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Saturday, March 17, 2012

Paralympians visit Janesville with eye on making national curling team

By MARCIA NELESEN ( Contact ) Saturday, March 17, 2012       
 
 
 
 
— A paralympic champion whose team lost out on a bronze medal in 2010 by less than an inch will be in Janesville this weekend as the United States continues to round out its national team.

Five wheelchair curlers will be judged on their skills on the Blackhawk Curling Club’s home ice at the Rock County 4-H Fairgrounds. The public is welcome to watch.

Paralympian Patrick McDonald, 44, Madison, said people can see national-level athletes in action. He predicted tough, exciting competition.

McDonald was a member of the 2010 paralympic team.

“The day after the closing ceremonies of 2010, I started training for 2014,” he said.

The U.S. wheelchair curling team, of which McDonald is a member, just returned from Chuncheon, South Korea, where it placed fifth at the world championships. The finish assures the United States a spot at next year’s world championships and the 2014 Paralympic Games that will be held in Sochi, Russia.

McDonald will help at the trials this weekend in Janesville, where two out of five athletes will go on to national competition in October in Madison. McDonald already has qualified for the tryouts, where 12 athletes will compete for five positions on the national team.

Three of the five athletes competing in Janesville this weekend are from Portland, Ore., one is from Columbus, Ohio, and the fifth is from Green Bay.

The pre-trials were moved to Janesville because the ice was available, and the local club was happy to help out at the national level, McDonald said.

“If you’re a sports enthusiast, it’s always good to see high-end athletes perform,” he said.
In regular curling, curlers launch 40-pound stones and sweepers use brooms to help steer the stones down the ice. At the Olympic level, curlers estimate sweeping is 38 to 40 percent of the game, McDonald said. Some people say sweepers can drag a stone 10 or 12 feet.

In wheelchair curling, curlers use sticks to shoot stones from stationary positions. They don’t have sweepers to steer the sliding stones and must depend on their own skill.

McDonald has been in a wheelchair since he was injured in an accident while patrolling the demilitarized zone in Korea 20 years ago.

He fell in love with curling the first time he gave it a try. When he got serious about it, he moved with his wife and two children from California to Madison, where his coaching staff lives.

“It’s a thinking game,” McDonald said. “It’s all strategy.”

Friday, March 16, 2012

2012 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships



Well, it is that time of year again for Canada to crown the 2012 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Champions.

10 teams will compete in Thuder Bay , Ontario over the next week for the honour of the title.

This year we see British Columbia, Alberta, Sasskatchewan, Manitoba, Northern Ontario, Northern Ontario Host, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador via for the annual crown.

The list of winners is long since the championship started in 2004; they include:

YEAR Winner  Prov/Terr WINNING TEAM (skip to alternate) HOST CITY
2011       Man Chris Sobkowicz, Dennis Thiessen, Melissa Lecuyer, George Hornning, Don Kalinsky Edmonton
2010 BC Gary Cormack, Rich Green, Vince Miele, Corinne Jensen, Samantha Siu Kelowna
2009 BC Jim Armstrong, Frank LaBounty, Whitney Warren, Jacqueline Roy, Darryl Neighbour Halifax
2008 BC Jim Armstrong, Frank LaBounty, Whitney Warren, Jacqueline Roy, Vince Miele (r to l) Winnipeg
2007 BC Darryl Neighbour, Frank LaBounty, Whitney Warren, Jacqueline Roy, Jim Shannon Ottawa
2006 Can Chris Daw, Gerry Austgarden, Gary Cormack, Sonja Gaudet Richmond
2005 Can Chris Daw, Bruce McAninch, Jim Primavera, Karen Blachford, Gerry Austgarden Richmond
2004 CAN Chris Daw, Bruce McAninch, Jim Primavera, Karen Blachford London

In the history of the Championship their have only been 4 players who have won back to back to back titles: Chris Daw (Skip), Frank Labountry (3rd), Whitney Warren (2nd) and Jacqueline Roy (lead).
Can Manitoba place its name again on the trophy?
Follow along on the Canadian Curling Associations website for Standings, Scores, Pictures and of course a first for the championship - live streaming of selected games.
See you there!

