Sherry weighs in.

(Always eloquent Sherry writes)

The team and I were saddened but not surprised by Pat's decision. Pat has spent countless hours over the years working with various teams, the Canadian Curling Association, Women in Sport and with the Canadian Olympic Association. Our sport has been enriched by her dedication and hard work.

Our team recognizes Pat's special contribution to Team Middaugh and we are very fortunate to have had the opportunity to have worked with her, one of the best coaches in the world. She is highly respected by our team, other curlers, coaches in the sport of curling and in the sporting world. We would not have had the successes nor the opportunities we have enjoyed without her contribution and our only regret is that we were unable to win her a national championship.

The great thing about our sport is the friendships that are built and our relationship with Pat is no exception. We wish Pat the best in her future endeavors and know that her time will be well spent with her husband Bob, the rest of her family and especially her new grandson Owen.

Kampai! Domo ariagato gozaimass Pat.

Rumours & Lies & Truth

I have often felt it is not a coincidence that the words "Rumour" and "Tumour" are only one letter apart. Both words describe entities that have remarkably similar characteristics.

Each can be relatively benign and, while not exactly a trivial thing, they can be just harmless heralds of news that there is more to come, more to the story then meets the eye or ear or scalpel.

Each can also be destructive and malicious, growing at an uncontrollable rate and gobbling up the good bits of life and truths in turn, racing around like a puppy at a food fight just waiting for some tidbit to fall on the floor. In each case, swift, preemptive action is the treatment of choice.

It is with this in mind that I hasten to pass along the news that our beloved coach Pat Reid has decided to retire from the field of coaching effective right now. This is news that needs a more studied and thoughtful release however and I expect to post a more thoughtful rendering of it in the very near future on our website as well as on this blog. For now though, I want to hurry to both help inform the interested reader and put a spike in any rumours that would inevitably blossom in the absence of factual information from an informed source.

Pat has chosen to do this on her own terms and at a time of her choosing. Some of her own well chosen words might be helpful in making this important point.

“"I have made a decision to retire from Coaching"”
“"I am NOT moving on to any other team"
“"I am not divorcing the team, nor are they booting me out"

Pat has chosen to move on after a wonderful run as coach, mentor and great friend to the members of Team Middaugh and a long list of friends, family and fans. She will be sorely missed and we wish her well.

Webguy

Our Gals....

..... competitive season came to an abrupt end this morning when Jennifer Mooij drew the button against two of our counters with the last rock in the 10th end. Tied coming home without, our ladies played a great end but it wasn't quite good enough to extend this season of highs and lows.

Curling is a character building exercise at the best of times and there are days when you need all of your intestinal fortitude to smile and hold out your hand and say "Nice Game, Good Luck" to the nicest of opponents. Our gals did this with class today and I am proud of them.

They had an exciting and challenging season, but it is over and the sun don't shine right now, right here.

Tomorrow, we get better, then we start getting over it, which might take a little longer. Thank you ladies for a great ride.

Thanks also to all of the Middaugh Marauders who read this effort for all the support and the chuckles. It don't mean nothing without you all out there.

There are starts...

.... and there are starts and our gals started out this Challenge Round with a loss to Alison Goring in their Friday night game.

I wasn't there to cheer so I am partly to blame, I will be there in the morning however when they play Jennifer Mooij of High Park so things will be different. They win or NO BISCUIT!!

Tomorrow in Milton.

Challenging is an .....

....understatement when describing this weekends competition. Sixteen of the best womens teams in the Province in a catfight over the last two spots in the Provincial Final which will be held in Fort Frances from Jan. 30 to Feb. 4.

Above you will find the draw for this weekends play and our gals open against former Canadian Champ Alison Goring tonight at 6:00. Clikking on the image should get you The Big Picture.

We will be reporting from Behind The Glass whenever we get the chance.

Errata

I have made a small change to the previous post to correct an error. Our gals were 1 up without coming home against Kim Moore. Or, to put it more clearly, Kim was one down with.

Wish I could say it was just a typo, I knew the right information after all, but it was just a little brain cramp that affected my hands and I apologise. I will do some research and see if it can be blamed on my brand new peanut allergy.

TTFN

The Road to the Roses...

...goes right through Milton, Ontario this year and our gals will be there this coming weekend (Jan. 13/15) to take another kick at the cat in qualifying for the Ontario Scott in Fort Frances.

The Team went out to curl against the Issler rink yesterday morning and a basketball game broke out before they finally called it quits with our gals leading 12-7 after 9. At one point our side were up 9-1 but the tough little skip, Jen Issler from Guelph, just kept coming and made a game of it, great fun to watch.

