Wow is all I can say - is it really January since I last posted on this blog - so much has happened since then - if you have found me again then please stick around as I hope to post more regularly again. And tell your friends as they may have forgotten all about me too.
Where to begin is the first question - well I should have more time as I gave up being ECA secretary back at the AGM in May - the new secretary is Nigel Patrick and we also have a new ECA President in Tommy Campbell - we wish them all the best. I am still treasurer of the ECA and also Competitions' Convenor and I have a new role in curling - I have been elected onto the WCF Commission on Competitions and Rules - having been proposed by the ECA, I was accepted and so, along with Hew Chalmers (SCO), Mark Swandby (USA), Danny Lamoureaux (CAN), Karel Kubeska (CZE) and Paul Ahlgren (SWE) under the chairmanship of WCF President, Kate Caithness and Competitions' Director, Keith Wendorf, we will be looking at the way forward for the sport after the Sochi Olympics - are there any rule changes that should be made or are there any competitions we should add or drop from our programme? Look out for more information coming through in the future.
We held our first meeting in Copenhagen in September at the WCF Congress and will be meeting again at the Women's Worlds in Canada in March.
The New Season
Closer to home the season has begun and for me there have already been 4 trips up to Scotland!! Firstly I drove up to support the English team in the European Mixed at Murrayfield where the team of John Sharp, Lorna Rettig, Nigel Patrick and Alison Hemmings won 3 and lost 4 games to finish midfield in their group. I was also supporting two of my team who play with me in the I'Anson Trophy at Stranraer - Dawn Watson who was playing for Wales and Louise Kerr who was in the Irish team. And also of course the Scottish team which included a regular at Fenton's, Karen Barthelemy.
Two weeks later I drove up with our Junior Women's team to the first Asham Under-21 Slam event at Kinross which was looking bright and sparkling after its takeover by the local curlers following a lot of hard work. The girls did very well to win 2 and peel one of their games and narrowly lost out on qualifying for the semi-final - that would have been good to see - an un-funded team from England doing better than some of the well-funded Scottish Academy teams. That might have been a difficult one for Brad Askew, the Scottish Performance Coach to explain!!
Back home for just long enough to change my clothes and do a few hours work to help pay for the diesel, and it was back up to Murrayfield for the first ECA event of the season - the Duncan Stewart Trophy which is open to all ECA members and where teams are selected just before the first game. We had 4 teams this year and with some people playing just one of the days we had a total of 19 participants including a few playing in their first ECA event.
As can be seen in the photo on The View From the Hack blog, I was fortunate to win it helped by Alison Barr, Judith Dixon and Andrew Woolston (and Ian Paxton on the Saturday). It did not look like it at the start of the weekend - losing a 4 in the first end of the first game and then another single in the second end does not normally lead to a trophy, but we plugged away - came back to win the first game 7-6 and the second one by 7-4. With the top two teams qualifying for the final and those teams already identified after the first two games (two teams had 2 wins and two teams had 0), we then played new President Tommy Campbell twice on the Sunday - a friendly peel at 3-3 after 6 ends followed by a 7-4 victory in the Final.
A couple of weeks at home (including a win in a game at Fenton's in the league) before it was back up in atrocious weather for the Welsh International Bonspiel sponsored yet again by Glenfarclas. Things had gone badly even before I left when my lead player, Jean Robinson, contracted shingles and had to pull out - but my first message for help yielded a result and Alison Barr, who had played with me in Edinburgh, was available for all but one game.
I had a good feeling nevertheless about the weekend ahead in spite of also losing my regular third, Dawn Watson, who had defected to the Dark Side (well Wales). The last time my new third, Lana Watson (no relation), had played with me in the Welsh we had been undefeated, but only won the B Final, as a team we had peeled with qualified for the A Final, also undefeated, having won one more end than us over the 4 games. So there was unfinished business there. My regular second, Donald Forbes, played with me again for the 10th time in 11 years and the only time he had been unable to play, we had won the Bonspiel - yet more unfinished business. And having been undefeated in Edinburgh just two weeks previously with Alison in my team, the omens were good.
