It's time for the 2024 European Curling Championship! Ryan from Rocks Across the Pond joins Sean and Scott for the 5th Annual Bad Beer Bet! They go through the fields for both the A & B events before giving their picks for who will win, who will get relegated, and who will be promoted. For more, join us at GameofStonesPod.com
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.
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
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.
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
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.
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
What's the Value of Streaming & In-Season Lineup Changes
Sean and Scott chat about last weekend's Grand Slam before talking about the state of streaming in the world of curling, including the World Curling Federation's new season pass. They debate the value of streaming games and whether it's a good idea to keep all games behind a paywall. They then discuss a couple of big - and rare - in-season lineup changes for Teams Koe and Gushue and chat about what this trend could mean for the sport moving forward.
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
Summer Q&A
This week we take a couple questions from the listeners before checking out what's being asked over on the curling sub-reddit. From new schedules to best positions to how to improve your club, we offer up our answers to these questions.
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
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!
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
Summer News Update
It's been a while since we caught up on all goings on around the world of curling, so this week we catch up with what's been happening. We talk the European C championships, some host city announcements for upcoming events, and the Canadian Wheelchair program selections. We also get into a report on recreational curling engagement from CurlON and finish the show with a special clip of what could Scott's big break.
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
2024 Curling Commercial Rankings
For the first time in a couple years, we were gifted with some new curling commercials for the 2024 Season of Champions! And as we love to do with a new batch of ads, we’re here to rank them. From agricultural products to Curling Canada promotions, there is a lot to discuss this year. What do you think of our rankings? Did we miss any ads this year?
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
Spring News Update
We're back after a brief hiatus to talk about what has been a very busy spring in the world of curling. We start by discussing the Men's World Championship along with the mixed doubles before going across Canada to talk about all the men's (16:00) and women's (39:40) lineup changes that we've seen.
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
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.
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
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.
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
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.
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
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.
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
Cross Country Checkup
The Scotties field is set! The Brier field is taking shape! This week we go coast to coast to coast to discuss all the goings on in the provincial playdowns over the past couple of weeks! From first time champs to returning veterans, we discuss the teams that are moving on and how they got there.
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
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.
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com
*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
November News Update
We're back to talk about what has been a busy week in the world of curling. We start by wrapping up the Pan Continental Championship, including talking about who was relegated, promoted, and qualified for the world championship. We then chat about some of the familiar names in contention at the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, John Morris' new team, and the start of this week's grand slam. We wrap up by talking about a weird game we played in this week and how our season is going.
For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com