SPEAKER_02 0:02

Extra Ends, a curling podcast with Chris, Norm, and sometimes Rob.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Welcome to the third 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, so we've decided to start a podcast instead. My name is Chris Rouget, and joining me in this great episode, sitting behind the glass, are fellow Royal Canadian Curling Club members Kevin, Norm McDonald.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Good evening, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

And Rob Ainsley. Hi again. So just as a reminder as we get started, at the time of recording, we are 112 days until what this show is calling Curling Week in Canada. Mark your calendars for the weekending Sunday, January 17th, where there will be an extra ends watch party to celebrate all of the curling from coast to coast. As a reminder, that week from the 10th to the 17th, almost all of Canada's provinces will be having their provincial play downs culminating with their provincial championships on the 17th. And we want to make it the official, but we're going to start it as the unofficial curling day in Canada. And that's what this podcast is aiming up to. So keep your ears on this podcast as we get closer and closer to it. And we'll be giving you more information about how you can celebrate the true curling day in Canada. So, guys, how was your week? Were you did you have a good time? Was there you know plenty of curling to watch or curling politics that consumed your week, or or was it rather quiet?

SPEAKER_00 1:42

I think you were asking more for yourself to answer that question. Oh, I wasn't here.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Yeah, I was tuned out for like two cents Friday. Good, Chris. Well, where were you? So Friday night, I went to a Chicago White Sox game and watched the White Sox blow an eight to one lead. Um, but you know, there was a country music Coles Wendell concert after, so that was pretty good. And then the next day we got on a bus and went to South Bend to watch the Irish, Notre Dame, take on Michigan State and Notre Dame won. So that was a good day. They kind of just went to work and did what they had to do. Uh and then yesterday, I was at uh Soldier Field in Chicago watching my Chicago Bears absolutely blow it in the pouring rain and lose to the evil Minnesota Vikings. And worse than that, our star quarterback get injured. And now everyone I know in Chicago on the trains was trying to put calls into their White Sox fans, asking them to put a call into the Pope to pray for the swift recovery of Mr. Caleb Williams. And I join, I join all of Chicagoland in thoughts and prayers for Caleb Williams.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Best of luck with that. I did see him getting carted off the field and was very sad and was thinking of you, and then also was hoping that you stayed relatively dry at Soldier Field is Drenched to the core.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Drenched to the core. My shoes, I had to put a hairdryer in them for like 10 minutes just to dry them out after. Your shoes. Yes. Wow.

unknown 3:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Well, that's very nice. Uh uh nice weekend you had there. I'm sorry I asked about it. Um, how about some curling, Kevin?

