USA beat Great Britain in Cathy Kerr final

Teams had an early start Sunday morning as the semi-finals of the the Annual Cathy Kerr Memorial Spiel began at 8.30am at Ottawa's RA Club.

Great Britain beat Chris Sobkowicz's Manitobans 6-3 and USA beat last year's Ontario champions Team Gregory 8-6.

In the afternoon final it was USA over Great Britain 9-4, with Gregory claiming bronze with a 9-5 win over Sobkowicz. Great Britain had Michael McCreadie calling the game from 3rd with Aileen Nielsen throwing last rocks. Team USA rotated their fifth player, who then skipped the USA 2 side.

In the recreation division Robert Michel was the winner and Aaron Wong-Sing was the runner-up. Both teams are from Ottawa.

The results mean that Bruce Cameron, Ken Gregory and Chris Rees all qualify for the Ontario ParaSports Winter Games to be held in Kingston in January 2010. Richard Fraser will be the alternate.

During the semis and finals, the other competitive teams curled for pride and experience so everyone had six games over the weekend.

SUI overwhelm NOR in final of Czech Open - Canada take bronze

Switzerland beat a full strength Canada 8-4 in the semi-final of the Czech Open in Prague today. They opened with a single point, scored facing four Canadian stones, then gave up 3 in the second. The game turned in the 3rd when Switzerland scored 5, and Canada were unable to recover, giving up a steal of 1 in the 4th to be down 7-3 at the break. Canada did have a chance for 3 in the 6th, but only scored 1 and the teams shook hands with Canada run out of rocks in the 7th. (The 5 ender was the costliest end of Armstrong's stewardship of the team.)

Canada         0 3 0 0 1 0 x x - 4
Switzerland*   1 0 5 1 0 1 x x - 8

In the other semi, Norway scored 4 in the final end for a come from behind victory over Sweden 8-6.

Norway    1 0 0 1 2 0 4 x - 8
Sweden*   0 0 5 0 0 1 0 x - 6

Switzerland, with the highly experienced Manfred Bollinger at skip, fielded a team with just one change from the squad that struggled at the 2009 Worlds. In the final they overwhelmed Norway 7-1, allowing the single point in the final end.

Norway            0 0 0 0 0 0 1 x - 1
Switzerland*      1 0 1 3 1 1 0 x - 7

Canada redeemed themselves with a 4-1 win over Sweden to take 3rd place.

Canada        0 0 0 1 2 1 0 X  4

Sweden        0 0 0 0 0 0 1 X  1

(Q) There were a lot of blank ends. Was that intentional, to keep things clean? Wendy Morgan - "It was the game plan based on ice conditions."
*Q) And how would you describe the ice conditions?
Wendy Morgan - "Previous games heavy and inconsistent - the final game sheet 4 was the best sheet we played on during the event - the 3 blank ends were the result of outstanding execution by both teams in a defensive style of play."

Morgan professed to being happy with the trip. "It was a terrific competition - we are very pleased with our results and moving forward to the new year."

That's understandable coach-speak, but the trip demonstrated that Canada can not expect to have things all their own way. They lost to Finland in a game that did not matter, and to Switzerland in a game that did. No cause for panic, and Jim Armstrong's play will doubtless improve as he continues his recovery from injury and is able to put in the ice-time to reach the standard Canada will need in Vancouver. But Sweden, Switzerland and Great Britain have all won international events this year. Norway's play is improving ("We don't want to peak too early," says coach Christensen.) USA have a big event skip, while Korea threaten to break the rocks with their hitting game.

It's going to be interesting in Vancouver.

GB, USA, Manitoba and Gregory in Cathy Kerr semis

The four most experienced teams won through to Sunday's semi-finals at the 5th Annual Cathy Kerr Memorial Spiel in Ottawa.

Great Britain beat Ken Gregory's Bradford team that represented Ontario at the 2009 Nationals 10-2 in today's 8.30am draw. USA had a tougher match, coming out ahead of Chris Sobkowicz's Manitobans 5-4.

GB were back on the ice at 11am, this time posting a 10-3 win over USA II. Their third draw of the day was a 16-0 rout of the inexperienced London ON side.

Manitoba had a 6-4 win over host Cameron, and a 6-5 win over Quebec, while USA beat Ottawa's Fraser 6-0 and finished with a 6-5 win over Cameron.

