SPEAKER_00 0:02

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

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Welcome to episode six of Extra Ends, a Curling Podcast. We are your curling hosts, Kevin McDonald. Hi, Norm here. Rob Ainsley. Hey, it's good to be back. And myself, Chris Rouchet. If you're listening to this, then you're as much of a curling fanatic as we are. Let's not pretend. So, guys, it is the week after Thanksgiving. And uh, you know what I am thankful for? I am thankful for the very first Grand Slam is on, and uh we get to watch some top-level curling with some top-level production value TV uh all week. That's what I'm thankful for. How about uh how about you guys? How was your Thanksgiving and what were you thankful for?

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Uh my Thanksgiving was great. Thank you, Chris, for asking. Uh, I'm uh definitely thankful for the uh friends and family that I have around me that I can spend some quality time with, and I'm especially thankful for friends I have that own cottages that I can borrow and stay at, uh, that they're nice enough to invite me to, because I do not own one, and I appreciate when I'm invited to others. So thank you to them. How about you, Rob?

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Yeah, I'm I'm thankful for obviously my friends and family around me as well and the curling community around me. I I was very uh grateful to get a call to curl and the Toronto Stew Cells over the Thanksgiving weekend, which I'm sure we'll be touching on that shortly.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

We will be.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

That is wonderful, guys. All right, right. Listeners, at the time of recording, there are only 88 days until curling week in Canada. That's right, the week of January 10th to 17th, when almost all of Canada's provinces and other curling associations are having their provincial or territorial finals. We can't wait for this week. We're gonna watch more curling in seven days than the rest of the year and the world has combined. We're so excited from this, and this is what extra ends is counting down to. So, once again, this is your weekly reminder to mark January 10th to 17th, book it off from work, send the kids off to winter camp, do what you have to do to clear the week so that you can watch curling with us for seven straight days. We're really excited for it. So it was a big week. It was a big week in curling last week. We had three major events uh that we're gonna talk to. And we're gonna save our premiere event, the Stewells Toronto, uh, for last because we we actually had a member of Extra Ends participating in this event. Uh so we're gonna save it to the end. But uh also going on was out west, we had the New Floors Penticton Curling Classic uh happening in Penticton of all places, if you couldn't figure that out. And uh it was a it was a great event. I uh we saw that the final was Hosley versus Erickson, and it was a close game all the way through where Ericsson ended up squeaking across the line with a six to five finish. Um I I thought that uh it was a lot of fun to watch. There was a lot of good curling. Um once again, team botcher qualified for the semis. Uh unfortunately, they they they they they lost in the semi against Ericsson. Um, but already they've they've evened that score uh here at the Grand Slam. So um it's gonna be very, very close. But there was so much going on. Uh I'll ask uh uh Kevin, what were your what were your thoughts from Pentikton?

SPEAKER_01 3:38

I think that was my biggest takeaway was uh friends of the podcast, uh Team Botcher uh was definitely um to me the highlight of it making the semi. And uh they've now moved up. I do almost like a weekly look at this to see who that top-ranked team year to date is uh for the Canadian rankings, uh, to see who can get that coveted third spot uh for the wildcard teams at the Breyer and the Scotties. And from uh Team Butcher, Team McDonald is still ahead by very, very slight margin, but Team McDonald was not playing in the slam this week, and Team Bocher is. So Team Butcher's got it close enough that they're there. And it's excellent to see that until uh today when they played in the slam, uh they'd lost four games this season so far, and all four were in a semi. And it's unfortunate they they're uh still forming. Uh I think that was one of Rob's uh I think it was Tuckman's model of teams uh and the forming portion. I think they're still working through a lot of that stuff, and that's getting them where they're not quite getting to that uh that final and through to the wins of these spels, but I'm pretty sure they're still happy about what's going on, and that's my highlight from that is just seeing that team perform so well on a regular basis now that they've gone in so many events at the start of the year.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Rob, did you have any thoughts out of what you saw in Penticton?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

I didn't see anything in Penticton, Chris.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

There's a reason why, though, we accuse you. Yes, it's completely okay. I I I I thought this this was a great event. Uh Norm, you have our predictions for this event?

