2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Brad
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2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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David Earl wrote:JUST IN: #Omaha to host a @TeamUSA #winter trials ahead of 2018 games in South Korea @BaxterArena. More at 2:30 p.m. @KETV
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Awesome news!



Now, let me predict the 9 pages of kvetching over how this is "Just Curling" blah blah blah.
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Brad
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Watch announcement live now:
http://www.kmtv.com/live-video
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Baxter Arena To Host Olympic Curling Trials

http://www.omavs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?D ... =211072612
Omaha Athletics wrote:STEVENS POINT, Wis. – UNO's Baxter Arena has been selected as the site for the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Curling.

“We are very excited about the potential for our sport’s growth in Omaha and across the United States as we bring the upcoming U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Curling to Nebraska for the first time. Much like when Omaha was selected to host its first of what has now been three straight Olympic Trials for USA Swimming, I suspect this announcement may cause a little head scratching around the curling community. Especially since we had very strong bids from several cities that have done a great job hosting major championship curling events previously,” said Rick Patzke, USA Curling’s chief executive officer. “Along with our entire selection panel, I was highly impressed by the professionalism of the bid, the facilities to be used, and the partnership between the Omaha Sports Commission, University of Nebraska Omaha’s Baxter Arena, and the Aksarben Curling Club. The additional information gathered in a site visit confirmed that Omaha is serious about making these the best Olympic Trials ever for curling, and we believe that the competing athletes and fans in attendance will ultimately find that to be true.”
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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It's awesome how we keep landing these events!
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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I will admit that I have not read much on this yet. have one question though for those who have it it was covered. Who else was in the running to get this or bid on hosting the event?
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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nebugeater wrote:I will admit that I have not read much on this yet. have one question though for those who have it it was covered. Who else was in the running to get this or bid on hosting the event?
Jacksonville, Fla.; Ogden, Utah; Philadelphia, Pa.; and Provo, Utah
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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BTW:
The Aksarben Curling Club boasts 136 members and has a college program that includes teams from the University of Nebraska Lincoln, University of Nebraska Omaha, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Creighton, and Wayne State, with UNL and Wayne State having competed in the 2016 College National Championship. Starting this fall, the club’s Junior Program will include three age groups, elementary through high school, and is open to all students. Aksarben runs beginner’s leagues and learn-to-curls October through March. Open houses will take place October 2 and Oct. 23 at Baxter Arena. For more information, visit CurlAksarben.com or follow the club on Facebook at facebook.com/CurlAksarben or on Twitter @CurlAksarben.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Coyote wrote:
nebugeater wrote:I will admit that I have not read much on this yet. have one question though for those who have it it was covered. Who else was in the running to get this or bid on hosting the event?
Jacksonville, Fla.; Ogden, Utah; Philadelphia, Pa.; and Provo, Utah

Thanks!
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Tickets go on sale tomorrow.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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First two days of Round Robin play are in the books. One men's team is 0-3, but every other team has at least one win. Have to say that watching three matches at one time is a thing that needs to be gotten used to, but it makes the games WAY more fun to watch. The TV coverage of this sport centers on the US only and only in events where we are going to medal, so you get 5 or 10 minutes. Here, you can see games evolve and can see control/finesse shots mixed with power shots for a complex match.

They are close fought matches. At one point in last night's draw all three games were tied. One of the games ended on the last rock of the overtime 11th end with a finesse shot that moved the rock between blocking rocks right into the center of the target (AKA the button). Very impressive.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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How long did the session go? We have tickets for Friday.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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I went with family including my two year old last night, and when we left at 8:30, two of the matches were 5 games in and one was in the 6th, I think.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Brad wrote:How long did the session go? We have tickets for Friday.
The sessions have lasted about 3 hours.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

Post by iamjacobm »

Went tonight and had a good time. A handful of friends of mine have moved to the Twin Cities this past year and joined a curling league and one of the guys was down for the matches today so I got a lot of the lingo and strategy during the match tonight.

They have pretty cool facilities up there for curling leagues, would be neat if someone put something like this together in Omaha if it would catch on.

The bar:
Image

The viewing area:
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http://heavytable.com/drinking-st-paul-curling-club/
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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If we could get this kind of a thing going, you could have a sport pub crawl. Start at Omaha Gun Club and end at the Curling club.

Last night's event was really tight. The women's match went into an extra end. Both the men's matches were within 2 points. Lots of really good finesse shots. If you can get there tonight, give it a look.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Tuesday night:
Matches seemed faster.
The women were on the lane closest to us. They usually have a slower game than last night and I liked the faster pace. Battle of leaders, Team Sinclair took it with a two point margin.