And then they began to look a little shaky as, without the hammer, we lost a 3 in the first end of the first game - but had not something similar happened in Edinburgh?? I am glad to say that we fought our way back into the game to be peels going into the last end where we were fortunate to steal a single to beat Margaret Meikle by 6-5. And it happened in the next game again - lose the toss and lose a 3 at the first end, and the next game - lose the toss and lose a 2 in the first end - but on both occasions we fought back to win, beating Laura Beever 11-6 and Gus Storrie 7-5.
So there we were sitting on top of the section with a nice rest before Sunday when we would surely be playing Graeme Adam who had come back from a first game loss to win the next two games, the second of those by 18-0 and winning all 8 ends - he was second in the table and we had not played him - but the Schenkel system is strange at times and it depends how the organisers use it to avoid duplicate games. This time if we played Graeme and the other games were played as the system required there would be a duplicate game being played and so we ended up playing Andrew Woolston, the holder, instead - not sure which was the worse option for us!!!
This was the game Alison could not play and we won the toss, won the first end and lost the game!!! And what a finish there was. I will try to explain as simply as possible - Graeme Adam was playing Gus Storrie and whoever won that game would qualify for a final on 6 points. As I was also on 6 points but losing to Andrew Woolston it would come down to ends - I had 15 before the start of the game, Graeme had 15 and Gus had 11. As the endgame played out with me losing it became apparent that if Graeme won then he would go to A, I would go to B, but if Gus won I would go to A and he would go to B with Graeme out. Going into the last end they were peeled. Hold it there.
Meanwhile, Andrew Woolston had peeled with Laura Beever the previous day and they were both on 3 points - if they both won then whichever had the more ends would go above whichever of Gus and Graeme lost and would qualify for the C Final. Laura finished her game first and Andrew then knew that he needed to win the last end against me to finish above her. He was leading me 6-2 - but I was lying (thus Laura would qualify) but I had a slim chance with my last stone to get the 4 to peel the game and guarantee myself a final even if Graeme beat Gus. As I began to consider my options for my last stone, Graeme threw his last stone on the other sheet and ........it was a measure - so I still had to try for the 4 as I could not really hang around waiting for the measure - I had strung it out enough already!!
In the end my bid for the 4 and the peel failed to come off but.........Gus won the measure and I was safely in the A Final and Gus was in the B while Graeme was out. Meanwhile in going for the 4 I had actually taken my own shot out giving Andrew the end and pushing him into the C Final above Laura - but only just - they had the same number of points, ends scored and shots scored and it went down to the shots up before Andrew broke the tie!
The other group was won by Ken Horton, who had a strong English contingent in his team. Hugh Stewart was second and Adrian Meikle was third.
In the idle moments before the Finals began it struck me that the Welsh International Bonspiel was really living up to its name this year - of the 24 players in the 3 finals, 17of them had at one time played for their country and all 4 Home Nations were represented. The full list:
John Brown (England Men and Senior Men)
Lana Watson (England Women and Mixed)
Alison Barr (England Senior Women)
Ken Horton (Scotland Junior Men, Men and Senior Men)
Lorna Rettig (England Women, Mixed and Mixed Doubles)
Ben Fowler (England Junior Men and Mixed Doubles)
Liz Horton (Scotland Senior Women)
Hugh Stewart (Scotland Senior Men)
Carolyn Hibberd (Ireland Women and Senior Women)
Jim Stirling (Scotland Senior Men)
Gus Storrie (Scotland Senior Men)
Adrian Meikle (Wales Men and Mixed)
Dawn Watson (Wales Mixed)
Andy Tanner (Wales Men and Mixed)
Andy Woolston (Wales Junior Men and England Men and Mixed)
Lesley Gregory (Wales Women and Mixed)
Martin Gregory (Wales Mixed)
Into the A Final then against my old team mate from 4x years ago, Ken Horton - usual scenario - lose the toss, lose the first end - but this time it was the third end as we blanked the first two - a situation repeated next door in the C Final between Adrian and Andrew. A quick reply with a 3 at the 4th end and then it was back to 4-4 after 6 - with last stone I was only able to take a 1 at the 7th and things looked to be against us but we were able to steal the 8th for a famous 6-4 victory.
