Shield wins inaugural Rock League championship, capping first season of pro curling venture

Shield wins inaugural Rock League championship, capping first season of pro curling venture

Olympic champion Brad Jacobs is on top once again.

The Shield Curling Club captain led his team to the first-ever Rock League championship on Sunday at Toronto’s Mattamy Athletic Centre, capping the inaugural season of the start-up professional curling league and earning $100,000 for the squad.

“There’s no feeling like winning,” Jacobs said. “I think you’re chasing the feeling of winning no matter what it is that you’re competing in. We compete in a lot of high-stake tournaments and this is another one.”

Shield beat Typhoon Curling Club 2-1 in a dramatic finish to a season that enjoyed its fair share of excitement throughout the week.

It all came down to the final shot in front of some 500 fans in attendance.

While Shield captain Brad Jacobs made relatively quick work of Typhoon’s Niklas Edin in an 8-6 decision, the mixed doubles and women’s contests remained tight.

In the latter, Anna Hasselborg had a simple shot with hammer to secure the 7-5 victory for Typhoon. But just seconds before, the former ended in a 7-7 tie, leading to a championship-deciding draw-to-the-button tiebreaker.

Jacobs, still with a meaningless rock to the throw, looked up at the videoboard. All eyes were on the mixed doubles.

Typhoon’s Tori Koana went first, catching the top of the four-foot but leaving the door slightly ajar for Shield’s Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel.

The Swiss curler released the rock, and teammate Kerri Einarson immediately thought it was heavy. She turned toward Jacobs and covered her eyes.

Einarson was wrong. The stone landed perfectly on the button. A Rock League-winning shot.

“I was focused on my job, honestly,” Schwarz-van Berkel said. “Of course, you feel the atmosphere in the stadium is changing at that point, so it’s exciting. You just want to throw it as good as you can … and thankfully that happened.”

Schwarz-van Berkel was named MVP for his efforts, while Alpine’s Alina Pätz was voted by her peers as The Ultimate Competitor. Both earned $5,000 for their individual honours. 

“It’s a huge recognition with all the big names in this league. I’m not sure what to say,” Schwarz-van Berkel said, holding a giant hammer as his trophy. 

Shield empties the tank

Jacobs said Shield brought the most intensity it has all week into the championship match.

“We wanted to be crowned champions and be the first ones to win in this league. Our theme going into today was let’s just empty the tank and I think we did do that,” Jacobs said. “It’s great to be tired and to be a winner.”

In the background, as Shield celebrated, The Curling Group CEO Nic Sulsky lingered, his beard still tinted slightly blue — the result of Friday night, when the first 150 fans to arrive in costume were awarded free t-shirts. Sulsky rocked a kilt and blue facepaint — a bold costume for a bold executive, who envisions a bright future for the mixed-team endeavor.

“The puzzle pieces are all here and fitting into place. And I think the early numbers are indicative of evolution, of growth, of change,” he said.

He compared Rock League to a baby, with the goal of having it running by the end of the week.

Well, the baby was born Monday with plenty of breaks from tradition, from new rules to new formats to a sheetside bar full of fans in banana costumes, executives and curlers alike.

Athletes seemed to embrace it all, with competitiveness ramped up despite a long, intense Olympic season that preceded Rock League.

Not everything was a smashing success — attendance numbers were low even over the weekend, for example — but it was clear organizers were willing to tinker. Through four days, there were three versions of an in-arena video scoreboard, which gradually improved until becoming set on Thursday.

The format was a big hit among curlers, who were constantly stealing glances at other sheets and keeping tabs on the scoreboard throughout the brisk two-hour sessions.

Most identified their favourite new rule among many as the no-tick rule that kept teams on offence throughout each game. Elsewhere, rocks covering the pinhole in the final end were worth two points and thinking time was cut down from regular bonspiels. The teams — all made up of curlers from across the world, even if there were some themes — also appeared to click, connect and grow throughout the week.

Einarson said she was a bit timid as of Monday, but quickly reverted to her typically fiery and passionate personality.

“It’s pretty amazing to have such a big team sport. Usually it’s just four of us,” Einarson said. “I think this week we grew as a team and had to make some big clutch shots as needed and we also had a lot of fun off the ice too and really got to know each other.”

Canada’s Einarson, the reigning Scotties champion, felt the weight of her team on her shoulders in the semifinals, when a match against Alpine Curling Club came down to her sheet.

“It was a lot of pressure throwing that last rock having all the other players staring at me,” Einarson said. “But I’ve been in the big moments before, I know what it feels like and I was pretty confident.”

On Sunday, everyone was locked in for the playoffs — and they delivered with three matches that all came down to the wire, further proof of a format that had the enthusiastic group of fans that were in the building fully engaged.

Earlier, it was Alpine and Northern United exited the building with semifinal losses.

“There was a lot of really good shots from both teams, and pretty exciting to making big shots like that in the first-ever Rock League. So pretty proud of ourselves and we’re not too dejected after losing that one,” Northern captain Bruce Mouat said.

Rewind even further to Saturday night, and another example of the fun of Rock League was on display when a band started playing immediately after play concluded. Athletes and fans gathered around for a post-game concert, eventually cascading into karaoke.

Maple United’s Colton Flasch got up on stage and starting belting Learn to Fly by Foo Fighters — but the audio cut out. For a brief moment, some boos could be heard. But the sound system came back almost immediately, and the curler just kept singing.

In the same arena the next day, a Rock League champion was crowned on the other side of the ice. The baby was growing up.