Extra Ends: A Curling Podcast
Three curling coaches discuss the Canadian and world curling world, as well as the local happenings in Toronto Curling.
Extra Ends: A Curling Podcast
Welcome to Extra Ends
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The guys talk about the start of a new curling quadrennial and the new season. The the KW Fall Classic just finished and we get a first look at the new teams and discuss what we think is going to happen this year. We also stress some opinions on curling event streaming. In our coaches corner section Rob gives us an in-depth analysis on weight control and in Overheard at Royals we hear some of the gossip around the warm room.
We thank you for joining us on this adventure we are going to have.
Extra Ends, a curling podcast with Chris, Norm, and sometimes Rob.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to the first ever episode of Extra Ends, a curling podcast. We are three guys who like to curl, watch curling, and coach curling. None of us could afford to take the buy a corvette path as part of our midlife crisis in the game of life, so we decided to start a podcast instead. I'm Chris Rouget, a trained competition coach, a nearly lifelong curler, and my curling claims to fame are getting a nine-ender at a charity pro am spiel two years ago, and winning the third event of the Royal Canadian Curling Club's men's invitational. Sitting behind the glass with me are fellow Royal Canadian Curling Club members, Kevin, aka Norm McDonald. Kevin is a certified competition coach, lifelong player of God's greatest game, and his curling claim to fame are two-time Dixie Curling Center men's club champion, Ontario School Boys Championship runner-up. We're not going to talk about how long that was, how long ago that was, and holder of three eight-ender certificates, even though one was actually also a nine-ender. Finally, we have Rob Ainsley, former Ontario tour skip, competitions coach. He works really hard at making Royals Men's Rec League impossible for the rest of us. And his curling claims to fame are.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you actually want me to list my credentials? Yeah, well, I've been around the block.
SPEAKER_02He's been around the block. Thank you very much, and welcome to our podcast. Every week I like to have a fun question to get things started. This week is what is your summer drink of choice? I'll go first. This summer I'm going a little throwback, inspired by a 90s themed pool party I was at this summer. And I've been drinking the classic Labat 50 for the last few weeks, and I have been truly enjoying it. How about you, Norm?
SPEAKER_00Uh, I would say there's this new drink I found that's called Cutwater. I don't believe in cutting it with water, so therefore I just drink cut water. That's my drink of choice. Thank you, Chris.
SPEAKER_02Careful with the cut water. Take it nice and easy there, Norm. And Rob, what's been your drink of choice this summer?
SPEAKER_01I uh I hate to be a boring guy here, but I really enjoy uh just lime bubbly.
SPEAKER_02Ooh, bubbly. All right. So probably some of the two listeners that have made it this far are wondering why are you guys doing this? And in short, we're teeing up for a very big curling season this year and a day on the calendar that every curler in Canada should mark. And that is January 17th, 2027. That day, all 10 provinces are going to have their provincial championship finals for at least one of men's or women's. That means there's going to be more curling on that day in a wave across the country from Newfoundland in the morning to BC in the evening than there has ever been. And we want to help pump the excitement up and get people engaged and make that week curling week in Canada, and more importantly, move curling day in Canada to the day where there's more curling than any other day of the year. So on this podcast, we have a few segments that we're going to work our way through talking about curling, what's going on in the curling world, and some of the cool things, and you're going to hear some of the irreverency of the three of us. Uh, I can't, you know, guarantee you're going to hear anything good, but hopefully you'll hear something interesting or funny. So, do you guys have anything else to add before we get started?
SPEAKER_00I'm very excited for the opportunity to review uh this and build this as we go along, Chris. Thank you for asking. I had nothing prepared to say there.
SPEAKER_02Just cut in and knock me over whenever necessary.
SPEAKER_00I will. I'm bad at that, so I'm going to try not to as often as much. But yes.
SPEAKER_01I'm I'm very excited to be a part of this and be completely shocked and appalled at whatever Chris comes up with and hopefully have a good um uh rebuttal of himself.
