On the ice for a 3rd consecutive weekend, we were participating in the Challenge Casino of Charlevoix. The top purse of 12000$ is luring some of the big names of the sports, such as Mike McEwen and John Epping.
First up is Nova Scotia’s Brent MacDougall. After 2 ends, we are up 2-0 and the opposing skip has to draw the 4 foot against 2. He is a tad heavy and concedes two more points. The rest of the game belongs to us. Next was Mike Fournier and his crew. We played Mike in the semis of the circuit final two weeks ago and it was a roller coaster; we decided that the up and downs were fun as we jumped back into the wagon. Crazy game! However, Fournier missed 2 key shots and instead of taking multiple points, gave up 2 steals. We run away with the game in 7 ends.
Mike McEwen’s juggernaut team was standing tall on the other side of the sheet for our “A” qualifier game. We had the heavy task to find a way to uphand them. We don’t start the game well, but McEwen misses an easy draw for 3 in the 2nd end. The team is almost happy to be only down by one! We raise our level of play and manage to be tied with the hammer after 4. We play a solid 5th end and see McEwen giving us a shot for 3: JM is all over this one. Up by 3 after 5, McEwen goes all in but has to draw against 2. He is short and hands us the victory.
Our quarter-final match is against Serge Reid/Pierre Charette. It is a tight game that sees us having a few opportunities to go ahead, but we never manage to capitalize. This will end up being costly as we play a brutal extra end and we barely wreck the guard on JM’s last attempt.
It was a good spiel that saw us being too inconsistent to contend. We know what to work on before heading to Kingston for the Slam.
Highlights of the weekend:
- Since we qualified early, we had the privilege of enjoying the hotel luxurious installations.
- Philippe won the jackpot in term of rooms. He probably got the janitory’s old room when JM got the equivalent of a Royale suite. Does that come with experience?
- Once again, we will never get tired of seeing Eric show us his dancing skills. W-O-W!
Looking forward to Kingston, stay tuned!
Jean-Michel, Martin, Éric, Philippe, Jean et Robert
Sun Life Classic / Brantford, ONT
The team was right back at it, playing the Sun Life Classic in Brantford, one of the most popular stops on the tour. We expect a serious challenge, 6 of the top 10 teams in the world being there.
First up is the 2011 Canadian Junior champion, Braden Moskowy and company. Early one, both teams are trying to figure out the ice, with us managing to get the hang of it quicker. We jump on an early 3 point lead. We also jump on a roller coaster ride for the rest of the game. Way too many momentum shift sees us tied after 7 without the hammer. As we try to steal our way to victory, we play a good 8th end, but still leave an easy double take-out to Moskowy for the win. However, he cannot afford to hit wide and that’s exactly what he does. We run away with this one.
Our second game on Friday is against the very talented Heath McCormick and his New York state team. McCormick’s dad being American, he is the owner of an American passport and decided to go try his luck up south. The “Heather” is on fire and makes THE shot of the year so far: a 20 feet triple “Z” angle raise take-out and stick in the house. This results in a 4-ender for them. Even though we manage to get 3 points right back in the 7th and that they commit to a very aggressive 8th end, McCormick makes his draw to the 4 foot for the win.
Playing our 3rd game of the day, we start to be tired after a full day of driving. We play the team of the moment on the circuit, John Epping. Another roller coaster rides that sees us take a big 4 ender in the sixth end, only to surrender our lead. We must hit and stick to win in the 8th, but JM’s attempt curls too much and we lose the game. A tough pill to swallow for everyone.
We must win 4 in a row in order to qualify. We play 2002 world junior champion David Hamblin, who beat Martin in the national final. He wants revenge! We play in a new curling club with very swingy ice. We need a few ends to get use to it and then play 4 solid ends. We even have the chance to seal the deal in the 6th end, but a small communication miscue opens the door to Hamblin to save the day, and he makes it. Tie game after 6th, but we’re in trouble early in the 7th, and on JM’s last rock, we face to opposite rocks behind two opposite guards. Nothing to impress him, JM make a “textbook” blank by doing a raise double take out with their own guard. The other team seems stun and JM calmly draw the 4 foot for the win in the 8th.
Once again, we must win against the “Ontarian guillotine”, Robert Rumfeldt, in order to stay alive. Philippe is not feeling very well: JM even thinks that he might have to finish the team with 3 players! He however holds on, only to see a masterful performance from the opposite back-end: they missed only one shot each during the whole match and quite frankly, we didn’t show up to the game. JM is always in trouble. We hang on but must concede on the opponent last rock. We are eliminated and our championship streak ends at 3.
