USWCA 2011 Circuit Champion Shelley Pilon received the national trophy from area Circuit Coordinator-Tracy Lawless. Congratulations Shelley on an excellent season!!!

Many 2012 Circuit bonspiels are still to come, not too late for USWCA members to sign up and head out to a bonspiel!

Hot Shots Curling Title Sponsor of USWCA Circuit

The USWCA is pleased to announce that the Hot Shots Curling Camp, the world leader in adult curling instruction, has joined the USWCA as the premier sponsor of the 2011 Women's Curling Circuit.

In addition to the National Trophy and financial sponsorship, Hot Shot's will award the four top regional finalists an entry into one of their 2012 Curling Camps (including accommodation) and a signature Hot Shots curling jacket.

A rousing success in its inaugural year, the Circuit began last season with the goals of providing enhanced competition for women and supporting women's bonspiels across the country. Over $5,000 was awarded in prize money in the Circuit's inaugural year and bonspiel registration was up in participating 'spiels nationwide!

USWCA member clubs can enroll women's bonspiels in the Circuit through the USWCA website, USWCA female members can register through the USWCA or on-site at the participating bonspiel. The national champion and regional winners are determined based on a point system considering size of the event in addition to final event standing.

The season is off to an excellent start with a dozen Women's Bonspiels from Albany, NY to Seattle, Washington on board! Sign your club's bonspiel up now!

The HOT SHOTS Curling Camps have been operating since 1995, staging adult curling camps in Canada and the United States. For more information visit http://www.hotshotscurling.com/

"RockIt Gurl" of Kettle Moraine and Madison Curling Club has joined as a sponsor for the 2011-2012 USWCA Circuit. RockIt Gurl is dedicated to promoting women's curling and women curlers. They believe women curler athletes are commited to being the best and will show the world we can compete, and win. This makes them a perfect sponsor along with the USWCA and Hot Shot Curling, all committed to the improvement of curling and specifically supporting women in their curling endeavors! Rock It Gurl will donate a RockIt Gurl shirt or similar item to each participating USWCA Circuit bonspiel for raffle purposes. Visit Rockitgurl.com for information on apparel and philosophy.

Participating bonspiels reported increased numbers of rink for their events and the number of women curlers traveling to bonspiels was up this year making the Circuit a success for all involved. The USWCA is indebted to Broom's Up Curling Supplies, our first sponsor! Broom's Up expanded the prize money and provided a trophy for the national winner. Thanks to all who got this event off to a great start and we raise our brooms to Broom's Up Curling Supplies!

EAST

CENTRAL

Granite Ladies Bonspiel: Seattle Granite CC - February 5-6, 2012

Duluth Ladies: Duluth CC - TBA

 

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Cleveland Skating Club, Cleveland, OH, February 9-13. 2011

Link to photos of the event

This year's event, "Fire on Ice," drew 32 teams from 22 clubs across the U.S. Competitors came from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Arizona. There were also three composite teams, which also included curlers from Nebraska, Tennessee, and Texas. This event was most recently in Northeast Ohio when CSC and Mayfield Curling Club jointly hosted it in 2003. Kim Barton was this year's chairperson. CSC member Nancy Seitz was the 2010-2011 USWCA president. CSC, which does not have dedicated curling ice, succeeded in its goal of having the best competitive ice it could provide for this 2011 event, thanks to Canadian ice maker Kevin Scott, as well as Ice King and its technical consultant Bill Wood, and Jet Ice.

The winners of the First Event (Wauwatosa Trophy) were the Madison (Wisconsin) rink, skipped by Kathy Pielage, with Star Pfiffner as vice, Kathy Bodine as second, and Beth Lepping as lead. In the First Event final, the Madison team took a large, early lead, but the Mayfield II (Cox) team battled back. The game came down to the last rock, with Pielage's Madison team winning 9 rocks to 7. Star Pfiffner and Beth Lepping were on the team that won the 4th Event in 2010.

During the competition, Team Pielage narrowly missed losing its second game by almost running out of time. The team came back from a six-point deficit to win the game, with 30 seconds left on the clock when the last stone was thrown. Skip Pielage noted that her team has learned "pay close attention to the amount of time . . . used at each end" and "to never give up."

The runners-up of the First Event (Tam O'Shanter Trophy) were the Mayfield II rink, skipped by Laurel Cox, with Luci Schey as vice, Julia DiBaggio as second, and Jil Sah as lead. Laurel, Julia, and Jil are all five-and-under curlers; Laurel and Jil played on different winning teams in last year's bonspiel. This was Laurel's first year as skip.

In the Second Event (Indian Hill Wine Cooler Trophy), the Kettle Moraine I (Wisconsin) team won against Broomstones (Massachusetts) by a score of 9 to 4. For Kettle Moriane I, Bonnie Dixon was skip, Pat Van Till was vice, Katy Hyslop was second, and Carol Stevenson was lead. For the Broomstones Ladies, who were the Second Event runners-up (Kettle Moraine Trophy), Shelly Dropkin was skip, Dawn Gutro was vice, Carolyn Macleod was second, and Elaine Ritchie was lead.

The Third Event (Exmoor Highlander Trophy and Milwaukee Kilties Trophy) was a re-match of the 2010 Third Event final, with Cape Cod (Massachusetts) team winning over Nutmeg (Connecticut) rink by a score of 12 to 5. The Cape Cod team I was composed of Matina Heisler as skip, Elizabeth Abeltin as vice, Carol Arakelian as second, and Gabriele Bruce as lead. Matina and Elizabeth were on the team that won the Second Event in 2010. Diane Muldowney, skip for Nutmeg II and who was the Nutmeg skip in 2010, brought a new team with Maura Cockey as vice, Sabrina Keillor as second, and Jayne Beattie as lead.

In the Fourth Event (Skokie Thistles Trophy), the winner was Mayfield I (Ohio), skipped by Dee Montgomery, with Tracie Moore as vice, Dianne Coolidge as second, and Liz Novak as lead. Dee, Tracie, and Liz were on the team that won the Second Event in 2010. Mayfield I (Montgomery) scored 11 points; Composite III (Matzke) scored 4 points.

The Composite II team took home the Utica Glengarries Trophy as the Fourth Event runners-up. For the Composite III team, Bridget Matzke (Madison, Wisconsin) skipped, Sigrid Festerson (Nebraska ) was vice, and Susan Perunovich and JoAnn Barrato, both from Hibbing, Minnesota, were second and lead respectively.

Three local Northeast Ohio television stations (WKYC/NCB, WOIO, and Fox) covered the event.

Blackhawk Curling Club, Janesville, WI, December 1-5, 2010

The competitors of the finals of the First and Second Events celebrate a successful Senior Bonspiel at Blackhawk Curling Club. For the results, photos and recipes, click here.