Heading into the Final Scotties Weekend

This has been a great tournament, with most of the favourites coming through as we head into the weekend - but not without some interesting challenges from Newfoundland/Labrador and Quebec, and the surprising ineffectiveness of Team Canada.

After a wonderful 1/2 Page playoff match last night, Alberta's Kleibrink head to the final, and Ontario's Middaugh rink face Jennifer Jones' Manitoba rink (and, BTW, Jones is starting to look awfully attractive - see earlier posts for context).

Perhaps the surprise of the week, after Team Canada's non-role, has been the degree to which Manitoba has had to scrap its way into each new round. But they have, and despite the fact that they could easily not have got to this weekend, they sure look to me like a threat.

Alberta has been wonderfully on form, Ontario really close, so we have two more very entertaining matches this year. Even before seeing the matches, I want to thank all the players who work so hard to provide us so much pleasure.

And, also, farewell TSN broadcast crew for the year. We shall see what the CBC can do. I rather liked the CBC online coverage (the way I liked Rogers' coverage of the Ontario men's playdown). But I have always been sorry to see CBC take over from TSN.