The 62-year-old six-time Brier participant, whose curling now has to be done from a wheelchair thanks to a serious car accident and ongoing knee issues, had an 18-month doping suspension from the World Curling Federation reduced to six months (a span that expired on Sept. 5) following a hearing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport over the summer in Toronto. The hearing result was made public on Friday.

“Absolutely, it’s a relief,” said Armstrong on Friday. “Was there an adverse analytical finding? Yes. Could it be explained? Yes. And at the end of the day, that’s what they decided. It certainly doesn’t negate the fact there was an offence. But there’s an asterisk on it. They saw what it was an how it came about and applied a little bit of compassion to a very unwieldy circumstance.”

Armstrong, originally from Vancouver and now living in Ontario, tested positive for Tamoxifen, a drug used to treat breast cancer that has been used by athletes to counter the side-effects of steroid use. Armstrong said he ingested the drug accidentally; his late wife, Carleen, died in 2009 because of breast cancer and was using the drug, and Armstrong said some of her leftover drugs got mixed into the various medicines he takes on a daily basis to deal with his medical problems. The Tamoxifen pills are similar-looking to the ASA 81-mg pills that he (and many other men) take to help prevent heart attacks.

The positive test was revealed to him on the eve of the world wheelchair championship in South Korea last January, and Armstrong immediately came home. The WCF reduced the standard two-year suspension to 18 months because of the circumstances of the case.

Armstrong launched an appeal, and with lawyers Emir Crowne and Christina Khoury backing him up he had his day in court in June in Toronto.
According to the findings of the CAS, “the WCF Panel did not properly exercise its discretion” in assessing the 18-month penalty, noting the accidental nature of the offence and the obvious lack of benefits to Armstrong (quite the opposite, actually; it would do more harm than good) from ingesting the Tamoxifen.

“The sanction imposed on an athlete must not be disproportionate to the offence and must always reflect the extent of the athlete’s guilt,” the CAS report stated.

But the six months of the original suspension remained in place: “The fact that the Appellant stored his own medicine together with the medicine of his wife in a box and also reused containers of Tamoxifen, certainly does not constitute an exercise of utmost caution,” said the report.

With the CAS decision, Armstrong can immediately return to the ice for competitive events and start his bid to be named to the Paralympic team for the Sochi Olympics. According to the Sport Canada website, he’s also eligible to receive Sport Canada funding; a suspension of two years or greater makes you permanently ineligible.

Armstrong was to fly to Vancouver on Friday to take part in a national-team wheelchair camp, as he’s back in the 14-member Team Canada pool to play at the world championship in Sochi, Russia — a test event for the 2014 Paralympics.

“Under the circumstances, I think it’s as close to vindication as I can get,” said Armstrong. “Did I make an inadvertent error? Obviously, I did. But it was explained.”

Jones, who’s recuperating from off-season knee surgery and, oh yes, preparing for the birth of her first child, was hitting the refresh button on her computer frantically all weekend as her teammates (with spare Kirsten Wall) knocked off Calgary’s rising-star foursome Crystal Webster in the final.

But Jones may be closer to returning to action than even she’d hoped for when she had the knee procedure done during the summer.

Jones’s rehab is ahead of schedule, and in fact she’s been out throwing a handful of times at the Fort Rouge club in Winnipeg under the watchful eye of her dad and longtime coach Larry.

“It’s going really, really well,” said Jones. “There was some pain, but I expected that. It’s getting better, and my body is adjusting to that and the baby. It felt wonderful to be back on the ice. I’m really excited.”

While Jones still doesn’t have a firm date targeted to return to full-time skipping duties — Wall played third in Edmonton while Jones’s regular vice-skip Kaitlyn Lawes took over the skipping duties; the front end of second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askin was unchanged — she’s not ruling out playing a WCT event in the next couple of months, which wasn’t necessarily in the plans when she announced her pregnancy and knee issues in July.

“I really missed playing and I wish they’d update the linescores quicker on the website,” said Jones with a laugh.

Jones will certainly be on the ice next month in her hometown when she hosts the inaugural Jennifer Jones Curling Camp at the St. Vital club in Winnipeg. Jones and her teammates, Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn Askin, along with Brent Laing and national women’s coach Elaine Dagg-Jackson. More information on the camp can be found here.