SPEAKER_02Listen, they've been trying to cancel me since the early 2000s and haven't yet. Turns out that you don't need a license to buy a microphone, although by the end of this podcast that may change. Yes. So let's get into it. Our first segment is talking about last week in curling. Uh, believe it or not, it is September 7th, and the first major curling event of the season is already complete. I know it's extremely early. Many of you have not thought anything about curling, but already the KW Fall Classic completed today over at the Granite Curling Club in Waterloo.
SPEAKER_00It is in Waterloo on the campus of Wilfred Laurier University.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. And you think, well, this isn't a Grand Slam, this isn't a Briar, this isn't a Scotty's. Why do we care about a bunch of small town teams from southwestern Ontario? The reality is, is this spiel is one of the biggest spiels on the international circuit that draws teams from around the world, including Scotland, Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, and coast to coast in Canada. And it's sort of the first major event. Used to happen a little later in the season, but they moved it up to accommodate the continued increasing number of kerneling events that are happening. So it was a long week, and my understanding was very straight ice. Our winners of the event, I think I'll pass it over to Norm to talk about the winners and the finalists of the event and talk about a little bit what on went on on the women's and men's side.
SPEAKER_00Yes, on the women's side, we had uh Team Keira Brunton, a newly formed team from Northern Ontario. Kira Brunton, of course, being a celebrity skip on our favorite Boncew, the Curl for Kids Boncewell, uh, formerly of Team Inglis, uh partnering up with Kendra Lilly and uh two other ladies, Lauren Rahala, and one other lady that I can't remember her name, because curling zone is down right now, and we are winging this part of it. Um the team Keira Brunton uh beat uh was lost, unfortunately, to the defending women's world champion, uh Team Xenia Schwaller out of Switzerland. Uh it was a very tight game. Uh most exciting end in curling was how they finished, one up coming home without or one down with. And Team Schwaller was fortunate enough to have stolen a couple and keep that going. Uh on the men's side, we had, of course, a final with one of the countries you did not name, which was Italy. There were three representations from Italy uh this year at the uh KW Spiel in the men's side, and uh a team from Switzerland, so team Kim Schwaller uh beat uh team uh Stefano Spiller in the final in an uh offensive affair 7-6 in the final. Uh this is uh so we had a Swiss sweep with two Schwallers winning the championship, and Yannick Schwaller uh was not even here.
SPEAKER_02The the the internationals have just been standing out and helping helping Canadians up the game is I guess the way to put it generously, but it's a generous way to putting it, yeah. It's a generous way of putting it. But uh it was it was fun to watch, and uh I I'm gonna talk a little bit more on and when I get to my take on this whole event. Uh, but what were uh your standouts from the whole week, uh Kevin?
SPEAKER_00Uh I think uh standout which we will come to at a later point in time is that it was uh seemed to be a bit uh challenging for us to be able to witness said event. I will uh allow Chris to go in more depth on that later. Uh we were not there in person. We will be at a couple of the events that are upcoming, as those of us that are based in the southwestern Ontario area, uh, we will be catching up in those ones. But this was one where I think I subscribed to about probably in the neighborhood of s of five to ten people's uh teams, either YouTube channel or Facebook page in order to watch their game. So that was a very great thing to do that and be able to catch that uh and thank each of the teams for doing that. We were some of those key people that were there, but I think some of the standouts was how well some of the new teams performed together. As I mentioned, Team Keir Brunton. I don't know if that team has ever played together at all. Uh and they lost the final in a very tight game. Uh team Brendan Botcher is a new new team that is formed. They uh lost a tight game to Schwaller in the semifinals, and uh Team Moybruck was another one that was formed that had done a uh new team formed. There are some existing connections, but uh they lost in the quarterfinals to Team Botcher. Uh so those were the ones that stood out to me from that I was watching. Oh, team um uh team Inglis was another team that uh was formed and a brand new team again, four individuals that I don't know their level of familiarity with each other, but uh they formed up together with uh Joanne Rizzo, uh Joanne Trivet, and um Jalen Ramsey on that team, and they uh played quite well and uh exceeded I think what uh my expectations were. So those were my standouts.
SPEAKER_02That's amazing. That's a full slate. We're gonna be following these teams all freaking year to see uh a lot from them. I'm very, very excited. Rob, did you have any takes from the event of what you saw, heard, or got in the rumor mill over the past week?
