From the USA Luge Team:

USA Luge’s final international racing squad, and eventually its 10-member Olympic team, will begin to take shape with a series of race-offs beginning Wednesday, Oct. 21, in Lake Placid, N.Y. The second race-off on the 20-turn, mile-long Mt. Van Hoevenberg course is slated for Friday, Oct. 23.

Following the two races and the first round of cuts, the race-off series will move out to Park City, Utah, where the team will be pared down again following a November 6 race-off. The final cuts will be made on November 15, during a week of international training in Whistler, Canada.

In the end, USA Luge’s fall 2009 team will feature 15 athletes (four men’s singles, five women’s singles and three doubles teams). These 15 athletes will then use the four World Cup events as qualifiers for the 2010 Olympic team. Athletes who miss making the squad will have the option of training in Lake Placid for the bulk of the remaining fall, winter and spring sliding season.

SPOKANE – Jenny Potter says it’s a mistake to read too much into the 5-2 spanking Canada gave the U.S. women’s hockey team Friday night at the Spokane Arena.

At first glance it would seem the Americans’ loss coupled with their Oct. 5 loss to Canada in Victoria might indicate that the balance of power is shifting north once again.

But Potter, a veteran of all three U.S. Olympic teams, says fans should pay closer attention to the calendar than the scoreboard.

“There is no medal after this game,” Potter, 30, said. “Just pride.”

Last month Team USA asserted itself as the dominant team in the rivalry by beating Canada twice in four days to win the Hockey Canada Cup at Vancouver’s GM Place, the hockey venue for the Feb. 12-28 Winter Games.

Friday in Spokane, the Americans say they lacked the intensity they needed to beat the two-time defending Olympic champs.

“We got outworked,” said U.S. forward Natalie Darwitz.

That was evident from the start, when Canada fired three shots in the opening 90 seconds. Goalie Jessie Vetter stopped them all but it was clear she was going to be in for a long night.

Canada scored first when Meghan Agosta broke free for an uncontested shot with 2:13 to play in the first period.
The U.S. tied the score during a power play with 54.3 seconds to play in the first period when forward Gigi Marvin of Minnesota flicked in a shot from her knees with her back to the goal.

The crowd erupted, but the celebration was short lived. Seconds later U.S. defensemen Caitlin Cahow of Connecticut lost her stick giving the Canadian’s “NCAA line” all the opening it needed to reclaim its lead.

The Canadians call it the “NCAA line” because all of the players attended U.S. colleges.

Harvard’s Sarah Vaillancourt, thanks to assists from Minnesota Duluth’s Haley Irwin and Ohio State’s Tessa Bonhomme, scored with 19.4 seconds left in the period to give Canada a 2-1 lead.

“We lost the momentum there,” said U.S. coach Mark Johnson, a member of the 1980 U.S. gold medal hockey team.

Canada took advantage of power plays in the second period to add two more quick goals. Caroline Ouellette scored both.
The Canadians pushed the lead to 5-1 at the 16:24 mark with a goal by defender Catherine Ward.

Potter backhanded a shot past Canadian goalie Shannon Szabados at the 18:35 mark of the second period. Neither team scored in the third period.

Canada and the U.S. will play four more times before the Olympics. The next match is Dec. 12 in Denver.

“We play these games to learn and get better for the Olympics,” Potter said. “… It’s better to lose now then when it matters.”

NOTES: U.S. forward Karen Thatcher, a 25-year-old graduate of Providence College, lives in Blaine. She moved to Blaine four years ago. … Attendance was not announced after the game, but less than half the seats in the 10,000-seat arena were filled. Team USA drew 9,137 fans when it played China in Spokane before the 2002 Olympics. … Team USA picked its current 23-player roster on Aug. 24. The team will be trimmed to its 21-player Olympic roster in mid-December.

From the Associated Press:

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — Bree Schaaf only picked up bobsledding three years ago. John Daly had never scored such a big win against elite-level racers. John Napier is merely 22 years old.

They might not be up-and-coming anymore. On Thursday, that trio of U.S. sliders may have finally arrived.