Gregory beat previous Ontario champion Chris Rees' Toronta team 7-5 and finished the day with a 5-5 tie against USA II.

Tomorrow's semi-finals are Gregory v. USA 1 and Great Britain v. Manitoba.

Scores from today's games are below.

Draw 3 - Saturday November 28th  8.30am

Quebec 10  -  Fraser 1

Great Britain 10 - Gregory 2

USA 1  5  -  Manitoba 4

Rees 17  - London - 2

Draw 4 - Saturday November 28th  11am

USA 1  6  -  Fraser 0

Manitoba 6  -  Cameron  4

Great Britain 10  - USA 2  3

Gregory 7  -  Rees  5

Draw 5 - Saturday November 28th 2.30pm

Gregory 5  -  USA 2  5 (tie)

Great Britain 16  - London  0

Manitoba 6  - Quebec  5

USA1  6   - Cameron 5

Unranked Finland upset Canada, Canada & Norway top pools

Canada were upset by Finland, a team that have never appeared in a World Championship, in the morning draw of the second day of the Czech Open in Prague.

They gave up single steals in the first two ends, and a steal of 3 in the 5th before making the 8-5 scoreline a little more respectable with a steal of 3 of their own in the seventh and final end. Bruno Yizek played at second in place of ina. This was a team decision to give Bruno some playing time and experience at different positions.

"Finland played very well - Canada struggled with weight control," texts Team Leader Wendy Morgan. "The team is upbeat - took some lessons learned from this morning's game."

Sweden came back from a 4-0 deficit to beat Czech 1 6-5 in a match that only managed to play 6 ends in the allotted time. Germany saw Norway take singles in each of the first four ends in a 5-2 defeat in seven ends. The low scoring reminded some of their Draw 9 match-up at the 2009 Worlds contest, where the teams blanked the first four ends.

Switzerland posted a 7-5 win over Czech 2 in the remaining morning draw.

Finland   1  1  0  3  3  0  0  -  8
Canada*   0  0  1  0  0  1  3  -  5

Czech 1   2  1  1  0  0  1  -  -  5   
Sweden*   0  0  0  3  3  0  -  -  6

Germany   0  0  0  0  1  0  1  -  2
Norway*   1  1  1  1  0  1  0  -  5

Czech 2*      0  1  0  0  3  1  -  5
Switzerland   4  0  2  1  0  0  -  7

In the afternoon draw, Canada went into the break level with Czech 1, but had steals in the next three ends to win 7-3.

"We had a slow start to the game this afternoon but rallied in the second half," texts Wendy Morgan. "Sonja sat and Bruno played lead."

Norway pounded Czech 2 by 13-1 and Sweden took 5 in the third against Finland and won 9-4.

Germany gave up a steal of 3 in the first and 1 in the second, but eked out a win over Switzerland by scoring 3 in the final end of a game that only managed 6 ends in the allotted two hours.

Norway        2  2  1  1  0  3  2  2  -  13
Czech 2*   0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  -  1

Switzerland   3  1  0  0  1  0  -  -   - 5
Germany*      0  0  2  1  0  3  -  -   - 6

Canada*     1  0  0  1  1  1  3  0   - 7
Czech 1     0  1  1  0  0  0  0  1   - 3

Sweden      0  0  5  0  2  0  2  -   - 9
Finland*    1  1  0  1  0  1  0  -   - 4

Table after round robin

Pool A

1 Norway
2 Switzerland
3 Germany
4 Czech 2

Pool B

1 Canada
2 Sweden
3 Finland
4 Czech 1

Norway plays Sweden and Switzerland plays Canada in tomorrow's semi-finals.

Meanwhile Great Britain and USA play in Ottawa

Bruce Cameron and the Capital Wheelchair Curling Club have assembled the largest competitive field outside of a national championships for the 5th Annual Cathy Kerr Memorial Spiel at the RA Curling Club in Ottawa this weekend.

Ten teams, including Great Britain and two teams from the USA are competing against teams from Manitoba, Quebec and five Ontario teams. This is also a qualifying event to become one of the three teams that wlll attend the Ontario Winter ParaSports Games to be held in Kingston in January 2010.

