First and foremost, let’s get this out of the way:

Although not officially announced by the CCA (no idea when they’ll do that), we are in the 2013 Roar of the Rings (Olympic Trials) in Winnipeg!!! We are guaranteed to receive at least a 2 year CTRS direct entry spot. The whole team is very excited to be awarded this entry after so many years of high level consistency. Definitely relieved to have avoided the pressure-packed, cutthroat Pre-Trials event for the 2 remaining spots in November!

Next… how was Europe?!?

Well… Awesome!
Although we fell just one game shy of making it an impressive (and never been done before) 3 Perth Masters Championships in a row… we enjoyed the event and trip immensely! Not to mention the “fun” we had just getting to Europe! It all somehow worked out as Air Canada managed to at least get us to the United Kingdom on December 31st…. just not to the right city, but a lot better than their 1st response of “you’re not leaving Winnipeg today”. So, from Manchester we hopped in a rental and left-side roaded and manual sticked-it 4 hours or so to Edinburgh just in time to check-in, have a few “pre-gamers”, and collect our tickets for the 80,000 person street party!!! We initially had plans to find and meet-up with Team Steve Laycock in the mess of people… no chance, but it didn’t matter as the whole thing was a blast! When the wee hours of the morning rolled around and we had made it back to our apartment it was finally time to get over some jet-lag… apparently 42 hours up straight along with New Years Hogmanay in Edinburgh really does a number on you!

All together we managed to stack together an impressive 8 days of activities while in the UK: 3 days in Edinburgh (well let’s be honest… I never really saw Edinburgh during the day!), golfing at The Old Course St. Andrews, lunch in the R&A clubhouse with Chuck Hay (thanks again Chuck!), 4 days of curling in the Mercure Perth Masters, dinner & a night out with the Norwegians, Swedes, and Scots before they headed to the Continental Cup, and lastly a quick detour to Belfast, Ireland with golfing at Royal County Down before finally heading home. I was a bit skeptical about really needing to make the effort to play this golf course (and donating more money to Denni as he seems to win a lot when we play lefty/righty snips)…. but wow, wow, wow… BJ was right! This course makes a lot of places I’ve golfed before look like dog tracks… lol … sorry, but that’s just how truly amazing this place really is! Ranked #1 outside of the USA and #3 globally, check it out here: Royal County Down … the pictures/videos still don’t quite do it justice!

Up Next?

As a team we have Sportsnet’s The National Grand Slam in Port Hawkesbury, NS next week and then our Provincial Championship (also on Sportsnet) in Neepawa, MB February 6-10. This weekend BJ is at CasinoRama, ON for The Curling Skins Game on TSN… we’ll be watching every moment from home and cheering him on! Geez…. I hope he gets a good skip…. lol, just kidding! The draft should be entertaining to watch on Thursday at 6:30pm CT on TSN. I wonder if the poor soul picked last gets some kind of prize like they do for the NHL?!? Personally, between watching BJ play in the skins event this weekend I’ll be playing with some good buddies on Team McNamee in the 125th MCA Spiel. I’m playing a bit of 3rd and stepping in for some skipping duties towards the finale of the event. Honestly, with the whole Christmas/New Years stretch I could definitely use the sweeping! Time to get playdown ready!

Enjoy all the curling on the tube during the next 4 weeks! Sportsnet with the Grand Slam and a lot of the Provincial Championships (mens and ladies), and the Skins on TSN!

Oh, and for all you MCA’ers who happen upon our home club, Fort Rouge:
Enjoy the pizza, the drinks, the big & roomy men’s locker room, and most importantly the ice! We practice here almost daily and throwing on great ice has been a large contributor to our success! The ice-maker, Reece, is flooding and touching up the rocks as I write this, so enjoy the excellent surface and the big swing!

- MM

I suppose people got to see us at our best, average, and worst all in one event! We just weren’t playing at a consistent high level like we are used to… percentages dipped and with it so did our results. Despite that, we held on, persevered, and made the playoffs. After some disappointment losing in the semifinal (stung a little extra because we played poorly and got handled), we can still very much look at the week as a positive. A playoff finish means we regained our 2nd ranking in the World and we’re so very close to a stranglehold on a direct entry spot (2 year points total) into the Olympic Trials next December! That’s the next step toward the ultimate goal!