Ewan Wins ! - SCOTTISH WHEELCHAIR CHAMPIONSHIPS - March 16-18


We we see the start of the 2012 Canadian National Wheelchair Curling Championships starts this weekend in Thunder Bay we also see the start of the Scottish Wheelchair Curlign Championships starts this weekend.

8 Teams from thoughout Scotland will be competing for the title. We will take the results, post the scores and at the end the winner by up dtaing this page each day.

Updated: Today we the Scottish Wheelchair Curling Championship. In the morning of the semi finals we saw 2 games both go to a score of eleven. Ewan was able to beat Malone 11-4 and Nelison was able to score her own 11-2 win over long time teammates Tom Killin.

The afteroon would see new comer Ewan take on the Scottish team Skip Neilson in the final. Neilson hoping to recover from the losses at Worlds was unable to capture the title losing 8-4 in 7 ends to Ewan.

Rank
Team
Wins
Loses
Points For
Points Against
1
Angie Malone
2
2
25
18
2
Paul Webster
2
2
24
24
3
Rosemary Lenton
2
2
24
23
4
Allan Spence
1
3
18
35
5
Gregor Ewan
3
37
21
6
Tom Killin
3
1
33
21
7
Aileen Neilson
3
1
34
16
8
James Brown
0
4
5
42

Friday March 16 – 10am

Sheet
Team
Score
Team
Score
1
Malone
3
Webster
4
2
Lenton
10
Spence
5
3
Ewan
11
Killin
8
4
Neilson
14
Brown
1

Friday March 16 – 2pm
Sheet
Team
Score
Team
Score
1
Killin
11
Brown
1
2
Ewan
6
Neilson
7
3
Webster
12
Spence
4
4
Malone
8
Lenton
4

Saturday March 17 – 9:15am

Sheet
Team
Score
Team
Score
1
Ewan
             12
Spence
2
2
Malone
10
Brown
2

Saturday March 17 – 11:30am
Sheet
Team
Score
Team
Score
1
Neilson
4
Lenton
5
2
Webster
4
Killin
8

Saturday  March 17 – 2:30pm
Sheet
Team
Score
Team
Score
1
Lenton
5
Killin
5
2
Neilson
9
Webster
4
3
Malone
4
Ewan
8
4
Brown
7
Spence
1

Sunday  March 18 – 10am
Sheet
Team
Score
Team
Score
1
Ewan
11
Malone
4
2
Neilson
11
Killin
2

Sunday March 18 – 10am
Sheet
Team
Score
Team
Score
1

Neilson
4

Ewan
8

UPDATE: Article removed!

Ok...So since the news broke of the doping violation of Jim, I have seen maybe 30 articles from around the country all saying this and that about what has gone on. Most of these articles are based on of 2 pieces which first broke the news. The Al Cameron story in the Calgary Herald and our story  here at the Wheelchair curling blog 2. With that I have taken countless emails as to why I have not been posting all these articles on the website.

Emails like:

"...you should at least post the articles so we can get all the information from all the prespectives."

Well folks, you have all the information, nothing is being held back by us and prespective is what it is...What ever you the reader makes of it. But in all fairness I did post one of these articles (removed) It told nothing more than what we told you, in fact it is one of the more cruder stories I have seen posted, moreover the references and language we posted it and we made a bad choice. I want to be fair to all both the good articles and the bad ones. The circumstances are what they are and everyone will or does have an opinion, just read the comments but rememeber one  thing best said by a famous quote:




There is no such thing as public opinion.
There is only published opinion.

Winston Churchill


UPDATE:

Ok, for those which think I have bad taste I have removed the article. I meant no harm in the posting. I simply wanted to show how screwed up the prespective was getting on the story. I had nor have no other reason for doing it. Jim is a friend of mine and I do support him in his efforts of appeal.

I guess I will aplogize for my choice of article publishing, I stand behind the comment above; public opion is what is published.

Any one anywhere can read the article just search the goolge news postings.