Club Curling Coming to National TV
Previewing the upcoming Everest North American Club Curling Championships
Before I jump into everything here, I wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone who read and/or subscribed my first post here on Substack. I really appreciate all who shared their feedback and sent me messages. While I only had a month off before starting summer league in July, I truly cannot wait for the bonspiel season to get started across the country.
If you think others might enjoy (or even vehemently disagree with) the content I’m putting out, please share this with your curling circles. This also will hopefully make it easier for me to collect information about playdowns and events which in turn makes it easier to share news to highlight those curlers! I want to ensure I highlight as many amateur curlers as I can.
Everest North American Club Curling Championships
It was exciting news when Everest, Curling Canada, and USA Curling announced last year that winners of the USA and Canada club championships would face off on national TV. The inaugural event is just around the corner, with CBS Sports (USA) and TSN (Canada) set to broadcast the events live from Rock Creek Curling in Lafayette, CO.
The women’s match will take place on Tuesday, September 17th at 8pm ET with the men facing off on Wednesday, September 18th at 8pm ET. As this is the inaugural event, it’s hard to say what to expect. Everest recently shared the commentary team for the event: Bryan Mudryk, Marissa Roberto, Jennifer Jones, and Matt Hamilton. I think the combination of Hamilton and Jones is going to be extremely entertaining, and I cannot understate just how good Jennifer Jones has been when covering the Canadian Club Championships. I can’t wait to hear her thoughts on games next week and learn from her analysis.
CBS Sports recently aired highlight shows for both the men’s and women’s matchups which showed condensed versions of the respective teams’ championship games. I was only able to catch the tail end of the women’s highlight show on CBS Sports, but it was a great start to the investment in club curling and broadcasting amateur curling. I believe TSN has already broadcast the highlight shows once and will rebroadcast them this weekend. It would have been nice if CBS Sports did the same.
I cannot stress this enough: TUNE IN. If there can be even reasonable viewership numbers, this can be a great way to help other networks see the value of broadcasting one of the most highly rated Winter Olympic sports.
Now, onto the teams and games!
Women’s Matchup: Schroeder vs Burgess
The journey for Madison Curling Club’s Team Schroeder to this point has not been an easy one, but when it comes to intangibles, this team has it. Anyone who has followed their road not just at club nationals, but just to get to club nationals, has seen clutch draw after clutch draw and gutsy performances.
At Wisconsin club playdowns, Team Schroeder found themselves starting round robin play at 0-2, but proceeded to not drop another game on their way to being crowned as Wisconsin state champions. Then at club nationals, the team dropped their second game to North Dakota’s Podoll rink. Just like at playdowns, they would proceed to not lose again despite playing 3-handed for the entire event.
In the semifinals, Sidney Schroeder drew to the button in the 7th to tie the game, and then made this near-perfect draw to steal the win in the 8th (shoutout to lead Lois Buckingham for an incredible sweep to ensure this cleared the guard). In the finals, Celeste Taylor made a fantastic draw on her last, and Schroeder threw two great guards to steal the win in the rematch against Team Podoll.
The Burgess rink out of New Brunswick had their own challenging road to be able to represent Canada in Lafayette. After starting 2-0 with big wins against Northwest Territories and Quebec, they dropped two consecutive games. Just like Schroeder, they answered adversity with resolve and didn’t drop another game for the rest of the championship.
The team is a combination of experience and youth. Abby Burgess lost in the provincial final to eventual 2022 Club National Champion, Shaelyn Park, and Burgess returned with a player she had coached in juniors, Brooke Tracy, at vice as well as Hannah Williams at lead who is still eligible for juniors. And as if we needed any other reminders that Burgess is used to big games, the skip dropped only 2 games at the 2023 New Brunswick Scotties, both to the 12-time Scotties veteran Andrea Kelly.
Keys to the Game
I don’t think it’s unfair to say the skill cap in Canada club curling is higher than it is in the US. Just by sheer volume of curlers alone, they have a larger talent pool to pull from which organically makes the Canadian club championship a more competitive event.