SPEAKER_01Uh nothing in particular. No, I I only watched about three ends this entire weekend, and um it was all of our Royals boys. Um one game they got a real bad blow. Sorry to mention it, fellas. Um, and I said I wouldn't watch the game, but I just couldn't help myself, so I went in and watched a couple ends to see how they gave up a five against, you know, uh pretty heavy hitter team McEwan. Um but uh really, you know, when one team plays 100% in an end and another team misses a few, the wheels tend to fall off. And that goes to show sometimes uh even with a new team, if you've got guys who are really, really talented like McEwan, um, he's always going to be hard to beat.
SPEAKER_02That's for sure. And the fact that uh Brendan Butcher and Mike McEwen were both Mike McEwan was out in the quarters and Brendan Butcher was out in the semis, that gives you an idea of the level of competition we're dealing with at these events. I have a a couple takes. The first is as probably the the 10 listeners we have know, the entire curling world is held up by the infrastructure of curlingzone.com. It is the only website that seems to have any comprehensive idea of what's going on in the curling world. And even then, the three of us had to spend probably the better part of hours this week hunting down team Instagrams, team Facebooks, team Twitter accounts to try and get any idea of what's going on at this event. Curling zone did a pretty good job of reporting the scores live, but as of 7 p.m. on Monday night, curlingzone.com is down, probably because they've already used up their monthly allotment of bandwidth.
SPEAKER_01By the way, shout out to Jerry Gertz at Curling Zone for actually keeping Curling afloat.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we appreciate the site.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02We are extremely grateful for this site, it keeps us alive. My frustration is it's the only thing that's disseminating the information of the curling world out there. I signed up for a pair of White Sox tickets for a Chicago trip I'm going on in a few weeks, and I have, in the two weeks I bought bought tickets, have received over 21 emails from the Chicago White Sox. What I would give for curling to have that kind of organization to give us the information we want to know. And the extension of that is uh this event wasn't live streamed. This event was not in any official capacity. Certain teams put up cameras and live stream them to their Facebook pages or their YouTube pages, which we were extremely grateful for. Please keep doing that. But there was no official stream of this event. I'm not I'm not looking for you know a CBC CTV quality with commentators and Joanne Courtney out there at the Granite Club telling me what's going on. But if somebody could just put on an official camera that I could go to every day to see the scores and the shots, that would be great. And I'm this is the thing, I'd pay 25 bucks. If there was a paywall that said, Chris, pay up $25 and you can watch all the games at the KW Fall Classic, I'd do it. That's a weekend's entertainment for me. Like $20, here you go, take my money. So this is the thing I'm gonna be pushing this every week for every event that isn't live streamed. Is get live stream up and running, get cameras up and running. The cost to do this, the tech required to do this is getting easier and easier. And also, it's really easy to put it behind a paywall now as well. So I'll pay you the $20. I'll say here, here's $20, and then the Kitchener Waterloo Club can make money off of people sitting on their couch in Toronto or Fort McMurray or Switzerland or Scotland or Minnesota or anywhere else. So I just want to see more streaming from these events. And then my final take, I know I'm sort of gatling on you guys here, but I'll let you comment as soon as I get my final take out. Is to win this event, you had to play three back-to-back games today. You had to play at 9 a.m., at noon, and at 3 p.m. eight end games. I'm sorry, but that is an exhausting schedule. No break, back to back, uh 24 ends of curling potentially. Like, I I can't believe they let this happen. I can't believe that this event is how we start the season.
SPEAKER_00So Rob's gonna talk to that point, I'll talk to the other one.
SPEAKER_01Go ahead. Yeah, so I'll I'll touch on this. Um, find me an eight-sheet club that's willing to run every event in Ontario, and you're not gonna have a problem with running uh a three-game day for any team. Until you do that, you're always gonna run into back-to-back games in some format. And I think every player on the tour would prefer to only play two games a day at max, but um this is this is how it is, this is what we're used to, and I think everyone would rather have that than not play at all. These clubs are volunteering their time to run these events, so we're lucky that they're hosting these for us. And uh, we you know, if we wanted to run them with only one or two games a day, then you gotta run the event for five or six days, and that requires taking more time off work and shutting down more leagues.
