5 replies to this topic

[mjm3773]

The playoffs have begun for the 2009 Men's and Women's U.S. Championships (which double as the trials for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver). Both U.S. representatives from the 2006 Olympics are out of the running at this point (Cassie Potter rink for the women and defending Olympic Bronze Medalists Pete Fenson rink for the men, although the lead for that team, John Shuster, formed his own rink and is in the final four. Both defending national champions, Debbie McCormick and Craig Brown, have a chance to defend their titiles, with McCormick already qualified for the finals and Brown playing their first playoff game today.

Meanwhile, in Canada, the Tournament of Hearts (the Canadian Women's National Championships) is going on right now. Jennifer Jones rink, the defending National and World Champion), has a tiebreaker today against PEI to make the playoffs.

And the Brier (the Canadian Men's National Championships) starts next weekend.

Has anyone else besides me been following these events?

[mjm3773]

Bumping my 3 year old, no reply thread.

The finals of the men's and women's US National Championships are today. The women's final is actually just underway. It pits 2006 Olympian Casie Potter (nee Johnson) against the Allison Pottinger rink.

The Men's final is between 2006 Olympic bronze medalist and defending national champion Pete Fenson and Heath McCormick, who has finished 4th each of the last two year.

And under the new US Olympic trails format, each of the finalists are now the first qualifiers for the 2014 Sochi Olympic trials.

The games can be viewed online at :http://www.Ustream.tv/UsaCurling

Meanwhile, up north, the Canadian's women's national championships (The Scottie's Tournament of Hearts) begins today.

[SumnerH]

Thanks for the link to the video.

McCormick makes it over the hump, defeating Fenson 5-4. Great last end after what seemed like a kind of boring middle of the match to my untrained eye.

[mjm3773]

It was actually the third time McCormick beat Fenson this week. They beat them once in the round-robin. Then, in most non-Olympic curling tournaments, they do a page-style playoff system, where the first and second place teams from the round-robin play each other, with the winner going straight to the final (McCormick and Fenson finished 1-2 in the round-robin and McCormick won that game as well). The 3-4 teams play each other with the loser out and the winner playing the loser of the 1-2 game. The winner of that game then plays the winner of the 1-2 game in the final. Fenson worked their way back to the final. All three games were really close.

In a sport, that for the most part is dominated in the US by teams from the Midwest, McCormick is the first men's team from the east to win nationals in a long time. Last year, after 15 straight years in the playoffs, Patti Lank (from Buffalo) finally broke through and won the women's national championship. And earlier this year, the Dropkin rink, from Boston, won the men's US junior national championships.

I'd like to say that my team was competitive with McCormick at the Eastern playdowns, and we were for a short while, trading forces (forcing the team with hammer to only take one) for three ends before they took control and we ended up losing 9-2.

[riboflav]

Is there anywhere online or otherwise to watch curling between now and the Olympics or will I have to wait another year?

[mjm3773]

I am sorry I didn't post earlier, especially since two of my teammates are working on the broadcast.. The US Nationals were being broadcast online this week on TESN.us. They will also be broadcasting next year's Nationals as well.

But the men's final is being broadcast today at 4pm on the NBC Sports Network.

The two teams in they final today, Tyler George and Brady Clark, qualify for the Sochi Olympic qualifier along with last year's finalists, 2006 Olympic Broze Medalist Pete Fenson and last year's National Champion, Heath McCormick.

Edited by mjm3773, 16 February 2013 - 02:29 PM.