Meanwhile, USA Curling has once again looked to the north for coaching, naming Thunder Bay’s Al Hackner to the national team coaching staff. Calgary’s Ed Lukowich, of course, was a longtime coach in the U.S. program, and Hackner, it’s hoped, will provide some valuable guidance leading up to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

It certainly sets up an intriguing potential U.S.-Canada Olympic matchup; Hackner’s long-time vice-skip is none other than Canadian men’s coach Rick Lang.

Here’s the full announcement from USA Curling:

After an extensive search process by the High Performance Advisory Group, USA Curling has hired two-time world champion Al Hackner of Thunder Bay, Ontario, as the final member of its national coaching staff.

Hackner, 58, joins Scott Baird (Bemidji, Minn.) as a national team coach in addition to Project 2018 national coaches John Benton (St. Michael, Minn.) and Phill Drobnick (Eveleth, Minn.) under the direction of High Performance Director Derek Brown.

Hackner, who began curling at age 13, skipped his Northern Ontario team to Canadian and world championship titles in 1982 and 1985. He also was runner-up at the 2007 World Senior Curling Championships and is a member of the Canadian Curling Association’s Hall of Fame. In the 10th end of the 1985 Canadian National Championships final, Hackner played a double takeout for two points to tie the game, which some consider to be one of the greatest shots in Canadian curling history.  He went on to win in the extra end and then reclaim the world title.

“We are delighted to have someone with Al’s experience and knowledge of the game working with our high performance teams. I am sure he will be fantastic asset to our program,” Brown said of Hackner’s appointment.

But that changed this week, and it’s part of the fallout from last month’s changeover of ownership of the Tour from Kevin Albrecht’s iSport Media and Management to Rogers Sportsnet.

It’s believed that Albrecht retained the rights to the old domain, and as of this week, you’re seeing a godaddy.com ad with no curling references to be found — speculate all you want about the motivation behind this move.

At any rate, the good news is that the Tour has a new online home, thanks to the tireless work of WCT operations manager Gerry Geurts, the man primarily responsible for gathering material and organizing the site — www.worldcurl.com.

It was Geurts, you’ll remember, who also spearheaded the efforts to restore the WCT site and his other labour of love, curlingzone.com after the sites were hacked last year (he’s certainly not getting rich through this, and he has been impacted by the financial issues of the Slam circuit over the past month).

So the long and short of it is, change your bookmarks to worldcurl.com if you’re interested in finding out tomorrow’s end-by-end scores between Pierre Charette and Sven Michel at the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic…

Arleen was tremendously well-liked by fellow officials, competitors and media for her straight-ahead, no-nonsense approach — all combined with a heart of gold and a wonderfully dry sense of humour. In addition to being a talented player — she skipped Saskatchewan to a third-place finish at the 1982 Scott Tournament of Hearts in her hometown, losing the semi to eventual champion Colleen Jones — she had an unparalleled career as an official, beginning with the 1989 junior nationals and going through to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. For a complete list of Day’s officiating work, check out this link. It’s impressive, to say the least, and to say she’ll be missed is an understatement.

And here’s a great story the Regina Leader-Post did on her during the 2008 Scotties in Regina.

Meanwhile, there’s been much conjecture about how the opening event of the Sportsnet-owned Grand Slam series, the Masters in Brantford, Ont., will work.

As opposed to the traditional 18-team model that has been used at Slam events, the Masters will feature 34 men’s and 34 women’s teams, which would seem to be a head-scratcher in terms of an even draw.

But according to a source with knowledge of the situation, it will be anything BUT an even draw, and while I anticipate there will be some complaints, there shouldn’t be.

I’m told that, in fact, the traditional 18-team setup will be still used for the top 18 on the Order of Merit (including the European entries), likely with three round-robin pools of six, and the top two in each pool qualifying for the playoffs.

Two more playoff teams will come out of the remaining 16 entries that don’t have enough Order of Merit points — possibly through a straight double-knockout draw.

Now, in response to those inevitable complaints about how that’s not fair, I would argue that, in fact, it’s entirely fair. The teams that travel the most, that work the hardest at the sport, that put in the most time and money and, as a result, perform the best, should get a leg up.

