FROM SNOW TO WHOA!
Transcription
FROM SNOW TO WHOA!
Issue 1 – Saturday, March 28, 2015 FROM SNOW TO WHOA! Winter-weary Halifax turns its attention to Ford Worlds Canada’s Pat Simmons (left) and defending champion Thomas Ulsrud of Norway are making sure fans have a clear path to the Ford World Men’s Curling Championship. Page 2 Eye Opener - 2015 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship Got the ‘write’ stuff Saturday, March 28, 2015 Page 3 Team Canada looking for victorious ending to story T hey don’t have to replace them with Marc journalism degrees, Kennedy and Ben Herbert Carter Rycroft or Nolan from retired Kevin Martin’s Thiessen. No one on Team team and Brent Laing from Canada has ever worked for Glenn Howard’s fading a newspaper or for any other foursome to create a better media outlet. team to take forward to the But they think they know next Olympic quadrennial. a story when they see one. One problem. Koe still And they had to go to expect to Beijing with see one in these three their hotel guys and room mirrors try to play every together one morning last time TERRY here. wearing the “My maple leaf for JONES KOMOSKY feeling is Canada at the that this has World Curling the potential Championship to be a very in Beijing. neat story for a long time to They were a double dog come,” said Rycroft of the 10 disaster. days ahead at the Ford World Indeed, they became the Curling Championships. only Canadian team in “If you think of all the history to play three playoff factors that play into it, I games at the Worlds and think we have a chance to lose them all. It was only write a super sports story. the third time in the past 30 From what Pat Simmons years Canada didn’t come did at skip at the Brier, the home with a medal. change with John Morris “You know, the night after moving down from skip, all the winning the Brier in Calgary underlying stories from what and for the next few days, we happened to us at Worlds last started to talk about it. And year with the team breaking it’s pretty cool, I think,” said up and everything, it has all Thiessen of the story they’ve the makings of a very special authored and the ending they story in Canadian sports,” he might now write. added. “On the plane coming home “It’s crazy. It’s already an from Beijing, you look at amazing story. I don’t think each other and never know another Brier will likely if you’re going to get another ever have that story,” said one of those chances. It Thiessen of what happened really sucked that we gave three weeks ago in Calgary. up another opportunity there Last year, Edmonton area in China so it’s pretty cool curlers Rycroft and Thiessen we get another chance to won the Brier in Kamloops hopefully write a different along with Moose Jaw third ending. Pat Simmons and Calgary“It’s definitely exciting and based skip Kevin Koe. Then it really adds to it, I think, Koe dumped them, deciding that we have such sour tastes « Thomas Ulsrud is looking to repeat as world champion. Back-to-back winners a rarity DAVE Team Canada second Carter Rycroft feels his team has the makings of a beautiful story. in our mouths the way we played in Beijing and being on the losing end of all those playoff games.” Three weeks ago in Calgary, the trio — with John Morris replacing Koe, despite playing an abbreviated schedule and only qualifying for the playoffs in one event and finishing fifth in that — went and won the Brier again. And as is the team history, they did it the hard way. “I can’t believe that just happened,” said lead Thiessen moments after Simmons drew the button on 11th end to win 6-5 over Olympic gold medal winner Brad Jacobs and make the two front-end curlers the 29th and 30th to win three Briers. S e e J ONES Page 4 By JOHN KOROBANIK Eye Opener Associate Editor I t took Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud nine tries before he finally won a world men’s curling championship, so naturally he’s not eager to surrender that title here this week. If he thought it was tough winning his first title, now comes the real difficult challenge — trying to successfully defend the title. Ulsrud, third Torger Nergård, second Christoffer Svae and lead Håvard Vad Petersson won their first Ford World Men’s Curling Championship last year in Beijing, China with an 8-3 win over Oskar Eriksson of Sweden. To repeat as champions they will have to do something that has been accomplished only four times in the last 50 years of the men’s world championship — and all by Canadian teams. Ron Northcott in 1968-69, Don Duguid in 1970-71 and Randy Ferbey in 2010-11 are the only teams to win back-to-back world men’s titles. So why is it so difficult to defend the title? “That’s probably only