Schaaf won the second of four women’s bobsled national team trials races, Daly finished atop the men’s skeleton standings for the day and Napier might have had the most significant result of his young career as a four-man bobsled driver — each putting themselves into position to secure spots on the U.S. World Cup team and have the inside track at berths in the Vancouver Olympics.

It was a day filled with surprises at chilly Mt. Van Hoevenberg, where Day 1 of the national team trials was dominated by veterans. On Day 2, the tables started to turn.
“It’s a huge deal,” Schaaf said. “I woke up this morning, ready to rock. I daydream constantly about the Olympics. It’s been the driving force for this season, the driving force for a while now. I cannot wait until February, and I feel like everything is coming together for that purpose.”
Schaaf was a skeleton racer until 2007, then persuaded coaches to give her a shot at driving a bobsled.
Good move.

Teaming with Michelle Rzepka, Schaaf’s time of 1 minute, 54.74 seconds was the day’s best by 0.22 seconds over Day 1 winners Erin Pac and Elana Meyers. There’s only three sleds in the women’s bobsled trials, competing for two available spots on the World Cup roster, where they’ll be joined by 2006 Olympic silver-medal winning driver Shauna Rohbock.

The standings are complex, with a point system in play and skeleton racers having the chance to throw out their worst race, so nothing will really be decided until the trials end in Park City, Utah on Oct. 24. One thing is certain: Daly, who won Day 2 by 0.04 seconds over another relative surprise in Stokes Aitken, won’t be throwing out his Thursday result.

“Yesterday was a downer,” said Daly, who was seventh in Day 1. “Today was the bounceback. I got luckier.”
Day 1 men’s skeleton winner Eric Bernotas is out of the trials, excused with an injury. He’ll be one of four men going to Whistler for international training in late October and, unless his strained right leg doesn’t heal, will be part of the U.S. roster when World Cup racing begins next month.

Zach Lund was third in men’s skeleton Thursday, still struggling with a sore hamstring.

“I’ve got a few days now to get better,” Lund said.
Napier has had a few years to get better.

He comes from a sliding family; his mother was the race secretary Thursday, charting all the times and placings. He’s been in a sled since he was 8 and is hoping his win in the four-man race — his team was 0.16 seconds ahead of the sled piloted by veteran Todd Hays — is the sign that big things are looming.

“It feels good,” Napier said. “The experience is a plus for me, because it’s only going to get better and stronger and faster. I hope that’s the case. I pray that’s the case.”

The only part of the trials that is starting to look like a runaway is women’s bobsled, where former world champion Noelle Pikus-Pace won for the second straight day, 0.17 seconds ahead of Rebecca Sorensen — who also finished second in Day 1 competition.

Pikus-Pace set a personal-best time of 55.92 seconds in her first of two runs down the Lake Placid course Thursday. Brimming with confidence, she heads home to Utah on Friday, now a huge favorite to win the trials since Park City is her home track.

“I’m bringing some momentum to Park City,” Pikus-Pace said. “I jumped off the sled on my first run and just started screaming, like I had the perfect run. It’s been a long time since I had one of those. So it couldn’t have been a better finish here in Placid.”

From the US Ski team:

Two-time World Cup overall champion Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) was named Thursday to the U.S. Ski Team and will compete this coming season on the Audi FIS World Cup. Miller has skied independently the last two years, winning his second overall World Cup title in 2007-08. The U.S. Ski Team and Miller made the announcement in a joint press conference at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

According to U.S. Ski Team Head Men's Alpine Coach Sasha Rearick, Miller has committed to the U.S. Ski Team program. "Bode is committed to the Team and the Team looks forward to helping Bode achieve personal greatness," Rearick said. "Because Bode is such a great competitor he's going to challenge everyone on the Team to push their personal limits and strive for greater performances. I look forward to Bode being a positive team member and leader.

"Our men's Team the last two years has grown into a close-knit family – we help each other be successful. Having proven veterans like Ted [Ligety], Marco [Sullivan], Steven [Nyman], Scott [Macartney] and Bode all training and racing together will help all of us. This is a group of strong leaders that Bode has trained and raced with throughout his career."