Curling, in that sense, is a meritocracy. So, for that matter, are MOST sports. If you’re playing on the Hooters Tour in golf (OK, it’s called the NGA Tour now, but I prefer its former title), you are not on the same level as a PGA player. You have two or three levels of qualifying to go through before getting into the U.S. Open. You have to try your luck in a Monday qualifying event just to get a sniff at an entry in a Web.com Tour event, never mind the main PGA Tour.

Other sports are no different. Those who play the best and who are the most committed should, and do, get the most benefits as a result.

But here’s what I like about the Brantford format. Unlike past Slam events, which were closed-door affairs to non-qualified teams, the 16-team second division presents the opportunity to qualify and play with the best teams on the planet, and maybe even beat them. It’s a huge opportunity and a wonderful carrot to dangle from a string for teams who are on the edge of greatness.

This is a monumental day for curling, it goes without saying. Rogers Media made a major statement today by saying it believes in the sport and wants to grow it, and sees an opportunity to make money from it.

Scott Moore, one of the cagiest guys you’ll find in the Canadian broadcast industry, said it very plainly: “We believe in owning world-class content.”
Here’s the entire announcement:

TORONTO (August 30, 2012) Sportsnet today announced it has purchased the Grand Slam of Curling and will be establishing a new events division. This purchase marks a significant milestone for Sportsnet, as the multiplatform media brand expands its diverse portfolio into the sports events category, furthering its commitment to providing fans with premium sports experiences and content across multiple platforms.

Sportsnet will now wholly own and operate the Grand Slam of Curling, which is part of the World Curling Tour.  The elite series of men’s and women’s curling events features the best teams from across Canada and around the world. The Grand Slam of Curling was acquired by Sportsnet from Insight Sports Ltd.

Curling is an essential part of our Canadian sports fabric, and the Grand Slam of Curling is the cream of the crop in international curling events,” said Scott Moore, President, Broadcasting, Rogers Media. “We are proud to own and operate the Grand Slam of Curling, as it furthers Sportsnet’s commitment to producing world-class content, anyplace, anyhow and anywhere and allows us to integrate and engage the sports fan in innovative ways through our new events division. Sportsnet intends to grow the Grand Slam of Curling like never before.”

On behalf of the Grand Slam players, we are thrilled to welcome Sportsnet as the new owners of the Grand Slam of Curling,” said Pierre Charette, President, World Competitive Curlers Association. “This is great news for the Canadian curling community as a whole. Sportsnet will operate events that are second-to-none, broadcast more games and take the Grand Slam of Curling to another level.”

The 2012-13 Grand Slam of Curling series kicks off with The Masters, taking place in Brantford, ON from November 14 to 18.  The series will air on Sportsnet and CBC, through a sub-licensing agreement.  Additional details regarding the full 2012-13 Grand Slam of Curling schedule and broadcast details will be announced in the coming weeks.

Sportsnet has a long history of producing and televising curling.  The network’s curling coverage began with the inaugural season of the World Curling Tour when the network launched in 1988, and has continued with various curling events including the Grand Slam of Curling between 2001 and 2006.

So here’s what we know: the first Slam will take place in mid-November in Brantford, Ont., and will feature 34 men’s and 34 women’s teams — in essence, taking an existing World Curling Tour event and making it a Slam. Ideally, said World Curling Players Association president Pierre Charette, more co-ed Slams will be held down the road, but for now, only the Brantford event and the season-ending Players’ Championships — Moore said negotiations are underway to stage the event in Toronto — will feature male and female events.

Because we’re late in the game, Moore could only commit to holding three men’s Slams this season, with a possibility of four, but he also said the goal is to expand down the road, up to double figures, with the existing prize purse — a minimum of $100,000 per event — to remain and, again ideally, grow.

More intriguing is the expansion of the television offerings. CBC will be part of the Slam package, likely showing the weekend finals to a broader audience than Sportsnet can reach. It’s great to see the original curling broadcaster back into the Roaring Game, and it will be a good lead-up to CBC’s coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

And one can’t help but wonder, by the way, if this is a sign of things to come when it comes to the Olympics. Surely CBC doesn’t have enough platforms to show the Games entirely on their own; it would make sense to have Rogers as a partner to distribute to as wide of an audience as possible.

Back to the Slams: you can look for two or three draws a day to be shown in a variety of media platforms — through Sportsnet’s various television channels as well as online and to tablets. This is a huge move forward from the days of only a couple games per weekend being shown.

