The Ice Man of Scotland

When Tom Brewster and his team lost out to David Murdoch in the European Qualifying Competition, another opportunity became available for them. They were able to accept an invitation to compete in the BDO Canadian Open, one of the Grand Slam events, in the K-Rock Centre, in Kingston, Ontario.

Eighteen teams are involved in this, in three sections, with eight qualifying for playoffs. Play begins this evening (Wednesday) although Tom, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow don't play until Thursday morning. The draw and results will be here.

Apparently all the players have agreed to try out a new five stone free guard zone rule. It will be interesting to read what the best players in the world think of this innovation.

Team Brewster is one of two foreign teams in the mix. The other is that of Niklas Edin, silver medallists from Moscow. Both are in the same section.

I picked up on this article in the Kingston Whig Standard. Aside from the purple prose in referring to Tom as 'the ice man of Scotland', I note that there is to be 'a pub crawl following Wednesday's first draw. Transportation will be available for fans and the curlers to the designated pubs.'

I've heard of 'designated drivers', but 'designated pubs' is a first!

Top photo of Tom Brewster is from the European Qualifying Competition and is © Tom Brydone.

'Drama in Champery'

Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow made it to the final of the Portes du Soleil Champery Masters.

Logan Gray's team went out in the quarterfinals. David Edwards' side lost out in a playoff for the quarters, as did David Murdoch, despite a triple takeout with his last stone on the eighth to count three and force an extra end in his game against Pascal Hess. Shot of the year so far, in my book.

I really enjoyed the coverage of the event by Laola1.tv. Brian Gray had the role of lead commentator for most of the games I watched, joined by ice tech Mark Callan, Italian coach Dan Rafael, and David Edwards for different games. All very entertaining in different ways.

The Brewster team were going well all weekend, Tom himself playing some cracking shots, particularly against Jan Hauser in the quarterfinal. Having got past Hess in the semi, Team Brewster were in the final against Peter De Cruz's side. This young team, in which Benoit Schwarz plays the last stone, contested the final of the World Juniors at Perth last season and it was good to be able to watch them again. Trying to blank the seventh, with scores tied, Tom failed to run away and went into the last one up, without. In the eighth, it looked for a long time as if the Scots were in deep trouble, but a Brewster triple takeout ensured that the Swiss could only count a single and so it was in to an extra end.

Exciting to watch! The game came down to the final stone, Tom just an inch too heavy with his draw to the one foot. The young team from Geneva were the winners of the first ever Champery Masters.

All the results from the competition are here. The Curling Champions Tour website is here.

Top: Screenshot of Tom Brewster from the live Laola1.tv feed of the semifinal.

Baden Masters

The first competition in the Curling Champions Tour, the Baden Masters, begins tomorrow with two Scottish teams in the draw. Twenty teams will compete in four sections. The event website is here if you want to find the draw and to follow results.

The Scottish Champions, skipped by Tom Brewster with Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow, play in Section C and have their first game against Claudio Pescia's Swiss side.

It will be a crack of dawn international baptism for David Murdoch's new team of Richard Woods, Ross Paterson and Glen Muirhead, who are on the ice at 08.00 tomorrow against Andrey Drozdov's Russian side.

There will be a webcast from the event. Go to this link.

L-R: Richard Woods, Ross Paterson, Glen Muirhead and David Murdoch at Greenacres last weekend.

Photo © Skip Cottage

Nearly for Scots abroad

So near, for two of our teams who were abroad this weekend. Good performances though. Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow reached the final of the Lucerne Curling Trophy, losing out to Andy Kapp, see here. You can see the team in action in Lucerne on the archived Laola1 TV archive here.

Eve Muirhead, Kelly Wood, Lorna Vevers and Annie Laird had beaten the Jennifer Jones team in the qualifying rounds of the Sobey's Slam in New Glasgow. The Scots went on to win their quarterfinal game, then ran up against Jones and her team again in the semi. This time it went to an extra end, with the result in the Canadians' favour after a measure. Results are here.

Basel update

Here's a quick update on the Scottish progress in the Curling Champions Tour event in Switzerland this weekend - the Swiss Cup Basel.

