FERBEY, TRULSEN HEAD FORD WORLD MEN’S

                                   CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP IN VICTORIA

                            

March 28, 2005…Canada’s Randy Ferbey and Norway’s Pål Trulsen top the line-up for the Ford World Men’s Curling Championship, April 2-10 in Victoria, British Columbia at the new Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

There are several very famous curlers on the ice in the brand new arena “Save-On-Foods memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada when the Ford World Men´s Curling Championship will start on Saturday, April 2nd. Host nation Canada will be represented by Randy Ferbey´s team from Edmonton, world champions both in 2002 and 2003. Pål Trulsen´s Olympic champions of Salt Lake City 2002 will represent Norway. The Olympic bronze medallists of that year, Andy Schwaller´s team will play for Switzerland. Then there are three former European champion teams, Scotland´s David Murdoch (Euro champions 2003), Finland´s Markku Uusipaavalniemi (champions 2000) and Germany´s Andy Kapp (champions 1992, 1997). Also former Pacific champions, Australia´s Hugh Millikin and New Zealand´s Sean Becker.

The other competing teams playing in Victoria are Denmark (Johnny Frederiksen), Italy (Stefano Ferronato), Sweden (Eric Carlsén) and USA (Pete Fenson). The defending world champions are Team Peja Lindholm from Sweden but that team lost to Eric Carlsén in the final of the Swedish play-downs. This new Swedish team is skipped by Eric Carlsén with experience of three World junior championships, finishing runner-up in both 2002 and 2003.

The Ford World Championship in Victoria is not only an event for medals and honour. This is also the third and last qualification event for the 2006 Olympic curling tournament in Torino. As host nation Italy has a guaranteed place. Here are the standings for the nine other Olympic spots:

 

Rank:  Nation 2003    2004    2005    Total

1)         Canada            12        8                      20

2)         Sweden            6          12                    18

3)         Norway            8          7                      15

4)         Switzerland       10        4,5                   14,5

5)         Germany          1,5       10                    11,5

6)         Scotland**       4,5       6                      10,5

7)         Finland 7          -                       7         

8)         Denmark          4,5       2                      6,5

9)         USA    3          2                      5

10        Italy*    -           -

 

11)       New Zealand    -           4,5                   4,5

12)       France  -           2                      2

13)       Korea  1,5       -                       1,5

 

 

* Italy as host nation for 2006 Olympic games has guaranteed place

** Scotland represents Great Britain at Olympic Games

 

 

It’s the 11th year of Ford of Canada’s sponsorship of the men’s world championship.  However, for the first time since 1988, the men’s and women’s championships are being conducted separately.   The world women’s concluded Sunday in Paisley, Scotland, with Sweden’s Anette Norberg emerging victorious.    In addition, 12 countries, instead of the previous 10, will now compete for global honours while the Page Playoff format, used at the Scott Tournament of Hearts and Tim Hortons Brier, has now been adopted for the world men’s and women’s events by the World Curling Federation, replacing the traditional 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 semi-final match-ups. 

 

The Page Playoff format pairs 1 vs 2 and 3 vs 4 at the conclusion of the round robin.   The winner of 1 vs 2 advances directly to Sunday’s final, while the loser goes to Saturday’s semi-final.   Meanwhile, the winner of 3 vs 4 also goes to the semi-final, while the loser is eliminated.


Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States will compete at the 2005 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship.

 

Ferbey’s record-setting Edmonton foursome will be trying to win a leading 29th title for Canada since 1959. 

Ferbey won a record sixth Brier in mid-March in his hometown, edging Nova Scotia’s Shawn Adams, 5-4 in the final.   The 45-year-old Ferbey has won three world titles in his five appearances…as third for Pat Ryan in 1989 (in Milwaukee), then as skip for his team of Dave Nedohin, Scott Pfeifer and Marcel Rocque in 2002 (in Bismarck) and 2003 (in Winnipeg).

 

Trulsen will be making his eighth appearance as skip at the Worlds and while he’s never won the event, he did earn a silver medal in 2002 and bronze medals in 2001 and 2003.   His crowning moment, though, came at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City (Ogden), when he stole one in the 10th end to defeat Canada’s Kevin Martin and claim the gold medal.

 

Switzerland’s Andreas Schwaller earned a silver medal at the 2001 Ford Worlds in Lausanne, losing to Sweden’s Peja Lindholm in the final and then won a bronze medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics.  Finland’s Markku Uusipaavalniemi is a two-time (1998, 2000) Worlds bronze medallist while Germany’s Andy Kapp won a Worlds silver medal in 1997 and two bronze medals, in 1994 and 1995.

 

Completing the field are Hugh Millikin, a North Vancouver native who skips Australia and will be making his eighth Worlds appearance, Denmark (Johnny Frederiksen), Italy (Stefano Ferronato), New Zealand (Sean Becker), Scotland (David Murdoch), Sweden (Eric Carlsén) and United States (Pete Fenson).

 

CBC-TV and its digital channel, Country Canada, along with The Score, will team up to provide daily television coverage across Canada of the 2005 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship.   The semi-final will be played Saturday, April 9 at 11:00 am PT/2:00 pm ET, while the final is slated for Sunday, April 10 at 9:30 am PT/12:30 pm ET, both of which can be seen live on CBC-TV.    Eurosport will also air daily highlight packages and coverage of various draws.

 

The headquarters hotel is the Fairmont Empress, tel. 250-384-8111, while the curlers are staying at the Harbour Towers, tel: 250-385-2405.

 

The media room phone numbers at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre will be 250-220-2684/85, as of Friday, April 1.

 

The Opening Ceremonies take place at 9:00 am Saturday morning, prior to the first draw at 11:00 am PT.

 

Draw results will be instantly available on the World Curling Federation (www.worldcurling.org), Canadian Curling Association (www.curling.ca) and host committee (www.fordworldcurling.com) websites.

 

Canada has hosted 17 men’s World Curling Championships, including 2005.   This will mark the fifth time that British Columbia has hosted a men’s, women’s or both world championships.   Vancouver hosted the 1966 and 1987 men’s, Kamloops staged the 1998 Ford Worlds men’s and women’s championships while Kelowna hosted the 1986 women’s.  The last major curling event staged in Victoria was the 1984 Labatt Brier.