Martin Wins the Men's Canada Cup 2009

Martin struggled a bit in the early ends, but he and his entire team (especially including the sweepers!) adjusted relatively quickly and began to read the ice better than the Ferbey team. A disappointing letdown by the Ferbey team in the second half, and superb recovery by the Martin team.

Canada Cup 2009 -- Bottom Half

Ferbey seems really on, but Nedohin seems just a tiny, tiny bit off. Martin seems to have recovered.

Speaking of being a bit off, I see that a bunch of what I write is disappearing and not being posted. Apologies to those who might be interested in following this game.

End 6: Nedohin is forced to draw for one.
End 7: Martin gets two as his very minor misses are less serious than Nedohin's very minor misses, but the deuce was set up when Ferbey missed a shot when he was bent out of shape about the clocks not working. As Ray said, he shouldn't have taken the shot until he calmed down.

It would be interesting to see the curling stats for this game. Too bad I can't find whether Curlcast is covering it.

End 8: What's with the Ferbey Team and their difficulty reading the ice in the second half? Nedohin's last shot doesn't curl much, giving up a steal of two for Martin. Martin 8, Ferbey 5 after 8.

Nuts. I'm losing too much of what I write. Don't know why. I'll post more at the end.

Canada Cup 2009 -- First 5 ends

Wow! The Martin team has missed quite a few shots over the first three ends (Martin missing two himself in the third, to let Ferbey take 4 in that end). I would never have believed this.

At the same time, Ferbey has made some really fine shots. And the Ferbey team is very good, so coming back from a 4-1 deficit will be very difficult.

Update: But then to see Nedohin flash on a freeze-or-tap shot in the 4th end was pretty amazing, too. So after 4 ends, it's Ferbey 4, Martin 3.

The Telecasting of World-Class Curling

There are two curling events going on this weekend, both of which are world-class events.

1. The Canada Cup in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. Unfortunately, we have been unable to watch the curling there live during the past week, but beginning tomorrow, TSN will be carrying semi-finals and finals:

Mar. 21, 2009	3:00 PM Local (5:00 PM ET)	TSN	Semi-Final (women)
Mar. 21, 2009	7:30 PM Local (9:30 PM ET)	TSN	Semi-Final (men)
Mar. 22, 2009	8:30 AM Local (10:30 AM ET)	TSN	Final
Mar. 22, 2009	7:30 PM Local (9:30 PM ET)	TSN	Final

2. Women's World Championships begin tomorrow in Korea. CurlTV will be carrying games from many (maybe even all, but not all involving Canada?) of the round robin draws. Their broadcast schedule is here. It isn't clear who or what is carrying which game of which draw, but it looks as if we'll be able to watch a lot of the games from there.

Canada Cup 2008

After squeaking past Jennifer Jones in the semi-finals, Kelly Scott's rink lost solidly in the finals to Lawton's rink, which demonstrated superiority at nearly every aspect of the game. But the big blow was a steal of three by Lawton, from which Scott was unable to recover.

On the men's side, in the battle of the Kevins, Kevin Koe's rink defeated Kevin Martin's rink in the men's final. The game was quite defensive most of the time as the teams alternately forced each other to take single points in the early ends. In the 10th end, Martin had a good chance to set up a steal of one to force an extra end, but his shot sailed about two feet too far, sealing a victory for Koe.

It was odd, seeing the men's final begin before the women's final had ended. It was especially odd since it looked as if cameramen had been on the ice that the men used. I had a sense that the tv contract was responsible for this overlap in coverage. Given that the women's match was not close in the last ends, I didn't mind not seeing every shot of both matches, but ordinarily I would.

Ice Problems

I don't remember so many "picks" during the round robin play, do you? But now, all the sudden, we hear about rocks "picking" and hence upsetting the game and the players. Why the difference from the round robin?

In the 9th end, Morris executed a perfect draw behind a Ferby rock on the button and just bit the back of the 12' rings. And after Nedohin missed either a double or a hit and stick, Martin had a relatively easy hit and stick for two. I say relatively easy because Martin and Morris had quite a discussion about how much the rock might curl, even with the weight Martin throws.