Hugh Stewart won the B Final against Gus Storrie and Adrian Meikle beat Andrew Woolston in the C Final.
And then here we are back home again - a weekend of family stuff and then back North for the next two weekends - to Greenacres for the tournament formerly known as the Gormac (where I am subbing for an injured player) and then to Stranraer for the I'Anson before 8 days in Stavanger at the Europeans. Two trophies in two weekends so far - can it continue - keep watching for further updates!!
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Wales' Grand Slam at 4 Nations
In the early years of the 4 Nations Wales always struggled to win trophies, as a grand tally of just 3 out of 24 in 8 years demonstrates. Things turned around in 2008 when they won their first grand slam of all three for which they compete - the Kay Trophy v England, the Welsh Stone v Scotland and the Meikle Trophy v Ireland.Since then they have always collected at least one every year until this year they got their second grand slam with two substantial victories over Scotland (46-18) and England (33-19) and a closer one over Ireland (27-24).
England won twice - beating Ireland 25-24 and their men defeating Scotland 58-45 while Ireland beat Scotland 24-22 and the Scottish women won their country's only trophy by defeating the English women in the Connie Miller by 25-8.
Snowfall in the South meant that some of the English team were unable to travel and this affected their women's teams in particular. In addition the Welsh were also short and both teams were helped out by local curlers, reflecting the spirit in which these games are played.
FINAL RESULTS
Connie Miller Trophy (England v Scotland women)
Debbie Hutcheon 4 Gail Munro 8
Debbie Hutcheon 4 Gail Munro 17
Tom Ballantyne Trophy (England v Scotland men)
John Brown 10 Alan Russell 8
John Sharp 4 John Paul 7
Kerr Alexander 5 Alan Durno 7
Tommy Campbell 8 David Jones 3
Alastair Fyfe 7 Alan Durno 8
John Brown 9 James Carswell 4
John Sharp 9 David Jones 4
Michael Sutherland 6 Alan Russell 4
Kay Trophy (England v Wales)
Doug Andrews 7 Andy Tanner 12
Alastair Fyfe 6 Hugh Meikle 6
Michael Sutherland 3 Andy Tanner 8
Debbie Hutcheon 3 Lesley Gregory 7
Turnbull Trophy (England v Ireland)
John Sharp 7 Bill Gray 5
John Brown 7 David Whyte 7
John Brown 3 Peter Wilson 10
Alison Barr 8 Marie O'Kane 2
Welsh Stone (Scotland v Wales)
Euan Lawrence 1 Andy Tanner 12
Robin Aitken 7 Adrian Meikle 9
Hazel Swankie 7 Laura Beever 7
Alan Durno 3 James Pougher 18
Marshall Millennium Trophy (Scotland v Ireland)
Kate Adams 7 Fiona Turnbull 6
Euan Lawrence 5 Bill Gray 8
Euan Lawrence 8 Bill Gray 5
Robin Aitken 2 Neil Fyfe 5
Meikle Trophy (Wales v Ireland)
Lesley Gregory 6 Neil Fyfe 8
Adrian Meikle 7 Peter Wilson 6
Lesley Gregory 7 Fiona Turnbull 4
Adrian Meikle 7 Jim Winning 6
England won twice - beating Ireland 25-24 and their men defeating Scotland 58-45 while Ireland beat Scotland 24-22 and the Scottish women won their country's only trophy by defeating the English women in the Connie Miller by 25-8.
Snowfall in the South meant that some of the English team were unable to travel and this affected their women's teams in particular. In addition the Welsh were also short and both teams were helped out by local curlers, reflecting the spirit in which these games are played.