because we haven’t been champions before,” the joking Ulsrud said with a hearty laugh as he sat in the stands of the Scotiabank Centre Friday, waiting for his team’s practice time. Seriously, though, Ulsrud goes into this event one of the heavy favourites, along with Canada, skipped by Pat Simmons, Sweden’s Niklas Edin and Ewan MacDonald of Scotland. Switzerland, which won the bronze last year, and Japan, which made the playoffs for the first time in 2014, are also expected to be involved come next weekend. Momentum, said Canadian third Johnny Morris, who won Olympic gold in 2010 and the world title in 2008 with Kevin Martin, and confidence, said Ulsrud, will be two key factors in ultimately determining this year’s champions. And you can add consistently strong play, said Simmons. S e e RA RI T Y Page 7 Page 4 Eye Opener - 2015 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship Jones FROM PAGE 2 “We were 2-3. We changed our skip. And we just won the Brier! I can’t believe that happened. We put a rock on the button on the 11th end to win the Brier. It’s every front-ender’s dream,” he said of Simmons taking over from Morris at skip in the only mid-Brier switch in skips in history and going 8-1 the rest of the way. Flash forward to Thursday, where the team held two practices at CFB Halifax to prepare for Saturday’s opener against John Shuster of the U.S.A. Rycroft can see a completely different script to how this one ends compared to the Worlds last year. “From the venue to it being Canada and Halifax to the dynamics of our team at this moment, it’s entirely the opposite. We are on a team that’s on the way up compared to a team being on the way to being out or done or whatever you want to call it. “I would say everything feels completely different than it felt like last year. It’s night and day different from going into the World’s last year and going into this one. “Forget the rest of the teams that are here. The favourites are probably the same teams as last year. I don’t think any of that has changed. We are what has changed. Just about everything involving us has changed.” Rycroft was in a different space than Thiessen and Simmons. He’d let it be known he intended to take this year off. “My goal was to win the world championship and be content. There might have been more on Nolan’s and Pat’s minds and on Kevin’s mind considering the circumstances,” said Rycroft. “Part of you says, ‘Things change and it happens all the time in curling,’ and part of you says, ‘If a guy doesn’t want to curl with you anymore, a guy doesn’t want to curl with you anymore.’ What I found tough was the perception that ‘Well, those guys are done, they’re not good anymore and that’s why he’s changing his team to have a new super team’,” said Thiessen. “We didn’t see ourselves like that and I think the Brier win kind of justifies our view of ourselves. We’re pretty good players, too. You can’t shake a stick at three Brier titles. I think that gave us a After John Morris moved to third during the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary and Pat Simmons took over as skip, Team Canada powered its way to the top. Saturday, March 28, 2015 Page 5 little more motivation, maybe, to show the public that we weren’t cast-offs and afterthoughts. There’s some validation there for us.” They’d been there before. They’d been world champions. Four years earlier, in Cortinad’Ampezzo, Italy, with Blake MacDonald at third, the team went 9-2 to finish second to Norway in the round robin but absolutely dominated in the playoffs, clobbering Norway 11-5 in the 1-2 game and 9-3 in the gold medal game. Koe, MacDonald and Rycroft all curled 95 per cent in the final. This was a horror story. “The one in Italy was a really small rink. It was 1,000 people in a 2,000seat arena. But Beijing was a 17,000seat arena and there were 75 people in the stands. It didn’t have the same feel that it will hopefully have here,” said Thiessen. “In China, I think our team handled a lot of the culture change very well over there. There were a lot of things going against us and we just didn’t find a way to fight through it,” he added. “We had all that stuff with the team coming to an end that came out before we went there. As much as you could think that you could be professional and you can put that behind you, there was maybe more to it than you could accept,” said Rycroft. “But having it in China had more to do with what happened than the team stuff, from my point of view. We were Northern Alberta boys going to a smogfilled city where I had a sore throat from 10 minutes after I landed there until I came home. “The ice conditions are hard to describe to people. For the first half of the week, we had