There are two pools

Group A                                        Group B

Gregory (Bradford)                        Cameron (Ottawa)
Rees  (Toronto)                            Fraser (Ottawa)
Claus (London ON)                        USA 1 (Perez)
Great Britain  (McCreadie)              Manitoba (Sobkowicz)
USA 2                                          Quebec   

Draw 1 Results

Manitoba 6-4  Fraser (Ottawa)

Great Britain 9-5  Rees (Toronto)

USA 2  17-4   Claus (London)

Cameron (Ottawa)  11-4  Quebec

Draw 2 Results

USA 2  8-7  Rees (Toronto)

USA 1  11-2  Quebec

Gregory (Bradford) 16-0  Claus (London)

Cameron (Ottawa) 9-4  Fraser (Ottawa)

There is also a recreational division with four teams from the Capital Wheelchair urling Club and one team from Quebec.

It's deja vu all over again for Canada/Sweden at Czech Open

The opening draw of the 2009 Czech Open in Prague matched the 2009 Worlds finalists and Canada again scored 9 to win. Canada went out to an early 6-0 lead, taking 2 with the hammer and stealing 3 and 1 before Sweden got on the board with 2 before the half-time break.

Whatever caoch Tomas Nordin told his team seemed to work as Sweden made the scoreboard more respectable with single steals in the 5th and 6th, but a 3 for Canada in the 7th brought the match to an early 9-4 conclusion.

"Fast start, were slower the two ends after the break - ice was patchy and we changed our game to deal with the conditions," texted Team Leader Wendy Morgan. Before play, coaches approached the organizers and requested that the matches originally scheduled for 6 ends and 80 minutes, be extended to 8 ends with a bell at two hours, closer to the Paralympics format.

In other games, Norway, whose coach told me prior to the tournament start that his team were on an upward trajectory but that he didn't want them to peak before Vancouver, had a steal of 4 against Switzerland but were only able to score in two of the seven ends played, losing 9-6.

Germany overpowered Czech 2, opening with a 4 then stealing multiple points each of the next four ends, running out 13-2 winners. Finland, who have yet to appear on the World stage, tied 6-6 with Czech 1.

CANADA           2  3  1  0  0  0  3  x  9
SWEDEN           0  0  0  2  1  1  0  x  4

NORWAY           0  0  0  2  4  0  0  x  6
SWITZERLAND      1  2  3  0  0  2  1  x  9

GERMANY          4  2  2  2  3  0  x  x  13

CZECH  2         0  0  0  0  0  2  x  x   2

FINLAND          3  1  1  0  1  0  0  x   6
CZECH 1          0  0  0  4  0  1  1  x   6

Bruno Yizek, Canada's 5th, did not play. He will replace Sonja Gaudet at lead in tomorrow morning's draw against Finland.

Pool A

Norway - R. Lorensen , G. Skogstad , J. Stordahl , L. Tystad , A. M. Samdal 

Switzerland - M. Villars , C. Hüttenmoser , A. Kehrli, M. Bolliger
Germany - C. Steger , C. Totzauer, J. Gäbel, M. Sieger, J. Jäger
Czech 2 - O. Vikturnová , Š. Beneš , O. Kříž , J. Coufal , J. Břinčilová , L. Procházka


Pool B

Canada - J. Armstrong , D. Neighbour , I. Forrest , S. Gaudet , B. Yizek
Sweden - A. Wilhelm, P. Burman, G. Ikonen, J. Jungnell, P. Kallin
Finland - R. Särösalo, M. Karjalainen, V. Hellman, T. Aarnikka, S. Räsänen 

Czech 1 - R. Musílek, M. Charvátová , P. Gottlieb , R. Pokorný , M. Tluk



Draw 2  November 28  9.15am local time
CAN – FIN    SWE – CZE A    NOR – GER    SUI – CZE B

Draw 3  November 28  2.30pm local time
NOR – CZE B    SUI – GER    CAN – CZE A    SWE – FIN

Crapaud CC in P.E.I. to host Wheelchair Curling Workshops

The PEI Curling Association is looking to expand its programs this season by attracting those who are either vision impaired, or use a wheelchair.

A demonstration and workshop for interested participants, or volunteers who would like to coach and guide, is being held at the Crapaud Community Curling Club on Sunday December 6. It is hoped that representatives from all PEI curling clubs can attend these sessions.

The wheelchair demonstration will be held from 10.00am-1.00pm. For more information contact Gayle Johnston at 902-368-1071.

CLICK HERE for a link to the event.

Crapaud Curling Club has been added to wheelchaircurling.com's list of wheelchair friendly clubs. If you know of any venues not listed, please send me an email with a link to the club's website, or a phone number and they will be added to the list.

