Last curling weekend

Been quiet the last couple of days with curling stuff take up most of my spare time. Unlike previous bonspiels where my involvement normally began and ended with curling games, this one I decided I tried to be more involved in the organizing of it. Which is a bit more work than you might expect for this kind of event. There were 16 teams playing, and we tried to make sure that each team got at least three games.

It went pretty well. Only a couple of hiccups. A couple of games got behind schedule and we, um, had to take one person to the hospital...

She was a new player, she was running down the ice wearing sneakers and slipped. That happens, but managed to crack her head on the ice. Fortunately we had some people with emergency training on the ice playing and were able to make sure she was fine. Just a sizable goose egg on the back of her head and a couple of stitches. But it was a bit of a scare for a moment.

As for how my team did, well, not so great. Finished with a 2-2 record. This was also the first time I had curled in about a month because my team didn't make the play-offs in league play. So there was a bit of rust to knock off. Then again, in the past curling season, teams I curled on won two bonspiels, and lost in the final of another one. I won a plane ticket, 100 kg of freight, $125 in gift cards from Arctic Ventures and a handful of smaller prizes. I don't think I have much right to complain about coming up bust this weekend.

Although I did note that one player, Curtis, won his second plane ticket this year. So obviously we're going to have his legs broken before the first bonspiel of next year.

This was the last games of the season. As I type this, they're taking the ice up. Which is always kind of sad. But it wasn't a bad season. Some challenges and organization problems. But I think we've got a good group of people who said at our AGM after the games last night (nothing like keeping a captive audience and holding the AGM before saying who won the plane tickets and Ottawa Senators tickets that Canadian North donated) that they would be willing to help with the club this year. We're looking at getting some new equipment, doing more advertising for events, getting more people involved, setting up coaching clinics...

And, of course, there's the Mixed Nationals in November, which we're still recruiting volunteers for. So yeah, there's going to be a lot going on in the next year.

I know some of you who read this blog look forward to the end of curling season because you get at least a six month reprise from having to read any more posts about curling. Sorry, that's probably not going to be the case this year. I'm afraid you're going to have to deal.

Oh, and about the Women's semi-final game between Canada and Japan...I missed most of it, but people were relaying the highlights to me. And I'll say this about Jennifer Jones. She's good, there's no question about that. But there's the saying that it's better to be lucky than good. And honestly, Jones must have had a horse shoe inserted somewhere this season, because she's burning through luck faster than a SUV using gas on a freeway. Unreal.

Last Five
1. After the rain (live) - Blue Rodeo
2. Highway patrolman (live) - Bruce Springsteen*
3. Separated by motorways - The Long Blondes
4. Down in the ground where the dead men go - The Pogues
5. China in your hands - T'Pau