Recapping the Everest North American Club Championships
Looking back on the experience in-person as well as watching on TV
The Everest North America Curling Club Championships just wrapped up at Rock Creek Curling in Lafayette, Colorado. I had the opportunity to travel to Lafayette for the women’s match and then tuned in to CBS Sports for the men’s game on Wednesday.
Overall, this was an awesome event highlighting the type of curlers who deserve more recognition. If you missed the games, I’ll recap both matches and share some of my observations from Lafayette.
Schroeder vs Burgess
I’ll be honest, coming into this game, I just wanted it to be close. I wanted it to be good for TV. I had heard rumors that if one team was getting blown out, they might do some rules changes mid-game to help make it more TV-friendly. I wanted nothing to do with that.
So, it was with some nerves for audience and players alike, they took to the pebbled ice for practice and their draw to the button to determine hammer. I think the adrenaline might have kicked in for skip Sidney Schroeder, and her draw to the button would go through which gave hammer to Canada in the first end. The teams would exchange forces in each of the first two ends. I was impressed with Joanna Seboth early on. Team USA found themselves in some dicey situations, and she made some clutch shots to get things back under control.
The third end is where it got very interesting, and we started to see some the players being impacted by changes in the ice and needing to make some adjustments. Overall, teams generally tried to avoid throwing on the bleacher side of the ice, and the US got themselves set up with guards out front and a huge amount of pressure on the New Brunswickers. Burgess was forced to throw a draw on the bleacher side of the sheet, where few rocks had been thrown, and her draw came up short resulting in a steal of 3 for Team USA.
The 4th was an absolutely wild end. I realized with only a couple rocks left to be thrown that all but one rock had been removed from play. There were a million guards out front and a number of USA rocks scattered throughout the edge of the house. Teams were trying to play draws through ports and make tap-backs and runs. This was club curling!
It all ultimately came down to what might be the shot of the entire event. Sidney Schroeder had made a nice little tap back leaving Abby Burgess with only one shot. A red-red run, hoping to come down to the USA rock at the back of the house.
From where I was sitting, I had no idea what the angles were, so I didn’t know how Burgess was going to play this shot. I was starting to wonder if we were going to find out about sudden new rules with a blowout at hand, but the skip from Team Canada rendered those thoughts pointless as Burgess made the run, and the momentum had fully shifted back to Canada.
Heading back toward the (home?) house in the 5th end, the ice changes started to become drastically apparent. One of Team USA’s rocks came to a screeching halt before the hog line, Canada kept loading rocks into the house, and Sidney Schroeder was left with incredibly challenging shots on unpredictable ice conditions. They called their pro timeout, and Matt could only do so much to help them through this to try and salvage the end. Unfortunately, the ice seemed to get the better of them, and Team Canada was able to convert their shots to put too much pressure on. A steal of 4 would turn officially turn this game on its head.
I know all too well what it’s like to have a good lead halfway through the game feeling like you’re in control to suddenly find yourself wondering how you are playing from behind. But my experience was not in front of hundreds of people in person, gold medalists, and a national TV audience. I think it’s important to give some grace to Team Schroeder for reeling a little bit. Based on what I saw, it seemed to be a combination of emotions and ice challenges that resulted in yet another steal of 1 in the penultimate end.
Down 3 going into the final end, as if there weren’t enough things to manage, the electronics all along and around the ice shut down. Speaking to someone after the game who was sitting next to the electronics, he noted they had put off a decent amount of heat, and he could tell how much cooler he got suddenly once those electronics were off. It’s hard to say what yet another variable did to the teams as they tried to fight their way to the finish.
The USA ended up with a couple center guards and trying to play around those to drum up some offense. It was not to be, and they were effectively run out of rocks. The US was sitting 1 going into Schroeder’s last rock with two center guards with a corner freeze. Normally, this is a scenario where shaking would be the thing to do, but this is a TV event after all. Schroeder was headed down to the hack to just throw a draw in to score her 2 and take the loss by 1 when she hesitated. Even from the bleachers, I was able to hear her say something along the lines of “Let’s hit the guards and see if something crazy happens.”
I hope it was well received elsewhere because I loved it. What do you have to lose? Worst case scenario: you confirm the outcome that was already being etched before you threw your rock. Best case scenario: you end up on Sportscenter and are throwing a draw to the button as a tiebreaker.
It was not to be, though, and Canada ended up taking the game 7-5. It was not a blow out in either direction. It had drama, it had laughs, and at least for those of us in the crowd, it had entertainment.
Berg vs Sherrard
Night two brought us the men’s matchup of Team Berg from Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club (North Dakota) vs Team Sherrard of Beaumont Curling Club (Alberta).