Fun facts of the week-end:
- The host committee organises 2 sponsors night where teams can meet up for a drink and party. Since we were eliminated, the team minus Phil (TKO by a virus) went to the party. Éric impressed a lot of people with his dancing ability “country style”. Slick moves!
- Social Network saved the team from a brutal traffic jam in the Belleville area. Eric’s girlfriend called us to tell us that Mike Fournier had just updated his facebook status saying he was stuck in a serious traffic jam. We used the GPS to go around the traffic. Everything went well for us; however, Mike and Dwayne were stuck in traffic for FOUR hours. B-R-U-T-A-L...
- Thanks to the coach who graciously lend us his car for the weekend. Very appreciated!
Jean-Michel, Martin, Éric, Philippe, Jean et Robert
Quebec Curling Tour Finals / Glenmore, QC
After a 2 weeks break, we were back at work at Glenmore, where the best Quebec’s teams were gathered to win the Provincial Circuit Final.
Our first adversary is Trois-Rivières’ Pierre Gervais. The opposite skip has a very unpleasant habit of stealing games with his shot-making skills. However, the ice is curling quite nicely and does not seem to match very well with their soft releases. They make way too many mistakes to stay in the game and they must concede early.
When then play veteran skip Steeve Gagnon, proud owner of 2 purple hearts and supported by a very capable crew. They end up being a very tough opposition as expected: the game is tied after 5. In the 6th end, we decide to push our luck in order to generate our deuce by ignoring a rock in the wing and trying to bury our rock behind a center guard. Steeve is a fraction wide on his last shot, leaving a hack weight hit to JM for the deuce. JM makes it and we steal a point in the 7th, sealing the game.
We can surpass a personal record by qualifying through the “A” for the 3rd consecutive time. The tournament surprise team stand in our way, TMR Jean-Francois Royer and his friends. Philippe know them well since he plays in the same league as them in TMR. The boys know each other well and can play some good curling on a good day. This day was not happening during this qualifier though, as the other skip constantly has to make double take-out to limit us to 2 points. He is however heavy on a draw against 2 and they won’t be able to make up the lost ground. We are in the playoffs, enjoying a day off + a direct berth in the semis.
Well rested, we are ready to go on Sunday morning, which will be a pivotal point later in the day. Our opposition is led by ace blogger Mike Fournier, proudly wearing a bus driver-like stash for the “Movember” movement. They are playing their 9th game and candidly admit before the game that the fuel tank is empty. The game is highlighted by lucky shots and uncharacteristic misses from both teams. We play a terrible 6th end and must yield 3 points. Then, Mike flashes an easy looking pick shot and hand us back a deuce. To follow the trend, we play yet another poor end. On JM last shot, we talk a good 5 minutes to figure out how not to give up three and lose the game! Mike tries the killer shot but after the dust settles, must realize that the angles we just not set up for another 3-ender. We go to an extra end with the hammer, and Éric decides to put on a maid costume from the team “wardrobe”: he makes a double peel AND gets rid of the 2 dangerous rocks in the 4 foot. JM finishes the job with a nose it for the win.
Here we are in the final against the legendary Don “What’s the call chief” Westphal, and his team. They are playing their 10th game of the weekend, twice as us! They start the game well, but fatigue gets the better of them quickly. They make many mistakes and we take 4 in the third end and a serious option on the championship. We win 2 ends later a 3rd consecutive spiel.
This week-end funny moments:
- We made a 40 minutes line-up on St-Laurent to tastes Schwartz’s world famous smoked meat sandwiches. Decadent!
- Philippe made an imitation of Enrique Eglesias. Rather funny!
Next up : A serious challenge, as we head up to Brantford to play in the Sun Life Classic, where 6 of the top 10 teams in the world will be!
Jean-Michel, Martin, Éric, Philippe, Jean et Robert
The team was in Gatineau this week-end to take part of the Challenge Casino Lac-Leamy. In three small years, Dany Beaulieu and his team managed to put together a world class event that attracts a lot of big name of our sports, such as Gushue, Jacobs and Matchett’s teams, to name a few.
The team starts against Jamie Murphy from Nova Scotia. As usual, the first few ends of the first match of a spiel is a bit of a struggle for both teams, but in the third end, we commit to a patient approach, as the opposition is guarding a lonely rock in the rings. As the end unfolds, we manage to get a few rocks in the ring, and Murphy misses his 2 draws and basically gives us a 4 ender. We jump all over it, and the other team seems to give.
