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Yeah blew a 4-0 lead.
They’re in big trouble now.
Yes they did.
I would so love to see two curling dudes throwing haymakers. Gloves off and just going at it. Full on Marty McSorley or maybe some Sandy McCarthy finish everything out with blood on the ice.
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Haha, don’t know if we’ll ever see that but if we do it will be on the all time greatest sports fights lists on TSN for the rest of time, you can count on that. A matter of fact it would likely go to #1, never to be dislodged. In another hockey comparison, instead of a stick swinging duel, they could have a broom swinging battle.
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And I bet like with those goalie fights with the players on the bench banging their sticks against the boards, the other curlers would just stand back and watch as they each stare with a wide-eyed gaze and smile as they beat their brooms against the ice.
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canada doesnt need that kind of reputation. specially with all the usa crap. we need all the goodwill we can earn
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We just got our first Gold!!
CANADA'S FIRST GOLD MEDAL OF #MILANOCORTINA2026 🇨🇦🥇
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 15, 2026
And of course it goes to the King himself, @MikaelKingsbury 🤯#MedalMoments presented by @BRPglobal #BRPHeartbeat pic.twitter.com/SlP342q49y
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For those that care about the curling #touchgate i’ll offer a full explanation for those that are new or casual to the sport.
In curling you have to release the rock before the big large line called the “Hog line” - you will notice on the curling handles sometimes they are Silver in colour, and the trim is red, yellow or blue. All of this is considered the “handle”. The reason the actual handle part is silver is that curling has implemented technology that if you are touching the silver part by the time you cross the line - it uses a sensor in the ice that causes the lights on the rock to flash, and the rock is removed from play. (This is rare, but happens maybe once per event, probably as often as a balk in baseball).
In the Sweden/Canada Men’s match - the Swedes accused Canada of “Double touching” the Rock Itself, the granite. NOT the silver, yellow or red handle. They planted their own camera man in the crowd to capture this video (still) which shows him touching the rock itself.
This brought 2 rules into question:
- When releasing a stone, is he allowed to “double touch” it before the green hog line? (Release the rock and touch it again)
- Does it fall under the rule that states that any running rock, at any time, is touched by anyone or anything - needs to be removed from play
Sweden called out Marc Kennedy in real time - which is common in curling. Officials are passive and not out there looking for violations. Similar to golf they only intervene when asked by the players. Sweden asked Marc if he did this, and he denied it.
The Swedish team went to the officials (who are volunteers and not exactly at the caliber of NFL refs) and it appears they were not prepared to take any assertive action, in fairness had they asked Marc Kennedy “Did you touch the stone” he had made it clear he did not.
Fast forward to the World Curling Federation statement that @grover posted.
They provided clarification on both rules
- If a player double touches the HANDLE. The silver handle or the red/yellow trim of the handle, they can do that more than once provided its before the green line. (some players double set their hand and its common).
- At no time can a player touch the granite itself (see above photo)
They went on to say that officials would be watching delivery of stones and looking for violations. This is not at all common and has not happened since say the 70’s. Just like rules officials in golf do not watch players addressing their ball looking for grounding of the club in a sand trap.
Now yesterday during Rachel Homan’s game - she released a rock and while taking away her hand she touched either the red trim - or the rock itself. Video is inconclusive,.
In the above video you will see as she lets go of the rock her index finger drags away and touches something. You cant really tell what. The official voluntarily came in and removed the rock from play. We can only assume that in the officials opinion - Rachel touched the granite and not the red trim. The official did this without prompting from the Swiss team or anyone else. Again, this is not common. I have never seen it happen in 25 years of playing or watching curling. In my view this is much different to what Kennedy did - he poked the stone, Homans hand grazed it while taking it away, but neither is legal.
This is a big deal for the players - they don’t want this. But with curling becoming such a big sport now, asking them to self police also isnt working so something has to give. At this time the CCA, WCF both say they dont have the resources to put officials on every sheet of ice and even at the Olympics after they said they would be watching, they only have 2 officials roaming between the games.
I’d also like to add that Sweden didn’t accuse Canada of cheating which has made headlines - Sweden accused Canada of touching the granite itself, (which he did) and he responded with “Don’t call me a cheater”.
Unfortunately - Canada’s reaction to this (Kennedy telling Sweden to F off) is what made headlines and World Curling had to take action to settle it all down, but now the entire event both men’s and womens are having rocks pulled off the ice (GBR had one this morning) and players are having to alter the way they throw because of it. Also keep in mind for these officials its the first time they’ve actually had to monitor throws and proactively take action. This hasnt happened since the 70’s.
Would also like to add that none of this has any bearing or impact on the stone - it’s just more of a procedural violation, they aren’t gaining any advantage.
Both the men and now women’s teams don’t look good for this, the men’s reaction was over the top - but apparently was a long time coming between Sweden and Canada playing on tour all the time with even less officiating at some of these smaller Grand Slam events. Homan’s reaction that they are targeting the Canadians was weak too.
