Edition 21

What’s happenin’ in the HOUSE:

Tonight: 

• It’s the last regular season game of the 2022/23 Season!!  Make it count! And enjoy every minute of it!
• It is also the 95^th day of the year – leaving 270 more days in 2023.
• Believe it or not ‘google says’ it is National Walking Day & National Caramel Day!  Do with that information what you will!

Next week:  

• We really want to encourage everyone to come out on the finals night to watch some good curling, cheer on the finalists, enjoy some food and drink and some social time and applaud our winners upon the trophy presentations.

The Finals!!
Come out and join your fellow Wednesday Night Friends

Things you should know for Playoffs:

• Playoffs – Wed April 12^th to Wed April 26^th, 2023 (From Evelyn Gowan – our Games Convenor)
• Teams will be re-seeded based on the Total Points Standing at the end of series 3. 
• For our D Division, I have been tracking points by individual, and will make up teams based on these points. I will try to keep those who wish to play together, together, but I may need to break these up. It looks like you will have 4 teams of 3 players.
• The 1^st night (April 12^th): 1 will play 8, 2 will play 7, etc. Winners advance.
• Bell rule in effect for B, C & D Divisions for round 1, no bell rule for Division A. 
• All 2^nd games (April 19^th)  and finals (April 26^th) will have no bell rule. 
• B & D teams will play the 1^st night at 6:40 and A & C will be at 9. All subsequent nights all games will be at 6:40.

Format is a single knock out.  A reminder to the vices of the winning teams – I believe we will have a playoff section in our game schedule for the recording of wins and losses….. Look for it online.

Ties will be broken for Divisions B, C & D by a single draw to the button with sweepers for the 1^st game. For the single draw, to decide who throws 1^st, flip a coin and the winner of the coin flip will decide if they throw 1^st or 2^nd. Any member of the team can throw the draw. 

• Division A will play a full extra end for all games. 
• For the 2^nd game & finals a full extra end will be played for all divisions.

Full details are listed on the rules sheet downstairs, but if you have any questions, please find me and I will assist.  

Hope everyone has refreshed themselves with the sparing rules for playoffs (found on the OCC website).

Good luck and good curling.

(the above is also posted on the board downstairs)

Laugh of the Week:

Team Pictures: (sorry I didn’t get a team picture for “Get To Know Your Teams”)

 This is Team Findley – Did you know Janice made these sweaters herself!!?? Her knitting skills are superb! It takes her about 2 weeks to make one.

These pics mean Nancy is officially part of the team with her new matching sweater!

Stuff that will help us Curl better:  

From Curlingschool.com  – Curl Tech

The skip calls the shots and provides an aiming point. As a new skip always consider Strategy Rule #1 - Call shots your team can make.

Throwing first (without the hammer):

• In general, play the center of the sheet.
• Draw to the center of the house - a conservative approach.
• Put up a center guard in the Free Guard Zone - a more aggressive approach.

Throwing second (with the hammer):

• Respond to your opponent's play.
• Draw to the side of the house - a conservative approach.
• Draw behind the center guard - a more aggressive approach.
• Throw the "tick" shot - advanced.
• Possibly clear center guards after five rocks - Free Guard Zone Rule.

Once these opening plays are complete, there are many, many options. Base the remainder of your calls on your overall strategy.

In addition, with practice:

• Learn to judge line - knowing when to call sweeping for takeouts.
• Learn strategies on how to "steal" and how to "convert"

Strategy Principles 

Someone once said that curling is chess on ice. This is true to some degree because, in addition to throwing and making shots, the skip must determine the course of action to be taken before and during the game. During the game there are several options to each possible situation. The skip must decide what shots to call and when to call them.

Most curlers use the term strategy to describe the process of calling the individual shots. This is not entirely true. CurlTech believes the game has two separate components:

1. Game strategy - overall game approach.
2. Calling the Game - shot-by-shot tactics that support the game strategy.

The term "strategy" is often used to describe both of these components, but we want to concentrate on the differences between them. These principles will work using any of the curling formats (four vs. four, mixed doubles, etc.)

Most strategy clinics talk about the how you call shots "in the moment". This is a difficult way to learn strategy since there are an infinite number of possible situations. Of course, there are some key factors in choosing the shot and those will be reviewed later. CurlTech suggests you view strategy as an overall plan. Shot calling becomes much easier if there's a plan in place.

Only Four Outcomes 

There are only four possible outcomes to every end. It doesn't matter how many shots were made or missed or how brilliant the strategy was, there are only four outcomes:

1. Conversion: Taking two or more with the hammer.
2. Steal: Taking one or more without the hammer.
3. Force: Forcing the hammer team to take only one.
4. Blank: Neither team scores - hammer team retains last rock.

Game strategy and shot calling is about deciding what you want and executing against that plan.

Recipes Around The Rings:

Kelly’s neighbour’s Chicken Shawarma

Scott Chicken

Prep time: 20mins.  Cooking time: 30 mins. BBQ

Ingredients:

• 10 – 20 Chicken thighs – cut or left as is
• 8 – 10 peeled cloves of garlic
• 2 medium red onions
• 1 – 1.5 cups chopped parsley
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tbsp tumeric
• 2 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1.5 tbsp salt
• 1 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 cup olive oil
• Skewers for marinated chicken
• Optional – chopped cilantro for serving

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients (except for Chicken) into a food processor – process until a paste.
2. Cut chicken thighs into pieces or leave as is.
3. Marinate Chicken in paste for as little or as long as you like. Weave chicken onto skewers (you may want to wear plastic gloves for this – turmeric is staining)
4. Preheat BBQ
5. Place skewers on BBQ  - cook until done (aprox 3 mins per side depending on size of pieces)
6. Serve with these options:

• • rice (I make my rice with some of the paste cooked with it – and add black beans)
  • naan
  • hummus
  • Greek salad
  • Tzatziki
  • Or last week’s green dip!

Song of the Week:

It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere – Alan Jackson

Watch Video

P.S – You can find all of our Newsletters from this year on our club website.  Look under CLUB in the drop down section and choose NEWSLETTERS.

Got something you want in the newsletter?  Please send it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for our next edition of WNL². Submissions are helpful.  Please send by  Monday evening.   I need stuff!