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Excellent. Thank you, Rob. Uh, so for our last week in curling recap, because I think I'm doing most of the reporting on this one. I spent the weekend in beautiful Cornwall, Ontario. Uh, I uh drove up Thursday night, managed to watch a chunk of the game, games that were going on the last draw on Thursday night. I happened to manage to get there in a reasonable time, and then uh worked from my uh uh brother's house during the day on Friday, and then Saturday as well. So uh Friday afternoon and evening, I went uh to the club and watched some games. And then pretty much most of the day, Saturday, I did too. And then uh ironically, I actually left Sunday morning and missed all the quarters in the semis and the final games that were going on because I'm someone that is far more interested in all the positioning and moving and going on when there's six games on the ice at the same time, as opposed to going and watching one single game. So uh I did watch the women's quarterfinals that were on on um uh Saturday evening. So that was really, really good. So going in, uh just as a reminder, the Shorty Jenkins Classic was an event that, as I said, is in Cornwall, Ontario, and it is an official qualifier for the first Grand Slam of Curling that will be in Victoria. So because it was a qualifier, it attracted quite the field to it. So on the women's side, uh, we had uh a number of teams that were already in the slam, uh, were already in the slam, were already there. So, for example, we had uh Lina Petz, the eventual winner, Zenia Schwaller was there. Um, uh the wonderful um need to look up her name to make sure I say it. Giulia Zardini Lassadelli from uh Italy was there, along with a number of other oh, Carrie Anderson was there as well. Those were the four teams that had already been in the slam, but people were basically playing for that last spot. So it came down uh from a standout teams perspective from the women's side. Uh, there were two Canadian teams, or excuse me, three Canadian teams that made the final eight. Uh Kayla Skurlich ended up being in the one game against Mia Yueno from Japan. And that game on on the Saturday evening turned out to be the most important game because the other semi uh quarterfinals where all people won them were people who were already in the slam. So that one quarterfinal game turned into being the game that determined who would be going to the slam. And me uh Miyu Yueno, uh the Japanese team with three players, uh, pulled the game out and uh got a spot to that event, which is fascinating because there was an event going on in Japan at this time. And the Ueno team uh did the very strong commitment and came to Canada and played in each of the three events that were up and down the 401 all week. So uh that was one of the the biggest uh standout uh games and things that I watched throughout. And then uh the other uh big standout uh team that stuck out to me was a team from Quebec, Jollien Fortin. That team um uh team Fortin uh curled at the Scotties last year. And the ironic part was they curled it the Scotties as a warm-up event. Normally, when you play the Canadian Championship, you you you're in it to win it. But they were warming up because that team last year was a junior team. So they were U-21 last year, and they ended up winning uh Canadian U-21 event and are going uh to world championships this year to represent Canada. So they were fortunate enough, they ended up in like a three or four-way tie for the very last playoff spot, but based on last stone draw, they got in and got the opportunity to play against Daniel Schwaller. Um, they didn't quite have as good a result in that game as one would hope, but it was an excellent experience for a team where two of the team members are still teenagers and the other two are 20 years old. It's two sets of sisters. So that was one to me, one of the outstanding teams. Because I think at some point in time, when we go through our um podcast over the next few weeks, we'll start focusing on provinces and which teams we would say would be the ones that are strong contenders in that province. And already in Quebec, I'd put them as one of the front runners, even though Team Laurie Saint-Georges seemed to have been acclaimed in the past. But I'd um uh like to uh say this team uh uh is one that is definitely to watch out for in the future. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Uh I have a question about the Mueeno Ueno team. They they played with three people in Oakville as well, and this brought up a debate among some friends because it was my understanding, I could be completely wrong here, that new world rules, which Canada is adopting this year, is that you have to start any world rules event with four players. You have to start the game with not just the event, the game with four players. And you can go, I think a maximum of two ends or something like that with three, and you need a replacement player, or else you forfeit the game. Now, these events, I don't know if they're world-curling rules or if they're using their own rules. So, because the way I read the rules is they would have to have four players if they did very well in this event, made it through to a slam in this event. Is this event under world rules or are we phasing those in? I I wasn't sure.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

This event should be under world rules, but um I don't know if they're using the current world rules or what they're using from last season.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Uh, okay. Because it'll be interesting when that that kicks in. We were talking about this with some friends, and I can't remember if you guys are part of this group or not, but we said that we're probably gonna have a situation like the NHL with the e-bug or the emergency backup goalie, where there's going to be an an e-buck, an emergency backup curler that's sort of available for some of these teams in the event that they lose, they lose a fourth person during an event. Right. I think it's gonna be interesting to see.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Sorry, I misspoke. Um, the events are using Canada curling rules, they are world curling tour. So it's yeah, I don't know exactly if they're using um the updated world curling rules in Canada or if these events decide to just go ahead with last year's curling Canada rules.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

For the listeners that aren't as much curling nerds as we are, um, just to be clear, for the longest time, the World Curling Federation has had one set of rules uh for the sport of curling, and Canada curling has had its own set of rules. Now, 95% of the rules are exactly the same between the two, but Canada's always kind of been we're gonna do our own thing when it comes to rules. So it's very new this year that Canada is moving to use the world rules, which is gonna change a few things, but then also world curling updated their rules to say you have to start a game with four players. And I saw today online that New Brunswick curling has decided to ignore that edict, and they are suspending the world rules for their year and going to phase it in with a trial. They're going to keep the year that you're allowed to play with three players this year. So maybe that's what's happening here as well is that um the Oakville Tankard, the the Shorty Jenkins, etc. It'll be interesting to see what happens at the slams, whether or not they're using must-have four-player rules.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Yeah, I think um all these events can run with whatever rule sets they choose, just like a curling club can run with whatever rules they wish within the club. Um, but once you get into an event that leads to a national, they're gonna have to follow the curling Canada rule book.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Well, that's not what curling New Brunswick said. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Let the drama begin.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Let the drama begin. Yeah. Sorry about that, Norm, but this is the no, I questioned.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