water that wouldn’t freeze because it had petroleum products in it. It was unbelievable. “Any stories you may have heard of them having to go and import a bunch of water, that’s all true. They were in big trouble. Whatever they used as containers to bring the water in had been used to contain petroleum products before and when you went to freeze it, the petroleum would rise to the top and parts of it would freeze and other parts of it wouldn’t. “I can remember them going down the ice with a scraper and it was literally waves of water. It was bad. “The ice makers did their best, but it’s a country that isn’t real good at making fast decisions and changing things because that’s the way they work. You ALWAYS A GREAT STAY Four Points by Sheraton Halifax A full-service commercial printer with directmail capabilities, unique in Atlantic Canada. Bounty Print offers a wide range of services for all your printing needs including a newly installed wide format division. Bounty’s industry-leading team has the knowledge and experience to deliver great value and impact for your next print project. FOURPOINTSHALIFAX.COM 902 423 4444 On the button! ©2015 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. All Rights Reserved. For full terms and conditions, visit fourpointshalifax.com WELCOME TO HALIFAX maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca FROM NOW ON CALL US 3 NOVA SCOTIA LOCATIONS : princegeorgehotel.com HALIFAX Proud sponsors of the 2015 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship, March 28 - April 5, 2015. ENJOY RESPONSIBLY. 3667 Strawberry Hill Street 902 453.0005 Amy Curry_AK_Curling_Sponsor_AD_4.6x4.8.indd 1 TRURO 286 Robie Street 902 893.3703 ANTIGONISH *TM/MC Keith’s Brewery. 260 Main Street 902 863.4754 15-01-16 10:42 AM Terry Jones is a sports columnist with the Edmonton Sun and will be sharing his opinions on the Ford World Curling Championship with Eye Opener readers this week. Get your message out on target and on time. Four Points by Sheraton Halifax is located in the heart of downtown Halifax, just one block from the waterfront. Enjoy great rates, comfortable beds and so much more. OFFICIAL GOLD SPONSOR have to have seven meetings to turn a light on. So that was the start of it,” said the second, who won an Olympic silver medal with Kevin Martin in Salt Lake City in 2002. “The ice wasn’t great even late in the week, but by the end of the week we should have had that figured out,” said Thiessen. You could make the case that the situation affected Koe more than the three guys he was dumping. “I can’t speak for him. He won’t say too much. But he definitely looked a little mentally worn out with everything,” said Thiessen. “The news getting out before we got on the plane and having to do denials and stuff probably affected him a little bit. We were hoping it would be a swan song thing and it definitely didn’t work out that way.” Now they’re writing one of the all time great curling stories ever. Who knows how they’ll write the ending? 1675 Lower Water Street 902-424-7491 WHERE WHERE HISTORY HISTORY HAPPENS! HAPPENS! hammering home the rock BOUNTYPRI NT YOUR FULL-SERVICE COMMERCIAL PRINTER 902.453.0300 WWW.BOUNTYPRINT.COM History in the MAKING. Come see the ancient craft of crystal making at work on the Halifax Waterfront. 5080 George Street NovaScotianCrystal.com Page 6 Eye Opener - 2015 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship THE FAB FOUR The Eye Opener predicts the playoff-bound teams 1 2 3 4 NORWAY Alt for Norge Pat Simmons Niklas Edin Glencoe Curling Club Calgary Ewan MacDonald Karlstad Curlingklubb Karlstad Thomas Ulsrud Various curling clubs Snarøen Curling Club Oslo Saturday, March 28, 2015 Page 7 Rarity old. “Needed to have a quiet season for a couple of guys. If they wanted to stay married, they had to slow down a bit this year. So I’m excited to see how we do. FROM PAGE 3 “All the guys are prepared and “There are a lot of teams that excited to get out and start playwill beat you if you’re not playing ing, but then again, there could be really well,” said Simmons, who some rust at the beginning so we took over as skip of Team Canada just have to wait and see. Hopefulmidway through the Tim Hortons ly we’ll manage to get it started.” Ulsrud opens against China, the Brier, when the team had struggled U.S. and Russia. Only China, at to a 2-3 record. He 6-5, had a winwent on to lead ning record last them on an 8-1 run year. to win the Brier “On paper, and a berth in this we have a pretty year’s worlds. decent chance,” “There are the Ulsrud said of more experienced If they wanted to his early schedteams like Ulsrud ule. “We have a and Edin … Niklas stay married, they just played real- had to slow