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Monday, January 9, 2012

A curling we will go.... (corrected)

It is going to be a busy 6 weeks or so folks…

As we build up to the end of the 2011-2012 curling season the next few weeks will play out a number of important events in the world of wheelchair curling.
We have provincial’s championships playing out from one coast to the other with only a few teams having already been decided for Nationals in Thunder bay this year.

The Big Kahuna will be played out in Korea this year with Canada, China, Korea (host), Norway, Russia, Scotland, Usa, Sweden, Italy and new comers Slovakia via for the world title.

Over the next few weeks I will try and preview Worlds and follow the rest to the best of my ability. I do ask you, the readers, that if you have updates to please send those updates/results in because the world does want to know.
 Heading back to provincial for a second; we are certain of 2 teams heading to Nationals as of right now. Team MacDonald will be heading back for there 4th nationals and new comers out of Nova Scotia – Team Brown will be going out for there first nationals after what could be said is a major upset of Team Rutt. Team Rutt as we know had a change this year after Mike Fitzgerald long time skip picked up roots and headed off to New Brunswick. We will see if Team Brown has what it takes to play at the top level in Canada.

As for the rest of the country; well though your money down and place your bets.

B.C. – You have Team Cormack taking on Team Canada, sorry Team Neighbor. Daryl may have stacked his deck a little bit in having team mate Sonja Gaudet playing with him and we will see the return of Gerry Austgarden coming out of retirement to play second.

Alberta (Correction)– should have a great play down with Team Yizek still being the favored team even with the loss of Bridget Wilson who has decided to step back. However; as reported on wheelchairculing.com earlier this year -  they may face a regional challenge by Lethbridge, and Edmonton (last year's national's host team) will certainly compete for the provincial title.
Saskatchewan -  Not much news out of this province so at this time we have to assume Team of Del Huber, Gil Dash, Marie Wright, Darwin Bender and Terry Hart Would be the natural returners

Manitoba – Well to no surprise we should see defending champions Team Sobkowicz return; even more so with former Northern Ontario third Mark Wherrett joining the team.

Northern Ontario – So this one is a tossup, You have 3 time northern champions, Team Ficek playing off against Team Levesque  and Team Sudbury who lost their skip this year to medical school. This should be a hot one to watch.
Ontario – Well we saw the preview of how this one could play out this past weekend at the Pat “O” Reid Bonspiel in Toronto, seeing Team Ilderton take it. However; I am sure Team Cameron along with experienced Teams Gregory, Rees and even Team Fraser from Ottawa will have something to say. Also; you may see and an additional Team out of Ilderton in the form of original Team Canada third Don Bell leading a team.

Quebec – We should without allot of question see Team Lesard. This team has been turning heads all year and Nationals should see if they can pour it on and capture their first National title.
Nova Scotia – We know who is coming and it is new comers Team Brown after there upset of Team Rutt. They could be the wild card.

Newfoundland & Labrador – Team MacDonald will be making their return for the 4th time. This could be a team to watch out for. They have come a long way in a short time, have experience behind them and the only women skip. So watch out!

New Brunswick N.W.T., Yukon & P.E.I. – With the move of Mike Fitzgerald we would have thought to have seen something out of at least New Brunswick this year but no word. As for P.E.I, Yukon, and N.W.T. word has it there are in the development of teams and we may see them at Nationals in the next couple of years
So there you have it folks, the short version of the preview to Nationals, the calendar for the next few months is below – lots of news, so let’s see those updates.


Date
Event
March 18-25
2012 TMX Canadian Nationals - Thunder Bay, ON
February 2-5
BC Provincials - McArthur Island (Kamloops
February 24 – 26      
2012 Ontario ParaSport Winter Games, Huntsville, Ontario
February 18-25
World Championships - Chuncheon City, South Korea
Jan 31 - Feb 4
Ontario Provincials - North Grenville CC, Ottawa
Jan 27 - 29
Northern Ontario Provincials - Sudbury, ON
Jan 20 - 22
Alberta Provincials - Jasper Place, Edmonton
Jan 17-18
Lanarkshire International - SCO

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