It's an excellent topic, Chris. I really appreciate it. And it's one that quite honestly, I didn't ask anybody at either event, and I didn't uh so I don't have an answer to your question as to whether it was allowed or not allowed. Obviously, it was. And uh Grand Slam of Curling's already tweeted out uh that uh team Ueno has got the spot if they accept, and that's always the thing. Teams can choose to accept or not.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Yeah, there are some teams that time to time have turned down uh slam spot because it doesn't work with their schedule or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Whatever variety of answers, and one might be they can't feel the full team now. That might very well be one of the options, but yes, that's that's exactly it. Did you did you see any of the men's games? I did see many of the men's games. Thank you for allowing me to segue. So the men's uh side was very good. Predictably, the team coming into it that everybody was expecting to win did win. That was the uh new look Ross White team that is now branded as Grant Hardy. Grant Hardy is the uh two-time Olympic silver medalist who had uh viced for Bruce Mowit the last couple of seasons, and he is now calling the game, throwing vice stones for team now branded as Hardy. Uh, effectively, this was a trade. I rarely see this in curling where Hardy, a team uh Grant Hardy moved from Team Mauit onto Team White, and then Duncan McFadgen moved from Team White onto Team Mowit. So it's a straight up trade. Obviously, I think this guessing, I don't have the facts on this, but British Curling had to have had some sort of a say in that in that trade to shake things up and get everybody motivated for it. And they definitely seem motivated. And from all reports and any games I saw, they're like, these guys aren't even missing a three-quarter shot. Like they basically made everything and basically ran almost everybody off the scoreboard. Now, the King of Cornwall, John Epping, five-time champion of the Shreddy Jenkins Classic, he kept it really tight with them in the final. So John had an excellent run, went five and oh through the round robin, played some exceptional games in what I watched. Uh, talked to him uh throughout it. I've managed the opportunity to get to meet and know John a little bit now. And uh he said he was uh feeling really strong about this uh from his performance last week, where they did not qualify. But this week they were just on a roll, um, won a good quarterfinal game where they took three in the final, uh, took two in the final end and stole one in the extra end in the quarterfinal against uh Lucas Klima from Chechia, and then beat uh defending um or recent uh Stu Cells Oakville tanker champion Danny Casper quite easily in the semi. And because of that, John now gets a spot in the slam in uh in Victoria, that next slam in that uh satellite event spot. And it's really big deal for him because he uh with the team and the shifting and everything like that, he was in the 30s somewhere from his points, and and that ended up that way. So it's very good to see that John uh get that and we'll wish him luck. Um, it was excellent curling all around, though. Overall, like in terms of the other teams that impressed me, Team Moybrick was there and they and they played really well in a couple of games I watched them. That is a new look lineup, and uh they have Sam Moybrick on that, and then Owen Purcell, who's been skipping out of Nova Scotia the last few years, is pure straight vising on that team. And then uh they have another uh, I believe they still have um Scott Mitchell, I believe, is still on that team, and then they have uh Gavin Ladieate uh who's been curling in and around and curling um in southwestern Ontario and uh runs an excellent uh little program, I think, called the Granite Strength Academy that's branded very well. Thank you. Uh, but those guys are two exceptional sweepers, and if Sam ever missed a shot, it's obviously his fault, not the sweepers' fault. So nonetheless, those were the teams that stood out to me. So I don't know if you guys managed to watch much of it or had much of uh a vibe of what was going on there or not.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

I I'm interested to see John Epping do so much better than he did in the previous events. Do you think they're sort of getting their getting their vibe, getting in sync, and they are going to be a dominant Ontario team or the dominant Ontario team?

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Well, no, John's a Manitoba team now. Oh, right. The team that he's curling with is, of course, with BJ Newfeld. Um, he's curling with Ian McMillan, who's been curling with the last couple of years, but Ian lives in Winnipeg, BJ lives in Winnipeg, and then Ryan Weeby, who's been curling with um Sam Moybrok the last few years, he's on the team now too. He also lives in Winnipeg. So John has to go out there a few more times and and start to get with them. And I think that's what it was, is they didn't have much time to prep being together and all of that. So they needed that first event to really get going, and then this is where they they really found their groove. So John is no longer an Ontario rep, and he did say it's kind of weird, the feeling he he's still highly ranked nationally, uh, even before this event.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

He's ranked fifth in Canada now, yeah. Uh, after the last couple weeks. So the the Manitoba play downs this year are going to be intense.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

The Manitoba play downs is going to be just brutal, a hundred percent. Yeah. It always is, but it's like, okay, that's that's a pretty aggressive thing to do, John, is to choose to do that and pursue, as you've said, one of the hardest provinces to get out of, just not just from the quality of the teams, but the number of the teams, and anything could go wrong, right? It's different when you're playing an 18-round robin versus playing a triple knockout with 32 teams, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:17

So did you did you manage to get eyes on the new key Kerry Enerson rink?