down a couple of game under our belts ly well at the last slam so you know bit this year. So I’m before we play they’re going to be excited to see how Canada, so that will be good.” coming in playing After taking well. Then there we do. long to finalare teams like Ja— Thomas Ulsrud so ly win a world pan and China... title, Ulsrud and Japan has real good chance after making the playoffs his team don’t want to give it up, but know they’ll need a lot of exlast year.” Simmons, who made a last-rock cellent play on their part, some key draw to the button to beat Brad Ja- shots from everyone and a little bit cobs and win the Brier, is comfort- of luck along the way. “Basically you have to have a able back in the role of skip and week where everything comes feels confident in his team. “We’re as prepared as we could together,” said Ulsrud. “We had be, I think. It was a quick turn- that last year in Beijing and we’re around, which was a good thing trying to recreate that. It’s small for us, I think. We had a little bit of things; all the players have to time to rest and catch up on some have the right feel for the ice. sleep after the Brier and then get There’s going to be a lot of close practising. I think we’re as ready as games and instead of wrecking on a guard you just sneak by, stuff we want to be.” Such might not be the case for Ul- like that. Curling is no different srud and his team who have played a from other sports, it’s all about confidence. As soon as you start lighter schedule this winter. “It looks good in practice. The winning a couple of games you problem is we haven’t played as gain confidence and hopefully it much this year,” said the 43-year- just keeps on going.” “ THANK YOU TO OUR FRIENDS The Canadians did it the hard way in making it on to the world stage, stumbling out of the gate at the Tim Hortons Brier, shuffling the lineup in mid-week and then roaring back to life to win it all under third-turned-skip Pat Simmons. This team knows adversity and how to deal with it. If Simmons can repeat the performance he had in Calgary, they’re the winners. The 2013 world men’s champ is back for another crack at the title after winning a bronze for his country at the Olympics last year, and he’s always tough. Edin will have a whole new lineup, and a good one, this time around after the breakup of his old team last year, but the Swedes look as stong as ever. Edin has won three medals at the worlds. Look for him to win a fourth. MacDonald has plenty of experience, and had plenty of success, at the world championship, but mostly throwing third or second stones. MacDonald skipped the Scottish lads last year in Beijing and stumbled home with a woebegone 3-8 record. That won’t sit well with him and he will want to make up for that with a stellar performance in Halifax. Mr. Fancy Pants is back at the world championship for a remarkable 11th appearance, and fifth in a row. The defending champion will be one of the favourites in a good field. But it’s tough to win back-to-back championships. Only four teams have won back-to-back titles in the history of the event, and they’re all from Canada. - 2015 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship CURLING QUIZ 1. Boy Meets Curl was: a) An episode of The Simpsons b) A made-for-TV curling movie starring Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey c) The first album released by Miley Cyrus d) A show starring Justin Bieber during the 2014 Continental Cup in Las Vegas 2. True or False: Team Europe alternate David Murdoch of Scotland is from Lockerbie and was an eyewitness to the Pan Am Flight 103 disaster in 1988 in which 259 passengers and 11 townfolk were killed. 3. Hans Wuthrich is: a) The first Swiss skip to win the world championship. b) A renowned icemaker from Gimli, Man. c) A well-known Swiss fashion designer who provides the Norwegian men with their crazy outfits. d) A Swiss watchmaker and official timekeeper for all major curling events, including the Olympics. 4. A curling crowd is best known for: a) Grey hair. b) Wearing funny hats. c) Trading pins. d) Drinking beer. e) All of the above. Answers Eye Opener 1. Boy Meets Curl was the 12th episode in the 21st season of The Simpsons. Marge and Homer join forces with Agnes and Seymour Skinner on a mixed team to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics. 2. True. David Murdoch was a 10-year-old boy on his way home when Pan Am Flight 103 dropped from the sky, approximately 300 yards from the car in which he was sitting. 3. Hans Wuthrich came to Canada as a Swiss exchange student in 1976. The Gimli, Man., resident has since become the pre-eminent icemaker in curling. He was responsible for the ice at both the Vancouver and Sochi Olympic Games in 2010 and 2014, respectively. 