What this means, of course, is that curling viewers of Canada will have never been so well-served. With all due respect to the crew at Sportsnet, TSN is still the king when it comes to curling.They have the Season of Champions events that, quite frankly, mean more to curling fans than the Slams ever will, and will show them through 2020. That’s just a fact. And  while it’s notable that Sportsnet is now staging events, TSN has been doing that, and doing it exceedingly well, for years with the Skins Games. Sportsnet will have a ton of work to make up ground on TSN’s production side when it comes to the look of curling broadcasts, and the on-air crew of Vic, Linda and Russ is currently the gold standard (although Mike Harris needs to be on the air as much as possible. Make it so, Scott Moore. Quickly).

Competition, though, is a good thing, and the viewers will benefit in the long run.

So, too, will the curlers. Sponsorship deals had to be hard to come by this summer because of the uncertainty of the broadcasting situation (sponsorship deals are typically easier to sell if TV exposure is part of it). More TV time means more money for curlers.

Finally, a word or two about a couple of the principals in the Grand Slam drama that has played out over the past year.

First, Pierre Charette. He has lived and died with the Slams for a long time, and you’ll have to travel a long ways in Canada to find someone in the curling community with a bad word to say about him. The past year’s financial problems with Kevin Albrecht and iSport were a challenge for Charette, but he worked tirelessly to hold the series together. He’d never admit to this, but I have it on good authority that had Charette not put up a financial guarantee himself prior to the first Slam event last season, the entire season might have collapsed. This is a very good day for him.

Secondly, Kevin Albrecht. He’s become a bit of a whipping boy for the Slam’s troubles in recent months, and you have to say he deserves a good chunk of the blame. He was over-extended, and things just started imploding around him. But let’s never forget that it was Albrecht who was one of the visionaries behind the Slam circuit. I still have a vivid memory of my first chat with Albrecht, in one of the meeting rooms at the Calgary Curling Club in the spring of 2001, when the Players’ Championship was being held at the CCC. Then, he was with IMG, and he gave me the first exclusive peek at plans to stage four so-called “majors” during the curling season.

“I think that’s really where we should focus on this tour; events that we could brand, events that the fans and players know are big,” said Albrecht during that 2001 interview. “I think there are a lot of events worthy of it, maybe 10 or 11 events that could qualify as majors. A lot of it has to do with timing, from an arena perspective and from a television perspective.”

There’s no question the sport is better for having the Slams, and Albrecht was a primary architect. And, again, to his credit, he stuck by the Slams for more than a decade and worked hard in his attempts to grow them. Yes, he rubbed plenty of people — particularly in the upper echelons of the Canadian Curling Association — the wrong way, but where others may have bailed out on the Slams, he stuck around until he was forced out. His role in getting the Slams to a point where a company such asRogers sees them as a corporate asset cannot, and should not, be overlooked.

You’d also be wrong to suggest that Nedohin didn’t try to force the issue on Saturday. She did. Every end she didn’t have hammer, she put the centre-guard up. That’s a very clear sign of forcing the issue, and she’s getting an undeserved bad rap for her strategic approach.

The problem Saturday was the follow-up shots to continue forcing the issue. They weren’t made consistently enough, leading to hits that rolled out of the rings and allowing the Koreans to go up and peel the centre guard.

On Sunday, the hits were made, the rolls were made, and the Koreans couldn’t peel their way out of ends.

Plain and simple — it wasn’t strategy, it was execution. It always is. And the execution was much better on Sunday (even though the stats may not show it, but that’s a consequence of more difficult shots being called).

And with those shots being made, it was obvious on Sunday which team had found a comfort zone, although you have to give the Koreans credit for hanging touch and having a chance to tie it in the 10th end. Ji-Sun Kim’s team was splendid here, and it’s exciting to see another Asian nation take a significant step forward on the granite scene. I think it would be a terrific move by the World Curling Federation to have Kim’s squad be a part of the Team World for the Continental Cup next winter in Penticton, B.C.

Although before that happens, it might be an idea for someone with experience to have a word with Kim about her on-ice behaviour. As demonstrative as Nedohin can be on the ice, she’s never done anything to show up an opponent during a game. Kim, on the other hand, was very obviously hopping in delight when Nedohin was heavy on her draw in the fourth end, leading to a deuce for the Koreans. I saw nothing malicious in Kim’s hopping — just pure excitement. But it’s not the right thing to do in that circumstance, and it wasn’t the first time she had done it.