Right off the bat, Team Canada threw up a center guard. After a couple misses early from Team USA, it was looking like a possible steal in the first until Tim Hodek made a perfect double to sit 1. Dan Sherrard was not able to bury his last rock under the center guard, and Ryan Berg made the hit and roll out to blank. For a moment, I was worried it was going to be the game I was hoping we wouldn’t see on TV after thinking back to Berg’s 3-blank-end start to the USA national championship game.
Into the second end, a few early misses from USA once again had the crowd beginning to worry. Canada managed to get an extra counter in the house, so even after the back end of Team Berg made some good shots to open things back up, the USA was left with a hit-and-stick for 1. Canada got the force they’re so good at getting, and my worries of a 0-0 nationally televised game ending with a draw to the button tiebreaker were alleviated.
In the middle ends, it seemed like we had the best combination of ice conditions and players getting settled in. The US forced Canada in the 3rd, and some really fantastic shots from Dan Sherrard resulted in a steal of 2 in the 4th. Both skips went back and forth with great shot-making which wowed the TV crew and watchers alike. We got a great showcase of the types of shots these teams are capable of making.
Interestingly, we saw Ethan Sampson take over for lead Randy Askew for Team Berg. I was wondering if we’d get to see Ethan play, considering he played lead the USA Club Championship final. However, Askew had really started to settle in and had a couple ends in a row of great rocks to help Berg get ends set up, and the ice was likely just about to start changing heavily as we got into the 2nd half of the game.
Canada again forced the USA to the 1 point in the 5th which set up a little bit of a conundrum going into the 6th end for Team Berg. You’re down by 1 point without hammer with 2 ends left to play, and if the teams are tied, the game is decided by a draw to the button.
Surprisingly, Berg went with a very aggressive double center guard setup on lead rocks. Canada drew in underneath the guards, and then we really started to see the ice changes hit Team USA hard. I thought Matt Hamilton had a great note as he commented on Canada’s sweepers always keeping their brooms down on almost every shot. The Berg rink did not have brooms down quite as much, and as a result we saw some rocks hog and other rocks crash on guards incredibly early.
Canadian rocks piled up in front of Ryan Berg, and he decided to try and play a double against 3 to work on limiting Sherrard to 2 points in the 6th. He was not able to clear both rocks, but the curling gods did not smile favorably upon Sherrard’s draw with hammer. This rock also crashed on guards, so Team Canada took a 3-point lead into the 7th and final end.
While Berg was able to get double corner guards set up, and Canada left some rocks in the front and back of the house the USA could use, they were never quite able to get shots made in their favor. The ice quality really seemed to deteriorate heavily from the 6th into the 7th, and it showed. We saw rocks crash on guards, overcurl and flash, and even more hogged rocks in the 7th end. As a result, Sherrard was able to run Berg out of rocks and complete the sweep for Team Canada at the inaugural Everest North America Curling Club Championships.
In-Person Experience
It has been a few years since I attended a televised curling event, 2022 World Curling Championships in Las Vegas. But I must say, I loved the setup for this event. It was an intimate setting at Rock Creek Curling and having a small setting with 200+ people compared to the empty arena in Las Vegas made this a much more enjoyable viewing experience for me, made even more enjoyable by the USA vs Canada border battle.
The emcee encouraged everyone to be loud all the time. I listened to the Curling Nation podcast with Randy Ferbey on my way to the event, so I was not surprised by the emphasis on making noise throughout the match. It still felt wrong, but this might not have been helped that I was sitting with the close friends and family of Team Schroeder. There were some fans in the stands who made plenty of noise, cheered for made shots from all teams, and yelled supportive quips after missed shots. Arnold Asham had a fair amount of Asham gear sent over to one of these fans in between the 5th and 6th ends to thank him for being the loudest one in the building.
I’m personally a little torn, because while I would have loved to have made even more noise, that would have made life even harder on the teams trying to communicate sweep calls while rocks were moving down the ice. It was already easy to tell the teams were struggling a bit with communication during loud moments of the match.
I will say I did struggle following what was going on during the even ends. I was seated closer to the house during the odd ends (what is the home end in a 7-end game???), so I had to stand up to try and see what happened with Abby Burgess’ shot in the 4th. I saw her rock get bumped back, it disappeared behind the wall of guards, and I didn’t see it come out the other side. Based on the reaction of everyone else, I was able to piece together what happened, but it was challenging to follow.
Based on the comments, I definitely felt like I missed out on quality Jones and Hamilton commentary by being there in person. The trophy ceremony at the end was also almost entirely done for TV as we could not hear Jennifer Jones interviewing or talking with the team.
