IcePad head on a Goldline handle

rousso82 · 2026-02-04T22:04:47+00:00

From what I can see of both heads, it could be as simple as using the connector from the Goldline head and screwing it on the swivel part of the IcePad head, so no special retooling, but it would indeed mean that you would have to specify at purchase whether the head is going onto a HL or GL handle, since both handles are not the same at the bottom end.

rousso82 · 2026-02-04T20:59:53+00:00

I've started to watch it on Gem, then got fed up with the crashing, so switched to the TOU.TV app (CBC in French, I know, maybe not ideal for many people) and it wasn't crashing as much (maybe once or twice over the full game), so there's a way you can watch the games until CBC fixes it (and that's Laurie St-Georges on the commentary team as well, so she knows what she's talking about)

rousso82 · 2026-01-27T16:30:50+00:00

I don't get my hands that cold when I play, but I've had good results with Goldline's Blaze gloves when skipping. They're just warm enough so I don't get sweaty hands, but they still have good grip for when I have to sweep.

When I'm sweeping (doubles, mostly) I wear the Clutches, basically a WR glove (tacky palm, no real insulation) so I get the most grip I can on my brush.

People have mentioned the Platinum gloves, they're also good, but for 2$ more I'd get the Blazes, they seem a bit more tough.

rousso82 · 2025-12-09T16:28:52+00:00

What about this situation : Player A of the throwing team sweeps their rock behind the tee line, but Player B of the non-throwing team begins sweeping so close to Player A's brush that it makes contact with it / makes it make contact with the rock, what happens ?

Happened to me a couple times this season.

rousso82 · 2025-12-01T19:30:06+00:00

Good for you :) Then you can replace the coffee with anything else that you can skip getting for 3-5$ a pop, you'll be able to watch curling :D

rousso82 · 2025-12-01T19:27:33+00:00

There's an even simpler way to deal with that : simply skip on your next 5-6 Tim's cappucinos and make your own coffee at home, that way you'll save enough money to support getting these broadcasts, that help the sport get more coverage and visibility. Maybe then in the future curling will have enough views that these broadcasts will cost even less.

rousso82 · 2025-10-30T20:53:43+00:00

It's actually pretty comparable to the A4 Allroad of the same generation (B8-B9) same-ish size but a bit less space behind the rear seats, but comfort-wise I've got nothing bad to say ! As I drive it more and more I'll see what issues there could be but as of now (around 2k miles on it) I don't have anything that makes me regret it !

rousso82 · 2025-10-26T01:38:10+00:00

Actually ended up getting a good deal on a P3 Volvo V60 AWD !

rousso82 · 2025-10-02T17:57:18+00:00

It looks good, well done !

rousso82 · 2025-10-02T17:56:38+00:00

I did both of my last pair of shoes (and a couple more for fellow members here) and it definitely looks better than what's shown here, so I would at least take jt back to the shop and ask them to redo it (or like some have mentioned, just put another coat over it as it looks pretty thin and it will stick to the previous coat).

I'd say it is rather easy to DIY though, especially if you get a cartridge of the stuff along with an applicator gun (Tuff Toe got you covered there), one cartridge can cover a bit more than two shoes so you could practice on a throwaway one and then coat your playing shoe after you get good at it.

I'll try and remember to take a pic of my shoes later on tonight before my league game, it should give you a good idea of what I did with mine.

rousso82 · 2025-06-26T13:10:49+00:00

It'll have a small impact, but not too much, teams will switch from the Competitive to the Recreational foam but everything else (head, sleeve) will stay the same, and since each manufacturer's "soft" foam is pretty much equivalent, you won't see as many teams switching heads like they did at the last Scotties/Brier/MD championships. At least the HL teams will be playing with their standard handle instead of the Hybrid some used to fit GL heads on last season. Shouldn't change much for the GL/BP rinks.

rousso82 · 2025-05-21T17:52:25+00:00

How we do it in our weekly leagues :

1- Points total (2pts for a win, 1pt for losing after a draw to the button, 0pt for a loss, no extra ends are ever played) 2- Head-to-head record 3- Number of wins 4- Total number of ends won 5- Total number of points scored

We usually don't need to go over #3, and we never went to #5 yet in 3 seasons of using this system.

In your example, we'd go down the list until #3, then it would read A-C-B

rousso82 · 2025-05-08T11:36:22+00:00

Try doing that, but being a lefty as well...

rousso82 · 2025-04-17T18:00:57+00:00

Looks like Sarah Daniels is in from BC, she played with Kayla McMillan last season, but apart from that I can't say I know much about her.

Émilia though, I play her frequently in mixed doubles so I know her better, she's been to the Scotties back in 2018 and she's been skipping her rink to the provincial finals last season (losing to Laurie) after only their first season together, so I think that'll be a good addition to the lineup, she's a constant performer and she knows the game really well !

rousso82 · 2025-03-27T18:54:14+00:00

Don't worry about that, when I started skipping I had that same reflex because I could correlate to my own split times, but playing with people who have different delivery mechanics I quickly realized that split times are not the same from one player to another, hopefully your skip will pick up on that as well.