SPEAKER_00The cost benefit is not there.
SPEAKER_01The cost benefit's not there, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Which is a solid point. The additional comment I have on that point is there were two quarterfinals that were last night, one on the men's and one on the women's.
SPEAKER_01So not I'd say not all the teams are having a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00Not all the teams would go.
SPEAKER_01Well, doesn't that make it more unfair then?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it does. And it just happens to be the luck of the draw as to which one was the one that got that, because they did have ten teams qualified, which Rob, that's kind of a weird number. I normally see that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so what they they had a they had a pre-qualifier for the tenth, right?
SPEAKER_00So um for the seventh and eighth spot, six quali pre-qualified for quarters and then no, four pre-qualified for quarters and then four I'm doing the math wrong. Sorry, six pre-qualified, four qualified to play in. Yes, I did do the math correctly there. And uh so they had to pre-qualify in order to get into the finals, so or into the qualifies.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that and that is um often a way they'll run it when you've got um uh pool play just to give you know a little more than that, like one-third of the field a chance to qualify in a pool. Um you're not just out on a shit tiebreaker. Um but uh those pre-qualified teams don't necessarily get any points or any money, so they still have to play that extra one. And usually the teams are playing those extra games are the teams that aren't winning all their games. So uh you're getting rewarded by doing better.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Now this event has uh it's pretty points heavy in the world caroling ranking points for this event. That's why.
SPEAKER_00Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um, but but this isn't a big money event. Like, if I saw correctly, the winning top teams get four thousand dollars and the second place gets 2,500, and I think uh the semis get a thousand. Um, so this isn't a big money event.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so generally the money for these um comes from the entry fee, and then if they can bring any additional sponsorship on, um, otherwise it's based mostly out of the entry fee pool. So the strength of field uh for points doesn't reflect the money, it's not really correlated to it. Um, because you can have teams come from anywhere with any different level of play um and pay the same amount of money to enter, right?
SPEAKER_02The the strength of field is fascinating to me because as I said, this is an event at the Granite Club in Waterloo on the on the uh Laurier campus, you said, right? Yeah. Uh where world champions, nearly world champions, national champions, provincial champions all gather and there was no admission. There would there was no price to walk in the front door of the granite club. There wasn't. I checked.
SPEAKER_00Oh, you checked. Okay.
SPEAKER_02And it'll be the same, it'll be the same as C Cells next week.
SPEAKER_00You can walk in the Cells next week will not have admission, but my favorite event, the shorty, will.
SPEAKER_02And I am for that. I'm sorry, but if I walk up to a curling club, the same as I just said on streaming, if I walk up to a curling club and you're telling me there's world champions in there, there's national champions in there, you can't say 10 bucks. 10 bucks. And oh, by the way, I'm gonna probably have a few drinks or pops at the bar, so the club will make some money there too. But I'm a big advocate of adding more money to this sport. It costs money to run curling, it costs money to run curling teams. And this event was the first event of the new quad. It was the first event of the next generation of curling. All the teams around the world shuffled this summer, yeah. Also here in Canada. Like, this is our chance to think new, think bigger, do more. And I loved watching what I could find of this event, which was Team Moybrooke's feed, team uh uh uh what was the uh team from Royals? Thompson Brown?
SPEAKER_00Team Thompson Brown.
SPEAKER_02Team Thompson Brown's feed. And it was great that these guys uh streamed it, and I'm so glad they did. But can't I click a button, give them some money? Like, why can't I donate to Team Thompson Brown? Here's 20 bucks like for watching the game. Like, this is this it was amazing to watch.
SPEAKER_01And before I forget, one shout out to Team Hosever's feed. They got one of the best feeds running on the tour.
SPEAKER_00They do.
SPEAKER_01However, they have a guy behind the glass that has to run it for them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they do. Yeah, he's on a laptop and he's switching screens.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he he does a lot of work, but um, they have a really sweet feed set up. Um but yeah, we're we're definitely in this world of we should do a little more to get more, but with the other side of it, you know, you're you're not filling that building when it's free. So when you're trying to get people into a building to watch curling, even when you're not having to pay for it and people aren't showing up, like there's gotta be there's gotta be that middle ground sweet spot where we decide we're finally bringing people in regularly where we can start charging and maybe do more for the sport.
