Strong start for Scotties
It’s been years since Marilyn Bodogh was on the ice at a major curling championship, but she didn’t appear rusty when she stepped onto the sheet at Meridian Centre Saturday morning.
The St. Catharines resident and two-time world curling champion threw the ceremonial first rock Saturday to officially open the 2017 Scotties Tournament of Hearts women’s national curling championship. She and her team placed their rock right on target.
Bodogh, who won the Scotties in 1986 and 1996, said the tournament is a milestone for the women who compete in it.
“Usually when people talk about my career, they always mention the world championships, and I understand that,” Bodogh said. “But let me tell you that, as a curler, having the opportunity to represent your community and your province against other very skilled women is the most amazing experience.”
A victory at the Scotties can propel a curler’s career to the national team and even toward the Olympic Games, she said.
The Scotties, being held in St. Catharines for the first time, completed its first three days of a roundrobin tournament over the Family Day long weekend. The tournament continues through to Friday and the championship matches will be played Sunday.
Doug Geddie, vice-chair of the host committee, said the weekend went well for the event with the holiday Monday and Mother Nature contributing to a strong attendance.
“Monday has been very good,” Geddie said. “We had some ticket sales for families for Family Day and the weather has really helped out. People are not sitting at home in a blizzard wondering what to do. They are coming out to see the event.”
Geddie said the competition has been solid, with top-ranked Team Canada and Team Ontario performing as expected. He said it is too early to predict who will come out on top, but he said that the Newfoundland and Labrador team, led by Stacie Curtis who won the 2014 junior championships in St. Catharines, is putting in a strong performance.
He said tickets are still available for the tournament and championship games. For more information and tickets go to www.curling.ca/2017scotties. glafleche@postmedia.com Twitter: @grantrants
Curling for Dummies
For the uninitiated, curling can appear to be a baffling sport complete with its own odd rules and arcane language. So if you are heading down to Meridian Centre this week to take in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts championship, here are a few things you need to know. What the heck is it? Curling is a bit like shuffleboard, but with ice, really heavy rocks, brooms and a lot of shouting. Two teams compete in each match by throwing their rocks, or stones, across the sheet — the name for the ice surface — to the “house,” the blue and red bull’s-eye. Points are scored for the stones closest to the centre of that target. Curlers will attempt to place their rocks nearest to the centre and knock their opponent’s rocks out of play. They also place their own rocks in the house to protect those in scoring position. Skilled players can curve, or curl, their rocks around others that are already in the house to place them where they want to be. Matches at the Scotties consist of eight “ends,” or matches. The team with the highest score after the ends are completed wins. Two-time Scotties and world champion Marilyn Bodogh of St. Catharines calls curling “chess on ice” because the game is more about strategy and craft than it is about throwing stones with brute force. What’s with all the shouting? The player who throws a rock pushes out from the “hack,” foot pads that resemble starting blocks used by sprinters. Once the stone has been released, other players with brooms will sweep on the ice in front of it to speed it up or help guide its trajectory. The player who threw the rock will usually shout commands to the players with the brooms. Sweeping harder will reduce some friction under a stone, allowing it to travel faster.