So the Canadian gold-medal dry-spell in this event goes on. It’s been four years since O Canada was played at a medal ceremony at the women’s worlds, and that may be alarming to some, and a sign that our national women’s program is in trouble.

But let’s dispose of the notion that Canada is pre-ordained to win gold every time a national women’s team steps onto the ice. It’s just not the case. Hasn’t been in a long time, in fact. The playing field around the world in women’s curling is a lot more level than in men’s, and it should be considered an achievement for Canadian teams just to hit the medal podium at a women’s worlds. The Canadian redneck in me wants to believe that it’s gold or nothing, but it’s not fair to put those expectations on Team Canada. Pressure, yes. There should be pressure on a Canadian team to perform on the world stage. But to say that a world championship was a failure for a Canadian team that doesn’t win gold is ridiculous.

The question can be asked: are we doing enough to produce world champions? That’s a good debate to have.

It was telling that the Swedes had a full group of youths from their national curling academy in Lethbridge, cheering on Margaretha Sigfridsson’s teams. The high-schoolers are identified at an early age as curling prospects, and they attend school and curl on a full-time basis in the winter.

According to Scottish coach Rhona Martin, the national-team program begins its off-season training program in mid-April, and there will be on-ice training throughout the summer.

And, of course, the Chinese and Korean teams are training fiends, spending up to six hours a day on the ice during the season.

Are we falling behind?

Keep in mind a few things when you ponder this question. First, we have geography working against us. The curling populations in other countries are easy to bring together for training opportunities. That’s simply not the case in Canada.

As well, we have so much more depth than the other countries that the World Curling Tour season provides training opportunities to our elite teams that simply aren’t available to other countries.

And, the fact is more money is being spent on national-team athletes. Own the Podium money has helped provide training and research opportunities. There is far more ice available in the summer than used to be the case. There’s a support network working with the top teams in the country that doesn’t show up in the TV shots at the Scotties and world championship, all trying to find those three or four shooting percentage points that will make a difference between gold, silver, bronze and fourth place.

Is it perfect? Of course not. But the fact is, the effort is being put in, and it’s an evolving process.

As for Heather Nedohin, Beth Iskiw, Jessica Mair, Laine Peters, Amy Nixon, Darryl Horne and Elaine Dagg-Jackson? I say congratulations. It’s not an easy thing to do what they did here in Lethbridge. As mentioned before, there was nothing guaranteed when Team Canada arrived here. They played through some tough circumstances and stepped up.

It wasn’t gold. But the smiles on their faces on Sunday told you it was almost as good as. They wore the Maple Leaf well.

“I thought the Koreans came out not to play against us,” said Nedohin. “They were extremely defensive right from the get-go. The only entertaining end was the last one. She did make a pistol, it was a great shot to win, absolutely. I just wish the game was more of a game. Maybe it’s a good tactic against us, to play extremely boring. Congratulations to them, they got a ‘W’ out of it. I just don’t think it was an entertaining game whatsoever.”

Well, let’s be blunt here. That was not the South Koreans’ job today. They were under no obligation to play to the crowd or put rocks in play. Just win, baby. And South Korea did precisely that.

And, for the record, let’s also point out that a fairly high-profile Canadian team used pretty much the same strategy en route to a silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Cheryl Bernard did not go hard on offence. She controlled the scoreboard. She played to have hammer in the 10th end. She stuck to her game plan, regardless of the critics.

That’s exactly what Ji-Sun Kim did this afternoon. It was supposed to be the Canadian team that dictated the game style against the inexperienced South Koreans. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Kim had the hammer. She wielded it the way she wanted. End of story.

And by the way, Canada had chances to force rocks into play. A typical start to the early ends was for Nedohin to put up a centre guard, and the Koreans to draw to the wings. One good hit-and-roll behind the guard would guaranteed rocks in play, but it never happened.

I also take issue with Nedohin’s contention that it wasn’t entertaining. Perhaps not from the perspective of all-out offence, but it certainly was in terms of the cat-and-mouse style of the two teams, and the tension build-up was palpable leading to the 10th.

And it was a thrilling 10th, unquestionably. Coaches too often don’t get their due in curling, but the call that Korean coach Min-Suk Choi suggested during a timeout, for the split that left his team sitting one-three with no double possibility, was one of the best coaching moves I’ve ever seen. No one saw the possibility except him.