We then play Robert Rumfeldt and his team. They are having a rock solid start this year, having qualified in every spiel they played and winning 2 of them along the way. Jean-Michel amicably nicknamed them “the Ontarian guillotine”. In the first end, the opposition has 5 rocks in the ring after they threw their fifth rock! However, 3 goods rocks from our part combined with two missed throws from the other side allow us to take 2 points. Once again, the team gets into prowling mode and wait for a potential killer blow, as the opposition is once again guarding a shot rock that is surrounded by our rocks. M. Rumfeldt definitely had better days, as we score 4 points and maintain the lead for the remaining of the match.
Here we are in the “A” finale against one of the competition pre-favorite, Brad Gushue and company. Let’s jump to the second end, where both teams are engaged in a real “battle of the angles”. Gushue’s last rock is half a foot too far, leaving a circus triple to JM for a potential 3-ender. Looks like JM took some “Cirque du Soleil” classes, as he makes a peach for 3 points. With a 3 points lead, we start playing more defensively, but the smallest of mistake in the fourth end gives Gushue and team a shot at 2 points. They jump all over it, only to remind us that against this type of quality teams, you just can’t lower your guards. We go back to work and play a solid 5th end in a tricky portion of the ice. JM seems to have read it correctly, as he does not hesitate to play in this spot. Gushue needs to make a beauty on his last rock to save the day, but is rock just doesn’t curl and crash on the guard, leaving us with a draw anywhere in the house for 4 points. The opponents take 1 in the 6th and concede the game, which means we are in the playoffs for a second spiel in a row, full of confidence after such a convincing victory against a top quality opponent.
We recharge the batteries on Saturday to be ready to face one of curling’s most impressive mastermind, Pierre Charette. For the record, Pierre is throwing lead’s rock but is skipping the game. Having qualified through the “A” section, we have last rock in the first end. The other team starts slowly and we quickly take a 2 points lead. Serge Reid, throwing last rocks on the other side, makes a small miracle to take his point in the second end. We blank the 3th end and in the 4th, we positioned our rocks methodically. Serge needs to burry a rock around a rock in the twelve foot but can’t manage to tuck a piece, leaving our skipper a short angle double raise take out for 4. As the team is getting used to it, JM doesn’t miss his chance. Armed with a 5 points lead, we keep the opponents at bay and they concede the game after 7 ends.
Mark Kean’s young team are standing between us and a second final in a row. We had to do a shootout for the hammer as they also qualified through the “A”. We lose it by 0,6 inch and they almost managed to seriously hurt us for this so small imperfection. A very makeable double take out is there for a 3-ender, but they over sweep it and just miss the second rock and they only score 1 point. Even though it is a tie game after 6, we control most of the game. Combine this with the fact that Kean is not on top of his game and we take 2 points in the 7th end, followed but 8 nice shots in the 8th end. The opponent must yield and give us the game.
Here we are in the final against Northern Ontario’s finest for the past couple of years: Brad Jacobs’ team. The first seven ends are easily explainable: we play good, they simply play better. They play so good that after 7, we are down by 2 points without hammer. The team must dig deep and goes into its “wardrobe” to find their Robin Hood costume! We need to steal our way to victory. We play a pretty good 8th end, which slowly builds up in a “it-could-happen” scenario. On the opponent skip’s first rock, we are shot on the button half-burried. Jacobs has a bitter back 8 right behind our rock on the button, and we are sitting 3rd shot in the left wing of the house. He wants to end the game right away and attempts the double take-out, but missed on the wrong side and flashes. JM then does yet another pistol by perfectly freezing his shot on our rock on the button (this one half-burried too) and ligning them up with Jacobs’ bitter back 8. With the possibility of jamming in the back and rolling out to give us a steal of 3 and the victory, Jacobs wisely decides to throw a hack-weight hit on the two partially covered, conceding 1 but still winning the game, but he hits the guard. We then go into an extra-end and gives us a chance to win by forcing them to throw a bit tricky double take-out. The rock starts to curl early. Even with an almost superhuman effort on the sweeping, they can’t hold the line and only take one out. What a come from behind victory, the coach’s favourite, as he keeps telling us to never let go and to keep scratching and keep scratching.
Funny story of the week-end:
- We played tennis on our day off. Éric didn’t bring any sports clothes, so he had to play wearing jeans, a shirt tucked into his pants, a belt and even carrying his wallet around. A real Jehovah’s Witness!