"I am excited to be back with the guys and the Team. We've had great success together," Miller said. "I look forward to taking advantage of the great program we have in place."

Miller was named to the Team based on his results from last season. Like all other athletes, he will need to qualify for a slot on the Olympic Team based on 2010 season results. The Olympic Team will be named January 26.

The Team will begin working with Miller immediately. The four-time World Champion Miller did not set a return to competition date. He is not expected to compete in the Oct. 25 Audi FIS World Cup season opener in Soelden, Austria but is hopeful to be at the Visa Birds of Prey World Cup Dec. 2-6 in Beaver Creek, CO.

Bode Miller has called a press conference for this morning for 11 to announce his intentions for the 2010 Olympics and 2009-10 World Cup season.

While he said previously he was done with Olympics, I think it's pretty obvious what he's going to say this morning (After all, U.S. alpine coach Sasha Rearick is joining him at the press conference.)

Miller is still one of the best skiers in the world and the winningest skier in U.S. history. Even if he doesn't medal in Whistler his presence should take some pressure off the rest of the U.S. team.

I talked to Louie Vito recently when I was in Chicago about his upcoming participation in "Dancing with the Stars."

The story ran today. Read it here.

Vito hits the dance floor tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC.

The U.S. Snowboarding team announced its roster today. Notice Marni Yamada who rides out of the Summit at Snoqualmie made the B Team for SBX. Vic Wild of White Salmon made the alpine B team.

Halfpipe Men
Pro Team
Greg Bretz (12/19/90; Mammoth Lakes, CA)
Steve Fisher (10/21/82; Breckenridge, CO)
Scott Lago (11/12/87; Seabrook, NH)
Luke Mitrani (7/24/90; Mammoth Lakes, CA)
Elijah Teter (3/7/84; South Lake Tahoe, CA)
Louie Vito (3/20/88; Columbus, OH)

Halfpipe Women
Pro Team
Clair Bidez (8/7/87; Minturn, CO)
Gretchen Bleiler (4/10/81; Aspen, CO)*
Kelly Clark (12/19/1990; Mt. Snow, VT)*
Elena Hight (8/17/89; South Lake Tahoe, CA)
Ellery Hollingsworth (9/2/91; Stratton, VT)
Hannah Teter (1/27/87; Belmont, VT)*

SBX Men
A Team
Nick Baumgartner (12/17/81; Iron River, MI)
Jonathan Cheever (4/17/85; Saugus, MA)
Nate Holland (11/8/78; Squaw Valley, CA)*
Seth Wescott (6/28/76; Sugarloaf, ME)*
Graham Watanabe (3/19/82; Sun Valley, ID)*

B Team
Jayson Hale (6/26/85; Sierraville, CA)*
Pat Holland (5/5/82; Tahoe City, CA)
Shaun Palmer (11/14/68; South Lake Tahoe, CA)
Jason Smith (1/11/82; Durango, CO)*
Ross Powers (2/10/79; Londonderry, VT)*
Bobby Minghini (1/24/86; South Lake Tahoe, CA)

SBX Women
A Team
Lindsey Jacobellis (8/19/85; Stratton Mountain, VT)*

B Team
Callan Chythlook-Sifsof (2/14/89; Girdwood, AK)
Brooke Shaw (5/12/91; Litchfield, CT)
Marni Yamada (8/26/78; Seattle, WA)

Men's Alpine
A Team
Tyler Jewell (2/21/77; Steamboat Springs, CO)*
Justin Reiter (2/2/81; Steamboat Springs, CO)
Adam Smith (9/7/80; Bend, OR)

B Team
Vic Wild (8/23/86; White Salmon, WA)

Women's Alpine
A Team
Michelle Gorgone (10/18/83; Boston, MA)*

From the U.S. Snowboard Team:

CHAPELCO, Argentina (Sept. 12) - Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott (Sugarloaf, ME) and X Games silver medalist Graham Watanabe (Sun Valley, ID) put themselves in line to make the U.S. SBX Olympic team as they finished second and third, respectively, in the first World Cup of the snowboardcross season. The event was also the first in a series of five Olympic team qualification events for the SBX crew.