Having said that, if third Beth Iskiw or Nedohin can follow with the corner freeze, it might have been a different outcome. But when the game was on the line, they didn’t make their shots. South Korea did.

In the big picture of curling, this was an important victory. Joanna Kelly, the World Curling Federation’s media officer, said South Korean media outlets “are going absolutely mad.” That’s great to hear, because the Asian market can take this sport to another level.

Small consolation, of course, for Nedohin and her teammates, who now have to get up early for Sunday morning’s bronze-medal game — a tough pill to swallow for Nedohin, who’s been down this road before.

“Oh, there’s now way we’re losing that bronze game. We’re going to have fire in our belly,” said Nedohin, before her emotions got the better of her. “I did the damn same thing in ’98. I’m going to win the bronze.”

“The one thing I took away from all the emails and texts we got last night was to keep believing,” said Nedohin. “And we believe.”

I’ve heard variations on that theme from countless athletes over the years, of course, but there was something awful genuine about the way Nedohin said it today. And the “believe” theme has become pretty prevalent among the crowd, as the “CA-NA-DA, We Be-Lieve!” cheer rings out on a fairly regular basis.

To be honest, it was pretty difficult to know what to believe after the way Nedohin, Beth Iskiw, Jessica Mair, lead Laine Peters, alternate Amy Nixon and coach Darryl Horne slunk out of the arena Thursday night with a pair of humbling losses to close out the round-robin.

But it was a completely different team that hit the ice for the fourth-place tiebreaker today against the U.S. Sure, the four-pack in the second helped. But it was apparent before a rock was thrown in the first end that the Canadians were a loose, confident bunch. Nedohin wanted some shots made in the first end, so she called it open, then started going for it in the second.

Much will be made of Pottinger’s two misses in the second that allowed Nedohin to draw for that four, but to me, the shot that set it up was actually a Canadian miss, but a splendid example of knowing HOW to miss. Iskiw was asked to play a light-weight come-around tap and she was tight to the broom. So Nedohin called the sweeping in order to make contact with the guard and, thanks to the precise weight thrown by Iskiw, have the shooter spill into the rings close to backing in the back 12-foot.

It left Canada sitting one-three, and when Pottinger had her freeze attempt to sit two overcurl, the Canadians were set to score multiples. And it goes back to Iskiw’s “missed” shot, which put the ball in motion.

There was plenty to like about the Canadian performance today. Not once did Nedohin’s team look panicked or uneasy. A four-point lead after two ends is not easy to defend, and the U.S. did a nice job of clawing back to eventually force Nedohin to have to throw her last rock in the 10th end. But Nedohin managed the game and the scoreboard to near perfection.

It’ll be a very different challenge on Saturday against a South Korean team that has caused problems for every opponent here. I’m convinced that Scotland’s Eve Muirhead never recovered mentally after being confounded early in the week by the way the Koreans were able to put rocks in spots that other teams with conventional releases couldn’t. It truly can mess with a skip’s mind.

It’s the same with the way Ji-Sun Kim calls the game; it’s not predictable (by Canadian standards, anyways) and Nedohin noted that she has to skip a game against Kim with a new game-plan on almost every shot, because Kim changes the dynamics by calling shots that simply don’t enter into the thought process when mapping out a strategy.

It will be a fascinating game to watch, to say the least. But based on the mental toughness displayed by the Canadians earlier today, I like their chances.

Big props, by the way, to Horne’s wife, former Canadian champ Kate Horne (whose teammate on that 1998 Scotties Tournament of Hearts winner skipped by Cathy King was none other than a fresh-out-of-juniors Heather Nedohin) for her efforts in getting the crowd going today. She was dressed head to toe in red and had a flag that she waved between ends, and led some great crowd cheers. The players loved it, obviously, and so did the fans. More of the same on Saturday, please.

Nedohin, third Beth Iskiw, second Jessica Mair and lead Laine Peters are going into the playoff tiebreaker after two ugly losses earlier today, and they’re going in against the hottest team in the field, Allison Pottinger’s loosey-goosey squad from the U.S., which carries a seven-game win streak into the tiebreaker (2 p.m. MST, TSN) on Friday.