- Martin showed us his maintenance skills on his car by cleaning and waxing it. Impressive.
- The last 2 weekends saw JM try to master NHL 2011, a video game on PS3. He finally managed to score a goal with his stick! No more helmet deviation. Way to go Jimmy!
A big thank you to Annie and Marie-Soleil alias “TNT” for their hospitality. It truly was a home away from home.
Next up: Quebec Circuit Final on the 2nd weekend of November!
Jean-Michel, Martin, Éric, Philippe, Jean et Robert
The traditional Thanksgiving bonspiel “Mac Ice Classic’’ was being held this week-end on the superb ice of competent icemaker, Ian MacAuley. The team was very motivated to go back on the ice after a 2 weeks hiatus during which we worked on the problem areas we noticed during our first tournament.
First up is young Jasmin Gibeau from Thurso, an old teammate of both Martin and Philippe during their junior year. The result left no doubt, as the opposition simply can’t manage to make 2 shots in a row. First victory.
Our second game was against the young team of Bowie Abbis-Mills. It is interesting to note that 2 of his teammates won the 2009 Canadian junior championship in Sorel-Tracy. The game ends up being a see-saw battle, but we manage to get a 1 point lead with hammer after six. The team plays a terrible 7th end and Jean-Michel is forced to make a draw to the pin against four. He calmly execute just like the best skippers can do it. Second win.
The team is one game away from qualifying and to enjoy a bizarre schedule advantage... 2 days off! But before thinking about that, we have to beat Sudbury’s Matt Dumontelle and his team. We play a rather good first half and we end up leading by 2 without hammer after 4. However, the opposition keeps knocking at the door and considerably enhance their level of play in the second half. We end up being tied after 7, but we have the always important hammer in the last end. Jean-Michel simply needs to pick a rock on his last shot, which he does. The team qualifies for the first time this year, but we are well aware that we need to play better in the playoffs and we want to go all the way.
The team does what is required to stay in the curling ‘’mood’’ by doing a first team practice with the new coach. A very interesting practice with a well-timed pep-talk that puts us right back into the fighting spirit. We are ready for more curling.
Our quarter-final game is not the easiest, as we have to play perennial contender Bryan Cochrane and his crew. Having qualified through the ‘’A’’ section gives us the last rock’s advantage and we use it to get a huge 4 points on the get-go. We manage to keep the upper hand, derailing any comeback attempt this very experienced team tries and we win the game.
In the semis, we play the man responsible for giving us top quality ice conditions, Ian MacAuley. No doubt that the fact he is the artist being these masterpieces gives his team an advantage and we stay on our guards. Once again, the advantage of beginning the game with the hammers will end up being crucial, as we take a big 3-ender right away. Both teams then trade singles until the 8th end, during which we end up giving 3 points. Thank god we capitalized in the first end! We then go to an extra-end with the hammer, where MacAuley has to do a very precise draw to force us to attempt a double take-out and stick in the house, but he is a tad heavy, allowing JM to hit the rock on the nose for the win. Once again, our captain is up to the task and delivers the goods.
Here we are in the final against Ottawa’s Howard Rajala, another fine team from the region. Ice conditions are definitely different. We seem to notice it before them. Smelling blood, our team jumps on a 4 points lead after 2 ends. After 4 disastrous rocks, M. Rajala decides to step on the gas and multiplies jaw dropping shots. Unfortunately for him, we are determined to go all the way and during the 8th end, as we lead by one (once again, with the hammer), Jean-Michel makes a very touchy angle double take out, the second rock being frozen on one of ours. This opens up the house and gives him a draw to the 8 foot for the championship, a formality for the team captain, who played a real solid tournament for us. VICTORY!!!
This weekend’s funny stories:
- We manage to play golf, tennis, video games, watch the Habs, do a BBQ, go to a nice ‘’raclette’’ restaurant during our 2 days off. That is without even mentioning the team practice. Who said curling was a tough sport?
- Éric made a once in a lifetime imitation of René Lévesque, one of Quebec’s most known politician of its history. To die for!
Next up: Gatineau for the Challenge Casino Lac-Leamy!
Jean-Michel, Martin, Éric, Philippe, Jean et Robert
This weekend was our first bonspiel of the season. We played in the traditional Shorty Jenkins Classic in Borckville, Ontario. This spiel is played as a round robin with a 5 games guaranted, which attracts a lot of elite teams in order to dust the rust off.