Wescott was less than a board length from the win, but ended up behind France's Pierre Vaultier.

=> Read more!

The U.S. Freestyle team was announced today. A-teamers are your front runners to represent the USA in the 2010 Olympics. Cle Elum's Patrick Deneen is the defending world champ in the moguls.

Men
Patrick Deneen, moguls (12/25/87; Cle Elum, WA; Silver Mountain Freestyle)
Sho Kashima, moguls (11/1/86; South Lake Tahoe, CA; Heavenly Freestyle)
Michael Morse, moguls (4/21/81; Duxbury, MA; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club/Killington)
Jeret "Speedy" Peterson, aerials (12/12/81; Boise, ID; Bogus Basin)*
Casey Puckett, ski cross (9/22/72, Aspen, CO)*
Daron Rahlves, ski cross (6/12/73, Sugar Bowl, CA)*
Nate Roberts, moguls (3/24/82; Park City, UT; Park City Freestyle Team)
Ryan St. Onge, aerials (2/7/83; Winter Park, CO)*

Women
Shannon Bahrke, moguls (11/7/80; Tahoe City, CA; Squaw Valley Freestyle)*
Emily Cook, aerials (7/1/79; Belmont, MA; Freestyle Lives Year-round)*
Hannah Kearney, moguls (2/26/86; Norwich, VT; Waterville Valley Black & Blue Trail Smashers)*
Shelly Robertson, moguls (4/8/79; Reno, NV; Squaw Valley Freestyle)
Emiko Torito, moguls (7/2/82; Denver; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club)

B Team
Men
Dave Babic, moguls (6/3/79; Washington, VT; Sugarbush)
Scott Bahrke, aerials (7/19/85; Tahoe City, CA)
Dylan Ferguson, aerials (8/10/88; Amesbury, MA; Waterville Valley Black & Blue Trail Smashers)
Bryon Wilson, moguls (4/7/88; Butte, MT; Wasatch Freestyle)

Women
Jana Lindsey, aerials (8/18/84; Black Hawk, SD)*
Eliza Outtrim, moguls (7/18/85; Steamboat Springs, CO; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club/Mount Snow Ski Club)
Michelle Roark, moguls (11/16/74; Denver; Winter Park Eskimos)*
Lacy Schnoor, aerials (6/12/85; Draper, UT)

C Team
Men
Jeremy Cota, moguls (10/24/1988; Carrabassett Valley, ME; Carrabassett Valley Academy Athletics)
Shane Cordeau moguls (12/16/1986; Sun Valley, ID; Sun Valley Ski Team)
Matt DePeters, aerials (8/20/87; Hamburg NY; Buffalo Ski Club)
David DiGravio, moguls (11/26/86; Farmington, ME; Carrabassett Valley Academy)
Jimmy Discoe, moguls (5/15/89; Ridgway, CO; Telluride Freestyle)
Joe Discoe, moguls (2/23/1987; Telluride, CO; Telluride Freestyle)
Landon Gardner, moguls (1/1/85; Missoula, MT; Missoula Freestyle)
Holt Haga, moguls (8/29/83; Boise, ID; Park City Freestyle Team/Bogus Basin)

Women
Ani Haas, moguls (12/14/87; Missoula, MT; Park City Freestyle)
Mikaela Matthews, moguls (12/24/1991; Frisco, CO; Team Summit)
Heather McPhie, moguls (5/28/84; Park City, UT; Bridger Freestyle/Breckenridge)
Jaime Myers, aerials (3/27/82; Boise, ID)
Laurel Shanley, moguls (2/19/83; Squaw Valley, CA; Squaw Valley Freestyle)
Kayla Snyderman, moguls (7/4/88; Winchester, MA; Waterville Valley Black & Blue Trail Smashers)
Allison Treleaven, aerials (10/20/83; Fort Wayne, IN; Freestyle Lives Year-round)

From the U.S. Ski Team:

The greatest alpine skiers in the country are set to return to the Olympic venue of Whiteface/Lake Placid March 20-23 as the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) and Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) announced Whiteface as host of the 2010 U.S. Alpine Championships.