Overcoming Team Burgess is a tall order, but I think the Schroeder rink can manage it if they can limit big ends while also keeping a lot of rocks in play without hammer. If no team scores more than 2 points in any end, and Schroeder can manage to steal an end or two, I like their chances. Team Schroeder has shown they can make huge shots when it counts, and they’ll need to on Tuesday night.
For the New Brunswickers, the key lies with front enders Samantha Crook and Hannah Williams getting ends set up in their favor. If they can control the front of the house, they’ll be in great position to control the game. This is a team that scored 3+ points 12 times in their championship run, and you don’t do that without a front end setting up the vice and skip for success.
Men’s Matchup: Berg vs Sherrard
On the men’s side, Team Berg (Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club, North Dakota) is representing the USA while Team Canada’s Team Sherrard will be making the trek to Colorado from Beaumont Curling Club, just outside of Edmonton.
Ryan Berg’s rink had the opportunity to win the USA Club Championships on their home ice, as Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club hosted club nationals in 2024. I don’t know that the Dakota Territory Curling Association gets enough credit for the quantity of high-level curlers they develop, and this team is a great representation of that.
While Ryan Berg is an experienced skip, the team is joined by a couple curlers who grew up in the Junior Nationals program in the USA. Second Josh Moore skipped a team at 2018 Junior Nationals and vice Tim Hodek skipped a North Dakota rink featuring alternate Ethan Sampson to a 3rd place finish in 2017. Their experience in competitive events showcased itself at club nationals as they rattled off 6 straight wins after an opening game loss.
It will be interesting to see what role Ethan Sampson will play at Rock Creek. Ethan threw lead rocks in the championship game in Fargo. He is listed as the alternate, but currently skips a team in the USA Curling High Performance pool. His team lost in the quarterfinals to Mike McEwen at the Saville Shootout this past weekend after going 4-1 in pool play. Even if he is on the bench for the match, he is an invaluable resource to have.
For Team Canada, Dan Sherrard is no stranger to success. The Alberta skip has won three club championships (2012, 2013, 2023), and even more impressively, their 2023 win came playing 3-handed for the entire event. Sherrard, vice Brandon Klassen, and Kyle Reynolds all played together in 2012 and 2013, and they went an astounding 10-0 at the 2023 club championships in Winnipeg.
The 2023 run in Winnipeg was dominant. The team had seven of their ten wins decided by 4 or more points. Their closest game came against Nova Scotia, where they entered the 8th end down 2 with hammer, and scored 3 to win. In the championship against Saskatchewan, they only allowed the Criton rink to score in one end as they cruised to a 7-2 victory.
Keys to the Game
This is probably far too simplistic of a view, but I believe this game truly will hinge on hammer control and hammer efficiency. In two of Sherrard’s 3 close games (won by 1 or 2 points) at club championships, his opponents converted with hammer at least twice. In the seven other games, his opponents converted with hammer a total of three times.
I don’t believe Berg is afraid to play cautious. He blanked each of the first three ends in the USA final vs Kizlyk. He finally converted for two points in the 4th, and after stealing one in the 5th, that ended up being what he needed.
I really hope this is not a low-scoring affair for TV and engagement purposes. I’d love to see haymakers being thrown by each team and tons of made shots and offense. I just don’t know if that will be the case.
Other News and Notes
I’ll have more on some of these items in future posts, especially once we get into October and the Arena National Championships, but a few updates from 5U and Arena Curling:
La Crosse Curling Club hosted the first ever Last Chance Qualifier for the Arena National Championship. Team Mewers (MoPac) secured the women’s slot, and Team Major (Mid-America) secured the men’s slot.
Wausau Curling Club announced on Facebook that they’re going to have streaming set up via Curling Stadium. They are planning to stream the Arena National Championship at the end of October. We have not had a livestreamed Arena Nationals in recent history, unless you count teams trying to stream games from their phones in Eveleth.
USA Curling made a modification to 5-and-Under eligibility, changing the “curling season” from a calendar year (January-December) to something more aligned with a traditional curling season (July 1-June 30). They’re going to grandfather in anybody who started during the 2019 calendar year to help with the transitions. I have been hoping for this change for a couple years, so I’m a big fan of the change