"I'll personally be disappointed without gold" - Jim Armstrong

Canada skip Jim Armstrong is one of five Olympians and Paralympians Canada.com's North Shore News selects as "athletes you should know" in the run-up to the Games.

"We'll be disappointed if we aren't on the podium," Armstrong says. "I personally will be disappointed without gold." [read more]

Team GB meet the press

L-R: Tom Killin, Angie Malone, Michael McCreadie, Aileen Neilson and Jim Sellar

Bob Cowan reports: British Curling had a media day yesterday at the Peak in Stirling, to give the press a chance to meet the GB Olympic and Paralympic curling squads.

It was organised by Mike Haggerty (British Curling's media officer) and Katriona Bush (sportscotland's corporate media adviser), and the media interest in the curling squads was bigger than anything I have ever witnessed before.

Of course Canada's wheelchair curling team is the only one finalised at the moment, but it would be nice to see a similar event held here after the Trials.

10 teams will compete at 5th Annual Cathy Kerr Memorial Spiel in Ottawa

The 5th Annual Cathy Kerr Memorial Bonspiel will be held at the RA Curling Club in Ottawa this weekend, November 27 -29.

There will be a competitive division of ten teams, including Team Great Britain, two USA teams, Team Manitoba, Team Quebec, Ken Gregory's 2009 Ontario champions, and four other Ontario teams.

There will also be a recreational division, with four teams from the Capital WCC and one from Quebec.

Canada had been scheduled to play, but decided that the competition offered at the Prague spiel the same weekend better suited their training needs.

November's Wheelchair Watch published in SWEEP d-Mag

Sweep d-Mag November 2009

My 'Wheelchair Watch' column for the inaugural issue of Sweep d-Mag is available at the magazine's site and on wheelchaircurling.com, where there is an archive of published articles.

Most of this month's column will be familiar to regular readers of the blog, but if you are a recent visitor it gives an overview of what has happened in wheelchair curling since last March.

Canada leave for Prague

Canada fly out to Prague tomorrow (Tuesday November 24th) for the 4th Open Czech Wheelchair Curling Tournament 2009. It is an eight team field, with two pools for round robin play beginning Friday with a final on Sunday November 29th.


Pool A
Norway
Switzerland
Germany
Czech  B

Pool B
Canada
Sweden
Finland
Czech A

Teams were seeded and placed in the pools according to their WCF Paralympics qualification points.

Canada's first game is against Sweden on Friday November 27 (8am ET, 5am Pac)

Vancouver CC hosts Canada/Japan exhibition

Team Canada skip Jim Armstrong returned to the club displaying many of his achievements as an able-bodied curler, in an exhibition match against Paralympic contenders Japan.

It was not a happy home-coming, as Team Canada lost 8-3. The ice was reported as extremely fast, and either Japan adjusted to the challenging conditions, or Canada found it hard to believe the broom. Either way, Jim had a tough game, short on a draw for an additional point in 3, short in the 6th to give up a steal of 1, and missing an open hit in 7 to give up 3.

CAN    1  0  1  0  1  0  0  0    3
 JAP    0  2  0  1  0  1  3  1    8

Since the employment of Chris Daw as Manager, the entire lower level of the Vancouver CC has been made wheelchair accessible. The club welcomes wheelchair users and will be hosting curling events n the new year aimed at disabled curlers inspired to try out the sport by the publicity surrounding the Paralympics.

USA 1 beat Ottawa at 2009 US Open in repeat of last year's final

Channel 2 News report below

Team USA faced last last year's finalists Team Cameron from Ottawa in the 2009 US Open final at the Utica CC in New York. Skip Goose Perez executed a perfect hit and roll to the button with the last rock of the 8th end for a single point and a 5-4 win.

USA II beat Bradford 8-7 to take bronze.

Other results:

Day 2  - Draw 3:

USA 1   7-1   USA II
Ottawa 10-7 Bradford

Draw 4:

USA II  8-12  Bradford
USA 1  10-6 Ottawa

Draw 5:

USA 1 5-6  Bradford in 9 ends
USA II  9-11 Ottawa

Day 3  - Draw 6:

USA pool of players was shuffled for this game

USA 1   1-9  USA II
Ottawa 9-2  Bradford

News Channel 2 WKTV Utica NY had a short news report.