SPEAKER_01 5:04

I don't have no you wrote them down. I mean, come on, do I need to go back into last week's document and look for signing work to me? You didn't tell me this. Come on. Um where is it? Did we write them down? You did write them down.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

We did write them down last week's day.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

We did write them down. Oh, yes. So predictions. Uh no, that was two weeks ago. Uh I'm doing a poor job here.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

I've got predictions where um Schwaller and Butcher.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Uh oh, I picked Schwaller who lost in the other semi, and you picked up the semi. So okay, fine. Thank you, Rob.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Well, okay, so we were we both lost on the semi. That's a tie. Uh, we'll we'll have to do better at at the next event. But this was this was a great event. Uh it was um it was interesting to see uh McDonald had a rougher go of it. I saw them be uh uh rougher across the whole spiel. And uh my question is, are they getting tired? Because this is their sixth or seventh event already this year. And um, yeah, I uh that was my one question that came out of it was I think team McDonald might need a break.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Well, and team Hostley might as well. I think Hosley's played in as many, if not more, events than them. And Hostley is still playing again in the slam right now in Victoria. So I I mean these guys.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

I gotta test the fatigue is real.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Yeah, yeah. Wonder why you know that, Rob.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Yeah, yeah. And this is it to do this every weekend, plus the travel, plus like like the travel ain't easy either. These guys have crossed the country, and that's that's gonna be rough. So I am uh continue to watch, continue to watch closely. It was a great event. Uh, there was some great streaming online, uh, there was some okay commentary. Um so I uh I I enjoyed it very much. The the other event we had was also out west, uh, the Autumn Gold Curling Classic. Now, this is the uh women's version of the Okotoks classic that the men played a few weeks ago, and it came out to uh Sturmay beating Gim quite handily with a seven to three score. Uh and once again, we're seeing we're seeing Sturme just take off here. Um they're they're I don't believe they're here in the slams, are they? No, it wasn't.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

They're not. No, they did not qualify for this slam, but by winning this event, they qualified for one of the next set of slams. I can't remember exactly which one it is, but uh yeah, that's a big thing for them to get in the slam, and they're moving up the rankings where they might even be in the top 12, anyways, uh, to get the uh official invites. But uh always good to get the satellite event, which this was and get that win behind.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

Yeah, that that that's absolutely wonderful. And then Norm, you you said that uh the the team uh Schwaller versus Negavin was uh worth a watch.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Yeah, it was actually absolutely a fascinating game where team team uh Zenia Schwaler, defending world champion, was down four after the sixth end. They took three in the seventh end, stole one and eight, and stole one and nine for the win. It was a very fascinating game. I watched it as it was happening. I thought for sure Team Negavan, which was actually Team Kerry this weekend with uh Friend of the Pod Chelsea Carey uh being involved in that, um, uh skipping while uh Selena's on uh maternity leave. That it was fascinating watching. And it's not like missed shots were happening or anything like that. It was just Team Schwaller is just that good and was putting the pressure on so much that it just got to a point where the game ended in a result that I did not anticipate at all as I was going in. Because normally when you get up that much of a lead, even with the five rock no-tick rules, um, you should be able to hold it. But shows you that you you really shouldn't necessarily give up with when you're down that much.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Yeah, usually down four after six is pretty much game over. Yeah, so amazing that it just you're you're never out of it, you know. This five rock rule, you can stay in the game.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

Yeah, which was great. And one of the things uh I we're seeing, uh particularly here at the slams, is I think the games are getting lower scoring. Like games are six to five, like constantly. They were this weekend as well, these events, and there's uh there's a lot less scoring, there's a lot less deuces to be had in terms of two-point ends. Um, the game is tightening up as these teams are are learning the five rock rule. Uh and while you're right, the there's a there's a chance to come back from a big there's a from uh from a big gap. There isn't too many big gaps to be had. Like even getting threes are becoming rare now. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