4. Curling fans like to trade pins that they stick on their funny hats that cover their grey hair while drinking beer. In other words, all of the above is the correct answer. Page 10 THE TEAMS . . . Saturday, March 28, 2015 Canada Page 11 Glencoe Club (Calgary) Skip — Pat Simmons Third — John Morris Second — Carter Rycroft Lead — Nolan Thiessen Alt. — Tom Sallows Coach — Earle Morris China Harbin Curling Club (Harbin, Heilongjiang) Skip — Jialiang Zang Third — Dejia Zou Second — Dexin Ba Lead — Jinbo Wang Alt. — Rongrui Zhang Coach — Hongchen Li Czech Rep. Finland Italy Japan CK Brno (Brno) Skip — Jirí Snitil Third — Lukas Klíma Second — Martin Snitil Lead — Jindrich Kíiitzberger Alt. — Samuel Mokris Coach — Brian Gray Hit the broom, then hit the town. Just steps from your hotel, you can savour the best Maritime cuisine, from expertly prepared lobster at award-winning restaurants to fresh local produce from our farmer’s market. No matter what you do, we guarantee an unforgettable East Coast experience. NOVA SCOTIA CANADA For more ideas, visit destinationhalifax.com DHFX-0486-R-2015 Men's Curling Championship_halfpage.indd 1 2015-01-20 4:22 PM Kisakallio Curling Club (Lohja) Skip — Aku Kauste Third — Kasper Hakunti Second — Pauli Jäämies Lead — Janne Pitko Alt. — Leo Mäkelä Coach — Tomi Rantamäki ASD Trentino Curling Club (Cembra) Skip — Joel Retornaz (3rd stones) Third — Amos Mosaner (skip stones) Second — Daniele Ferrazza Lead — Andrea Pilzer Alt. — Sebastiano Arman Coach — Gianandrea Gallinatto Karuizawa Curling Club (Karuizawa) Skip — Yusuke Morozumi Third — Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi Second — Tetsuro Shimizu Lead — Kosuke Morozumi Alt. — Yuta Matsumura Coach — Hatomi Nagaoka Page 12 Eye Opener - 2015 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship Norway Snarøen Curling Club (Oslo) Skip — Thomas Ulsrud Third — Torger Nergård Second — Christoffer Svae Lead — Hårvard Vad Petersson Alt. — Markus Snovehoiberg Coach — Pal Trulsen Russia Various clubs Skip — Evgeny Arkhipov Third — Alexander Kozyrev Second — Artur Razhabov Lead — Anton Kalalb Alt. — Alexey Stukalskiy Coach — Vasiliy Gudin Scotland Various clubs Skip — Ewan MacDonald Third — Duncan Fernie Second — Ruairidh Greenwood Lead — Euan Byers Alt. — David Murdoch Coach — David Reid STAY O N TO P OF YOUR GAME PL AN. S TAY W I T H M A R R I OT T. • Indoor pool, fitness centre & full-service spa • Fresh cuisine at harbourstone sea grill & pour house • 5-minute walk to Scotiabank Centre BOOK YOUR GETAWAY TODAY AT MARRIOT T.COM OR CALL 1.800.943.6760 HALIFAX MARRIOTT HARBOURFRONT HOTEL 1 9 1 9 U P P E R W AT E R S T . , HALIFAX, NS PROUD SPONSOR OF THE FORD WORLD MEN’S CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP Saturday, March 28, 2015 Sweden Karlstads Curlingklubb (Karlstad) Skip — Niklas Edin Third — Oskar Eriksson Second — Kristian Lindström Lead — Christoffer Sundgren Alt. — Henrik Leek Coach — Fredrik Lindberg Page 13 Switzerland CC Bern (Bern) Skip — Marc Pfister Third — Enrico Pfister Second — Reto Keller Lead — Raphael Märki Alt. — Sven Michel Coach — Pius Matter U.S.A. Duluth Curling Club Madison Curling Club Skip — John Shuster Third — Tyler George Second — Matt Hamilton Lead — John Landsteiner Alt. — Craig Brown Coach — Pete Fenson Page 14 Eye Opener - 2015 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship Saturday, March 28, 2015 Page 15 Proud Event Partner This has been the winter from hell for Nova Scotians (without the heat, of course) and it has created havoc throughout the province. Snow storm after snow storm has enveloped city and country, and made scheduling and transportation a nightmare for many. You can add Neil Huston to that list. The event manager of the Ford World Curling Championship, which opens at the Scotiabank Centre today, has had it up to here with the snow, and is glad the event is ready to kick off. But he admits it’s been a struggle. “Two storms hit here and I got to experience the big one,” says Houston. “It was quite impressive to see because if you were out and about downtown, there were no lights on, no businesses, no buses — no nothing going on. Just to get to the arena, which is usually a 20-minute walk from the Westin for me, took about 45 minutes. And you had to walk down the middle of the streets. “But the city has done an amazing job. A week ago there was still no parking downtown.” Houston, who lives in Vancouver but organizes specific major curling events, says some things ultimately were delayed because of the storms. “We had a lot of shipments coming in and it was tough getting into the loading docks because the snowbanks were so deep. They had