FINAL RESULTS
Connie Miller Trophy (England v Scotland women)
Debbie Hutcheon 4 Gail Munro 8
Debbie Hutcheon 4 Gail Munro 17
Tom Ballantyne Trophy (England v Scotland men)
John Brown 10 Alan Russell 8
John Sharp 4 John Paul 7
Kerr Alexander 5 Alan Durno 7
Tommy Campbell 8 David Jones 3
Alastair Fyfe 7 Alan Durno 8
John Brown 9 James Carswell 4
John Sharp 9 David Jones 4
Michael Sutherland 6 Alan Russell 4
Kay Trophy (England v Wales)
Doug Andrews 7 Andy Tanner 12
Alastair Fyfe 6 Hugh Meikle 6
Michael Sutherland 3 Andy Tanner 8
Debbie Hutcheon 3 Lesley Gregory 7
Turnbull Trophy (England v Ireland)
John Sharp 7 Bill Gray 5
John Brown 7 David Whyte 7
John Brown 3 Peter Wilson 10
Alison Barr 8 Marie O'Kane 2
Welsh Stone (Scotland v Wales)
Euan Lawrence 1 Andy Tanner 12
Robin Aitken 7 Adrian Meikle 9
Hazel Swankie 7 Laura Beever 7
Alan Durno 3 James Pougher 18
Marshall Millennium Trophy (Scotland v Ireland)
Kate Adams 7 Fiona Turnbull 6
Euan Lawrence 5 Bill Gray 8
Euan Lawrence 8 Bill Gray 5
Robin Aitken 2 Neil Fyfe 5
Meikle Trophy (Wales v Ireland)
Lesley Gregory 6 Neil Fyfe 8
Adrian Meikle 7 Peter Wilson 6
Lesley Gregory 7 Fiona Turnbull 4
Adrian Meikle 7 Jim Winning 6
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Will they ever win one??
A perplexing title perhaps but see if you can guess who we are talking about here.
They entered this competition in 2003 and have played 52 games since then without winning one. They have lost 13 of those games without scoring a shot and have a total shots aggregate of 83 for and 734 against. This year for the first time they scored more than 4 shots in a game in what was probably their best year to date as they scored 19 shots over 8 games and scored in every one of them. There is a job out there for somebody to go and coach this team because they keep coming back for more and if they are that keen we need to help them improve.
Their male equivalent entered the competition in 2003 and won their first game - but have not won any since - that is 58 successive losses but they have come much closer to that elusive win having lost one of those games at an extra end and a few others by just one shot.
You have to admire the way in which these teams keep returning to participate in the World B (2002-2004) / Pacific Asia Junior Championships (2005 onwards) - we are of course talking about Team Australia - we salute you for your perseverance and just wish we could get down under to help you out and find you decent curling ice to play on.
Is there a volunteer out there who fancies a winter in Australia? I am sure the Australian Curling Association would love to hear from you.
Oh and the identity of the team which the Australian boys beat in that first game - that would be Team Wales!!
They entered this competition in 2003 and have played 52 games since then without winning one. They have lost 13 of those games without scoring a shot and have a total shots aggregate of 83 for and 734 against. This year for the first time they scored more than 4 shots in a game in what was probably their best year to date as they scored 19 shots over 8 games and scored in every one of them. There is a job out there for somebody to go and coach this team because they keep coming back for more and if they are that keen we need to help them improve.
Their male equivalent entered the competition in 2003 and won their first game - but have not won any since - that is 58 successive losses but they have come much closer to that elusive win having lost one of those games at an extra end and a few others by just one shot.
You have to admire the way in which these teams keep returning to participate in the World B (2002-2004) / Pacific Asia Junior Championships (2005 onwards) - we are of course talking about Team Australia - we salute you for your perseverance and just wish we could get down under to help you out and find you decent curling ice to play on.
Is there a volunteer out there who fancies a winter in Australia? I am sure the Australian Curling Association would love to hear from you.
Oh and the identity of the team which the Australian boys beat in that first game - that would be Team Wales!!
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Tidying up the loose ends in Prague
So here we are at the last day of the EJCC and after yesterday's confusing and exciting day what did we end up with??
GIRLS - Fairly straightforward here eventually: Germany beat Estonia, Hungary beat Latvia and Denmark beat Poland in the last round robin games which means that the semi-finals will be Germany v Hungary and Italy v Denmark.
