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?

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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.

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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? 

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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!

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What to Make of the Slams

With the first Grand Slam in the books, Sean and Scott discuss where the series stands in 2023. What is the perception of fans? How does that differ from the players? What do these events tell us about the place of professional curling? Following that, they talk about Team Ferbey's legacy as they are inducted into Canada's Sport Hall of Fame.

Let's Improve the Slams!, June 1, 2022

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Confronting Racism Through Sport: A Historical Analysis

Sean is joined by Ian Kennedy, author of On Account of Darkness: Shining Light on Race and Sport. Ian talks about how athletes in the southwestern Ontario community have used sports to combat racial discrimination. From Hall of Famers like Fergie Jenkins to local legends, Kennedy examines the role sports can play is fighting racism. While Ian writes about Chatham-Kent, the themes certainly speak to broader issues in sports, many of which certainly apply to curling. 

For more information on Juneteenth:

The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth

Juneteenth: The History of the Holiday

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What's Curling's Best Playoff Format?

After some time away from the mic, we're back to kick off our summer season of episodes! This week, we answer an interesting listener question: what is the best playoff format? Scott has gone through the numbers to see whether certain formats offer an unfair advantage and we also chat about the various formats that have been used and how we feel about them from a fan perspective. 

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Sherry Anderson Does It Again! What does Mixed Doubles gold mean for USA Curling?

We're back to talk about what was an exciting weekend in Korea as the world senior and mixed doubles titles were decided. We talk about Sherry Anderson winning her fourth senior world title and what an impressive stretch she is on the event before discussing the all-Canada sweep of the event. We then chat about the world mixed doubles event by debating what the win means for USA curling and whether this influences our perception of specialists v. non-specialists in the discipline.

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Big Brier Preview

We're back to preview the 2023 Tim Hortons Brier! We talk about all 18 teams in the field in London, ON, including the favourites, the young teams trying to establish themselves, and some of the new and returning faces. We also make our picks for the week and announce the winner of our Ailsa Craig print. If you didn't win, have no fear, we're doing another giveaway for the Brier!

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Scotties Trends Heading into Playoffs

We're back to chat about some of the trends we've seen this week at the Scotties. We discuss the playoff scenarios, the increase in scoring from last year, and time management for teams with more active front ends. We wrap up by talking about the rather interesting measures we've seen, the ice conditions, and the new look TSN booth. 

For more, visit us at gameofstonespod.com