Our first game was against Wayne Tuck’s rink. The truth is that it was a straight forward game as we dictated most of the game and never really gave them a chance. Nonetheless, we were very happy to bag in our first victory of the season.
The following morning, we played the very skilled team of Chris Gardner from the Ottawa region. Unfortunately, we had a very slow start and quickly fell behind 3-0 after 2 ends. We did all we could to muster a comeback, but such a comeback was definitely not in M. Garnder’s plans, as he kept us at bay with a bunch of spectacular slash double take-outs. First lost of the year.
The next team we locked horns with was Dwayne Fowler’s team. It is interesting to note that even if the team is registered under Dwayne’s name, it is Mike Fournier that is skipping the team. And he played a GREAT match! Even though we gave up a costly 3-ender in the 5th end, we still consider that we dominated more than half of the match, Mike was probably inspired by Gardner’s earlier performance and played an almost flawless match.2nd lost.
We play against Ottawa’s Jeff McCrady the following afternoon. This is a very tricky team to play, as they are not necessarily great on the big weight but they play a very solid finesse game. Once again, we find ourselves in a hole as we start very slowly. McCrady and his 3rd Brian Lewis put us in difficult situation as they control perfectly their draw game. In the 8th end, we are down by 3 points with the hammer. Éric says that the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” at Lake Placid would be necessary to get the “W”, but everything is possible. Our Messiah was right : after a scrappy end from our part to at least make him throw his last rock, McCrady dumps his last shot and wreck the guard and then in overtime, he is too heavy on his draw attempt to the 4 foot. We literally steal the victory and we follow that with a high quality shoot-out.
The situation is crystal clear before our last round robin game: if we beat John Epping’s team, we’re in and if we lose, we’re out. We have a good first 2 ends, but in the 3rd, we completely miss our first 2 rocks of the end and then Martin throws a low percentage shot that misses by a quarter of an inch and ends up in a disaster. We give up another 3-ender and even though we fight hard to come back, we end up losing the game.
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Nonetheless, we had a great time this week-end and we would like to share our off-ice highlights with you:
- Philippe quickly understood that a nice hot n’ spicy chili bowl before a curling game was not a very good idea. Lesson learned.
- The bonspiel offers free golf for all participating teams. We played a nine holes: Éric (an accredited Quebec golf professional) against Martin, Philippe and JM, played as a team under the ‘’best-ball’’ formula. The amateurs beat the professional, thanks to at least 6 or 7 ‘’member’s bounce’’ on Jean-Michel’ shots. For your information : Martin and Philippe were merely a factor in that victory.
- We noticed a few houses in Brockville that would make the famous renovation TV show host Mike Holmes drool of envy to ‘’rip them to the ground’’. We took a picture of a stair ramp in such poor shape that the owner asks everyone to use the side door! We hope to be able to share this picture with you.
Next up : The MacIce Classic in Ottawa on the ice of one off the world’s best icemaker, Ian McAulay. Until then, enjoy the start of your curling season everyone.
Jean-Michel, Martin, Eric, Philippe, Jean and Robert
Welcome everybody on the Team Menard’s website!
There will be a line-up change this year: Philippe Menard will now throw lead stones, Jean Gagnon will remain involved in the team as our 5th player and Robert Menard as been chosen to lead the team as a coach.
We are looking forward to start our season, which will be very interesting for our team. You can consult our year schedule by clicking on the “Schedule” tab. You will notice that if our ranking allows it, we have chosen to participate in the 2nd event of the Grand Slam taking place in Kingston, Ontario. Our schedule includes a lot of tournaments in Ontario and away from home. We could not afford such a schedule without the generous contributions of our sponsors: Performance, IamGold, Genivar, Fournier Industries as well as PCW.
We are very appreciative of their support and we assure them that we will do everything possible to make them proud of being associated to our curling team.
Our main objective this year will be to qualify for the 2012 Tim Hortons Brier being held in Saskatoon, March 3-11. We approach every tournament the same way and we consider them very important, but ultimately they will help us to evaluate our level of play and see if we need to do any changes in order to reach our objective.
We invite you to visit our team website often in order to get the latest results from our tournaments. We will do post a summary of every tournament and make it reader-friendly and funny. Last but not least, we ask you to consult our sponsors’ website and to encourage them if possible.
Have a good curling season!
Jean-Michel, Martin, Eric, Philippe, Jean and Robert
Championnat Provincial
January 24 to 29
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