SPEAKER_00 16:21

And how's it like I did, and that was actually one of the key notes that that I I picked up on is this this past season, I think we had so many different changes that we lost track of who was on what teams. And so you can hear that, oh yeah, okay, so Val Sweeting's no longer on Team Enerson, and they moved uh Shannon Burchard up, that makes sense. She's like super all-star second, has been many times as Weissed and one of Scotty's with Jen Jones back in the day. Uh and they moved Carly Burgess up to second, makes sense, all that. Bring Jocelyn Peterman, exceptional curler, onto the team. Like you, it's like all of that makes sense, but when you actually see it happening, it looks weird. And so that's the thing is I think a lot of these teams are going into many events at the start of the season to really get going and get used to each other and what the team standards are and what the team communication is and working it out and getting stressed in situations and seeing how you handle it. So it's always interesting to see that. And Team Anderson definitely looked really good throughout the event. Um, I think they went four and one to go into the final. They may have gone five and oh. I don't, I don't have a uh photographic memory for all of that. Um, but they ended up lined up against Alina Pets in the in the quarterfinal, who ended up winning, and Alina's just on an absolute roll. She's won, I think, three of the events so far this year, and it's just looks unstoppable even with a new team. So it's fascinating to have seen that, and I think that is definitely still one of the uh Anderson is still one of the top two teams in Canada, with Homan obviously being the number one team in Canada. So um, I I and I think she's still by a mile in terms of like the next teams, although I think the next ones are starting to knit better heels a little bit, and I think that's it'll be the interesting thing to see throughout the season.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

So we're we're the I think the summary is we're still very much in the making of the sausage phase of the Canadian teams and their reshuffling and getting things figured out and organized and communication up and running. The reality is these are all world-level curlers. That's not that's not the make or break in these teams. It's the communication, it's the team dynamic, it's the delivery nuances that they all need to relearn. Um, but we're still very much in that making of the sausage period where we it's gonna be a little bit before we see a final refined product and can actually sort of take an assessment of where they fit in the world order.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Yeah, and that's where I think like you see the ups and downs. Like you see some teams um play exceptional, like John comes John Eppen comes and plays exceptional this week, wasn't quite as strong last week. You'll see other teams, uh uh the aforementioned team Botcher, that that we've watched each of the last couple times, comes out, gets the semi of two straight events, but then you see like Team Dunstone last week did not necessarily look their strongest. And I think they're still working off the rust in certain situations and figuring out how to do it. And it's like, and quite honestly, they they even looked like they were trying to figure out who would sweep on what side of the rock, which normally is something you do pretty straightforward. But I mean, uh I agree with you, Chris, on that element. And I know Rob's been on like multiple teams where he's formed with new players and all that and had to figure it out. Yeah, you need to bring that up. That's mostly what the fall is, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:35

Um, there's a non-hacking that you keep on.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

I know, I know.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

I'm teasing uh just pointing out something. There's uh a good saying, uh old friend of mine used to do is uh forming, storming, norming, and performing. You're forming the team, and then you're storming. That's when you get conflict disagreements, things aren't quite going right. You're norming is starting to come together, and then you start performing, right? And so I love that. All these uh all these new teams, you know, they're they're in their storming to norming phase right now. And uh yeah, they're they're gonna find their way or they're not. So hopefully most of them do, and they start performing, and you're gonna see some really high-level curling.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Yeah, absolutely. The other event that happened last week was the Savelle shootout out west. And as we as we preluded last week, this was essentially a revenge tour from the Saville event the week before. Same ice, same players, same, you know, same weekend. And Kevin, how did it, how did the revenge tour go?