After 9: Ferby 8, Martin 7

Canada Cup, Ends 6 - 8

After forcing Ferby to take one in the sixth, Martin chose to blank the 7th end. His plan was that he could then take two in the 8th, force Ferby to take one (or maybe even two) in the ninth) and then have the hammer coming home in the 10th.

His strategy didn't work. After several close misses by the Martin team, the Ferby rink stole two when Martin was unable to cash a tricky run-back double.

After 8 ends, Ferby 8 - Martin 5.

Canada Cup, Women's Final: Jones defeats King 10 - 8 7

With the free-guard rule, it's just too hard to "keep it clean", and in the 9th, King missed a nose hit to score one, giving up a steal of one to Jones. That wasn't altogether horrible for King, who now has the hammer going home down one, and it isn't clear whether it is better to be down one with the hammer or up one without. My own preference would be for up one without, but it's a tough choice.

Digression: Watching the game on CBC and on CurlTV is an interesting experience. CurlTV has about a 20-30 second time delay, and so after each shot seen on CBC, we can then look at the computer screen to see a full replay.

In the 10th end, a number of King's team's rocks were waayyyy too heavy, drifting to the back of the rings or bouncing well off freeze attempts. As a result, King had bad position by the time they got to skips' stones. With her first shot, Jones tapped the only King rock anywhere near counting to the back of the rings to lie four. With her first shot, King tried a freeze to Jones' shot rock in the back of the four, but came up light, sitting on the button. Because King's rock was wide open, Jones picked it out, lying four again, forcing King to try to draw for one to tie the game at 8-8, but her draw attempt was much too heavy, yielding a steal of two.

Update: Oops. Final score was 10 - 7, as pointed out in the comments. King tried to tie it, but didn't get her 8th point and gave up 2.

Canada Cup, Women's Final: Ends 6 - 8

Digression: Gee, how come the grippers aren't disintegrating and ruining the ice in Kamloops the way they allegedly did in Hamilton? [sarcasm mode off]

Jones made some "interesting" strategic calls in the 6th and was forced to take only one point and yield the hammer to King.

The 7th end revealed some really, seriously good shot-making. King's rink would freeze to a Jones rock, and Jones' rink would manage to knock it out, leaving their shooter. Repeat. Repeat. etc. Finally, on the last rock, King made fine double to score two.

At the opposite extreme, the 8th end revealed lots of minor misses and (what would be for these pros) mediocre shots: hits that didn't roll, shots that drifted too deep. In the end Jones was forced to take one. Score tied, but King has the hammer back. Let's see if she tries to keep it clean in the ninth to preserve the hammer in the 10th.

Canada Cup: Women's Final: 5-5 after 5

When Jennifer Jones gave up 3 points to Kathy King in the first end (and didn't curl well in the process), I figured it was over for her. But she bounced back to score 3 herself in the second end, forced King to take one, scored two more herself, and then again forced King to take one in the fifth.

Overall Jones' rink is seriously outcurling King's rink, with the result that after five ends, the score is tied, but now Jones has the hammer.

Jennifer Jones has ANOTHER new lead

That's right. After the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Jennifer Jones replaced Janet Arnott with another new lead for the upcoming Canada Cup in Kamloops, BC. I just heard about it on CurlTV (see the link in the right-hand sidebar)

Canada Cup on CurlTV

Now that the Brier is over, if you are having withdrawal pains while waiting for the Worlds, you can watch curling's Canada Cup on CurlTV.

Men's Qualifiers

Jean-Michel Ménard

Randy Ferbey

Brad Gushue

Kevin Martin

John Base

Jeff Stoughton

Kerry Burtnyk

Joel Jordison

Kevin Koe

Mark Johnson

Women's Qualifiers

Jennifer Jones

Cathy King

Karen Porritt

Shannon Kleibrink

Cheryl Bernard

Sherry Anderson

Stefanie Lawton

Crystal Webster

Deb Santos

Sherry Middaugh