November was good to us… Quarterfinal in Grand Slam, Champions in Swan River WCT, and Semifinal in the Canada Cup. This means our team and Asham Curling grew the MoPot to $900! Once all the funds are collected, our registered Movember Team will have raised a total of $1,771! Not too shabby… and those ‘Staches got a lot of TV time on TSN, CTV Sports, and CityTV (BreakfastTV Winnipeg). Although, I did notice a lot of female compliments Saturday night (Dec 1) in the patch after we had shaved earlier that morning!

As for the Dominion All-Star Curling Skins Game on TSN in January 2013… it looks like we’ve got a good chance!
3 of us: Mike, BJ, and Denni are in the Top 5 (no one knows their exact ranking yet… could be 1st to 5th!) for our respective positions. I’m thinking Matty is in 6th but could be very close to moving up and snagging a spot with your votes.
Remember there are only 4 spots per position, so we all appreciate your past and hopefully continued support! We would be so honored to have some of our team members play and represent our team in an All-Star format for our sport! Don’t forget to vote everyday from each of your email addresses for the next 5 days… and results will be announced Tuesday, December 11. Just click that Vote button!

Next week it’s Grand Slam time in Kelowna and we’re going to fight hard to defend our Canadian Open Championship! Hopefully you can catch us on SportsnetTV! -MM

Voting starts November 5 – December 10 … cast your ballots Everyday for your favorite and most deserving players!

We’re not gonna lie… getting into this exclusive event is going to be downright steely tough! So, with a young (ish) team of players like ours on the ballot with the credentials (see below) to back us up, well… we’re hoping for your daily support to hit the ice at CasinoRama!

Now, all you have to do is click that Big Red Button below and we’ll get you straight to the TSN website voting!

So why do we hope we’ve earned your vote?

3 Grand Slam Titles in 2 years
+ 11 World Curling Tour Titles in the last 3 seasons
+ Canadian #2 Ranked Team from 2010 – 2012
+ A World Ranking from 2010 – 2012 of #1 – #3
+ 3 Straight Manitoba Provincial Men’s Finals
+ 6th Year Together and Still Going Strong

= A lot of hard work then, now, and in the future and (cross fingers) YOUR VOTES!

Still a few people have questioned what happened… so I gave it some more thought. Was it us mixing up roommates on the road? Maybe… nah… bad coffee? Nope, the french press made the carry-on, lol! Not enough good samaratism? Crap, I knew I should’ve let that car in! No, still not that… Oh wait, does that Koe team have antifreeze in their veins?!?

Not once, not twice, but 3 times they’ve scratched out a big “W” on their scorecard against us… all within a week and a half! I thought long and hard about these games… then wondered why I was so cold? Three 8 end games that pushed the 3 hour mark (well, one didn’t go 8 ends but it still felt long). They were battles, some of the most interesting, head-scratching matches we’ve been part of… only to finally lose 2 of them on last rock when we looked to have the upper hand. I remember longing to sweep a few rocks (extremely odd for me)… oh my front end had it so easy, I thought! I just wanted to feel my toes again… then too many thoughts of “I can’t wait for arena season. Just a few more weeks… you can make it!”

Our critical error? Well, other than forgetting to bring a toque, we’re two teams that are not always super speedy and as Team Koe slowed, we slowed. The colder I got the more comfortable Kevin Koe looked… bald-headed and looking toasty warm in his environment (he’s from NWT after all). The wait and freeze ‘em out till he can’t think/throw was definitely in their favor! Well, either way it worked… I was cold and I missed. My mind screaming, please no… not an extra end! Oops, looks like I turned that one in boys… “Hard!”…. crash… shit…

Seriously though, just poking some good fun at ourselves and our competition and good friends. Arena season is around the corner, so no more lollygagging around for both of us… time clocks on the way! I remember Nolan Thiessen (lead, Team Koe) mentioning next time we play, “Ready for a 4 minute last end?” … haha, so true! (maybe the last 2 ends???)

