Good curling!!

Feeling a bit exhausted at the moment.

Friday night, our team played for crystal. We had control for most of the game, then gave up 4 in an end and lost it. We then played Charlie Smith's team right afterwards, and beat them to get our crystal. The game ended around 11 pm. We hung out for a little, then went home to get some well deserved sleep.

The sleeping was not nearly as long as we wanted though. We had to get up at 6 am and leave by 7 am for Canada. We participated in a bonspiel at the Langley Curling Club, and our first draw was at 10:15 am.

We had a great time at the bonspiel. There were 3 draws on Saturday. The games were 6 ends a piece. The winner of the game received 2 points. At the end of 2 games the teams with the most points played each other. If there were ties, they decided who was ranked higher by the number of ends won. If there were still ties, it was decided by points in the game.

Jeremy and I went up with Dani and Bob. They are the couple that originally introduced us to curling. We won all of our games on Saturday. It would have been nice to stay and drink on Saturday evening, but Jeremy and I were beat. We got to the hotel just past 9 pm and was in bed fast asleep by 10:30 pm.

Sunday morning was game 4. There were two teams at the top of our bracket. Us and our blind calcutta team, the Connollys. The blind calcutta is where they throw all the teams up on a board, and then put paper over it. Everyone bets money, and picks a spot that they want to win. After the bidding is set, they remove the paper.

We lost to the Connollys. We could have won against them. We were up 5 to 0 after the 3rd end. This put us in the B bracket, which we won. The Connollys ended up in the A bracket and also won. So the first time I win money in a bonspiel, also win money in the blind calcutta!

Now a little rest until the April Spiel.

Getting ready for the weekend.

Tonight is the last Friday league games.

The team that I play on is sitting in first place, set to win crystal (a glass coffee mug, champagne flute, or what not). We will be playing Galey, the team Jeremy and I were on last year (in which we won the league).

I'm a little worried about my knee. It gave me some problems at the tankard last week.

I hope I've adjusted to the ice. Going from 26 second ice to 22ish second ice is a huge difference. Maybe not so much when one has only played a couple of games on it...but my team had played 11 games over 7 days in Utica.

Tomorrow, we are getting up way too early to drive to the Langley Curling club, where we'll be playing in their novice bonspiel. Only in Canada can you put together a team of less than 25 years of experience and have it be novice. Seems a little funny coming out of Club Nationals (mid level event) with a Bronze Medal.

Trying to cram as much curling in as I can before the end of the season. Yah!

2008-2009 Bonspiels

Its been a busy season. By the end of the year, this is the list of bonspiels I will have participated in for the curling season. Phew!

October 2008
Langley Witches' Broom

November 2008
Autumn Spiel
Evergreen Interclub

December 2008
Holiday Spiel

January 2009
Mixed Spiel
Regional Playdowns for Nationals

March 2009
5 And Under
Club Nationals
International Tankard
Langley Novice

April 2009
April Spiel
PIC

Thank you, Thank you, and Thank you.

As I cooked up some spaghetti sauce for tomorrow, I thought about the last few weeks.

I just wanted to let everyone know how thankful I am.

My family gets many thanks for being supportive and for putting up with my disappearance during the curling season.

Our instructors, for their support and time.

The club for their support and time.

My teammates family for their support.

I mean...holy crap! We did it! This is my second season in curling. The rest of my teams third season in curling. We practiced, we bonspieled, and we won bronze at the 2009 US Club Nationals. A mid-level event.

And this is just the beginning. This year we placed 4th out of 5 teams in the regional playdowns for the US Olympics. In four years, I want to be a force to be reckoned with. I want my name to be known.

Four more bonspiels until the end of the season, and I start planning for off season training.

Back from the last Utica hot tub trip!

Last team trip to the hot tub in the Radisson at Utica, NY.

The tub was especially chlorinated today.

We recapped how cool it was for Gabrielle to be congratulated on our game by Patti Lank. Patti was the webcaster for the Minnesota 1 vs Massachusetts game.

Talked about how incredible it was to have made it as far as we did. We're second and third year curlers. We came out of the round robin as the #1 team to beat. We took the bronze medal. We also beat all the teams in the finals at least once. Go Team Washington!!

Then two very drunk men stopped by to chat with us. They were here for the fly fishing conference.

On their way out to crash a wedding party here, you could hear their conversation.

Drunk #1 "They are totally hot!"
Drunk #2 "Bar glasses, dude."
Drunk #1 "No, they are totally hot!"
Drunk #2 "Bar glasses...Let's crash the wedding party."
Drunk #1 "Am I married?"

LOL.

We won the Bronze at the 2009 Club Nationals!!!

Yeah, baby!

Team Coleman pulled it off. We beat Wisconsin 10 - 7 in 10 ends to take the bronze medal.

Doug Kauffman was added to our line card this morning as coach, and came out during a time out for some advice.

