Notebook: Curlers share first impressions of Rock League

TORONTO — All eyes were on Northern United’s Kristin Skaslien as she prepared to make her final shot of her mixed doubles game against Maple United. 

With the men’s and women’s games already complete, and with the franchises splitting those results, it all came down to Skaslien and teammate Yannick Schwaller to decide the winner of the match. 

Players from both franchises gathered around the sheet to watch as Skaslien made the tap that bumped Maple’s shot rock out of the four-foot circle to score the winning point. Cheers erupted and high fives commenced down the sheet with Northern claiming the victory.

Welcome to Rock League, the all-new professional curling league that made its debut Monday at TMU Mattamy Athletic Centre. Big prizes, bragging rights, and fun for everyone.

“I told (play co-ordinator) Brent (Laing) during the game and also with everybody I talked to, I'm really enjoying myself,” Schwaller said. “It's so much fun. The whole concept of you can win one match only, but you have three different games and it comes down to the wire in the end, this is so much fun. I love being part of this. I feel honoured that they took me on and I hope I can put some great moments like today on the ice.”

Six franchises with five men's players and five women's players each make up the inaugural season. Curlers compete in a variety of disciplines, with round-robin play consisting of men’s fours, women’s fours and mixed doubles. The franchise that is victorious in two of three games wins the match with a bonus half point if they complete a sweep and take all three. Saturday’s seeding games switch to mixed fours, while Sunday’s playoffs return to the round-robin format.

“You're kind of keeping an eye on all the other sheets, and it's quite exciting just to be a part of that kind of team, full team vibe,” said Northern captain Bruce Mouat. “Just so thrilled that we managed to get two wins out of the three, and yeah, great shot from Kristin in the mixed doubles there to win that game, so I'm very happy.”

The curlers weren’t the only ones watching sheet side with an on-ice bar and viewing area for fans to catch the action up close. 

“The bar, I think, is an amazing concept,” said Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel, who plays for Shield Curling Club. “I hope it's gonna be an amazing concept. We'll see how it's going to work during the weekend, I guess the crowd is going to grow. … I think it's a very, very cool idea and we'll see how it works.”

In addition to the on-ice bar and fan activities throughout the concourse level, including a floor curling tournament, music is also playing during the matches to keep the crowd pumped. 

“To be honest, we were really impressed with both the looks of it all, but then also the atmosphere, the music in the background,” said Niklas Edin of Typhoon Curling Club. “For a normal event, when you're kind of going into it a little more, I wouldn't say more serious, but like you're more kind of focused on the result I guess, then music and stuff like that can be distracting. Here I kind of felt like everything just added to good vibes and, yeah, win or lose, I feel like all the teams out there are having fun so far.

"Obviously that can change if you keep losing, but no, overall really good and for a Monday that was a pretty good turn up.”

It was only day one and there will still be a learning curve for players as they get accustomed to their new teammates.

“For us players it's a crazy experience,” said Carole Howald of Shield Curling Club. “We are just a team in a bigger team, right, and it’s great. You get to know each other. Everything is new. You need to talk about how do you call any shots, so we're going to start from the very beginning, but I think it helps to practice yesterday, and I think as far as the week is going on, we're going to build even more together.”

They'll figure it out fast. They're pro curlers, after all.

“It looks like a lot of teams are playing very good curling already, so I'm very excited to see what brings or what the rest of the week's going to bring,” Mouat said. “Obviously the athletes are all here to win, but it also has been a great vibe for the spectators, and we hope that they're having a great time watching some elite curling.”

‘Pinch me’ moment for Hood 

Typhoon is the most diverse of the franchises as the Asia-Pacific club features curlers from six different countries, including New Zealand’s Anton Hood, who is embracing the opportunity.

“It's an incredible experience,” said Hood, who has represented New Zealand twice at the World Men's Curling Championship. “I kind of pinched myself a wee bit. I don't think it really came true until I was sitting in the hack about to throw, but I loved every minute of the game. I've got incredible teammates, not only in the team I played with today but across our lineup, so it's been an amazing experience. I'm on cloud nine, and I'm just enjoying it all.” 

Typhoon won its opening match, winning two of three games over Frontier Curling Club. Hood threw lead rocks and handled vice skip duties alongside Edin on the men’s squad that defeated Frontier 7-2. 

With total points scored serving as the tiebreaker, Typhoon is at the top of the table after the first day of matches with 20 points accumulated across its three games. Don't be surprised if they stay there.

“Although we're a very diverse group from lots of different countries, I think we're a real dark horse this week,” Hood said. “I'm really excited to play these next few days and see where we end up after a few games.”

New mixed doubles stars? 

How often do Schwarz-van Berkel and Howald play mixed doubles? 

“Not much,” Schwarz-van Berkel admitted. 

Howald echoed that sentiment, and yet, the Shield pair defeated Alpine Curling Club’s Almida de Val and Oskar Eriksson 6-4 during the opening match. 

An impressive start considering de Val and Eriksson have won bronze medals in mixed doubles at the Winter Olympics and world championship, while Eriksson has also captured gold at the mixed doubles worlds. 

“I haven't played much mixed doubles in my career, obviously following what's going on with the game, with this format, watching some games,” Schwarz-van Berkel said. “The reason I felt we were going to feel comfortable from the start is because we do quite a bit of sweeping of our own rocks while playing during practice, which is basically what you do in mixed doubles, so this part is not completely unknown and that helped a lot. 

“Carole, we know each other, so I think there was no big, big surprise there. We just had to align on a couple of topics regarding communication and sweeping and stuff, small alignments. We still have a couple of small little details to adapt for the rest of the competition — if we keep playing mixed doubles, we still haven't decided, of course — but it worked out.”

Howald said they're a great match even if they don’t play mixed doubles as often as others.

“Benoît and me, we speak the same language. We practice almost every day, like next to each other, but we knew that we are not that experienced and we still have a lot to learn,” she said. “There will be some shots there that were crucial to make.”

Schwarz-van Berkel was a late addition to Shield Curling Club as he was one of four replacement players picked last month to join the league. Better late than never, and he's thankful for the selection.

"I mean, let's be honest, I was quite sad not to be in the league at first, and got a late invitation. It’s a great recognition and honour, and I’m very happy to be here," he said.

Curling baby’s dad reflects on Olympic viral moment 

The biggest curling star of the Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina wasn’t even competing in the event. 

Schwaller’s young son River became a viral sensation known as “Curling Baby” as the toddler captivated the internet.

While Schwaller competed in mixed doubles with his wife, Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann, and also skipped Switzerland’s men’s team to a bronze medal, River was there rink side and cameras caught him joining his parents at ice level with a curling brush in hand. 

What did Curling Baby’s dad think of it all? 

“Yeah, millions of people saw us. It's crazy,” Schwaller said. “We had a lot of press after the Olympics, but more because of him than because of us.” 

“I think the best thing was really a lot of people reached out to us and said thank you and this made us laugh and then brought us joy, so that's the best part of it,” he added. “It's good what happened and I'm happy that he was able to spread some joy.”

It's definitely a great story they can tell River once he's older.