Next up the White’s Drug Store Classic in Swan River, Manitoba. I think it’s been close to 5 years since we’ve been able to fit this one back in our schedule and looking forward to it! I recall they put together a fine event! We also get a little taste of hitting the pavement for a longer stretch vs. hopping in a plane. Hey Team Martin… no plane ride for us? Can’t slide by the ‘Peg to pick us up? Haha, no chance… but I hear Stoughty might need a ride up… c’mon Jeff, you’ll make it up there safe and sound with us! – MM

So what are these ugly mugs gonna look like in November???
Well… click that Donate Button to find out (update pics coming soon) and help us carve in some sweet Mo’s with some dough for Men’s Health!!!

I’ll keep track and update the men’s race periodically during the season. We’re only just through what I would call the “Opening Leg” of the year, so lots of curling still to come.

What you need to know:

1) Kevin Martin is the 1st team in (2011 Canada Cup Champion)
2) Glenn Howard is the 2nd team in (2011/12 CTRS Leader)
3) There are 4 more direct entry spots to be handed out this season
4) There will be 2 final spots awarded at the Pre-Trials event in the fall of 2013
5) The spots are handed out in this order of priority: 2012 Canada Cup, 1 Year Spot, 2 Year Spots (x2)
6) Should any of these teams listed win the Canada Cup and/or 1 year spot, they will be removed from 1 year and/or 2 year contention (see point 5 above… the priority thing)
7) Should Martin or Howard win the Canada Cup there will be an additional 1 year spot for the 2012/13 season

1 Year Spot – 1* Available: 2012/13 CTRS

2 Year Spots – 2 Available: __2011/12_     2012/13     2yr total

So, in accordance with that quote to live by, this will be short, too the point, and no excuses.

Won our first 3 games and qualified through the A side. A couple of nailbiter extra-end wins (see here for archived games… there are 3 of ours), but solid early season team performance I think. Then we had most of Sunday off and played a late night quarterfinal game vs. Joe Frans. No mincing words here… I was pretty below average the first few ends. Yeah I could say things like the ice was a bit tricky, blah, blah, blah… but it came down to that I wasn’t focused and let my team down a bit. Got it back together late in the game, but all the credit to Frans who kept countering with some nice shots of his own. It goes with the territory of skipping… sometimes you gotta take full blame, suck it up, and tell the boys you’re ready to keep working for next week’s glory.

A shout out to Stuart Sankey (Stu Sells Toronto Tankard) and @curlingzone ‘s Gerry Guerts. These two gentleman have worked very hard to put on a great event! Speaking of excellent events, we are off to one of my favorites in 9 days time, the Canad Inns Prairie Classic in Portage la Prairie, MB. They’re bringing in renowned icemaker Greg Ewasko (he does our MB provincial championship ice) and I think the teams got wind of this as this field is stacked!!!

As for the pumpkin pie… our good ol’ sports psychologist always says, “delay is not denial“! With that in mind I pulled out The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes cookbook from the cupboard. Found the page with pumpkin pie and my Mom’s handwriting next to one of the recipes reading * the one and only pumpkin pie *. Thanks Mom! So, if you didn’t have your fill Thanksgiving Weekend, have another go at this one:

Yep, that's Mom quality for sure!

Pumpkin Pie

2 cups pumpkin — don’t cheap out here with canned stuff, get it real & fresh… bake it, scoop it, blend it.
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar — I like to cut this to 2/3 cup using packed brown sugar instead
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. mace (my add-on… you can omit if you don’t have)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 tbsp. flour

Mix above ingredients and pour into unbaked pie shells. Bake in 400°F oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 325°F and bake another 25 minutes (I have found this to be an approximate time… often takes upwards of 45 – 60 minutes!). If you can insert and remove a knife into the pie filling and it comes out pretty much clean, you are done).

Enjoy! – MM

So, just to get this out of the way first… I definitely do not attest to having the answers, but I’m willing to listen and piece together solutions. Chatter like this is what we need to find ways to do things better!

Secondly, why did we go to Stu Sells Toronto Tankard instead of our traditional trek out to the Westcoast Curling Classic?