So yeah, and sometimes that's all you need to actually blow your game open, is the first team to crack a deuce when everyone's getting so good at forcing the other team to their one.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's actually led to some really exciting girling to watch because an inch here, an inch there, like the it's gonna be the difference of the game, but it's it's just getting intense. You're seeing like the thing I've also noticed from all these is we're seeing timeouts being called in the second end, yeah, third end, when usually those were saved for the seventh or eighth, only almost exclusively. And you're seeing no no, this this matters now. We're in the second end, we have to make a critical shot now. And I think that's great for curling. It is, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Uh, one more note here on the autumn call classic before we move on. Um, your predictions were both wrong again.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Yeah, absolutely they were. Yeah, amazing. Yeah, I picked ster I picked Selena Sturmate two weeks ago, and then she didn't do well, and then she wins this week. So, yeah, norm's off by the week.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah, we had Schwaller and Pets this time as predictions.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Yeah, yeah. We'll have to we'll have to try again for the when we predict uh the slams later later in this episode.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Yeah, so we're gonna be. One more shout-out on that event before we go into our our our feature event of the of the event is uh of our podcast is uh Selene Sturmay, that team, did exceptionally well, where in one day they beat the defending Olympic gold medalist Anna Hasselborg in the quarterfinals, and then in the semifinals, they beat the defending world champion Xanya Schwaller, and then in the um final, they bit beat Unji Kim, who is currently the number one ranked team in the world. So it's like if you're saying like there's a gauntlet that she had to uh work her way through, and she definitely played that well to win and beat some of the three of the best teams in the world. So kudos to her, and uh that's uh uh definitely um accommodations for just the efforts they put in at the start of this year and the and those and the efforts that they've been going forward with. So it's good to see that that team is doing that and gelling and playing well, and that's one of the teams that stuck together from the last cycle with no changes. So it's always interesting to see those teams like Team McDonald that stuck together as well.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

So all right, let's come back to Toronto. We uh had one of the major events in the Ontario circuit this weekend, the Stu Cells Toronto Tankard. This was being hosted by our very good friends at the High Park Club. Uh, once again, they put on a great, absolutely great event when they host this. And uh it came out the uh the final uh on the men's side was Cap over Epping, another six to five score. And uh on the women's side, it was Team Black over Team Park, uh, a six to five score. Um, so once again, we're seeing some of those six to five scores. And this was I I actually even caught some of this uh online. Again, I was very sad that I wasn't able to uh watch the games in person as I often do. But the good news was Extra Ends was on site, in fact, not in the stands. Extra Ends was on the ice with our very own curler right here, Rob Ainsley, who was playing uh at the at the Stu Cells Tanker this past weekend. Rob, uh let's let's get your initial thoughts on the event.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Yeah, so uh Greg Smith from Newfoundland had asked me a few weeks before the event to spare for him. And uh turned out he needed two spares. So myself and other fellow Royal Canadian Curling Club member, Brian Chick, um, we spared for him at the event. Um it was uh it's always a fun event. It's one of my favorites. Um big part is you know, you you fill the building with local fans and you come off the ice and you can talk to people and they tell you, oh, that was a great shot, or you suck. And you know, we um but yeah, it's fun. You you play every game is a tough game, it's always good competition. Our second game of the event, we played Epping in their first game, and of course, BJ Newfeld being BJ Newfeld, did BJ Newfeld things and he made it very difficult for us. I felt I actually played pretty well until he would make every run back and destroy everything I set up.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

Oh, watching guys like BJ play like like it's it is it's not even like a short run back, it's a 10-foot run back that they make perfectly.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Like he he's curling like a man on fire right now. So no wonder why you're seeing Epping make a final.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Again, Epping already has a track record, yeah. But yes, look at his team now. They're they're really, really hot. Yeah. Um, we had uh Mike McEwan was in the event, and very first game, he almost got upset by fairly local boys, Wes Forge.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

I guess Wes is out of Kingston, but uh you see this, you see this all the time. I I've seen it numerous times at the High Park Club Club. Like I remember a few years ago, um oh, what's his name out of Italy?

