2007-2008 GNCC Junior Playdowns : Thursday

Well it's nine o'clock at the Ramada hotel in Whitesboro, New York and Team Walker is thinking about bed. We have the massive ipod speakers hooked up, and the walls of our minuscule hotel room jam packed with cream cheese and shampoo literally shake. It's an early start tomorrow morning with a 7:30 AM team meeting and then a 9 AM draw. But after stopping by the club post-dinner, we are ready to get out on the ice and get going.

I got to see a little bit of sheet one and the overall ice conditions and it looks pretty generic -- more curl towards the wall and less away, the ice seems quick although I've heard complaints about weird spots. I don't like the new(?) format with choice of rocks pre-chosen, what if the Utica Curling Club happened to have quite a few bad rocks that could have an impact on the outcome of the game...? I guess it's a good thing we didn't have any practice time, at least then we don't KNOW about the rocks until about the fifth end and by that time it's either too late or not a problem. I could probably complain about a lot of other things, but I guess I won't.

Okay so it's 9:07, definitely time for bed.

GNCC Junior Playdowns Draw

Friday Dec. 28th
9:00 AM vs Bareiss (Utica)
2:00 PM vs Anderson (Philadelphia)

Saturday Dec. 29th
9:00 AM vs Beebe (Albany)
2:00 PM vs Morrison (Cape Cod & battle of the sisters and EMILY Walker's junior curling debut!!!)

Sunday Dec. 30th
9:00 AM vs Ely (Rochester)

All games played at the Utica Curling Club. Face paint and streaking encouraged. Having the early draw three days in a row kind of sucks. I heard some online scoring may be done of the Broomstones Curling Club website at www.broomstones.com so check that out. We declined CurlTV, they just aren't good enough for us (extreme sarcasm).

So yeah, feel free to bring us snacks or just say hi. Oh and if you're looking for a good time, we'll be staying at the Ramada. Look for blog updates.

Morgan Stanley Curling Classic

Another weekend of traveling and curling has come and gone and we are closer than ever to what really matters.

It's certainly a relief to be back in a state where I can walk around with a mean look on my face and not be questioned about it. And for all I've said about Canada, Wisconsin is ten times worse.

We played five games total against Bonot (Thunder Bay Canadian team), Ryan Lemke, Aileen Sormunen, Matt Mielke, and Pete Fenson. And we lost all of them. Looking back, this might not have been the best event for us because it seems to be more of a men's cashspiel (I guess it is a men's event on WCT) and we were out of our league. Playing Fenson was certainly humiliating for an assortment of reasons, as was sitting with them and Team McCormick after the game and watching all the rumors come true. But, it was nice to play US teams for once. And we definitely had some close games. So overall a good time. And any experience that is not east coast teams is good for us.

Thanks to the family who housed us, and to Josh Scherz from Bela-OLHAO, our sponsor, who made it out for the weekend to watch some of our and the other teams' games.

Some highlights from the weekend:
-Discovering Oregon's nicest hostess, thankfully not staying in a shack, the thrill of risking staying in a shack.
-Belting out Elton John's "Rocketman" at 7AM while driving through Wisconsin farmland, determining that our true calling is not curling but instead a four-part harmonious chorus.
-Cheese curds and Italian beef actually tasting alright, although understanding they still and will always look dreadful.
-Meeting Dean Gemmell and realizing he looks exactly like his voice sounds, not joking.
-Hanging around the curling club all day because of a snowstorm and then not being able to fly home because the storm has figured out where you live and is stalking you. (And has the capability to divide itself and multiply, covering two cities at once).

GNCC regional playdowns here we come, Utica, NY, Dec. 27ish to 30ish fingers crossed, come watch and support your favorite junior women's curling team.

Broomstones Junior Spiel

Also - I think it's a true testimony to the TOTAL DOMINATION of our team that three out of three (ALL) who played in the Broomstones Junior Bonspiel this past weekend were in the finals. Unfortunately Nikki chose the wrong team.



Us with the Hot Chillys Turtle. (I look silly).

The New Shoe Dilemma

On a slight side track from the extremely eventful and exciting lifestyle of a junior curler on Team Walker...

The team decided to purchase new shoes this season for a couple reasons -- mostly because our beloved balanceplus were worn out to the point of disrepair. Instead of sending them back to the manufacturer as we most likely will eventually do, we decided investing in a new pair might be the safest track to take. Well, this turned out to be a poor decision.

First of all we went through our "club store" which went through Steve's Curling Supplies so as to avoid extra customs fees. Good plan, except balanceplus was "backordered" for the deluxe shoe for about three months or something, so we JUST got the shoes we ordered back at the end of the summer. (and to make things more difficult, Jillian's shoes weren't even ordered with the original shipping, but that's a whole different story).

Now I would be completely fine paying 300 dollars for shoes AND waiting a long time for them -- they are good shoes, probably the best and since I dislike other brands, my next option would be to make my own curling shoe -- BUT while practicing for the first time in them today, I discovered that my gripping foot sole is already wearing away. Not only that but Nikki and Laura's have been as well. Now wait a minute, wasn't this the reason we bought new shoes in the first place, because our old ones were falling apart? Needless to say, I don't recommend buying balanceplus shoes at the moment, at least until they "fix" (as I'm hoping they will) this problem of weak plastic or whatever it is on the bottom of the shoe. Until then I'm three hundred dollars poorer and unhappy about it.

On a more positive note - Team Walker has a full practice schedule in store for the Thanksgiving break. We are all home! And we will be gearing up for the Morgan Stanley Cash in Madison next weekend as there is a certain team that we would really like to beat!

Ottawa

Well, we ended up 0-4 at the OVCA Junior Superspiel. We've decided that the event must be cursed, as we are 0-8 at it. We started the weekend off with an 8am game at the City View Curling Club against a team from Newfoundland skipped by Julie Devereaux, who played lead for the Canadian Junior National Team that finished second at the junior worlds. We played moderately well this game, although we struggled with the ice which was covered in fuzzy black fabric from the other team's new socks. The game went to the last rock, an open hit by Devereaux to win 5-4.

Next we took on the Julia Weagle rink of Ottawa, again at City View. We played this team last year, losing in an extra end in our first game of the spiel. This time we struggled with the ice, losing 3-7. Next we played the Samantha Davis rink of Quebec at the Granite Curling Club. Again, the ice played a big role in the decision of the game. Karyn described the game as a "slugfest," which is completely appropriate, as the ice was around 22 seconds for the whole game. The first team to get to the four foot usually scored in any given end. We lost 7-2, which dropped us into the Consolation event, and our first game against boys this season. We took on the Mark Fleischhaker rink of Ottawa at the Carleton Heights Curling Club. Although we lost 5-2, we worked alot of things out in this game, ending the weekend on a (relative) high note.

The American guys enjoyed a bit more success this weekend, qualifying for the championship round, and losing in the semi-finals.

Here are a few pictures from the event, enjoy!

Before our game against Samantha Davis at Granite Curling Club. Check out our new uniforms! Thanks Swervepoint and Hot Chillys!


Filling our plates at the Saturday night banquet at the Granite Curling Club.


In the car, exploring Ottawa, the Capital City!


Canadian Parliament:


Laura and I found some random modern artwork in the middle of a field----

Ottawa thus far

Well, it's been a pretty rough weekend so far... we are 0 and 3. There's no excuse for it really, other than sucking, and having a lot of other things going on in our lives that might make it more difficult to stay focused.

Win or lose, fun or no fun, I still love the way it feels to throw a curling rock, so at this point, I'm going to run with that.