Day 1 – Team Canada at the 2011 Capital One WWCC

Team Canada has had their first on ice experience here at the 2011 Capital One Women’s Curling Championship at the Granly Arena in Esbjerg, Denmark.  Official Team practice for each of the twelve competing teams took place Friday afternoon prior to the Official Opening Ceremonies. Although this is Team Holland’s first venture into international competition, they looked right at home and have adapted quickly to their surroundings. We arrived in Denmark on Tuesday with the intention of allowing a couple of days to acclimatize to the time zone, the local food and become comfortable in their environment. Amber, Kim, Tammy, Heather and Jolene have been all over Esbjerg making sure they don’t miss a thing, knowing that things will become busy once they begin curling on Saturday.

Team Canada in Denmark

The host city is a lovely little town on the edge of the North Sea, and Team Holland has had an opportunity to have a look around and experience the Danish culture. Every place is famous for something and for Esbjerg, aside from being an important port is famous for the four large men a colossal sculpture officially named “Man Meets the Sea”. The Opening Ceremonies were a spectacular beginning to this championship with His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark delivering the first stone. Young Prince Frederik was extremely popular with the competitors, with the teams lining up to have their photo taken with him after the ceremony.  Former Danish champions Helena Blach-Larsen and Angelina Jensen were also part of the ceremonious opening stone throwing. While the first game is underway tonight, Team Canada does not play their first match until Saturday morning local time against the 2009 World Champion Chinese team led by Bingyu Wang. Participating teams are China, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Korea, Norway,  Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia and USA.