SPEAKER_02I I I also believe that he people believe something is worth what they pay for it. And if we tell them it's free, they're going to think it's worth nothing. So I'm of the attitude of I'm I'm not saying oh it's a hundred dollars for VIP sitting and no, no, no. Ten bucks, ten bucks to walk in the front door, fifteen, twenty bucks to watch online. Because I could tell you if I next what when's the Scottties and or not the Scotty's, the uh shorty's in two weeks from now. Shorties in two weeks. If I went to the Shorty website and said click here to watch, and I clicked it and it popped up and said 1999 weekend pass to watch all sheets of curling. And sure, um, I assume it's an eight sheet club.
SPEAKER_00Uh seven of the sheets club, but thank you for asking.
SPEAKER_02So seven of the sheets are are no non-commentary. All you get is the cameras, and one sheet is two volunteers like us shooting the shit about the game. And if a hundred people pay, if a hundred people pay 20 bucks, that's two grand. Like two grand that goes to probably covers the cost of streaming and you know helps revenue for the event.
SPEAKER_00And then so my my assignment on this is to dig a little bit more into this as we go through weekly and we come each week and we go through each one of them, is to dig in and start talking to some of the organizers. It's very easy for us to talk to the organizers of any Stu Cells event as we have a relationship with Stu Cells, or as he likes to better be known, Stu Senke. And then I'm also going to be visiting the Shorty in uh in Cornwall, where uh I have many connections that are there, and I will be talking to those organizers because I do know that they stream and they receive money from an organization to provide the content to them, and then they do that, and that is provided. There is still a YouTube stream, but it is not paywalled like what you said, and I'm gonna ask them about that idea and see what they say.
SPEAKER_02Listen, I I agree, getting more people watching curling is the goal here. That is the goal. No, I'm not, I don't think you are, but I just I just think that we will lose not a single viewer for charging a small nominal amount, and we will provide value and show value for our sport because and then also once people understand the value of it and get used to it, then sponsors also want to get involved. Oh, you can tell me that you had 250 people watching. 250 people is watching's, you know, not nothing in this day and age.
SPEAKER_00There are shows on the shirts, too, right?
SPEAKER_01We should um we should try and cue up Jerry Gertz for uh one of our podcasts in the near future because I believe uh a couple years ago he was trying to get streaming happening in all the clubs and all the events, and um, not sure what happened with that. I have no idea um if that effort failed or he put it on pause or it's still ongoing.
SPEAKER_02Extra ends is always. Looking for guest contributors to our podcast. If you are interested in appearing on a very special edition of Extra Ends, please reach out to one of our hosts and we will gladly put you on the air if we like you. Otherwise, we'll get back to you. So I will end my rant there and I'll open it up to you guys. Uh, do you have anything else to add about what you saw at the first real event here in Canada of this quadrennial and this year uh in curling?
SPEAKER_01I mean, I I saw what I see um almost every year at this time of the year is uh international teams coming in mid-season form, playing really, really well and winning the events. And the Ontario teams are are just kind of finding their legs, and we're always a little slower to get the ice figured out. Um and just you know, little details. Uh miss a few more shots here and there, and the teams that are in mid-season, like um your Swiss or Italian teams, they're gonna come in and probably take advantage of you when you make a miss or two.