Let me say that Brent Pierce and his organizing team/volunteers do an amazing job in New Westminster and treat the curlers superbly. However, we had a tough decision in late summer (August) and with the Grand Slams’ future in serious question, we (and presumably Stoughton & Fowler for the same reasons) ultimately decided to go to an event we had heard good things about and knew would fill and give us the best opportunity to earn valuable CTRS points in our quest for direct entry into the 2013 Olympic Trials. Thankfully, now that the Grand Slams are a go under some amazing ownership (Sportsnet), the situation has improved vastly and the opportunity to gain points is that much more healthy. But, in early to mid-August we simply did not have this information.

Now yes, the Westcoast Curling Classic is missing some usuals, but us, Stoughton, and Fowler are only 3 teams! That would take the spiel to a total of 21 teams. Still 3 missing for a 24 team triple knockout and well short of the 32 teams it used to garner only a few years ago. So what happened? Where did the evaporating support of BC teams go? I asked a good friend/competitor why… Ice conditions? Cost? Difficulty? Other events?

His response: “Difficulty is 100% the concern. It’s the perception that the top teams are professional and for the most part the perception is reality.”

Now that caught me off guard a bit. I had initially expected a response that would slew a whole bunch of factors together. I still believe that increasing expenses and other mitigating factors are getting in the way, but maybe he is close to bang-on in this and other scenarios like it playing out elsewhere. There just seems to be not as many 2nd tier teams (sorry for the label) willing to test themselves against the best in arguably high cost situations. This might not be the case nationwide, but it seems to be quite evident in BC and maybe this is what’s happening to some extent here in Manitoba as well.

So, how do we fix this? As Nolan suggested, scheduling could and should be addressed when events are targeting the same profile of teams (like the “top 10″, so to speak). Can we completely avoid this… probably not, but greater communication between events, operating tour(s), and their organizers might alleviate some of the pressure. Albeit, Thanksgiving weekend is a difficult one and could be the busiest weekend of the season with multiple WCT and regional events (OCT, MCT, SCT, etc.) taking place.

I’ll throw another idea out there… and it has been said by others before: designate a number of “decreased entry fee” spots in your event. These teams won’t be eligible to win the maximum amount, but they can still come out ahead with a lot less risk up front. Experience is one of the biggest factors and this is one way for teams to get it at a reduced cost. As an unintended bonus, purse payouts for the playoffs would actually increase for the teams paying full price should 1 or more of these teams make the cut! Makes sense to me. Might work, might not, but seems worth a try to get a full event vs. having it short 1/2 dozen teams or so… right?

That’s all I got… not much, but looking forward to hearing more this season. Fire away with the ideas! – MM

So what can we take from this?

Well, first I’d like to say hats off to our spare, Daley Peters, for stepping into a tough to fill position (3rd). He threw some bombs this weekend and made one of the craziest quads I’ve seen in a long time! He and I actually worked pretty well in the house considering we’ve only played together in one other bonspiel which was a good 6 years ago!

For our 3 regulars, it was evident that we’ve worked on and have an excellent base of preparation. Early season event did not mean early season deliveries… quite the opposite actually! Looking forward to taking this preparation on the road and seeing what October holds for us!

One other bright spot… last year I sucked at the draw to the button for hammer. Denni reminded me I went 0-23 at one point in the season… or was it worse Denni? Thanks… haha! Anyways, we pinned 9 draws and proceeded to win all 7 game hammers! So….. that means we’re ahead of last season already! Lol!

Off to Fort Rouge for some practice! – MM

Jan 19-20            TSN/Dominion All-Star Curling Skins Game – Casino Rama, ON … *** NEED YOUR VOTES! ***
Jan 23-27            Grand Slam – TBA
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Feb 6-10              Safeway Championship – Neepawa, MB
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March 2-10          Tim Hortons Brier – Edmonton, AB
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Mar 21-24            Victoria Curling Classic – Victoria, BC
Mar 30- Apr 7      World Men’s Curling Championship – Victoria, BC
April ?                   Grand Slam Players’ Championship – TBA