Fairness demands two-tier participation - Michael McCreadie

Team GB skip Michael McCreadie, seen here at 2009 Worlds

photo - Yadranka

Team Great Britain skip Michael McCreadie is one of the world's most experienced wheelchair curlers, with decades of participation in other wheelchair sports. He feels that the time has come for the introduction of a two-tier classification that will force inclusion of more severely disabled wheelchair users onto teams competing under WCF rules.

"The original rule is a real strength of wheelchair curling. The game was established for players who use a wheelchair for “daily mobility”. Players within the sport, in my view, wish that original ethos to be maintained and strengthened," he says in a discussion document being circulated prior to the WCF semi-annual meeting set for Aberdeen in December to discuss possible rule changes..

"I am aware," he continues, "that classification attempts to confirm player eligibility and then seeks to assign individual players to a sports specific class. I believe the time is right for Chief Classifier (Dr Andrew Burt) and other experienced classifiers to identify minimum disability criteria for our sport as opposed to classification on a player by player basis."

He then proposes a radical change of rule regarding participation. Teams playing under WCF rules would be forced to include more severely disabled wheelchair users, the people at present being excluded from national teams focused solely on fielding the best athletes, rather than considering encouraging participation at all levels of disability.

"Most teams currently comprise of the most able wheelchair curlers who use a wheelchair for daily mobility. In the beginning there was the opportunity for more severely disabled players to compete for national team places. As the sport has developed across the world and the quality of play has improved, the most physically able players have started to dominate," McCreadie says.

"In the absence of divisioning within the classification system tetraplegic players, players who use power wheelchairs and those with cerebral palsy will continue to be non competitive in the current open class system. I believe the time is right to introduce fairness into the sport along the lines of what currently exists in team boccie (teams comprise of at least one class 1 player). Each team should in the future include one player who qualifies for a class that is representative of more severely physically disabled players. It may be as simple as introducing two classes into the sport for all players who are eligible. Class 1 would be the open class for all eligible players. Class 2 would be for players who are tetraplegic, players who are in the advanced stages of MS, some players with cerebral palsy or players with severe upper limb weakness or limb loss etc.

"I am not an expert in this area but I am certain that experienced classifiers could come up with appropriate profiles. In speaking to fellow national and international players I believe there is support for the introduction of a two tier system of classification that encourages, develops and retains the involvement of wheelchair players with more severe physical impairments while at the same time ensuring it retains its original aim of being a sport for non ambulant players only."


It is undeniable that where teams are selected by national associations seeking the best chance for a medal in return for their financial support, wheelchair curling has become a sport geared to the most athletic. Indeed, it was specifically mandated by Canada's "Own The Podium" program, a major funder, that the selectors choose the best available athletes, and then coach them to excellence.

The question is whether that is bad for the sport, and if it is, does mandating inclusion of players of less physical strength serve a useful purpose? Michael thinks that it does.

"It's all about participation, Eric," he told me when I expressed some scepticism about his solution. "We have to avoid the idea that unless you are some super-fit paraplegic or amputee, then it's not worth trying wheelchair curling because you have no chance of being selected for representational play."

But even if one agrees that allowing coaches and selectors to exclude all but the best athletes is bad for the overall development of the sport, is creating artificial categories beyond stating minimum wheelchair usage requirements a plausible solution?

It is worth noting that Germany's 2009 World Championship bronze medalists included a third, Marcus Sieger, who because of his level of disability would probably not have been considered for Canada, or Scotland, or Norway or for any of the teams centrally selected. He won his place because Team Germany were essentially a self-selected club side. Yet it would be hard to imagine that a physically stronger draftee would have performed more valuably.

(I admit to a prejudice against classification. I don't like the idea of being defined as a smaller percentage of someone else. I'd rather be 100% me. I also suspect classifications are at best subjective and at worst corrupting.)

The actual proposal for changing eligibility, to be presented by WCF vice-President Kate Caithness at the December meeting, suggests expanding participation beyond users who require a wheelchair for daily mobility, to include anyone with (specified) significant ambulatory impairments who is unable to curl without using a wheelchair.

My response to Michael's exclusion concerns would be to set a minimum wheelchair usage requirement and do away with central selection, which is the engine of exclusion, even at the cost of financial support for the favoured few.

Allow teams to come together, and those with the ability and ambition will find the resources to fulfil their dreams. The present system makes athletes nationalistic totems, surrogates for the political ambitions of their associations or the careers of their coaches. So maybe selection wins your country a medal. A week later, who other than the athletes, their parents and their enablers, cares?