SPEAKER_00And I think my biggest take was uh I have heard uh I this is me slightly hacking the the ice at KW Granite, but I was seeing just outside edge of the four foot to get to center line. It was not a lot of curl. And I think Chris, even you texted us on the weekend and said, Oh my god, that draw curled eight inches. So I don't know, Rob. I don't know if that was stereotypical of the ice there in the past, or this is early season form or what is going on. That was just something uh like not a lot of uh going around guards type situation. So it led to significantly more defensive play, which both teams play on the same ice. I'm the last guy to ever complain about the ice. I'm not saying it's bad ice, I was just saying it was something that I noticed, and I think it just impacted the style of play, which may have led to what I think you were talking about, Rob.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I mean, um I I can touch a bit on that. I can't I can't speak in the shoes of someone that was there and played on it, obviously, but um I played in that building many years uh um around this time of year, and the building is part of the issue. If you've got outside heat, um, it really heavily influences uh how your ice conditions are going to be inside. Um I I played once there where the temperature outside changed about six or seven degrees um between round robin to playoffs, and um the ice was like amazing on the playoffs versus the rest of the weekend. And it made a comment like, why is it so good today? Why can't we done this the rest of the weekend? They just said it was that much hotter out, we couldn't do anything about it. So really outside weather, and when you know, we used to run this event in the middle to later, I guess, third week of uh September, and now it's even earlier. So you're not gonna get those cooler days popping in and helping it out. Um so yeah, weather at this time of year is always gonna be a factor unless you're in a really state-of-the-art facility. Amazing.
SPEAKER_02All right. Well, speaking of sponsors, the inaugural episode of Extra Ends is not sponsored by the Royal Canadian Curling Club. When asked for sponsorship, the Royals insisted the hosts of Extra End commit to not griping about the club. It was not a commitment the hosts could make in good faith.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't recall making that commitment.
SPEAKER_02Today's podcast is also not sponsored by Goldline Curling. $26.99 for a new gripper and $11.88 for shipping? Come on. Come on. All right, welcome to our next section, which is the pregame roundup where we talk about uh some of the curling that's expected over the coming week. Just like all good teams, we take a few moments to plan out the coming weeks and events and understand who's going to be buying drinks after the game. There is one major event this coming weekend, and for those of you inside the GTA, it's within driving distance, even within Go Train distance. It is the Stew Cells Oakville Tankard. So let's get started on what we think of this event and who's in and who's out. I suspect it's going to be most of the usual suspects that we saw in KW this past weekend, but probably a few other teams too. Do you guys have any opening thoughts? Kevin.
SPEAKER_00I think this was uh good year, and I think a lot of, as Rob mentioned, the European teams that are coming in in mid-season form use this as one of their weeks to come over or time frames to come over to Canada because of the uh connection of the KW Fall Classic this weekend. Several of those teams are also going to be in the Stewells uh Oakville tanker next weekend, and then several are then sticking around further for the Shorty and Cornwall the following weekend, so they basically drive up and down the 401 for it. So I think there will be many of the same usual suspects that are in that uh in this this weekend. Uh I believe as well, Chris, you'll have to look this up that the Stew Cells is one of the is this one or is the Toronto Tankard the one that is a satellite event to qualify for the Grand Slam of Curling later this year. I believe the Stew Cells Oakville Tankard is one, and I know that the Shorty is one, and I know that is impacting the fields and providing a large number of teams. I think both of them have exceeded uh their registration from last year uh simply because of the uh GSOC, our friends at the Grand Slam of Curling and what they're doing there. Uh I know again several local teams that were in this weekend are also going to be in that one, and other teams, as you mentioned, from uh like we keep referencing our Ontario teams because that's our province, but there are several teams in Northern Ontario, several from New Brunswick, and several others. Uh, there was a couple teams from Manitoba that came in, and I believe that will be the same case for the next uh two weeks. And of course, our favorite team, uh or one of our favorite teams, Team Cam Cameron out of Quebec, with the former Laurie St. George team forming with Kate Cameron together. They were in this weekend's event as well, and I think they're in some of the ones as well. I know they're the shorty. So uh I think it's gonna be some really, really good curling upcoming.
SPEAKER_02Rob, do you have any thoughts about uh the Oakville tag for this coming weekend? No, Kevin nailed it. You know what? I feel we're gonna be hearing that a lot every week because Kevin, you nailed it. You nailed it.
SPEAKER_00Kevin did that pretty well off the top of his head, by the way.
