Chris Cariou / Winnipeg Free Press
(Jan 3, 2006) — WINNIPEGGERS were already going to be seeing four past or present Olympic teams competing at this week’s $100,000 BDO Curling Classic at MTS Centre. Now they’re going to be seeing two more.
Classic organizers announced yesterday that Canada’s Shannon Kleibrink and Cassie Johnson of the United States — who will represent their countries at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, next month — will play a tuneup exhibition game on MTS Centre ice while the Classic semifinals are taking place on Sunday.
Team Kleibrink and Curling Blog will be watching!
Newfoundland’s Brad Gushue, who defeated Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton in the final of the Canadian men’s Olympic curling trials in Halifax recently, will also represent Canada in Turin and he’s entered in the Classic along with former Olympic foursomes Pal Trulsen of Norway (gold medal in 2002), Edmonton’s Kevin Martin (silver in 2002) and Pete Fenson of the U.S.
Johnson, based in Bemidji, Minn., won the world junior women’s championship in 2002. Both she and Kleibrink’s Calgary foursome are to be on hand at a press conference tomorrow at the Children’s Hospital that is also to include Martin, Gushue, Stoughton and Winnipeg’s Dave Nedohin, who throws skip’s rocks on Randy Ferbey’s Edmonton team.
Johnson, 24, told the Free Press from Bemidji last night that after winning the 2002 world juniors and playing against the likes of Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones last winter at the 2005 World Women’s Championship, it’s been quite a couple of years for her young foursome.
“We’re very excited,” said Johnson, whose team also won the silver medal at the 2003 World Juniors in Switzerland. “We’re quite a young team for the U.S. just having come out of juniors a couple of years ago. We’ve really improved since 2002 and coming into the women’s ranks.”
“We’re looking forward to this game. It’ll be just great practice for both sides in preparing for the Olympics.”
The women’s game will be played alongside the 2 p.m. semifinals slated for Sunday. The final game for the BDO Classic — one of four Grand Slam events on the Ultima World Curling Tour — is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday night. Both the semifinals and final are to be televised live by Sportsnet.
Fifteen of the world’s top men’s teams are competing at the Classic, with all proceeds going to the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba. Among the big-name curlers registered are Trulsen, Martin, Ferbey, Stoughton, Gushue, defending Manitoba champion Randy Dutiaume, Winnipeg’s Ryan Fry, Calgary’s John Morris and Glen Howard.
Ontario’s Wayne Middaugh had been slated to compete but he has withdrawn and has been replaced by Pierre Charette of Quebec. Tickets for the Classic are still available at Ticketmaster.
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