to shovel just to get an opening. Some stuff was late getting here and we’re still waiting for some shipments, so everything is backlogged. It’s made the last couple of days to set up a bit more of a rush. But we’ll have everything ready on time.” There could be a silver lining to all that snow on the ground. Houston thinks it may help ticket sales. “You know what,” he says, “a lot of people for many days couldn’t get out. They might be a little stir crazy and want to get out and see Neil Houston hopes to see a silver something live.” lining to Halifax’s weather woes. 1-800-RESPOND 2015 Just the thing for stir-crazy fans TIME TODAY 2:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. DRAW SUNDAY 9:30 a.m. 2:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. Read Herald Sports for complete daily coverage of the 2015 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship Subscribe for as little as $3/week THECH.CA/SUBSCRIBE_NOW PROUD SUPPORTER OF THE 2015 FORD WORLD MEN’S CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP thewestinnovascotian.com 1.877.993.7846 B Russia vs. Japan Norway vs. China C D Scotland vs Italy Finland vs. Cze Sweden vs. Finland USA vs Canada 3 4 Finland vs. Scotland 5 Sui vs. USA Italy vs. Sweden Canada vs. China Norway vs. Russia Russia vs. Sui Norway vs. USA Canada vs Sweden Cze. vs. Japan Italy vs. China MONDAY 9:30 a.m. 2:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 6 7 8 Cze vs. Canada Japan vs. Finland USA vs. Italy USA vs. Finland Sui vs. Italy Russia vs. Canada China vs. Japan Cze. vs. Scotland Sweden vs. Norway Norway vs. Scotland Russia vs. Sweden China vs. Sui TUES 9:30 a.m. 2:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 9 10 11 Scotland vs. Russia China vs. Cze Sui vs. Sweden Cze vs. Sweden Finland vs. Norway China vs. USA Sui vs. Finland Japan vs. Canada Italy vs. Russia Japan vs. Italy Scotland vs. USA Canada vs. Norway WED 9:30 a.m. 2:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 12 13 14 Italy vs. Norway Russia vs. Finland Canada vs. Scotland Canada vs. Sui Sweden vs. Japan Norway vs. Cze USA vs. Sweden Scotland vs. Sui Finland vs. China China vs. Russia Italy vs. Cze USA vs. Japan THURS 9:30 a.m. 2:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 15 16 17 Cze vs. USA Sweden vs. China Japan vs. Sui Scotland vs. China USA vs. Russia Italy vs. Finland Norway vs. Japan Canada vs. Italy Russia vs. Cze Finland vs. Canada Sui vs. Norway Sweden vs. Scotland POSSIBLE TIEBREAKERS: ROCK SOLID COVERAGE Official Ford World Men`s Curling pins are available at the Souvenir Store! A Cze. vs. Sui Japan vs. Scotland Thank you to all the volunteers 1 2 WORLD DRAW One draw Two draws (If necessary) DATE April 3 April 3 April 3 TIME 9:30 a.m. 9:30 a.m. 2:30 p.m. PLAYOFFS: PAGE PLAYOFF PAGE PLAYOFF SEMIFINAL BRONZE GOLD DATE April 3 April 4 April 4 April 5 April 5 TIME 7:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 10 a.m. 4 p.m. PAGE PLAYOFF SYSTEM 1 1 vs. 2 2 3 4 Final Semifinal 3 vs. 4 Page 16 It’s time to register for Pond Hoppers Are you a Pond Hopper? If you have crossed an ocean (Atlantic or Pacific) to attend a World Curling Championship (men’s or women’s), then you meet the one and only requirement for becoming a member of the Pond Hopper Club. The next step is to register, and once that is done you are a Pond Hopper for life! Pond Hopper registration takes place today through Monday (March 28-March 30) at the Halifax Metro Centre. There are no registration fees or dues. Later, come celebrate the 44th Annual Pond Hopper Awards Dinner and Dance at the World Trade & Convention Centre (Summit Suite) on Thursday, April 2. The party includes a sitdown dinner, awards program, and the music of the Gordon Tucker Band for your listening and dancing pleasure. Party tickets are available at the Pond Hopper registration desk through Monday, March 30. You must be a member or a guest of a member to attend. Pond Hopper registration schedule at Halifax Metro Centre: Today, March 28 — 11 a.m., 2 p.m and 7 p.m Sunday, March 29 — 9 a.m, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Monday, March 30 — 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Peggy’s Cove Village Don’t hurry too hard. While taking in the curling action, get outside between draws to discover hidden gems, delicious food and historic sites along the shores of the great Atlantic. All you have to do is take yourself there. Proud partner of the 2015 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship. Steele Ford is proud to be the Official Vehicle Sponsor for the 2015 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship. 3773 Windsor Street Halifax, Nova Scotia Phone: 902-982-3808 www.steeleford.com