The Curling News features an account of Heath McCormick’s shirtless eight-ender in the 2005 Duluth House of Hearts and explains this video:

The 2008 House of Hearts at the Duluth Curling Club is on the weekend of March 13-16 (just over two weeks from today!) This event raises money for the St. Luke’s Foundation, and may be the biggest curling event of the year in Duluth. Here’s a nice promotional video featuring Renee Passal of ABC affiliate WDIO. . .

I was late signing up, so I’m on the “wait list”. If enough people cancel, I’ll be there!

Update 2/29/08: I’m in.

Come down to the Duluth Curling Club tonight (Tuesday, Feb. 26) from 5:30 to 7:30 for a spaghetti dinner.  Proceeds go to help the Junior curlers representing the U.S. at the 2008 World Junior Curling Championship in Ostersund, Sweden from March 1 to March 9.

Wednesday morning brings us a matchup of Duluth Curling Club teams at the 2008 Nationals in Hibbing: The Tyler George rink vs. John Shuster’s rink. Tyler George is in a two way tie for third place with 4 wins and 2 losses, while Shuster is 3-3. Watch the live scoring at this link.

Coincidentally, these two teams were scheduled to play one another in league play last night. . .

Update: Tyler wins, 8 to 7. Looks like it would have been a fun game to watch.

Tyler George 8, John Shuster 7 (FINAL)

After seven draws, Tyler George’s rink is in a three way tie for fourth place in the standings, with three wins and two losses, after an upset win over Craig Brown’s rink last night.  George plays Jeremy Roe’s rink, who will be looking for their first win, at 2pm this afternoon.

On the women’s side, Aileen Sormunnen’s rink is undefeated, with two wins.  They will be playing the Lin rink this morning.  You can watch live scoring at this link

From YouTube:

Employees and clients of Northstar Capital curling on Mille Lacs Lake, courtesy of McQuoid’s Inn and Angler’s Paradise.

I was pretty busy in the 4th event, so I didn’t take too many pictures, but here are a few shots from the 2008 Duluth International. If anyone has more pictures from this event that they’d like to share, send them to me: andy@curlduluth.com.

Chris Plys’ Minnesota 1 rink won the Men’s and Nina Spatola’s Wisconsin 1 rink won the Women’s in the U.S. Junior Curling Nationals in Portage, WI last saturday (lots of pictures here). The teams will will represent the U.S. at the 2008 World Junior Curling Championships in Ostersund, Sweden, March 1-9.

Closer to home, Pete Fenson won over the Littman rink for the men’s final, and Cyndee Johnson fell to Cassie Potter in the women’s final in the 2008 Duluth International Bonspiel. I’ll post some pictures soon; if you have any you’d like to share email me.

I’d watch this.

Lots going on this weekend:

In Portage, WI, the Junior Curling Nationals will be going into playoffs. Chris Plys’s Minnesota 1 rink will be top seeded for the men, and Alexandra Carlson’s Minnesota 1 rink is top seeded for the women. Both teams have 8 wins and 1 loss.

The Duluth Curling Club hosts the Duluth International Bonspiel. There will be lots of Twin Ports teams, as well as teams from Thunder Bay, Bemidji, Two Harbors, and someplace called Kabakeba Falls. Some big names in US curling might be using this event to tuneup before the Nationals in Hibbing next weekend. . .

The Minnesota State Mixed Curling Championships are being held in Grand Rapids at the Itasca Curling Club. The first draw is 2pm today (friday).

And in keeping with the theme lately of curling on outdoor ice, one more YouTube video showing that unfavorable weather can make outdoor curling a little dicey. (But anyone who watched the Korbel Elite Challenge last year knows that, right?) Curling indoors does have certain advantages!

A few items from Portage, WI:

The Plys rink had its first loss last night in Draw 14, losing 5-6 to Erik Jensen’s North Dakota team. Plys and Jensen are currently tied for first place in the standings, each with 5 wins and 1 loss.

On the Women’s side, Minnesota 1 is undefeated at 5-0, and Wisconsin 1 is in a three way tie for second at 4-1.

Who is allowed to sweep behind the tee line? Apparently the officials might need to review the rules. . .

You can watch a live, stone by stone graphic account of some of the games at broomstones.com.

Well, outdoor curling must be more common than I thought. Fresh from the internet, here are some videos of an outdoor sheet on Gun Lake, submitted by JohnnyDok. (Judging from the accents and mountains, I’m guessing this is Gun Lake, BC?) Nice DIY curling stones, too!

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After seven draws, the 2008 Junior Curling Nationals in Portage, WI are heating up. The current standings are at this link, and USA Curling has a Flickr site with photos of the event.

Duluth’s Chris Plys rink is undefeated at 3-0, beating Michigan in the second draw, Washington in the third, and New York in the sixth.

On the women’s side, Wisonsin 1 (with Anna Plys at second) and Minnesota 1 (with Sophie Brorson at lead) are also undefeated, both at 3-0.

There was a great story in the upset victory of the women’s team from Pennsylvania over Alaska in draw 5. The Pennsylvania team, currently 1-1, features two sets of identical twins, and has an average age of just 13! You can read about the team, and the match, at this link. I’m sure these young curlers will enjoy long and fruitful junior careers.

You can read some first hand accounts of the games, from spectators and players, at In The Hack’s forum, Live from Junior Nationals.

The 2008 USCA Junior Curling Nationals begin today in Portage, WI.  Duluth curlers include the Plys rink (Chris Plys, Aanders Brorson, Matt Perushek, and Matt Hamilton);  Anna Plys is curling with Nina Spitola’s Wisconsin 1 rink, and Sophie Brorson is curling with Alexandra Carlson’s Minnesota 1 rink.  (Did I miss anyone?)

The first draw is at 2:00pm Saturday (today), and you can follow live scoring at this link.   Good luck, junior curlers!