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Yeah, Joel Retornez.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

Returno Returno has lost his first game there. It's that card.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Carter Bryant um made an incredible angle run back. It's a sneaky club ice. I think it was an angle angle run back, double takeout to put himself in a position to get a jump on that game. And Retornez just missed one come around and then all of a sudden he was chasing him.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

Yeah. I I love I love it. I love that sneaky club ice, and you watch bros have to adjust to it. And if you're a decent tour curler who's used to club ice and it's the first game, you can usually take advantage of that against the against the slam curlers, against the international curlers, because they're used to that very fast, very I won't say perfect, but very consistent slam ice. It's the same, doesn't matter whether you're in Victoria, whether you're in Toronto, whether you're in uh in Europe, that ice is the same everywhere you go, and that's what they're used to. So when they get high park, which uh now has regularly has very good ice, but it's just different. It's just a little different. You can usually get an advantage on these teams early on. Yeah, appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

The ice is the great equalizer.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

So you're gonna see a lot of those upsets happen in their first game where they're not quite used to what they have to do, how they have to let it go to make their shots there. But they'll eventually the good curlers eventually come through. They they figure it out and they catch on faster than the rest.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

So, Rob, how how how sore were you at the end of this event? I don't think you like this was a fun experience for you because really, like our you played what one league game, maybe two league games total until prior to going out there.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

So yeah, so I my whole deal this year was to take competitive off, and I immediately broke that promise to myself by playing one of the first events of the year. On Thanksgiving weekend. And on Thanksgiving weekend, no less.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Your rubber arm was twisted by them asking you.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Yes, exactly. That's all it took. Um, and I regretted it immediately. Yeah. First, first game, I was gassed, winded. I And this was 8 a.m.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

on set on Thursday morning, by the way. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

8 a.m. Thursday morning, where six ends in, and I've got no energy. I'm like, what's wrong with me? Well, turns out, yeah, I used to carbload before I'd go sweep, and I had a salad the night before. So I'm like, what have I done? Then uh, you know, by the time we're in our second game, 6 p.m. Thursday, I was I was rolling. But um, you know, come Sunday morning for our other 8 a.m. game, my hip was killing me, my knees were killing me, I'm grumpy because it's the morning. It's also a game where we're playing the two last places teams in the pool, and neither team's gonna advance when you win. So you're like, uh at that point, I don't want to be there, but you're trying, you know. I'm I'm a competitor, I want to win. Yeah, I'm gonna try and make every shot. Yeah, but uh, you know, at that point, it's like, uh, I I regret being here. I know I didn't regret being there for the people I was there with, they're great. Yeah, Greg Smith is wonderful to curl for, and I would curl for him again in a heartbeat. Absolutely. All he has to do is ask, and my rubber arm will twist. Yes. But um, yeah, I I my my body was not ready at this point of the year. And uh that actually shows really the kind of work people have to do to be curling at a high level nonstop. They it's a constant toll on your body, especially once you get over 40.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Yeah. This is uh the uh I I often every now and then I want to just take some of these people out in the world and who are like, oh, I can do that. I'm like, okay, come on.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Let's let's go.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Let's go, let's go play. Uh my takeaway uh from your debrief on this, Rob, is uh very simple. The old adage, you don't make friends with salad. You don't make friends with salad. Trademark.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Say at least Homer Simpson.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

But no, uh, that was uh the uh what were our uh predictions on this event?

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Uh I think I was close, Rob, wasn't I?