BOYS - Estonia beat Austria 5-4 in the last round robin game which meant that they finiahed tied on 4-1 with each other and with Netherlands - Netherlands finished top with the best DSC and Estonia and Austria had to meet again in a tie breaker which went to an extra end before Estonia repeated their victory, this time by 6-5.
In the other section Italy beat Turkey 5-3 which meant they tied for second behind unbeaten Denmark and meant that they also had to replay their game this morning to decide who was second - Italy had beaten Turkey and had the better DSC but had to do it all again and this they did by 7-2 in just 6 ends.
So the semi-finals will be Netherlands v Italy and Denmark v Estonia.
GIRLS - Fairly straightforward here eventually: Germany beat Estonia, Hungary beat Latvia and Denmark beat Poland in the last round robin games which means that the semi-finals will be Germany v Hungary and Italy v Denmark.
BOYS - Estonia beat Austria 5-4 in the last round robin game which meant that they finiahed tied on 4-1 with each other and with Netherlands - Netherlands finished top with the best DSC and Estonia and Austria had to meet again in a tie breaker which went to an extra end before Estonia repeated their victory, this time by 6-5.
In the other section Italy beat Turkey 5-3 which meant they tied for second behind unbeaten Denmark and meant that they also had to replay their game this morning to decide who was second - Italy had beaten Turkey and had the better DSC but had to do it all again and this they did by 7-2 in just 6 ends.
So the semi-finals will be Netherlands v Italy and Denmark v Estonia.
Monday, January 07, 2013
Happy New Year from Prague (continued)
In the last blog I began talking about the girls competition - and just to remind you and to continue the story - here is what I said before:
GIRLS - There are 12 teams entered in the EJCC, a rise of 3 since last year and only the second time that the numbers have been above 10 since 2005 and 2 sections have been required. The teams playing are from Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey. Italy won last year with an undefeated 9-0 record but came straight back down in Ostersund last year. Only one team was relegated as Russia, as hosts, are already in the WJCC, having finished 3rd last year.
Germany and Poland have been ever present in the EJCC since 2005 although Germany has qualified twice from it but been relegated straight back down again. Of the teams that have previously qualified from the EJCC only Italy and Germany are here this week and, as with the boys, they are both in the same section.
There is one game left in the girls draw - at 1830 UK time tonight. In Section WA Italy suffered their first defeat at the hands of unbeaten Germany and are finished their round robin games on a 4-1 record. Germany are undefeated on 4-0 and tonight face Estonia who are on 3-1 and so must win to stay in the competition. It would appear to be a Germany, Italy one-two in this section but should Estonia pull off the shock win then it would go down to the DSC results to decide ranking.
Italy have finished with a DSC of 39.5 which is currently better than either Germany (83.1)or Estonia (50.1), though both could still improve. The Germans will not be able to better either of the other 2 even if they draw the button and so would inevitably be in the tie break for second position if they lose - so it looks like a must win for Germany to save themselves the worry of a tie-breaker.
In Section WB, England had a great chance to seal top slot this morning when skip, Hetty Garnier played another superb draw to the edge of the button which gave her an average that neither Denmark or Hungary, who were tied with England could beat. However a poor performance by the English girls saw them lose to Turkey who joined them on 3-2.
Tonight Denmark and Hungary who are both on 3-1 play Poland and Latvia respectively and if they both win then they will be 1st and 2nd respectively. Even if Hungary lose they will be ranked second because they beat both Turkey and England, and so a defeat for Denmark is what England and Turkey must hope for. And having written that I am now not sure if that would be the case or would Hungary have to play whichever of the other two has the better DSC (and that would be England). We shall know at 9.30 tonight when all the games are finished.
My predictions are for Denmark and Hungary to both win and finish 1st and 2nd, and the semi-finals to be Germany v Hungary and Italy v Denmark.