SPEAKER_02I I think you're right. The GSOC selection here is going to be absolutely critical. They're uh not just because it's the start of a quad and this is the one time in four years where the point system doesn't matter, uh because all the teams are shuffled, but GSox also making it very clear that they are being more determined and subjective in who they're going to be inviting to their events, looking for new names, interesting names, those types of things. So getting a golden ticket, as it were, to a grand slammer curling event is both going to be going to become more lucrative, but also more open to curlers that catch our eye, especially at this point in the cycle. So I'm very excited to say that even though it will only be our second week in existence, Extra Ends podcast will be on site at the Oakville Stew Cells to watch the event. And I can't guarantee a live episode. We don't have the the high-end technology for that yet, but we will be there with our first hand accounts to report back to you, our loyal listener. Uh, that was singular for anyone who's paying attention. We'll we'll be taking notes. We will be taking notes. I agree with what Norm said on the teams to watch category. Um, everyone uh who is there this week is going to be there. What I'm going to be looking for is on the few games I saw, I'm going to look for who got better, who learned something from their first take first game together. Because these teams have been practicing now for a couple weeks. This is usually the first time. This is the first time a lot of them were in competition together as a foursome. So they probably had a lot of learning coming out of this as well. And I'm going to be watching to see who's evolving, who's changing, what's going on, um, who who's making plans for the future, and who is uh just happy where they are.
SPEAKER_01Who's happy to be there? And who's ready for the early season blow up?
SPEAKER_02Right. We all know that the the quadrennial is not four years, it's one year followed by three years for the most part with these curling teams. The first year being the trial, hey, do the four of us actually work well together? I don't know, let's figure it out. And then at the end of the first year, there's a whole bunch of more changes, and then for the most part, it settles down and locks in. Unless you're the Olympic level men's uh level in the last quadrennial in Canada, because that just kept changing as we kept going. Back to our comment on the ice, just for our listeners' attention. Uh, the ice makers report, uh, I can say I have curled on Oakville's ice already. Uh, it is true Oakville consistency, fast ice, solid 4.0 split second, like a 14-9 hog to hog with a solid four and a half feet of curl when we were curling on it, despite it being uh warm outside and it's expected to be 24 and sunny in Oakville this coming weekend. So I think the teams are gonna have a very different ice experience than they did in Kit in uh Waterloo in KW.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And um, if my experience tells you anything, that ice is only gonna get a little curlier and a little faster for the the games. Uh they're gonna crank everything up a notch and uh make it a pretty great sheet to play on.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you guys can correct me if I'm wrong on this, but Oakville is essentially almost arena ice competition level.
SPEAKER_01Um Yeah, I I don't know.
SPEAKER_02I you know, I don't really play on arena ice, so I like to imagine I play on arena ice, but you know, I don't play it once.
SPEAKER_01In my experience with Oakville, um, it actually tends to run pretty straight when you throw hits. Um it's got a pretty hard late finish. Um it all depends on like how aggressive you've done the rocks, and it's still a curling club. So I I think it's just a really fantastic curling club.
SPEAKER_00So my understanding special insight here, Chris, because I was a member of the Oakville Curling Club about uh two decades ago, yes. And at that point in time when I was a member there, I actually curled with a gentleman who's an architect, and he helped architect the building, the ice shed itself. And I distinctly remember him saying that it is architected and built in a way that it could be 35 degrees Celsius outside and still retain all of the ice conditions inside. So that is why I think you're saying your arena ice type thing, and this unique situation in Canada where um uh it can handle that level of heat, which is why in the Greater Turnover area they're the only club that opens in August.
SPEAKER_02And it is also, my understanding, intelligence reports tell me in by intelligence reports, I mean the email I got from Oakville that they sharpened their rocks last week. So they will have the rocks will have a week to settle in, but uh they will be fresh and ready for the curlers this week.
SPEAKER_00One more thing on the Stew Cells Oakville Tankard, it is an official qualifying event for the GSock Open, which will be held in Thunder Bay, Ontario, uh in later in the fall. I believe that's the fourth event of the season.
SPEAKER_02You know what? There's nothing better than Thunder Bay in November.
SPEAKER_00Those I mean I mean I it's what I aspire to at some point in time. Right?
SPEAKER_02Like going to the port of the fort in the middle of the middle of November. It's just just the the nice thing about curling is you get to go to so many tropical destinations like Sydney, Nova Scotia, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Fort McMurray, Alberta. Um, I believe there's a uh there's also an event in uh Swift Current coming up. Uh very, very, very excited for Swift Current. It is really the the absolute vacation desire destinations that curling takes you in this country.