Again, I point out that this event is no longer Canada’s by divine right to win. Hasn’t been in a long time, in fact. So let’s not pretend to be surprised that Canada is in the position it’s in. There are awfully good teams in this field, and Canada’s pretty much where it deserves to be based on its performance, which has been brilliant and spotty in almost equal measure.

And it was awfully spotty, to say the least, on Thursday, but Nedohin, to her credit, took it entirely on her shoulders. Her draw weight was certainly suspect at times today, and as opposed to a Wednesday sweep when this team was performing and, just as importantly, communicating at the highest level, there were lapses in both areas on Thursday.

Suffice to say, that will have to be sorted out if Canada has any ambitions of moving on beyond this afternoon.

Can it be done? Don’t be silly. Of course it can. Nedohin’s team was sublime in the clutch in Red Deer, winning five straight elimination games (including their final two of the round-robin) to win the Scotties title. She’s been down this road before, and performed brilliantly. There’s no reason to believe it can’t happen here.

The Americans have been terrific, though. They are the most confident team still standing going into Friday’s schedule, and with just cause. I can’t remember their last outright miss, and it’s worth noting that even when they were 0-4 way back on Monday, they were still the top shooting team in the cumulative percentages. Canada will have the hammer on Friday, and it says here Nedohin’s team better wield it effectively early in that game because the longer the U.S. keeps it close, the tougher it will be for Canada to win.

The winner today will play South Korea’s Ji-Sun Kim in the Page three-four game on Saturday afternoon, and I have to think the Koreans will be a bundle of nerves on Friday, with no outlet beyond a noon-hour practice. They’ve been a wonderful story here, and it bodes well for the future of curling that another Asian nation has jumped into the mix as a viable medal contender.

The Page one-two game tomorrow night features Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson and Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott, and it should be a fascinating game. The Swedes have been more methodical in their round-robin, while the Swiss have been hot and cold, but of late, mostly hot. When Ott is on top of her game, that’s a dangerous curling team and if I had to make a bet, my money tonight would be on Switzerland.

And, for the record, my money this afternoon would be on Canada.

“I think if we meet Team Canada again we can beat them. I think they are a good team but Jennifer Jones [team] is better.” — South Korean skip Ji-Sun Kim, March 21, 2012

LETHBRIDGE — Two quotes, 14 years apart, and both so similarly cutting, but before we start getting too hot and bothered about what Ji-Sun Kim said after her team lost to Team Canada’s Heather Nedohin this morning at the Enmax Centre, let’s remember that her comfort level with the English language is nowhere near that of Andrea Schoepp’s when she uttered that infamous blast at the 1998 worlds in Kamloops, B.C.

Schoepp would have known exactly the impact her words would have on Canadian skip Cathy King (who noted, quite rightly, in response that Schoepp missed the playoffs while her team was headed to the medal round and would win a bronze).

The same can’t be said for Kim, but I have no doubt she truly believes what she said. None at all. The Koreans are playing with that kind of confidence here, even if they’re quite obviously feeding the chicken with those inside-out deliveries that, like the Chinese, allow them to put rocks in places that teams with conventional deliveries can’t hope to get to.

There is, of course, a common element to those quotes — both Canadian teams featured Nedohin, who was playing third for King back in 1998.

And she has a delicious sense of history. I asked her after the Scotties final in Red Deer if she was looking forward to playing Schoepp in Lethbridge (prior to Schoepp breaking her leg), wondering if she would clue in to where I was going with the question. She just smiled and said, “No comment.” Which is precisely what she did 14 years ago in Kamloops when told of Schoepp’s comment, and which is precisely what she did here when told of Kim’s comment. Ah, Heather Nedohin, you’re a beaut.

The pseudo-trash talk aside, it was an impressive day for Nedohin’s Canadian team. Jessica Mair’s return after missing Tuesday’s games with her stomach issues was obviously welcomed, if only because it put Nedohin, third Beth Iskiw and lead Laine Peters back into a comfort zone. Amy Nixon is a wonderful fifth player for any team to have, but it was Mair who slogged it out weekend after weekend on the cash circuit with her teammates, and those team dynamics simply can’t be underestimated.

So Canada takes a 7-2 record into play on Thursday, assured of at least a tiebreaker berth and playing with the same kind of feel it had at this stage of the Scotties in Red Deer. And that should be cause for concern for the rest of the Ford worlds field, because when Nedohin and Co. get in that zone, they’re awfully hard to beat.