BOYS UPDATE
Meanwhile back with the boys and the games that are ongoing at the moment - the Austria-Estonia game on which much depends - see last post - is finely balanced at 3-2 to Austria after 5 ends while in the other crucial game in the other section Italy lead Turkey 4-3 after 6 ends. If Italy win they would be tied for second place with Turkey after the round robin but would be ranked second as they will have won their round-robin game. I am unclear however if this means that there will be a tie-breaker or not.
More later.
GIRLS - There are 12 teams entered in the EJCC, a rise of 3 since last year and only the second time that the numbers have been above 10 since 2005 and 2 sections have been required. The teams playing are from Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey. Italy won last year with an undefeated 9-0 record but came straight back down in Ostersund last year. Only one team was relegated as Russia, as hosts, are already in the WJCC, having finished 3rd last year.
Germany and Poland have been ever present in the EJCC since 2005 although Germany has qualified twice from it but been relegated straight back down again. Of the teams that have previously qualified from the EJCC only Italy and Germany are here this week and, as with the boys, they are both in the same section.
There is one game left in the girls draw - at 1830 UK time tonight. In Section WA Italy suffered their first defeat at the hands of unbeaten Germany and are finished their round robin games on a 4-1 record. Germany are undefeated on 4-0 and tonight face Estonia who are on 3-1 and so must win to stay in the competition. It would appear to be a Germany, Italy one-two in this section but should Estonia pull off the shock win then it would go down to the DSC results to decide ranking.
Italy have finished with a DSC of 39.5 which is currently better than either Germany (83.1)or Estonia (50.1), though both could still improve. The Germans will not be able to better either of the other 2 even if they draw the button and so would inevitably be in the tie break for second position if they lose - so it looks like a must win for Germany to save themselves the worry of a tie-breaker.
In Section WB, England had a great chance to seal top slot this morning when skip, Hetty Garnier played another superb draw to the edge of the button which gave her an average that neither Denmark or Hungary, who were tied with England could beat. However a poor performance by the English girls saw them lose to Turkey who joined them on 3-2.
Tonight Denmark and Hungary who are both on 3-1 play Poland and Latvia respectively and if they both win then they will be 1st and 2nd respectively. Even if Hungary lose they will be ranked second because they beat both Turkey and England, and so a defeat for Denmark is what England and Turkey must hope for. And having written that I am now not sure if that would be the case or would Hungary have to play whichever of the other two has the better DSC (and that would be England). We shall know at 9.30 tonight when all the games are finished.
My predictions are for Denmark and Hungary to both win and finish 1st and 2nd, and the semi-finals to be Germany v Hungary and Italy v Denmark.
BOYS UPDATE
Meanwhile back with the boys and the games that are ongoing at the moment - the Austria-Estonia game on which much depends - see last post - is finely balanced at 3-2 to Austria after 5 ends while in the other crucial game in the other section Italy lead Turkey 4-3 after 6 ends. If Italy win they would be tied for second place with Turkey after the round robin but would be ranked second as they will have won their round-robin game. I am unclear however if this means that there will be a tie-breaker or not.
More later.
Happy New Year from Prague
All the very best to all my readers for 2013 - having finished 2012 in Sweden I am now in Prague for the European Junior Challenge (EJCC), the top nation from which will join the rest of the World in Sochi in March for the World Juniors.Those who are interested in the detailed fortunes of the England teams can check that on my English Curling blog here, but I will try to be less parochial on this blog.
BOYS - There are 13 boys teams entered this year from Austria, Denmark, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and Turkey and they are divided into 2 groups - 1 of 6 and 1 of 7. After a round robin, there will be semi finals and a final with only the winners qualifying for the World Juniors. Italy won this challenge last year and are here again having come straight back down after finishing 9th with one win in the Worlds at Ostersund last year. Finland who finished 10th in the Worlds have not entered the EJCC this year. Although 2 teams were relegated only one will get promoted as Russia, as the host nation, have a guaranteed entry in Sochi and so are automatically 'promoted' from the EJCC level where they played last year.