SPEAKER_00One of the events, the Masters, will be held in Medicine Hat, and I'm gonna throw my hometown under the bus of Kingston, Ontario, right before Christmas in late December is also a spot that you don't necessarily want to spend much time unless you're Canadian and gonna go watch a lot of curling at that week during that Grand Slam event, which I will be watching some at that set Grand Slam event.
SPEAKER_02Now, Kingston's beautiful in the summer.
SPEAKER_01It's just in December, I I don't know. I don't know what you guys are complaining about. Curling's an indoor sport.
SPEAKER_00Indoor sport in a flat. Yes, thank you, Rob.
SPEAKER_02I'm just saying that I have an hour and a half between games that you know I I wouldn't mind going out and seeing the town a little bit.
SPEAKER_00And every time I'll check out downtown Oakville next week, then between games.
SPEAKER_02There we go. Down fabulous downtown Oakville.
SPEAKER_00It is very, very nice.
SPEAKER_02And it's I'm I I I'm very much looking forward to it. The uh the st so the Stew Cells, the uh the official details of the Stew Cells is they run from Friday to Sunday.
SPEAKER_00We will need to check that because I actually do think it goes Friday to Monday.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Playoffs might be on a Monday.
SPEAKER_00It runs September 10th to 14th.
SPEAKER_02That's Monday. Playoffs are on Monday. So official details of the Stew Cells Oakville Tankard is that it runs from September 10th to 14th this coming week at the Oakville Curling Club.
SPEAKER_00Thursday to Monday.
SPEAKER_02Thursday to Monday. And it's uh it's hosting once again some of the best curling teams in the world as well as some of the best curling teams in Ontario. So if uh if our two or three listeners are bored and want to go and see some amazing curling right in front of their face and meet some of the world's greatest curlers, this is your chance to go and see some amazing, amazing winter sports activity, even in September. All right. With that, we're going to go to two of my already favorite segments of Extra Ends, a curling podcast. First, we have all the way from the far side of the DVP for me, Coach's Corner with Rob.
unknownCoach's Corner.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to Coach's Corner with Rob, where we put on our coach's hat and discuss the strategy behind shots or how curlers can improve their game. Rob, it's the start of the season, and as a coach, the number one area people want help with is weight control. How can curlers get better weight control? Practice. Thanks, Rob. This has been Coach's Corner with Rob.
SPEAKER_00This is a type of insight that I pay money to listen to.
SPEAKER_02Alright, our final segment is uh Overheard at Royals. Those of you who remember the old high school or college gossip boards will be having a bit of nostalgia for this. This week, overheard at Royals. Nothing. The club's closed till October 3rd, guys. But adjacent to that, overheard in the Royals community, men's league has a new third joining Chad McMullen's rink, Team Dominate. In a rare summertime post on their team is called Team Dominate.
SPEAKER_00Is that actually true? That is actually true.
SPEAKER_02Their team is called Team Dominate.
SPEAKER_00At least that's what the team has not yet won the men's league ever, right?
SPEAKER_02In a rare summertime post on the team's Instagram, they announced that world champion and Olympic gold medalist Ryan Fry will be joining the team. The odds makers report that even with the massive boost to the team, they are still expected that Team Dominate will finish between 8th and 12th on the men's ladder this season. Better luck next year, guys.
SPEAKER_00Also Team Dominate finishes 8th and 12th. They should consider renaming themselves. And I'll say that to Chad's face.
SPEAKER_02Checking out Team Dominate's handle, I highly encourage you because they are also involved in the hot dog wars happening during men's league every Thursday night at the Royals. I'm sure we'll hear more about that over the season.
SPEAKER_00We will.
SPEAKER_02Well, folks, that's uh that's our show for this week. I hope you had as much fun listening as we did recording. And if you didn't, please file your complaints in the suggestion box at the Oakville Curling Club. You know where to look for it. Once again, I'm Chris Rouget.
SPEAKER_00I'm Kevin McDonald. And I'm Rob Ansley.
SPEAKER_02Have a great week, folks, and may your ice be fast and curly in the shed and cold and ready at the bar.