You can read the full text of Michael's document, as written, as the first comment below. A response by Judy Mackenzie follows.

USA 1 beat both Canadian visitors on Day 1 of US Open

USA 1 beat visiting Team Cameron 8-4 and Team Gregory 10-6 on the first day of the US Open in Utica, NY. Ken Gregory's Bradford ON team posted the one Canadian victory, a 9-4 win over USA II. In the remaining match USA II beat Ottawan Bruce Cameron's side 5-3.

The four teams are playing a double round robin with a final Sunday November 22nd.

US Open begins at the Utica CC November 20

Just four teams will be competing at the US Open this weekend at the Utica CC in upstate New York.

Two USA teams, including the five players chosen to represent USA at the Paralympics, will face Team Gregory from Bradford ON and Team Cameron from Ottawa ON.

USA I - Augusto Perez (NY), James Pierce (NY), James Joseph (NY), Tammy Delano (NY). (Jacqui Kapinowski (NJ) is recovering from the flu and will not be playing in this event.)

USA II - Patrick McDonald (CA), Bob Prenoveau (NY), John Powell (TX), Dennis Williams.

Tean Bradford - Ken (Mr. TV) Gregory, Katie Paialunga, Jim Primavera, Collinda Joseph.

Team Ottawa - Bruce Cameron, Doug Morris, Jamie Eddy, Chrstine Lavallee.

The format will be double round robin, with Draw 6 scheduled for Sunday morning, followed by the final.

The small field is the result of a surfeit of November tournaments here and in Europe, forcing coaches (and funders) to choose which events to support. Great Britain, who have attended Utica in the past, this year decided to go to Ottawa's Cathy Kerr spiel the following weekend, and were not able to extend their trip to cover both events. Canada will be flying in the opposite direction, leaving next week for a tournament in Prague.

Manitobans form their own Association

Richard Dudek, Presdent of the newly formed
Manitoba Wheelchair Curling Association

Effie Loubardias, Secretary

Dennis Thiessen, Membership

Joyce Horvath, Treasurer

Wheelchair users in Manitoba will now be represented by their own MCA affiliated Manitoba Wheelchair Curling Association. Newly elected President Richard Dudek explains:

"This was done because we were at one time part of the Manitoba Wheelchair Sports Association. but in 2008 funding was deleted and we were on our own.

"We have struggled but are now a going concern. As chairperson, I have just signed an affiliation agreement with the Manitoba Curling Association. Our mandate is twofold: to create a large base of wheelchair curlers who will take part in recreational curling to begin with and then hopefully curl competitively; and to continue the competitive aspect of the sport and foster a larger number of teams working towards this goal.

"We are currently seeking sponsorship through grants and the corporate sector. it is my hope that we will be able to conduct four or five curling clinics throughout the province, and perhaps host a mid-west challenge for competitive curlers in the new year."

Richard Dudek can be reached by email at this address.

Manitoba's best known wheelchair curler is Chris Sobkowicz, who was the primary mover in starting wheelchair curling in the province. He then decided to concentrate on his involvement with Team Canada, and represented his country at the 2009 World Championships where he won a gold medal, though he did not make the 2010 Paralympic team.

Golden Ears Club hosts mixed stick spiel

Winners Tim Gabert and partner with

Rich Green and Gary Cormack

Team Korea fielded 3 teams

Team Canada back end Jim and Darryl with

event winners Tim Gabert and partner

The 3rd annual '2 on 2' Golden Stick Open Bonspiel was held at the Golden Ears Winter Club in Maple Ridge BC this weekend. 18 teams took part, including 6 wheelchair pairs. The winner was Tim Gabert and partner, seen with Jim and Darryl, and Rich Green and Gary Cormack in the photos above.

Sweden take 2009 Rolli Trophy

Sweden's skip Jalle Jungnell

(photo Yadranka)

Tomas Nordin coached Sweden beat Norway 8-2 in the final draw of the 2009 Rolli Trophy, stealing seven points in four consecutive ends and finishing top of the table with an unbeaten record.

Great Britain tied 4-4 with Bern I, fighting back with single steals in the final two ends to finish in second place. Bern I, led by the likely Swiss Paralympic team skip Manfred Bollinger, finished third.

Conditions were challenging on the weekend, with heavy ice and very large swings. Results are HERE.