Turkey are the newcomers this year, while Slovenia return for a second time and England for a third time. The EJCC has been a home from home for France and Poland since it started in 2005 with neither country having made it to the Worlds. One of the most consistent performers since 2006 has been Estonia who have on at least two occasions been just one win away from getting to the Worlds and their skip Harri Lill returns for his 7th (and last) appearance. In contrast the lead in his team has been playing for just 2 months!!
Of the teams that are here, Denmark (1), Germany (1) and Italy (2) are those who have qualified previously from the EJCC (which replaced the World Junior B Championship in 2005) and intriguingly all are in the same section and all are in contention as the round robin draws to a close. Denmark are undefeated and will qualify at the top and as I write this they have just beaten Germany leaving the Germans on 3 wins and 3 losses and out of the competition as Turkey and Italy, who are both on 3 wins have to play each other later today.
In the other section it is Austria who are leading the way, undefeated after 4 games and sure of at least a tie breaker. Estonia and the Netherlands are the other two teams in contention. Things may change before this paragraph is finished however as the Dutch are currently peels with England and if they lose that game Austria will be guaranteed a semi-final place and the Dutch will have to depend on Austria beating Estonia to get into a tie breaker with Estonia. Phew - lots of nervous energy here with players and coaches alike going through the full gamut of emotions. And the Dutch have just won and now they on 4 wins and finished their programme. So if Estonia beat Austria then there will be 3 teams on 4 wins and a tie breaker will be required.
This is a competition where there will only be one round of tie breakers and so a team could go out of the competition without losing a tie breaker. This first happened at the World Seniors in Denmark in April when Japan were the losers. Here it would happen if 3 teams tied for second place in a section and could not be separated on their round robin results between them - i.e if A beat B beat C beat A - as only one tie breaker will be played between the top 2 ranked teams, based on Draw Shot Challenge.
GIRLS - There are 12 teams entered in the EJCC, a rise of 3 since last year and only the second time that the numbers have been above 10 since 2005 and 2 sections have been required. The teams playing are from Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey. Italy won last year with an undefeated 9-0 record but came straight back down in Ostersund last year. Only one team was relegated as Russia, as hosts, are already in the WJCC, having finished 3rd last year.
Germany and Poland have been ever present in the EJCC since 2005 although Germany has qualified twice from it but been relegated straight back down again. Of the teams that have previously qualified from the EJCC only Italy and Germany are here this week and, as with the boys, they are both in the same section.
TO BE CONTINUED
BOYS - There are 13 boys teams entered this year from Austria, Denmark, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and Turkey and they are divided into 2 groups - 1 of 6 and 1 of 7. After a round robin, there will be semi finals and a final with only the winners qualifying for the World Juniors. Italy won this challenge last year and are here again having come straight back down after finishing 9th with one win in the Worlds at Ostersund last year. Finland who finished 10th in the Worlds have not entered the EJCC this year. Although 2 teams were relegated only one will get promoted as Russia, as the host nation, have a guaranteed entry in Sochi and so are automatically 'promoted' from the EJCC level where they played last year.
Turkey are the newcomers this year, while Slovenia return for a second time and England for a third time. The EJCC has been a home from home for France and Poland since it started in 2005 with neither country having made it to the Worlds. One of the most consistent performers since 2006 has been Estonia who have on at least two occasions been just one win away from getting to the Worlds and their skip Harri Lill returns for his 7th (and last) appearance. In contrast the lead in his team has been playing for just 2 months!!
Of the teams that are here, Denmark (1), Germany (1) and Italy (2) are those who have qualified previously from the EJCC (which replaced the World Junior B Championship in 2005) and intriguingly all are in the same section and all are in contention as the round robin draws to a close. Denmark are undefeated and will qualify at the top and as I write this they have just beaten Germany leaving the Germans on 3 wins and 3 losses and out of the competition as Turkey and Italy, who are both on 3 wins have to play each other later today.