Both teams missed some crucial shots, and both teams made some phenomenal shots.

We have had an amazing time. We made friends all over the place, with other teams, officials, the ice crew and other volunteers. It also helped to have the Washington men's team cheering for us in the warm room.

The skip of the Minnesota 1 team commented on how Gabrielle was one of the better skips out there.

Their lead was happy that they could finally listen to music in the car again. Apparently they had been listening to music in the car when they lost to us and Massachusetts, and were stuck with silence afterwards.

We supported the local LMP after the game, had a few drinks, schmoozed with some teams. Back at the hotel, off to dinner, the hot tub, and some more partying, cause dammit, we deserve it!!

Favorite quote from the finals game at club nationals

As Sara and I yell help for sweep to Beth the vice skip,"Oh no, I'm going to help."

Team Coleman takes 1st seed spot after the round robin at Club Nationals!!

Seriously. WTF??!!!

A team, very young in experience, that hoped... HOPED to win at least one game, has come up on top of the pig pile. Most of the curlers here have more years of experience than our team combined. And they are definitely still shaking their heads.

We walk by the leader board and just stand there and soak it in. With big huge smiles on our faces.

Team Washington wins the 9 round robin games 7-2. Losing to Illinois and Minnesota 2. Our 1st game and our 8th game.

We beat our Team Wisconsin who also had 7-2.

3rd place is GNCC-1 Massachusetts, and 4th place is battling it out right now..should be near the end of the game. Minnesota 1 vs Minnesota 2.

Washington men's is also playing a tie-breaker game.

I had a wonderful massage (skip's treat), and headed to the hot tub for a soak.

Now, I am closing the computer for a nap.

Hugs and kisses to all.

Thursday night, Game 8

Bah! Lost to Minnesota 2 and shook in 8 ends.

They outplayed us, and we missed some crucial shots that could have turned the tide.

We are now 6-2 with Minnesota 1 and Wisconsin. We sit ahead of them on the leader board because those are the two teams we beat.

Close being is Massachusetts (GNCC1) and Minnesota 2 with a 5-3 record.

After dinner, a call to the hubby to let him know I love him, and a quick trip to the hot tub, its time to hit the sack.

Top of the pack! Yeah, baby!

After Team Coleman's 7th game, we are sitting 7-1. Massachusetts played phenomenally. They probably played better than we did the first half, but had a few bad rocks at the wrong times.

We were 8-4 coming into the 10th end, and Massachusetts shook with 4 rocks left since they were about to run out of time.

We are now guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. Booyah!

We are waking up from our naps (strangely D&D-esque with a talking dragon giving me cryptic advice). We will be taking on Minnesota 2 at 4 pm Eastern time.

Goooo Coleman!!

Team Coleman is 5-1!!

We are 5-1 after 6 games. Tied with Massachusetts for first place.

Who'd have thought we could pull this off? We came in hoping to win one game.

I'm exhausted. My arms hurt. My legs hurt. But it's really freaking windy outside our 5th story window. Oooo. I hear trains!!!

Anyways, trying to sleep again.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Team Coleman 4-1 after 5 games.

We struggled a little this morning against the Pennsylvania girls (aged 12, 14, 14 and 22-a sub).

We're not really a morning team, but we always finish strong after the 5th end.

We won 7 - 2, and shook after 9 ends.

Our LSD was 13" again, not enough for hammer today.

quote of the day after game 5

Are you part of the Vukich family?

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

quote of the day predicted game 4

We beat Minnesota in 9 ends with a score of 10-4. Eeeeeeeee!

We thought the game against was the best game we had ever played together, but this game eclipsed it.

One of the north Dakota women kept peeking at our game. She told us afterwards that she almost missed sweeping as she was watching. She said she kept saying,"oh my gosh!!"

We won hammer with a 0" on the pin. Minnesota lost with a 1/2" inch LSD.

The game was very close though the 5th end. We started off ahead with 2 points in the first end.
Our LSD so far has been 13, 0, 27, 0.

Hot tub here I come.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Noon game starting late.

The women's game is starting late.North Dakota and GNCC 2 in their 13th game. North Dakota has hammer and unintentionally blanked the last 2 ends with hit and sticks that rolled out.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

quote of the day

"if neil can beat Steve L, we can beat Norma o'leary," said beth as we stepped off the elevator and walked past one of the Minnesota team. "oh hi!!"

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Roomies.

We definitely put the right people in the right rooms together.

The vegetarians on one side, the carnivores on the other.

The geeks on one side, the reality TV watchers on the other.

Over the last couple of days, Beth and I have been blogging on http://www.teamcoleman.net, Facebook, and etc. Gabrielle and Sara have been watching Cheaters and some crazy show about an anorexic neo Nazi.

