Catching up with Northern Ontario Curling Executive Director Laura Forget

With the provincial championships in full swing, Sean catches up with Northern Ontario Curling Association Executive Director Laura Forget. They discuss the role of executive directors for member associations, how provincial championships are put together, and the challenges of streaming provincials. They also chat about some of the financial challenges facing member associations, how the associations work together, and the challenges facing recreational curling in Northern Ontario.

You can stream the Northern Ontario provincials here.

Sean and Scott are doing play-by-play on Saturday January 26 for the qualifying games at the 2025 Over the Rainbow bonspiel at the Ottawa Curling Club. Streaming starts at noon ET on Saturday and the guys are doing the games at 2:00 and 4:30. Check our socials for links to the stream.

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

2025 Off to a Hot Start! Trials, Lineup Changes, & a Draft

We are kicking off 2025 with a roundup of what has been a very busy time in the world of curling. Sean and Scott start by talking about the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials that wrapped up on the weekend, including what happened in the final, before getting into the most recent major lineup shuffle with Teams Carey and Einarson and the implications for both squads. They then discuss the draft that the Grand Slam held to determine the pools at next week's event in Guelph, ON before wrapping up with some streaming and world curling announcements.

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5 Things to Watch at the Canadian Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials

With just over 13 months until the 2026 Olympics, the Canadian Mixed Doubles Trials kicks off Monday in Liverpool, NS and Sean and Scott are here to highlight some of the things to keep an eye on over the course of the week. From the strength of the two pools to the weather, they discuss some of the factors that could determine who is standing at the top of the podium at the end of the week.

Check out our full discussion of the Powerplay here.

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4th Annual Stoney Awards

It's a tradition like no other! Sean and Scott are back to go through the best in the world of curling from 2024. They go through 10 categories giving out awards for everything from Biggest Oddity to Best Team. Who would you award a prestigious Stoney Award to for 2024?

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They're Saying Boourns! & Other Curling News

After a week off, the guys are back to do a tour around the world of curling. They start with the recent lineup change to Team Dunstone before talking about the Grand Slam in St. John's, which included a great moment where Team Jacobs was booed by the home crowd. They also talk about the field being set for the Canadian Mixed Doubles Olympic Curling Trials, the Canadian Senior Championship, and a new initiative from Curling Ontario.

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Euros Recaps & News Update

With the 2024 European Curling Championship in the rearview mirror, Sean and Scott look back on the week that was in Lohja, Finland.  They talk about a surprising win for  the German men, the continued dominance of the Swiss women, and who struggled during the week. They then discuss the other news in the world of curling, including a new event from Curling Ontario, the Candian Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials Qualifier, and the Canadian Club Championship.

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Women in Curling

Sean is joined by Elaine Dagg-Jackson, the Chair of Women in Curling, to talk about the initiative's re-brand. Formerly known as the Women in Curling Leaders' Circle, the re-brand has come with four new pillars that the group is focusing on to help foster greater women's representation at all levels of curling. More information - including on how to apply to be part of the executive council and committees - can be found here. The deadline for applications is November 17.

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How to Score a Game

In recent years, the guys have talked about how it seems like shooting percentages have been inflated, so today they talk about how percentages are calculated based on the instructions for scoring each individual shot. They discuss the Curling Canada guidelines for scoring a game and how that could be influencing the stats we see during broadcasts. Sean also scored a game using these guidelines and they discuss the difference between his score and the official stats from that game. You can find the Curling Canada instructions here.

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Biggest Differences Between Elite & Rec Level Strategies

This week the guys chat about the differences in the strategies you see on teevee compared to what is advisable in your regular leagues. What parts of strategy can you incorporate from the top levels and which ones should you leave the pros?

They also chat about the Pan Continental Curling Championship, which kicks off on Sunday, and the news that Curling Canada is still looking for a title sponsor for next year's Olympic Trials.

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A New Roster Trend?

The guys are back to talk about another week of bombshell news in the world of curling. They talk about Brendan Bottcher joining Team Gushue as second and what that will look like on the ice. They then chat about whether this is part of a larger trend in the sport and what that means for elite-level curling moving forward.

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Improving Engagement at the Rec Level

This week, Curl ON Executive Director Matt Allen joins the show to talk about his Engagement Tour Report (which you can read here). After spending more than 200 hours meeting with curlers and clubs across the province, Matt's report outlines ideas to increase engagement at the local level and proposes strategies to get more people playing the sport. From improving the online presence to attracting new and young curlers to adopting new business models, the report lays out a number of ideas to keep the sport strong at the grassroots. Do you think that these ideas will help increase engagement at the rec level?

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

Curling Trivia

Everyone loves a good trivia game, so this week Sean gives Scott some trivia questions related to the Scotties and Brier. Play along and see if you can beat Scott! If you do, be sure to let us know!

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Women's Worlds Recap & Men's Worlds Preview

It's a busy time of year in the curling world and we're excited to be talking about it all. We start by recapping what was a fun week at the Women's World Curling Championship. We talk about Rachel Homan's win, the game/shot of the year, and how the rest of the field broke down over the course of the week. We then move on to preview the field for the Men's World Curling Championship. We go through the field and talk about all 13 teams before offering up our picks for the week.

For more, visit us at GameofStonespod.com

Biggest Brier Preview

The Season of Champions is in full swing withe the first ever Montana's Brier set to kick off on Friday. We talk about the format, the storylines, and all 18 teams heading to Regina before making our picks for who will stand tall at the end of the week.

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Scotties Recap: Passing the Torch

We join you nearly live from the Ottawa Curling Club, home of Team Homan, to talk about an action packed week at the Scotties. From Rachel Homan capturing her fourth title to Kerri Einarson's remarkable streak coming to an end to the retirement of Jennifer Jones, there was a lot going on in Calgary and we try to cover it all.

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Super Scotties Preview

It's our favourite event of the year, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. To get you set for the week, we give our full preview, including the new playoff format, new rules, and the biggest storylines of the week. We also preview all 18 teams in the field, the expectations for each, and give our picks for how things will stack up at the end of the week. But before all that, we give our initial reactions to the news that this year will be Jennifer Jones' last Scotties as she steps away from the 4-person game.

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Best Active Rivalries

In the midst of the Season of Champions, we take a break from the on-ice results to discuss some of the best matchups that we're looking forward to seeing over the next few months. From cross Canada competition to international matchups, we go across the globe to identify some of the best active rivalries around the curling world.

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Provincial Playdown Excitement!

It's provincial and territorial playdown season across Canada, so we go coast to coast to coast to discuss some of the biggest storylines we're looking forward to following. From deep fields to up and coming teams to the CTRS points, we talk about what will be a fun few weeks as the Scotties and Brier fields are rounded out.

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*recorded Wednesday January 17

Bold Predictions for 2024!

In another one of our favourite annual traditions, we offer up some bold predictions for 2024! From who will win to big event changes, we offer up some thoughts on what could transpire in the world of curling over the next 12 months. We then wrap up with a couple great emails we received over the holidays!

Do you like our predictions? What do you foresee for the year? 

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

Kelowna Controversy

We get together to talk about what has been an eventful week at the Pan Continental Curling Championship in Kelowna. We break down TSN's decision to move the games off teevee and exclusively to streaming, Brad Gushue offering some strong criticism for the World Curling Federation, and what this all says about the state of the event, now in its second year. Following that, we talk about the games being played, including both Canadian teams qualifying for the playoffs, the world qualifiers, and the great story being written by Jamaica on the women's B-side.

Check out the Belgium Women's and Men’s Challenger Events early next year!

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com