In the other section it is Austria who are leading the way, undefeated after 4 games and sure of at least a tie breaker. Estonia and the Netherlands are the other two teams in contention. Things may change before this paragraph is finished however as the Dutch are currently peels with England and if they lose that game Austria will be guaranteed a semi-final place and the Dutch will have to depend on Austria beating Estonia to get into a tie breaker with Estonia. Phew - lots of nervous energy here with players and coaches alike going through the full gamut of emotions. And the Dutch have just won and now they on 4 wins and finished their programme. So if Estonia beat Austria then there will be 3 teams on 4 wins and a tie breaker will be required.
This is a competition where there will only be one round of tie breakers and so a team could go out of the competition without losing a tie breaker. This first happened at the World Seniors in Denmark in April when Japan were the losers. Here it would happen if 3 teams tied for second place in a section and could not be separated on their round robin results between them - i.e if A beat B beat C beat A - as only one tie breaker will be played between the top 2 ranked teams, based on Draw Shot Challenge.
GIRLS - There are 12 teams entered in the EJCC, a rise of 3 since last year and only the second time that the numbers have been above 10 since 2005 and 2 sections have been required. The teams playing are from Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey. Italy won last year with an undefeated 9-0 record but came straight back down in Ostersund last year. Only one team was relegated as Russia, as hosts, are already in the WJCC, having finished 3rd last year.
Germany and Poland have been ever present in the EJCC since 2005 although Germany has qualified twice from it but been relegated straight back down again. Of the teams that have previously qualified from the EJCC only Italy and Germany are here this week and, as with the boys, they are both in the same section.
TO BE CONTINUED
Friday, December 14, 2012
And now the end.......of many things.
The B Division medal games finally panned out as Finland v Latvia for gold and silver and England v Netherlands for bronze in the men's and Norway v Latvia for gold and silver and Austria v Estonia for bronze in the women's.
The results were:
Finland 7 Latvia 4
Netherlands 10 England 5
Latvia 7 Norway 4
Austria 8 Estonia 5
Finland will now challenge France for the last place in the World Men's Championship while there will be no challenge to Germany for last place in the World Women's Championship as Latvia are the hosts and therefore automatically qualify and there is nothing in the rules which allows the runners-up in that situation to challenge for the last World position.
So of the 4 teams that came down from the A Division last year only the Italian men have failed to go straight back up again - replaced by Finland. Looking in the reverse direction, only the Russian men have stayed up in the A Division after promotion last year. Their place in the B Division will surprisingly be taken by Germany who for the first time in the men's European Championships will not be in the top flight next year.
At the European Curling Federation's AGM the process to begin winding up the ECF began.
The results were:
Finland 7 Latvia 4
Netherlands 10 England 5
Latvia 7 Norway 4
Austria 8 Estonia 5
Finland will now challenge France for the last place in the World Men's Championship while there will be no challenge to Germany for last place in the World Women's Championship as Latvia are the hosts and therefore automatically qualify and there is nothing in the rules which allows the runners-up in that situation to challenge for the last World position.
So of the 4 teams that came down from the A Division last year only the Italian men have failed to go straight back up again - replaced by Finland. Looking in the reverse direction, only the Russian men have stayed up in the A Division after promotion last year. Their place in the B Division will surprisingly be taken by Germany who for the first time in the men's European Championships will not be in the top flight next year.
At the European Curling Federation's AGM the process to begin winding up the ECF began.
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The ECF
will not operate in 2013 though it will still exist in legal terms, but there will be no subscriptions collected. The WCF will take over the running of the European Championships and the European Mixed Championships which means that there will be no entry fees. The next ECF meeting will be at the 2013 Europeans in Stavanger, Norway and the final meeting will be at the 2014 Europeans in Champery, Switzerland. It was decided that basically it was not sensible to fully dissolve the ECF before the final WCF constitutional changes are known.
There were elections, however, to form a new Board to take the ECF through these final two years. Olle Riisanen of Finland was re-elected as President with Karel Kubeska of Czech Republic as Vice President. The elected regional reps are: Gerrit-Jan Scholten (NED), Bjorn Rudstrom (SWE), Hew Chalmers (SCO) and Marjan Petric (SLO) with the members at large being Edith Loudon (SCO), Andras Rokusfalvy (HUN) and Robert Susanj (SLO).
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