Anyways that’s the full curing geek explanation - I hope it helps you understand what is really happening vs journalists and social media comments that really dont know what they’re talking about.
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Thank you so much for this explanation.
It’s the Olympics and the stakes are high. I think it’s BULLSHIT that officials are not actively watching given the stakes. They are now. It should never have come to this, but c’mon when the stakes are high, of course people are going to push the envelope and sometimes cheat. That’s the responsibility of the officials, who otherwise perhaps are still fawning over trying to be merry in an Olympic village and that bullshit for an event that has been, since the 1980s, a global commercial endeavour.
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So I agree with you, curling needs actual officiating. Of sweeping, throwing, etc.
But the current officials aren’t trained to do this. They’ve never done it. So asking these volunteers to start policing mid Olympics when they aren’t equipped to is making things worse in my opinion.
And to be clear. Nobody is cheating with this rock touching stuff. But it’s happened in the past and well documented that teams have openly cheated (some of the Asian teams did) and nothing happened.
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This obviously isn’t true.
So which is it?
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Back to hockey. Winnipeg fans were miffed when local superstar Mark Schiefele was passed over (twice) for the Olympic hockey team. Based on stats and overall play, Team Can’s tall foreheads were forced to pick up Jets d-man Josh Morrissey.
Helleybuyck was the presumed started for Team USA based on several years as the top NHL goaler (not this year btw) and Team USA also forced to pick gunner Chip Conners (aka Kyle) to their squad.
Looks like a repeat of 4 Nations. Morrissey was selected but an first game, first period injury has derailed his dream for a complete Olympic experience. Team Can mgmt & coach Cooper prolly well with that as Morrissey would have been the 7th or 8th dman anyways. Just not enough power against bigger and stronger men in front of his net. Too bad for Josh - a great Wpg Jet but on the world stage - a pygmy.
Schiefele would have been in the same boat. Many Jets fans were disgusted by Mark’s non-inclusion. Good move as it turns out (so far). Schiefele doesn’t have the legs to keep up to fast-paced international hockey, a like Morrissey he’s a bit light on his skates. Good Jet - but fortunately he wasn’t allowed to embarrass himself on the international stage.
Team USA appears poised to bench the light-skating Conners as they progress into the games. Far faster than Schiefele and a more natural sniper, Conners is even worse than Schiefele in the back-checking and fore-checking departments. We’ll see if Team USA places him on reserve. (ie. press box)
As for Helleybuyck he’s the one legit Jet Olympian - but has struggled mightily this year in Winnipeg. If he returns to Vezina form, he could easily backstop a feisty and somewhat brutal USA squad to gold. If not, well we know what Canada is capable of.
Nobody in these Olympics are cheating by touching the stone with one finger after release. They are however breaking a rule.
In previous world championships and Olympics there were a couple Asian teams purposely redirecting rocks with their brooms and some cases their feet to improve shots.
Unfortunately in these situations when asked they said “no I didn’t touch it” and nothing happened.
I’m saying we need more officiating in curling. There can’t be different rules for those who intend to break rules and those that don’t. I have zero issue with officiating in curling, but as I said asking these officials to start actively policing mid event is a bad idea.
Edit: World Curling has now gone back to original roles, not actively monitoring throws.
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Have seen the speedy Mark Stone 
The part i find odd is that Team Canada, Kennedy, the Canadian coaches all deny the infraction and double down when asked again but not one interviewer or the Canadian broadcast team address the video that plainly shows that Kennedy touched the rock. Even Curling Canada’s Thiessen hummed and hawed and gave round about answers that answered nothing other than he was behind the team and that Kennedy could have used better language. It was like Thiessen thought he was a witness at a mob trial and didn’t want to say anything. The video i saw of Homan delivering her rock looked like she touched it as well but if it’s inconclusive so be it but Canada’s curling teams look like fools.
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A GBR stone was pulled this morning for the same reason as Homans. I honestly believe Homan freaked out because there hasn’t been a rock voluntarily pulled by an official in decades. They were clearly shocked.
Kennedy and Team Canada look ridiculous, Curling Canada also looks stupid. Homans reaction while understandable also leaves much to be desired.
The whole thing is a mess.
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Somebody asked why Canadian media are so docile in asking hard questions to their athletes and team management. Easy 1-word answer? HOMERS!
Worst Homerism is a near 70 yr old punster named Ron McLean, a quipster who’s sole mission is to slather Canadian athletes with praise, affection and the odd (bad) pun.
Alex Despatie, the former diver seemed to be bordering on a nervous breakdown while his charge Mikael Kingsbury slid to a gold medal. The guy was virtually squealing like a baby during his segment.
The hockey announcers, even the normally loose-lipped Kevin Bieska are on best behavior. Ain’t no Stephen A. Smiths in Canada ya know!
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Nevermind the Broomgate fiasco that still hasn’t resolved itself yet.
I believe it has no? They announced new sweeping rules and acceptable fabric. But again, the players are constantly asking for direction from World Curling and getting little.
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