SPEAKER_00 20:31

So, in this specific situation from the women's side, uh, last week we had Selena versus Serena. This week, uh Serena Gray Weathers made the semifinal, but lost to a team, uh Korean team, uh, U Bean Park. And in the in the final, Selena Stirme did make the final and beat U Bean Park. I did watch the tail end of this game, a solid chunk of it uh on the way uh on the way home from work today, obviously very busy work day, but also had the curling on the screen at the same time. Um uh, but definitely uh Selina was ahead early. Uh you Bean Park came back, but then Selena won easily in the extra end uh with a very clutch draw. She was lying one, but they threw another one just in case and and made that for the win, which was excellent for them. And this is going to really set up for the Battle of Alberta and that third uh wildcard spot because right now there are three teams that have already gotten the bye to the uh Scotty's Tournament of Hearts. Team Anderson is the defending champion, and two teams have been uh proclaimed as wildcards. One is Team Homan, and the other is uh team uh Reese Hansen out of British Columbia. So that last spot is going to be for whichever team does is the highest point getter. So all of these tournaments and everything that's going on is a very big deal, and it's looking like Team Sturmay is the one that is leading that area because she is. Been in multiple events, is now one, two, finished second in another. So that's gotten Selena Sturmay a lot of points and is leading the year-to-date uh standings for Canada. We'll see more tomorrow when the actual official standings come out, but she definitely will be ahead then.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

I keep seeing these international teams coming to Canada, and it's great to watch them play, but it's very rare that a Canadian team goes international to stack up points. Is this something we need to look at more? Is do we need to start looking at international events, whether they're in Japan or Korea or Scotland or Switzerland, and say we need to put some Canadian teams on airplanes and go to these international events to not only get reps in but get points in? Because we're seeing a lot of international teams come here and they're bringing great curling here. I'm just worried, is are Canadian teams missing a step by not being on the world stage outside of official world curling events? Rob, you might have some thoughts on this.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Yeah, I have a little to say on that. So I you're not wrong. Um basically last year uh some teams were they were going to Europe to do some of the circuit there, and it was because they had events happening through August. So they're able to go and get three events under their belt before they got going in Canada in September. I can't remember the teams. I know uh Chandler, I think Epping. Um, I can't remember if Moybruck went, but um you're you're telling me there could be a whole European preseason to curling, but well they they have a European tour there, but the I think the issue is for the amount of money it costs to go there, you can get as much or more points by just playing the Canadian circuit. Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

We we we we still have the most points per square kilometer, essentially, yes, despite being the biggest country and the second biggest country in the world. Uh all right. Uh you guys have any more thoughts of this past week of curling that you want to share? Oh, Kevin has more.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Here we go. Well, yes, I did not do the men's side. Oh, I am terribly sorry. I forgot the men. What happened on the men's side in MHD? Yeah, so uh on the men's side, we had um an all-Alberta final. Uh so we had Evan Van Amsterdam coming along, and he um Evan's been uh really grinding on tour for the last several years, trying to be one of those uh Alberta teams uh that breaks through and wins that and knocks off the what seems to be acclamation of Kevin Couie winning that province every year. Uh so he's been and doing a lot of work, and then a young up-and-coming U-25 team, uh Jackson Hebert was the one that that ended up coming out victorious on that. Uh, this is uh some of the work that I need to do over the next uh couple weeks and couple months is to get to know more about some of the Alberta teams. Because right now it always looked to me like the Alberta teams would be it's the Botcher versus CUI final, that's every been inevitable, and fighting for that again, that last open wild card spot. Um, but there are many other teams in Alberta that are either uh been around for a while, been up and coming, all of that, and Alberta and Manitoba, and Ontario being the three provinces with most of the teams. I tend to know most of the Ontario teams just from well living in Ontario and the Manitoba teams because they've had a bit of a a shifting of the guard and different teams coming out of out of there and making the finals and all that. So I had some good knowledge of the Manitoba teams, but quite honestly, the Alberta teams I haven't known, and that's why I was quite surprised when Jackson came along and and did it, had an excellent uh week, uh won all those games and made the final and went through quarters, semis and finals all in one day. Those games were no, I think the quarters were last night, semis and finals today, and it's great to see a U-25 team coming up and getting a win in a major men's event.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

That's what I'm most excited for. This quad is the new teams coming up. I'm uh like, listen, I love watching, you know, Dunstone, Botcher, Epping, all these guys, but a uh, you know, a Dunstone versus Botcher, a Dunstone versus Epping final, like we've seen that game a lot. I want to see some new guys with some new style coming. So I'm really excited for it. All right. This episode of Extra Ends is not brought to you by the locks on the trophy case at the High Park Club. In an unrelated note, this year's Crosstown Challenge is set for November 7th. The Royal Canadians look forward to bringing home the challenge trophy, regardless. Onwards next week, guys. What do we have coming up this week in Curling? I see three events on the calendar uh that are sort of of significance. The only one I have any real, you know, I've followed in the past is the Okatokes classic, which is sort of the southern Alberta is getting into the mix now that the the Savils in Edmonton are done, Okatokes is doing its show. Then there's also the Mother Club Fall Classic, which I think is based in Manitoba, and the Sutherland Sask Tour icebreaker. Um, all these events have uh limited information available to us uh on on the websites, but I do know the Sutherland one has uh Team Knapp and a few others from uh Saskatchewan looks like very much a local event. Uh, is there you guys know anything about going on with these events or anything you're looking forward to in them?