The news on the men's side was the steady growth of Team Birr. They toppled Team Brown with some precision shooting on the last rock of the 10th. Now they are 3-2.

Team Clark continued to struggle getting the first 5 point round of the tournament scored against them in the 7th, prompting their concession. They are now 1-4. Mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.

So the women have a two way tie going into the end of round robin play. They may end up with a three way tie if Team Christensen gets lucky. The men's side looks like Team Shuster v Team McCormick. Both have been very interesting to watch. Shuster has a lot of finesse shooters as does McCormick. The playoffs start Thursday and should be good.
Overall, the crowd was bigger last night, but a lot of folks left early.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Just got this email from the Baxter Arena:
Baxter Arena wrote:Please note that the Friday evening session of the Olympic Curling Trials will now begin at 6:30PM rather than the originally scheduled start time of 7:00PM.

The first session of the day is still scheduled to begin at 1:00PM.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Both men's and women's matches went to third games and both were close till final ends. The organizers liked the event. The rep for World Curling Federation commented about an International Championship here in the future and the USOC talked about coming back for future trials.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Record number of attendees for Curling Olympic Trials
KETV wrote:USA Curling CEO Rick Patzke said this is the largest crowd that the USA Curling Teams has seen at an event like this, with attendee numbers reaching into the thousands.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Coyote wrote:Record number of attendees for Curling Olympic Trials
KETV wrote:USA Curling CEO Rick Patzke said this is the largest crowd that the USA Curling Teams has seen at an event like this, with attendee numbers reaching into the thousands.
That would include myself. I didn't know what to expect but the players were very skilled at the sport and the matches were intense.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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We went Friday night. Not quite sure what I was expecting, but it was fun. I would go again if they come back Omaha in the future.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Brad wrote:We went Friday night. Not quite sure what I was expecting, but it was fun. I would go again if they come back Omaha in the future.
From what the USOC said, it seems likely that we would be in a good spot to get the trials again. From what the rep from the World Curling Federation said, we are now being considered for a World Curling Championship site. She was very impressed with the facility and the Omaha Sports Foundation's team.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

Post by iamjacobm »

I think they will do a little better attendance wise if they come back. It is a niche sport that got introduced to a lot of people. I am sure Aksarben Curling Club will get a ton of new teams after this.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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bigredmed1 wrote:
Brad wrote:We went Friday night. Not quite sure what I was expecting, but it was fun. I would go again if they come back Omaha in the future.
From what the USOC said, it seems likely that we would be in a good spot to get the trials again. From what the rep from the World Curling Federation said, we are now being considered for a World Curling Championship site. She was very impressed with the facility and the Omaha Sports Foundation's team.

Good news for Omaha, and also Baxter Arena.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Team Shuster that won the Men's trial just won gold! This is the first gold in the sport for any US team. To win, they had to beat Canada and the current world champion Sweden.

And now for snarky poetic justice: At the trials, Canadian curling officials were in Omaha observing. They were quoted as saying the US team was better than they had been, but simply couldn't compete with the real curling teams, and would get blown out by Canada. Seems Canada lost to Shuster and then lost to the Swiss to go home in 4th.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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And then they had to return their medals. :roll:
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Coyote wrote:And then they had to return their medals. :roll:
Russia did, but I don't see a news story about this.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Coyote wrote:And then they had to return their medals. :roll:
??
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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They were given the Woman's Gold Medals by mistake...
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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So we're they 77% smaller?
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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bigredmed1 wrote:So we're they 77% smaller?

No 33%
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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nebugeater wrote:
bigredmed1 wrote:So we're they 77% smaller?

No 33%
You fixed it.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Everybody in America loves Curling, until they forget about it for about four years, and then discover it again. :)
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Omababe wrote:Everybody in America loves Curling, until they forget about it for about four years, and then discover it again. :)
There will be some Omaha people that don't forget for 4 years. The Baxter Arena concourse overlooks the Holland ice where they curl. There were several times this year when UNO was playing hockey in the arena and there were curling leagues going on next door. During intermission at Hockey, people were in the windows watching curling.
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

Post by Uffda »

Curling World Cup

Didn’t even realize this was going on at the Ralston Arena. Last day today


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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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I didn't either until I saw a very empty Ralston Arena on NBCSN Friday night
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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Re: 2018 Curling Team Trials @Baxter

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Given the crowd, I can’t help but think they will be back a lot. Given how the USOC and the Curling governing body screwed over UNO, I hope that we at least get a fat pay day in 2021.
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