C26th ANNUAL COLONIAL SQUARE LADIES CURLING CLASSIC 2007

(by Sharon Spence of Aquadeo Beach, SK)

The Colonial Square Ladies Curling classic was held October 26 – 29th, 2007 at the Nutana Curling Club Saskatoon.

Sherry, Kirsten, Kim & Andra arrived in Saskatoon Thursday, Oct 25th at about 8:30 p.m. after a very quick turn a round in Winnipeg. They were chauffeured off to the Colonial Inn & Suites. The rooms are nice and very reasonable at $69.00 per night. Another bonus – they were fairly close to the curling rink for those early morning games.

Their first game was Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. against Martineau – a team from Lloydminster, SK., Team Middaugh won this game in 6 ends. Not quite so lucky in their next game against Team Galusha formerly Kerry Koe from the NWT. Team Galusha was very hot and our girls were just medium hot. It was a good game and it came down to the 10th end for the Galusha win. None the less we were now in the B Event.

Team Delanoy from Edmonton proved to be a very worthy opponent but was defeated by Team Middaugh and we were now waiting to see who would win between Michelle Englot and Cathy King. We would play the loser. We are now playing Cathy King at 4:30 p.m. We came on strong and out played and out shot Team King all the way. Chantel Eberle was our next challenge Sunday noon. (much better time of the day to get up and watch curling). Chantel was good but not good enough – although all of us wizards behind the glass were wondering if Sherry was playing for Team Eberle in the 7th end when she had 5 possible calls and she called the 6th shot. This certainly could have been the turning point in the game – but fortunately for us – Chantel did not take advantage of the situation. Team Middaugh was now playing at 4:30 Sunday afternoon against Team China.

Team China is a force to be reckoned with – they are technically strong in every aspect of the game. Our girls had their work cut out for them. If you watched the line scores of this game – you would wonder if anyone wanted to score. Team China’s coach was sitting next to us video taping the game. He was quite excited to be playing against Team Middaugh. He advised us that he had taped many, many games over the last two years to use as training tapes and most of them were of “Sherry & Wayne Middaugh”. We made the comment to him that we “hoped they hadn’t learned too much”. Fortunately, our girls were victorious over Team China and we had now qualified for the Championship round and were $2500 richer than when we started.

8:30 a.m. on Monday morning comes very, very early – but the winning team would play three games back to back today. Unfortunately for Team Middaugh they came up against Team King again and this time Team King was out for blood. The score was 5-0 after the first 3 ends for Team King and it never stopped. Team King went on to play the final game against Team Lawton, only to loose but still went home with $5,000 while Team Lawton walked away with $9,000. Congratulations to Stephanie & Team.

It is always a tough time for Sherry (and team) when she comes to Saskatoon as there are so many friends, relatives and acquaintances waiting for their turn to welcome her back and say hi. Thanks to Team Middaugh for the time we got to spend with you. It was a fun weekend and a lot of good curling (especially from the “wizards behind the glass”).

The Pinball Queen unleashes the “Double Wick”

Sports fan, this one was a doosy (for lack of a better term). Picture this, the semi-finals 10th end of a whirlwind match, Team Middaugh having just battled back against supposed disaster (down five and taking a three, stealing one, and laying two shots buried for the potential steal and win) and we can be secure only in the knowledge that we had done all we could. The rest was up to fate and Eve Belisle, who for now on will remain in our somewhat still astounded minds as the Pinball Queen.

After careful deliberation we came to the conclusion that the only shot to leave Eve was the draw through a somewhat negative port with the swing. The ice was most definitely getting sludgy and the port to the four-foot was almost un-navigateable, so we decided to block off what we considered the much-easier angle tap to the four-foot with backing. It is hard to know if this decision was actually our undoing, as there would be very few who would make a call otherwise. We made our choice and executed, took away the raise and left her what we thought was the considerably more unlikely draw.

At the hogline, we knew it was hot. Through the rings hot. Not slowing down for nothin’ hot. Next thing we know, Eve’s last rock starts to move. We hear a soft “Ping” off the corner guard, “Ping” off the backside of a rock sitting center-line, full twelve….and there it goes, rrrroooooollllllling into the four foot. Never did we think that the double wick would be our downfall. The double wick. This is something we must now consider as a crutial blindspot in our examination of Belisle’s arsenal.

The double wick. A deadly weapon against any team, something to bring out when your opposition least expects it. We now know better. We have seen its devastation and know it is almost impossible to guard against it. Beware the double wick, my friends. You too could be in a battle against another Pinball Queen and not even know it.