Ally Fraser, Blair Fraser, Thomas Sloan and Kerr Drummond finished the weekend with two wins and three losses. David Murdoch had local Markus Eggler at third substituting for Warwick Smith who was unavailable because of work commitments, Glen Muirhead and Ross Hepburn. The Murdoch team ran up against Tom Brewster (with Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow) in the B Road on Saturday. The two elite funded sides went to an extra end, before Murdoch hit and rolled out with last stone, to lose. I watched much of the game on LAOLA1.tv, and most enjoyable it was too, with Brian Gray's commentary on the high-quality webcast.

The loss dropped Murdoch into the C road where they defeated Ally Fraser's team before Norway's Thomas Ulsrud took their own last life.

Brewster's team won two more in B to reach the quarterfinals where they lost to Baden Masters winner Thomas Lips. In the other quarters, European Champion Niklas Edin lost to Andy Kapp.

Ulsrud was beaten by Team Schwaller, and Team Attinger beat A-Road qualifier Team Pescia 6:4.

The big money semifinals (Kapp v Attinger and Schwaller v Lips) and the final are tomorrow, Monday, and the webcast can be found here if you don't have to work!

The top pic is a LAOLAtv1 screenshot showing Markus Eggler competing with the David Murdoch team.

Baden Update

I've been following the progress of the two Scottish teams at the Baden Masters this weekend. Both qualified for the quarterfinals of the first Curling Champions Tour event of the season. David Murdoch's team lost then to Canada's Randy Ferbey, and Tom Brewster's side went down to Norway's Thomas Ulsrud.

The details are here.

Scots at Baden Masters

The first event of the 2010-11 Curling Champions Tour gets underway tomorrow, Friday, September 10, at the Baden Regio Curling Club in Switzerland.

The event website is here. Twenty teams play in four sections, the top two in each contesting quarterfinals. Two Scottish teams are in the draw, in different sections. Both are new lineups for this season. David Murdoch has Ross Hepburn at lead, Glen Muirhead (2nd) and Warwick Smith (3rd). Tom Brewster has Michael Goodfellow at lead, Scott Andrews (2nd) and Greg Drummond (3rd).

Canada's Brad Gushue won the Baden Masters last year and is back for the 2010 event. Gushue will throw last stones and Randy Ferbey will call the game and throw third stones. Mark Nichols is at 2nd and Ryan Fry is lead.

You should be able to find the results here.

More looking ahead to next season

The more I learn about team changes, the more intriguing a prospect next season becomes. I mentioned before (here), that David Murdoch had teamed up with Warwick Smith. I had the front end wrong though. Glen Muirhead, whose own junior team defeated Murdoch in the Bruadar Scottish Curling Championship semifinal, will play second for David next season, with Ross Hepburn at lead.

Tom Brewster, above, will skip Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow. Tom confirms that he wants to play more next season. He now has an enthusiastic young team in front of him.

The word is that Hammy McMillan will play with David Smith, with Ross Paterson and Sandy Gilmour retained as the front end. As a good friend commented, "That'll be fun!" Indeed it will. Can't wait.

It is good to hear too that Jackie Lockhart, below, plans to be back on the ice next season, the injury that saw her so cruelly sidelined for the Columba Cream final game now behind her. She has teamed up with Karen Addison who missed out on the Olympics when she was deselected in January. Three time world junior champion Sarah Macintyre is also included in the team I believe, with the well known Anne Other.

Junior Champion Lauren Gray has joined forces with Jennifer Dodds who she beat in the final last season. Tasha Aitken and Caitlin Barr are the front end.

Junior Men's Champion Ally Fraser will have Thomas Sloan, Blair Fraser and Kerr Drummond for the new season.

Applications for performance pathway support via the Scottish Elite, National Academy and Regional Academy are now being solicited. See today's post on the Royal Club website here. Closing date is May 31.

The photo of Tom is from the Edinburgh International last season, and that of Jackie is from the Euro Championships in Aberdeen's Linx Arena in December. Both © Skip Cottage.