SPEAKER_00 18:08

Yeah, so I got them here. Um uh Norm said Christina Black and Epping.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Yay, I got one right and the finalist right. Yay.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

And Chris said Kim and Young.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Oh yes, Nathan Young, who didn't qualify for the playoffs. Good work there, Chris.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

Well, you know, I I I'm betting on a guy I know and a guy I like. And I'm you know what? If I lose if I lose money on that, that's that that's meant to be. Um so that's what it looked like from inside the inside the shed. Uh Norm, what did it look like from the other side of the glass?

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Uh so I was watching a lot of uh games uh on stream on this one, even though I was at my friend's cottage. Uh it was raining a couple of times, so I got inside. And it was excellent. I I think the quality of the coverage was really good. Um, the the bar across the across and going through the camera at the far end on a couple of sheets was a little annoying, but I think it's just the way that the setup was on that. But it didn't really block the house, it just kind of blocked uh some annoying things like that. Um, but I liked how they had uh steady cams and motion uh on every single sheet and then would have one feature game with commentary. So that was really good that they put the effort in and did that. Um definitely um uh the quality of the play was very high. Uh noticed that uh I think we talked about this last week, that it wasn't quite as many international teams, wasn't quite as many um of the high-end slam type teams that were in. And I think the only team that's playing in the slam is John Epping, who actually played in the final on Monday and then played on, I think, like at noon on noon Eastern time on uh on Tuesday out in Victoria. I don't know how he got his flight from one side of the country to the other. Um that's what I noticed from that end there. Um the one thing is I did have the ice report, and I think uh it was interesting to see that the ice uh was slightly unpredictable. And I think from uh conversations with Rob, um it was curling well in some spots, but then in other games, and kind of as the event wore along, it kind of changed as it went throughout, Rob. You could probably speak to the ice a little bit better than I can, but from like an observer perspective, I'm like, ooh, they're only giving off just the edge of the forefoot to get to center line. What's going on here? So go ahead, sir.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Yeah, we we didn't have many games where we weren't getting a lot of curl. We found we'd be getting three and a half to four feet for for the most part, and then every once in a while you'd take just a little extra ice to make sure that you know you can make it to your backing if you wanted to have that safe shot, and then it would just hang out in the good stuff and never come back. Yeah, and you you'd only be a foot heavy and it only curls two feet.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

So I think that was the start of seeing things straighten up. And we were just hitting it in a little patchiness. We also found that uh you'd, you know, you'd like normal ice would come up to speed kind of overall. Um, if you didn't play half a sheet for half an end, it would start to tighten up by like six, maybe ten feet um until you threw a few more rocks down again. So you had this tracking where you haven't played in four or five shots because it's gonna slow down again.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

I mean, ice reading is part of the game, so it's important to track that. But like as you said, you you haven't been playing as much, so it's a little bit tougher to track that, and you're on a team with people that you haven't necessarily played with that much.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

So it's a little bit harder to do that for you, right? Um, you know, God bless Greg for being able to manage uh three players that he's never curled with before um in any given part of the weekend. We had yeah, three different spares total for him at any given point. So um he did a really good job managing all these different releases and trying to map out the ice, considering, you know.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

All right. So, ladies and gentlemen, we uh we're very excited to uh announce that the we have our first special. Special guest on Extra Ends. Very excited for this. We've been planning all week for it, and we're happy to introduce to you. Well, we're terribly sorry about that, ladies and gentlemen. Due to technical difficulties, our very special guest. Uh, the recording did not quite come through the way we wanted it to. So we're gonna have to have them back next week. Uh, you guys can look forward to it then. And don't worry, we promised to ask them all the amazing exact same questions that we just did, and you can compare notes to what you just heard to what you will hear next week. This week's episode of Extra Ends is not brought to you by the Grand Slam of Curling. With five major events this year, plus the all-new Rock League, this professional curling tour does not support or is connected to extra ends in any formal way. Also, still not sponsoring extra ends is the Royal Canadian Curling Club. They did try to bribe us, but we have yet to accept the bribe. So we still get to say things about the Royal Canadian Curling Club.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Accept or collect the bribe, either one, right? It really doesn't matter. Either one. Either one. Okay, I'm clarifying what the uh the verb is associated with that. Thank you. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