Could use some more sleep. We have Game 4 in a couple of hours. Its our lone game today. Then we get more sleep (YAH!!) and then the banquet. We are hoping to keep our attendance at the banquet short, so we can then sleep (more sleep). Game 5 is at an oh too early 5 am.

Including last night's zombie photo shoot.

Yeah! Team Coleman is 2-1 at Club Nationals!

I don't think anyone saw this coming!!

Team Coleman is 2-1 after three games. We lost to Illinois, then beat Wisconsin and Michigan. Wisconsin is a tough team. It is definitely the best game that Team Coleman has played together so far this season.

We had a phenomenal 7th end, where we scored 5. Final score: 11-4 and shook after 8 ends.

We're a little tired.

Tomorrow we only have one game at noon.

quote of the evening

Gabrielle,"Why aren't we moving forward? Oh, it's because I'm stepping on the brake"

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

quote of the day

Wisconsin,"I could eat the ass off of a skunk." in reference to how hungry she was

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Beware of Zombies in Utica, NY

I'm here in Utica, NY curl in the 2009 Club Nationals. This is Beth's and my 2nd day here.

On day one, we were picked up by Gabrielle and Sara. That morning, when they went to pick us up, Utica had seemed deserted. The architecture here is gorgeous, but the city seems vacant and a little run down. The kind of town you see in movies with zombies in them. Most of our conversations have been about curling, or about watching out for the zombies.

My favorite quote from Gabrielle is still, "Its all fun and games until someone wants a live human brain."

Additionally, Gabrielle is spending some time getting used to the extra car in the minivan. On right turns, the rear tends to go over the curb.

This morning before the team meeting, we bumped into the Washington men's team : Doug K, John R, Liam B, and Bill R. Liam apparently has appendicitis, HOWEVER you can now fix many cases with medication. Interesting bit of new knowledge.

The opening ceremony was interesting. It was a neat thing to participate in. Our girl scout flag bearer was neither a girl nor a girl scout. Maybe a zombie got to her first? I received my curling pin for the event and it was broken. Just my luck. I went and got a replacement, tried to put it on my jacket, and the pin portion stuck in my jacket and the face fell off. Broken pin #2. The 3rd one has been left in its case.

We ate interesting hor d'oerves at the reception. There were cheese and crackers, 3 different types of hummus dip, sandwiches, little cones with some kind of savory rice mix, little curry chicken pot pies, egg rolls, szechuan noodles, little meatloaf sandwiches with mashed potatoes squished between them and mushrooms stuffed with crab. The Washington teams apparently got in line too early, started with crackers and had to go back for more food. One of the boys might have gotten the evil eye or chastised.

Team Coleman went back to the Radisson hotel for a nice long nap (I had an hour and a half nap). Then I spent an hour and a half trying to handsew my patch on. It was ridiculous. I lost 2,000 meters of clear thread in Area Cyndy One (read area 51, the bermuda triangle, etc). I managed to lose the pendant that cuts thread too, but Beth found that one for me. I ended up having to borrow thread from Sara. Note to self : Pay someone else to sew the patch on, if there's a mesh lining inside.

Played our first game at 8 pm against Illinois. We fought the good fight, but lost and shook in the 8th end 10 -7. We had a few ends where we could have scored big against them, but their skip made the money shots. The ice was very keen and slick. It curled 6 feet to 8 feet.

I made 2 mistakes in the same shot. I burned Gabrielle's last rock in an end, and then I pulled it when it was over the hog line. The second I touched the rock, I realized I had screwed up. Gah! Illinois and Washington had a good laugh about it later. The skip had been a little upset, because she would have left the rock, thinking it would help her. One of her teammates said she would have done the same thing I did.

We found some common interests. One of the women is a chocoholic like Sara. Their lead likes to curl, sleep, and eat, just like I do. Additional things we found out: the skip apparently skipped for Debbie McCormick when Debbie was in high school. The lead was the mother of Jordan? who had played on Amy Wright's team at Nationals this year.
The Illinois team was a lot of fun to talk to afterwards, and I hope we can be as good natured and fun to be around as they are.

Crafty procrastinator.

I'm a little behind in my posting. Here is a photo of one of the 4 hats that I made for Seattle Granite Curling Club's 5 and under Bonspiel last weekend. The hats that I made for my team came in 2nd place. My team came in 2nd to last place in the B (S) bracket.

quote of the day.

Gabrielle," it's all fun and games until someone cones looking for a live human brain."

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

At the airport.

I survived the first leg of my trip to Utica, new York.

Before getting on our delayed flight, beth and I were stuck listening to some inane chatter. A woman was hoping that Lil Kim will win Dancing with the Stars because she wrote to Lil Kim twice when Lil Kim was in jail for perjury.

Beth slept a little better than I did. I got an hours worth of sleep, watched some video, and had a stuffed nose.

I just finished a tasty toasted bagel and apple juice, followed by a Dramamine.

Next flight: Syracuse.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]