Located in nearby Wilmington, the 1980 Olympic alpine venue will feature athletes fresh from the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver including two-time World Cup overall champion and double World Championships gold medalist Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) and 2006 Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety (Park City, UT).

=> Read more!

Ever since Nicole Joraanstad graduated from Kentridge High in 1999 and moved to Madison, Wisc., she hasn’t had many reasons to return to the Northwest.

She picked the University of Wisconsin to study business, her parents – Gary and Debra -moved to Mississippi then Ohio and Joraanstad spends her spare time curling.

But in February she earned a reason to return to the Northwest when her team won the curling national championship for the fourth year in a row.

This time the national championship came with a spot in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, making her – and her team – the first Americans to qualify for the games.

Most of the American athletes won’t officially be named until January. The games are Feb. 12-28.

“It’s nice to qualify so early,” said Joraanstad, a 29-year-old corporate recruiter for TDS Telecom. “It gives us a chance to plan out everything without being rushed.”

Joraanstad started curling because of her dad, Gary, who played out of Seattle’s Granite Curling Club. He played on some good teams that contended for national championships in the 1980s before curling was an Olympic event.

When Joraanstad turned 15 she started curling and in 1996 her team advanced to junior nationals and finished eighth.

“I was pretty much hooked after that,” Joraanstad said.
She quit the school softball, basketball and track teams to focus on curling and it paid off.

Her teams returned to junior nationals the next five years winning the title in 2000 and 2001 after she moved to Madison.
“Granite is a great club but I needed to go some place where there where more clubs and more curlers,” Joraanstad said.

Curling became an Olympic sport at the 1998 games in Nagano. Still a junior at Kentridge at the time, Joraanstad envisioned a day when she would be competing for a gold medal.

By the 2002 Olympics she was already in contention to qualify. Her team finished fourth in qualifiers. Only one team advances to the games.

It was qualifying for the 2006 games that proved to be one of the key moments in her career.

Her team along with Debbie McCormick’s Wisconsin team were the favorites, but both teams were upset.

The next summer McCormick and Joraanstad decided to combine forces to form a team that wouldn’t be upset the next time around. Joraanstad joined McCormick’s team, which also includes Tracy Sachtjen of Wisconsin and Allison Pottinger and Natalie Nicholson of Minnesota.

The team has dominated women’s curling in the United States ever since.

When this year’s national championships came around Joraanstad’s new team was ready. There would be no upsets.
As the team’s second – meaning she throws the third and fourth stones and sweeps for everybody else – Joraanstad helped her team go undefeated.

Joraanstad and her teammates usually take the summer, but not this year.

Three weekends a month Joraanstad makes the 21/2-hour drive from Madison to Green Bay to practice with her team. The team will also take a training trip to Switzerland this summer.

“This is a new model for us but I think it will work well,” Joraanstad said. “We are keeping our skills honed so we are starting off stronger next season.”

Perhaps that will also translate into a spot on the podium when she comes home to the Northwest where she says she still has lots of friends and extended family.

The team will have to be at the top of its game in Vancouver. As dominant as it has been in the United States, it has yet to win a world championship.

The team finished ninth in March at the World Championships in Korea. Its best finish came in 2006 in Alberta when it finished second, but it was fourth in 2007 and seventh in ’08.
The U.S. has never won an Olympic medal in women’s curling.

Joraanstad expects that to change in Vancouver. “We expect to win gold.”

(Photo: USACURL.org)

Torin Koos of Leavenworth made the U.S. roster again making a likely candidate to make his third Olympic team in January.

From the U.S. Ski Team:

World Championship silver medalist Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK), along with World Cup sprint medalist Andy Newell (Shaftsburry, VT), Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) and three-time U.S. champion Liz Stephen (East Montelier, VT) are among the athletes headlining the newly named 2010 U.S. Cross Country Ski Team.

=> Read more!