So let's take a look at the week ahead, guys. We have only one major event uh this coming week uh in the curling world, and this often happens when there's a grand slam. Everybody else, so all the other major events sort of take a break because it is the co-op invitational out of Victoria BC. And uh yours truly is reporting live from Victoria BC. This is what we're doing to bring our listeners up-to-date live content. We're here watching the Grand Slam of Curling. Um, the ICE report I did get, by the way. Uh, the answer was it's good.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Uh who gave you such biting commentary?

SPEAKER_02 23:56

Numerous curlers. It's good.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Excellent. Oh, you're on a first name basis with many of them then, right?

SPEAKER_02 24:01

Yes. But uh so this event is the first of the major, major events, uh, I guess we could call them on the tour for the season, and we're seeing uh a large number of teams, we're seeing uh 16 men's and 16 women's teams curling at this event. And uh they're the which is resulting in four draws a day. Uh, if you have the capacity to watch uh four eight end games a day multiplied by four sheets, uh that's a lot of curling. We're doing the best we can here, but time zones are killing us, and I'm getting a little tired. So this is uh this event, what I'm looking for, what I'm watching for is uh who's moving past the the the first of the season jitters, who's moving past uh the startup, uh the startup time and moving into season form. This is the event where there's real money on the line, there's real points on the line, there's a lot going on here. So who's bringing into form? This is also the first event that we're seeing team Homan and we're seeing Team Jacobs in a competitive way. So that's what I'm watching, and I'm looking to go away from this. Uh, the other teams uh I I really am watching are the hometown favorites, uh uh Team McMillan and team uh uh Team Reese Hansen. Reese Hansen, that's it. Uh team McMillan and Team Reese Hansen. They're the hometown favorites here, and they have a lot of support in the stands. And uh McMillan's already looking very, very impressive, uh, getting a win out over Homan yesterday. So this is um this is what I'm watching. Um and I I I think it's I think it's a great event. What are you guys uh watching or looking forward to in the co-op invitational here in Victoria?

SPEAKER_01 25:52

I'm really excited that the slams are back. I think this is the uh early part of the year, as some people have said, the pre-Christmas time. Uh, we've been focusing mostly on the on the Canadian uh events and what's been going on uh across country here. And uh now we're actually getting into one that's full international. It's all in Canada, but the uh the full international field that really feels like this is if it could be this way, this would be what the Olympics would be like, where you have multiple representatives from from countries and they go in and they play their best and they peak the season for these events and really work their way towards it. And you can see it from the play and the quality of the play that's out there. It's fascinating to see, and it's fascinating that it's there. And as you said, Chris, with the uh with the uh a number of games that are going on in the West Coast time frame of this, there's weekday, daytime curling, which of course I am a full solid professional who does his job very well and very focused. So under no circumstances am I uh multitasking and have a uh a phone or an iPad with the curling going on, streaming on in the background with no sound on at all. Uh to my clients as well.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

I also am not watching this on the screen. I don't know. No, no, no, I'm also doing my work.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

No, yes, exactly. So yeah, so that's I think those are the biggest things. And um uh I also did notice, uh, I think Chris, uh following your advice as to what you have said, uh, the rock channel, which I think for the last couple of seasons has been uh available for free, is now behind a paywall. So uh I was fortunate enough. Yeah, I don't believe you are because you're in person, but uh I did pay the fee and I'm now getting the um that uh to be able to watch that curling on the sheets that are not being broadcast on Sportsnet. But it's interesting that Sportsnet is also broadcasting three games a day starting on Tuesday. I think that's another big change that's a big deal. And it's being broadcast also on ESPN Plus and on the zone uh in the US and then internationally. So it's good to see that they're getting that um eyeballs available for other people around the world.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

And tomorrow's ESPN, obscure sports quarterly.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Yes, exactly. The oak show.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