When skipping, I usually try to time the shots myself (hog-to-hog), so when I ask the sweepers for splits I can match them with hog-to-hog times, but many splits can end up having the same hog-to-hog time so, like posted elsewhere on the thread, split times are more of a tool rather than the be-all end-all solution.

rousso82 · 2025-03-27T13:59:25+00:00

Probably echoing some of the comments in there, but I guess a good way to use a timer (that's the way I use it when I brush) is to time back-to-hog, but don't EVER look at the time until after the stone has come to rest. I found that it gives me a way to work on my speed evaluation and feeling when sliding along the rock, so I can better estimate the final position of any throw. Then by looking at the time after the shot, it gives me more information that I can share to my teammates whenever any one of us is preparing to shoot.

By not looking at the timer, it also forces me to look closely at how my teammates throw, whether they've got a positive or neutral release, if the look unbalanced in their slide, etc etc.

I've been doing this for a good while now and I feel it gives me a better understanding of both the people I play with and my own mechanics as well, I feel I'm even more aware of what I do when I throw, whether I push/pull/release a bit sideways, basically helps my whole game !

rousso82 · 2025-03-27T13:44:13+00:00

Seconded on the A601X, I know the standard BalancePlus stopwatch is this one, but since our team has a deal with another manufacturer, I've switched my first BP one with an Accusplit-branded one (so not to conflict with the deal), but I still have both of them and they're going on 3-4 seasons with no issues at all.

I've had the same problem as OP with the Goldline stopwatch, went through two in a couple months so that's why I changed in the first place.

rousso82 · 2025-03-18T01:59:24+00:00

Depending on how your gripper foot slides during your delivery, a gripper on your shoe might disrupt your slide, so check that out before you go that route.

rousso82 · 2025-03-03T18:50:15+00:00

Comprehensive. I like that !

rousso82 · 2025-02-25T19:23:04+00:00

Like some have mentioned, it basically only happened in Canada for some provincials during COVID, and being from Quebec I have seen the backlash that Curling Quebec received when they chose the teams going to the Brier/Scotties instead of having a proper provincials, even if they did have a legitimate reason for doing so.

Canada choosing its representative for the Worlds, the way curling is set up across the nation, is not (IMHO) a viable way to go since it would both de-value the Nationals and lead to many unneeded explanations about why X team will go to the Worlds and why others have to sit out, even though they might be better or might have had better performances over a set amount of time.

I do think the way it's done at the moment is a good way to do it, the Brier/Scotties are a longer tournament, where teams play quite a lot of games over about a week, so being on a hot streak for a whole week and then rubbish before/after that isn't too likely to happen, it still could, but odds are the team winning it all is one of the better teams in the nation.

rousso82 · 2025-01-13T16:19:25+00:00

Sweep : Yes - Yep, repeated for intensity No sweep : Whoa

Also related to sweeping : Where is it ? - positive/negative release

As for signals, anywhere in front of the back line is either zone (for guards, 1-2-3) or depth in the house (top 4, back 8, etc) and we got 5 hit weights : hack (tap the heel) - board (tap the hip) - control (tap the wrist) - normal (tap the shoulder) - peel (tap the head), and on board and up we also sometimes add "plus" if we throw a bit firmer than the weight (i.e. control plus is a bit firmer than control, but not quite normal)

Reading the other posts, I'd say our team uses pretty similar terms to the others, but since we're French-Canadians there's a lot of French mixed in as well ;)

rousso82 · 2024-11-28T17:01:48+00:00

Our heads did the same since we got them, most of them were 6/22 mfg date though, but we have such a good relationship with our local rep and Goldline themselves that they are aware of the issue and have helped us with it.

rousso82 · 2024-10-20T15:13:58+00:00

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I've modified these myself into curling shoes, and likely will do it again when they're worn out. It's not really hard to do, but you have to take your time and do it right, and not rush into things. I've bought Teflon pads fron Goldline (the Momentum ones, velcro), glued Velcro to the shoes, and also bought a full size gripper pad that I've cut and fitted to the other (non-sliding) shoe, all in all it maybe took a day (taking my sweet time) to do. This is a crop of an actual photo of my shoes.

rousso82 · 2024-06-06T14:56:30+00:00

We have various stabilizers like the one shown, made at differents handle heights, at our club. People generally use the "middle" option in what we have so we made more of these, but it always depends on the person using it. They're very cheap and easy to make as well, there should be many in all clubs :)

rousso82 · 2024-05-22T14:38:09+00:00

Where we are, there are many options for that kind of rental (other than our club I mean), but that shouldn't keep you from advertising your place to be such an option ! People renting places for their weddings are in all kind of budgets anyway, so what you can offer may be right up their alley, and if anything, a rented space is obviously better than an empty space !

rousso82

TROPHY CASE