BRCC Needs A Webmaster!

I know what you're thinking. Did Don Lees start curling again? Well, that's  not him. That's Pal Trulson from Norway. But. it would be nice to see Don Lees start up with the Roaring game again now, wouldn't it?

In the meantime, years after the Salt Lake City, UT Winter Olympics when Trulson won the gold over Martin, both have now retired. Martin, a curling icon, will now be commentating the game with Sportsnet. Great choice, since Martin knows everything there is to know about curling. And another big name entering the ranks of the curling retired?...Cheryl Bernard. Yes, it is true, once again Cheryl Bernard is going to attempt to retire. She was going to do that before, a few years ago but came back to the game anyway. You never know, this could be another false alarm...time will tell.

But it won't be retirement for my fav...the Gush! In fact, Gushue is reuniting with with his old pal, Mark Nichols who has departed Winnipeg and Team Stoughton to return to the Rock and right back into the Gush's loving arms. Say so long to Adam Casey who has been sent packing. Brett Gallant will move to the second position and for all intents and purposes, this will be a powerhouse next season.

Looks like Johnny Mo was about to have a curling sabbatical but instead will be skipping for Team Ex-Koe. That right, with the departure of Kevin Koe from Team Koe, the first mens Team Canada will have Johnny Mo at the helm. Meanwhile, Koe will join up with Marc Kennedy, Brent Laing and Ben Hebert. Another tough squad on paper. That leaves Glen Howard to pick up John Mead and the return of his pal, Richard Hart. And what of Stoughton, well he is teamed up with Rob Fowler.

On the ladies side, with the departure of Allison Kreviacuk (heading to Sweden for love) from Team Homan, Joanne Courtney (formally vice for Val Sweeting) will come into the second position. Not to leave a gap on Team Sweeting, Andrea Crawford (New Brunswick's Bunny Eyes) will be in the third position.

I'm sure there will be other cabinet shuffles to report before all the summer dust settles.

In local news, the BRCC needs help in creating and maintaining a web page. The Hack to Hack is a great tool but the club really needs a webpage and thus requires someone who has the where-with-all to develop and maintain such a thing. Can you help? Please if you can and want to volunteer your time to help out the club, please contact Bob Villeneuve, Rose Neufeld, Al Gemmell or myself. We would love to hear from you!

In the meantime,

Rock On!

The Curling Chronic

WASSUP with Fridays @ the BRCC?

Summer curling....for the die-hard curler. If it wasn't for the high hydro costs, summer curling might be a good thing! But as it is, curling, for the most part, remains a winter thing.

So, what is the dealio with Fridays at the BRCC? As strong as out cool club is, Fridays are just not the best day to plan league curling. At many other clubs, Friday night curling is a big night. And I can see why it is....a night out with your significant other or just a night out with pals. Perhaps play a game, have some vittles after and a few beverages. No work the next day so, kick it! But for some reason, Fridays remain to be a pretty mediocre night at the BRCC.

Perhaps we should try to resurrect Friday curling. It would have to be a league....this might be the perfect night for the Mixed Doubles to take off....perhaps even the Rookie League. Granted, locals from the Blind like to hit the road alot on the weekends...shopping in Sudbury or the Soo, or whatever but the Friday night at the club sounds like the perfect way to kick off the weekend. Give it some thought...expanding the membership will ultimately mean thinking outside the box a bit and utilizing the ice more than 4 nights a week.

In other news, the BRCC is undergoing a massive upgrade to the plantroom. New equipment and using glycol instead of water. Big job but come the fall, we will be "cooking with gas!"

The dance floor of the club was repaired and resealed just recently. I am afraid to name the individuals who volunteered their time to do it because I may leave someone out. But these people did a bang up job! That dance floor gets quite the work out during the season so it facelift (or is it floorlift) was definitely needed. Great job guys.

The ice surface looks great. The guys got our there and touched it up and boy, it is sharp. Looks so good, seems like you could go out and curl without ice!

So just in case you did not know: Bob Villeneuve is now the BRCC president. Vice president is Kristy Blanchet and Al Gemmell is the new Treasurer. Other directors are: Glen Austin, Wendy Smith, Michel Rivard, Al Viel, Rick Roberts, Ryan Hagger and Christie Hagger.

More news to follow later in the week.

Rock On!

The Curling Chronic

Good changes coming for the BRCC

The Times They Are a Changin'. Remember that one by Bob Dylan? Not my favourite Dylan song but I know it well. Well, in an effort to boost membership and enhance the BRCC curling experience, there will be some changes coming to our cool little club.


The BRCC is awesome. We all know that. In a time when clubs are struggling and with some even closing down, curling is still alive and well at the BRCC. BUT, last season, our membership took a dip for one reason or another. So, we need to get new members into the club and even try to get former members to return to the Roaring Game. So, with this in mind, a subcommittee was struck with Al Gemmell, yours truly, Rose Neufeld and Bob Villeneuve to look at ways to increase membership. Let's face it, no members...no club.


Some of the ideas we are looking at thus far include:


Rookie League: A new league for newcomers. Newbies can receive instruction and play games in this league. It might even be a perfect league for those existing members who are presently front end players but want to get into playing third or skip. What an excellent way to get people into the game and offer them a league of their own.....even at a special rate. I really like this idea! More to come on this!


Mixed Doubles: Another awesome idea. Mixed doubles is a great game. Easy to learn and fun to play. Presently, we are thinking about a Friday night league. Yes, that's right, Friday night! And I know you are going to say....Fridays are a tough sell...but this league can work. To take it a step further, we might be able to get other clubs involved (like Thessalon and Elliot Lake) and rotate from club to club. This would be awesome. Great way to spend a Friday night with your spouse or your pal, play some curling, have some food and socialize. More to come on this as well.


There is also talk of a rotating school league. That would indeed be quite the curling coup. Let's face it, young curlers are the future of the game.


And what about a reduced rate for new curlers for their first year. A lot of clubs offer this financial incentive and have been successful. I am in favour of this. The idea is to get people in the door and a financial carrot is always helpful.


Got ideas?! We want to hear them! One thing is for sure...we need to keep our membership numbers up and we need to be constantly thinking about getting new people to try out the game. Let's all work together to keep our club strong.


Keep an eye out for signs around town promoting curling. They will be up shortly. Talk to your friends. Try to get them out.


Keep an eye on this blog. I know it is summer, but I will be blogging twice a week for the summer months keeping you informed about what is going on at the BRCC AND ALSO what is going on in the curling world in general. Since I am in a different position on the board now, I will have more time to blog and keep you up to speed...and at the very least, provide you with some curling humour and wild, random thoughts.


Keep the Hack to Hack in your favourites...I look forward to entertaining you!


Still Rockin' On (and doin' some fishin' too)


The Curling Chronic