Hey, ESPN uh one of the one of the TV networks is picking up tomorrow's Casper game. Oh, there you go. So uh it's uh the we're the the reality is is that I think being on ESPN is great news on curling because uh like even the the Briar the Briar and the Scottties get some of the best ratings in Canada for sports, but ESPN on a slow Tuesday will do usually more than Canadian sports. So I I think this is great. This is thousands, if not millions, of new eyeballs on on curling. Bring it on. Let's go. Uh I'm I'm really, really excited for it. Uh, I'm while I'm here this time, I'm going to probably be buying the Rock League a package as well. Same as you, Norm, once I get home to watch all the other events that aren't within driving distance of Toronto.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

Uh so uh like you gotta you gotta walk your walk. Uh and that is I'm gonna pay for the event uh because I want to watch the event. Uh Rob, do you have any thoughts on the Grand Slam before we get into our predictions? Um no, let's go to predictions. All right, let's move on to predictions uh for this event. I'm I'm really excited. I like what I see out of Yannick Schwaller, so I'm picking him for the men's side, and on the women's side, I am picking Rachel Homan. I think uh in true Rachel fashion, usually a loss only invigorates her to play harder, and I think that's what's gonna be what happens to the rest of this event. So on the women's side, I'm picking Rachel Holman and on the men's, Yannick Schwaller. How about uh how about you, Norm?

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Uh uh, thank you. Uh weird to see you pick the number one men's team in the world and the former number one women's team in the world. Way to go on a limb there, Chris. Um, for the men, for the men's, I will pick uh the newly formed team Hardy. Uh that, of course, would be Shorty Jenkins' uh classic uh men's champion. So I'll be picking them. And for the women, of course, I looked at all the results prior to coming into this and picked a 2-0 team. So I picked Anna Hasselborg, uh, defending Olympic gold medalist, who seems to be starting out the season on a lighter schedule, as as you've expected or explained from uh some of the other teams. Uh, but they're two-0, so that's who I picked. Rob.

SPEAKER_00 30:02

Yeah, um, for the men's, I'm gonna go with Bruce Mowit. Um, always been a longtime fan of him. And I think uh even with his team change, I think they're just gonna roll right through it. They've been on a grand slam of curling dominance path for a long time now. So um, Bruce Mowit for me. And for the women, I'm going with Canadian heavyweight Kerry Einerson.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Wow, excellent pick there, Rob.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

Good choice.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Yeah. All right. Well, we will check back next week to see uh who are the winners and losers amongst us. There will also be winners and losers in Victoria, but that's less important to this group. It's more important for the bragging rights amongst the three of us, whether or not our predictions are correct. All right, welcome to Coach's Corner with Rob.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Coach's Corner.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

This is one of our favorite and most popularly requested segments on Extra Ends where curlers get to glimpse into the beautiful mind of tour curler Rob Ainsley with us here, and he's back this week, so we're really, really excited. Um, thanks to numerous fans asking us, we're coming back around to last week's question because they're adamant that they want Rob's opinion on this. So, Rob, the club season is is up and running now, and we're into it, uh, both at Royals and at clubs across the country. Do you have any advice for anyone who may be struggling to get back into the swing of things?

SPEAKER_00 31:25

Yeah, remember, you can always blame the rocks, the ice conditions, or your teammates. It's definitely not your shitty intern.

SPEAKER_02 31:35

And that has been Coach's Corner with Rob. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. Please remember to like, subscribe, promote, share, pass around, tell your friends, post it at the club, tell everyone you know about extra ends. We appreciate it. Uh, we're heading to uh hopefully get at least one more person to listen to us this week so that we can hit a new milestone and all of us will feel really good. Um thank you very much for listening. This has been another fun week of extra ends. Uh, I'd like to thank my co hosts uh Kevin McDonald. Hi, Norm saying goodbye, and Rob Ainsley. Until next time. And for all of you out there, may your ice be fast and curly in the shed and cold and ready at the bar.