SPEAKER_00 27:06

I believe the Okatokes Classic may very well be the um debut of Team Jacobs on tour this year. I believe Ben Hebert was involved in getting the spiel set up years ago, and so I think whatever team Ben Hebert is on goes on that event. So I believe that may be the case, and I think you should check if uh your beloved team Butcher is going to that one as well. I believe they actually are, Chris. I don't know if you have to get stuff memorized or not. So I think because if you have like those two teams there, I think there's a pretty solid field, it's just not up on the site yet, and that is always uh something a bit of a challenge because uh knowing from the shorty and knowing so much information I know about that, the draw was changing almost all the way up until they started the event. They had a very solid idea of when people started, but I think there were some adjustments based upon many factors that were involved in that, and I believe that may very well be the same thing for um for the Okotok spiel as well.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

All right. Uh, do you guys have uh the other events? We're just gonna be excited to see the winners. We'll report back next week. Uh, who's who's looking interesting in Manitoba, who's looking interesting in Saskatchewan, because it's their first major events, and we're gonna see a few more events come online in the next couple weeks in the East Coast and NBC as more and more clubs are getting ice installed. I saw that High Park here in Toronto has ice, so I suspect more and more clubs are going to be having ice over the next 10 days. Welcome to our next segment, which is quickly becoming a fan favorite. Coach's Corner with Rob. Coach's Corner. This is a segment where we get to spend some time talking with Ontario Tour curler and coach Rob Ainsley about some of the tips and tricks that all curlers out there can take home with his in-depth analysis and important details to the sport of curling. Rob, front ends are often frustrated by the instructions from their skips during a game. When a pair of sweepers are sweeping as hard as they can, how should they respond to being told to sweep harder by their skip? They need to sweep harder, Chris. Sweep harder. Yes, harder than that. See, Chris, there's just Coach's Corner with Rob. This week on Overheard at Royals, we have a very, very special announcement. While Overheard at Royals, the section we expect to get even more exciting as the season goes on, it seems our many loyal fans of Extra Ends are out there fighting the good fight for us. This week, Extra Ends was contacted by the general manager of the Royal Canadian Curling Club. That's right, we're talking to the boss folks. And after hearing our non-sponsorships over the past two weeks in previous Extra Ends episodes, the club is now exploring the possibility of sponsoring us. We will keep you posted as negotiations continue. Ladies and gentlemen, it has been a fun week. Uh I'm gonna hand it over to my two wonderful co-hosts here for any of your final thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

Kevin? Uh the Shorty Jenkins classic is a wonderful Bonspiel, and the Cornwall Curling Center is an exceptional location that has Labat 50 in bottles, in quarts, and on tap.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

Ladies and gentlemen, this is an official beginning of the campaign to have Labat 50 at the Royal Canadian Curling Club. You heard it here, you heard it first. It's an exclusive. Rob, your closing thoughts.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

So uh Royals AGM is coming up. Uh, I believe it's September 29th. Um, if you are a Royals member, uh show up so we meet quorum and vote for your new board member. Um, there is six people that are gonna be going up for the board and three people to be chosen this year. So uh votes count and votes matter.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

This is great news.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

And uh the day after that, on uh September 30th, the practice ice at Royals is open. So book online. They've got a whole bunch of spots starting from 2 30 p.m. going to 10 p.m. It's almost all green and available except for one super keener has booked.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Just if you book practice ice, please make sure to show up for it. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, please practice ice. Show up for your practice ice. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for listening to us. If you are not subscribed or have not liked this podcast, we are going to become like all those podcasters until you do like and subscribe the podcast mainly because it just makes us feel good watching those numbers goes up. It's a great dopamine hit. So please like and subscribe to extra ends. And uh for those of you who are keen listeners of the episode, all complaints and corrections can be left at the Royals bar, along with the filing fee of one drink for each of the hosts. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, may your ice be fast and curly in the shed and cold and ready at the bar.