In the afternoon game against Kim Moore our gals turned in a great performance but couldn't seal the deal as they coughed up a deuce to Kim when coming home 1 up without. Kim made a really great hit and stick for the win around an almost but not quite perfect guard Sherry had put in her way. It was a tough loss but a great game.

So, on to Milton for the Challenge Round which will be a much tougher field as the 16 teams represented there are the third and fourth place finishers from all over Southern Ontario and every one of them is angry and looking for someone to beat up. Two teams will qualify out of this double knockout competition.

Milton is also home to two of the nicest people in curling, Knud and Jennifer Harmark, parents of our third, Kirsten (Spike) Wall, so we are hoping for some smoked Lutefish for snacks while we watch the games. No peanuts and nothing pachydermish allowed all weekend.

Stay tuned folks, it ain't over yet.

Webguy.

3 & 1 and looking strong

Our gals won both games they played Saturday, defeating old foe Karen Bell and then the very tough Nielson rink from Ilderton.

3 more games on Sunday to come out the B side of this slugfest and win a trip to Fort Frances, where they may have a statue of a Sturgeon that got run over by a Sea-Do but I don't expect they have ever seen an elephant.

Speaking of elephants, as we spend more time here, I am becoming more enamored of all things elephantine and developing a strange craving for peanuts. I am also twitching uncontrollably at the sound of a train whistle.

Our gals looked good today and Sherry had two exceptional games. Looking forward to an early start and wrapping things up around 9:00 PM on Sunday night.

We will be in touch.

1 & 1

It is Friday night in St. Thomas and our gals are 1 & 1 for the regions so far. This little statistical twist is possible because they lost their opening game, tied, coming home without, to a great draw to the pot by a determined Kristy Russell from Orangeville.

Our next game, scheduled for 8:30 Saturday morning was against a Bye in the draw so our actual next game is at 4:30 PM and I am happy to be here with lots of time to go bowling, or maybe visit the Jumbo the Elephant memorial.

Depending on who(m) you ask, Jumbo (here on a whistle stop with the Barnum & Bailey Circus) charged a train to save a little girl with braces on her legs who was stuck on the tracks, or a cute puppy that he had befriended, or just got into the fermented oats and thought he was about to get lucky with a great big She Elephant who smoked and whistled at the same time, I think I have had that same fantasy at some time or other. As a consequence he is buried here and they make a big deal out of it.

In any event, we lost one, (sort of) won one and I will stay in touch.

TTFN

Here is the draw.

Here is the draw as an image. Clik on it to make it bigger.

OTAY, back to curling

"Otay", as our fave 'Our Gang' member, Buckwheat, was wont to exclaim, back to real curling.

Our gals play in the Southern Ontario Western Regional playdowns this weekend, Jan. 6/8 on one of their favourite ice surfaces in St. Thomas Ontario (200 Kliks). Follow the link to download the PDF file of the draw. Yes, I know having the draw up in PDF is bush league but you get what you pay for these days, er! No as a matter of fact you don't but I guess that is another story. In any case see the draw, be the draw, discuss.

For those of you who happen to live in a part of Canada far from THE CENTRE OF ALL THINGS, I offer the following: NOTE: People of Ontario, do not read this is for THE OTHERS.

In Ontario, at least the Southern version and for the distaff side, it goes like this.

# The thirty-two (32) winners of the sixteen (16) zone playdowns, which shall be double knockout, shall meet in two (2) regional playdowns, which shall be double knockout. Each regional playdown shall declare two (2) winners.
# The four (4) winners of the regional playdowns and the two (2) winners of the Challenge Round shall advance to the Ontario Scott Tournament of Hearts.

So, there is an East and a West Regional Playdown which collectively send 4 teams and then a Challenge Round, or Last Chance for the Zone and Regional non winners (see, I can do NewSpeak!) which sends two more to the Provincial (combined North/South) Scott where the 6 teams representing the south playoff against 4 teams from the north for the right to represent Ontario (North/South) at the STOH.

People of Ontario, jump back in here, the headache part is over.

In any event, our gals play Friday night at 6:00 PM to start things off and we hope to be there to cheer. The folks at St. Thomas are terrific and always good hosts so everyone looks forward to going there. If any of you have ever met Jim Waite whose home club this is, they are all like him. Nice.

The Provincial Final will be in Fort Frances, which is a little bit of a longer drive, 1,702 Kliks to be exact, Jan. 30 to Feb. 4. Might have to get a room for that trip.

We will observe and report back.