brunswick.
This is the third such competition held to determine Canada's
representatives at the Olympics. In 1987, the Labatt National
Curling Trials were conducted in Calgary, with Linda Moore and Ed
Lukowich earning the right to represent Canada at the 1988 Winter
Olympics in Calgary, when curling was a demonstration sport.
Moore's team won gold, while Lukowich earned a bronze medal.
For the 1992 Winter Olympics in France, the winners of the 1991
Labatt Brier (Kevin Martin) and 1991 Scott Tournament of Hearts
(Julie Sutton) represented Canada when curling was again a
demonstration sport.
In 1997, the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials were held at the
Keystone Centre in Brandon, Manitoba. There, three-time world
champion Sandra Schmirler and her Regina team, along with Toronto's
Mike Harris' foursome, won and represented Canada at the 1998 Winter
Olympics in Nagano, Japan when, for the first time, curling became a
medal sport.
Schmirler and her 'Callie' Curling Club team of Jan Betker, Joan
McCusker and Marcia Gudereit earned curling's first official gold
medal, defeating Denmark in the final at Karuizawa, while Harris, the
round robin first place finisher, had to settle for a silver medal,
losing the final to Switzerland's Patrick Hürlimann
-30-
Jeff Timson
Media Director, St. Clair Group
|