After the match was done, anybody who purchased a VIP ticket could head up to the after party up in Rock Creek’s mezzanine. The dollars didn’t come with much else other than access to the area. Both teams and their family/friends hung out, and I did see some recognizable faces from USA Curling and World Curling. The broadcast crew was very briefly upstairs, but they headed out pretty quickly. I’d be curious to hear how the after-party for the men’s game differed considering there was not another game to prepare for the next day.
All-in-all, if this event is held in the USA in the future, I’d love to attend again, especially if I can once again find a $60 round trip flight.
TV Broadcast Experience
Even before I arrived to Rock Creek, I had seen some social media posts from Everest Curling as well as from some of the teams that showed a little bit of the setting. The posts alone made it readily apparent this event should show very well on TV, and that certainly seemed to be the case.
I heard great reviews from people who watched the women’s match, and I was excited to see what that was like for the men’s game. On TV, I thought it looked really good.
Now, perhaps the house could have done with some more solid colors to help feel a little less busy. Differentiating between Canada and US rocks with the red maple leaf and blue star in the 12-foot did take some extra concentration at times, but it really seemed like it presented well. The custom rock handles are stellar. Can these please be a thing at worlds somehow?!
I also really enjoyed the scorebug from CBS. It’s simple and not overly bulky. There is only so much that is needed in curling, so it could probably be made to be a little more minimalistic, but I thought it worked well with the rest of their presentation.
Because of the 1-sheet setting, the production crew was able to do a little more with cameras which gave it similar production to what we might see at a Brier or Scotties from camera jibs. Views down the sheet behind the thrower are always some of my favorite because it allows the viewer to actually see the rock curl and how the ice is playing. We didn’t get much of this in these games, and I’d love to see more of it.
The biggest highlight, for me, with the television production was the commentary. Having Bryan Mudryk doing the play-by-play definitely adds to the legitimacy of the curling broadcast, but I think special commendation needs to go to Jennifer Jones and Matt Hamilton. They were allowed to walk all around the setting, and you’d occasionally see them behind the hack, at the hog line, and sometimes even asking a curler a quick question while the other team discussed their next shot. Hamilton and Jones made it look to me like they’d been doing this type of curling coverage for years, and it was only their second night doing it
It was especially fun having the “pro timeouts” where Jennifer Jones joined Team Canada in the house for their timeout and Matt Hamilton came out to give some coaching for Team USA. In some cases, the curlers were pretty sure what they were going to do, though we did see some scenarios of the commentators helping to talk them through other options. These types of situations can easily be gold nuggets for curlers looking to improve their game calling. I wish we could have almost had a little more of this just so I could learn more.
To wrap up the TV broadcast, I thought it was a nice touch from Mudryk to listen in while the Canadian contingent sang “Oh, Canada”. The awards ceremony still felt like it was lacking something, so hopefully next year they can find a way to put a neater button on the broadcast.
This and That
A few random things from Tuesday and Wednesday:
I didn’t hate the 7-end game. In fact, it made it feel much more like club curling as we often end up seeing games cut off by time, so if anything, it added legitimacy to the “club curling” moniker.
After Ryan Berg had made a wonderful shot in the middle of the men’s match, Dan Sherrard followed up with a shot that had Jennifer Jones unsure if it was the right call due to the challenging nature of the shot. As he did throughout the night, he made the shot, and when asked about the call after he made the shot, Sherrard said “I didn’t like [the shot] either, but I didn’t like anything else.” That quote epitomizes skipping as well as any I’ve heard in a while.
Rock Creek Curling is hosting a competitive Mixed Doubles event in just 10 days, so they’ll need to take out the Everest houses and re-level their sheets really quickly. So while the event is over for just about everyone, it’s not going to be business as usual for the ice crew until the Colorado Cup wraps up.
Cheryl Bernard was at Rock Creek to catch the action, but there wasn’t any recognition of the legendary curler that I was aware of. It would have been neat to recognize some legends of the game from each country before one (or both) of the matches.
In a couple weeks, I’ll look more into what to expect for the 2024-2025 national championship season and what changes we’re seeing from last year. Have questions about my experience attending ENACCC? Ideas where they should host a potential event next year or what format to use? Let me know below!
Rock Creek Curling and Everest did a fantastic job putting on this event! Would have loved to see both country's national anthems prior to the start of the games, or at least for the winning team following the game. I also agree that it would have been nice for the in-person audience to hear the post game interviews and trophy presentations. In addition to recognizing the curling talent that was present, I would have liked to hear interviews/comments from both the winning AND losing teams, USA Curling and Curling Canada even if just during the after party. Hearing their perspectives on the success of the event would have been great insight on what the future holds!
Thanks for the write-up, Ben! I'm glad you had a good time. There were definitely some lessons learned through all of this, but we were delighted to bring club curling to a national audience.