lderson said. "Was a terrific part of the team, in the clubhhou

KITCHENER, Ont. – The field is now set for the Roar of the Rings Canadian Curling Trials next month in Winnipeg. The final two spots on both the mens and womens side were wrapped up in Kitchener this past week with a few surprising teams, especially on the womens side – taking the next step in their curling careers. The biggest one came from Val Sweeting and her Edmonton rink, who upset two-time Scotties winner and former world champion Kelly Scott in the second qualifier. "Based on where we were sitting coming in, we knew we had a good shot, we had a good start to the season and we just knew we had to play well," said Sweeting after the biggest win of her career. Joanne Courtney is the second on the team – throwing third rocks – and says she thought the team was finally ready to make the next step going into the week. "Weve actually been playing quite consistently, having decent results on tour. We were close. We werent winning, we werent making semis, but we felt we were playing consistently and starting to play well," said Courtney."Its the biggest game any one of us has ever played in our entire lives and we were able to go out there, stay together and put together a game that was good enough to win." Renee Sonnenberg of Grand Prairie, Alberta also advanced to the Trials by defeating Scott in the first qualifier. The 2006 Olympic bronze medalist, Shannon Kleibrink, and the 2010 Olympic silver medalist, Cheryl Bernard, were both unable to make it to the qualifying matches. On the mens side, it was more of what people expected. John Morris and his new rink from Kelowna, B.C., formerly led by Jim Cotter, who still throws skip stones, dominated all week, going undefeated. The defending Brier champ Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie rink topped Brad Gushue of Newfoundland, 7-6 in the final qualifier. "It feels like weve been here for a month, it really does," said Jacobs. The event was a tough one for the team, having to play in the second qualifier after losing a sloppy game to Morris in the first, but Jacobs said thats just how they do things. "We bounce back really, really well and I just think its because we all have the same goal in mind and we all want to win so badly that well do whatever it takes," said the 28-year-old skip. With their Brier dream already crossed off, Jacobs says theyre ready for another accomplishment – Olympic gold. "The Olympics and the Brier for me as far as goals, wanting to win and importance is 50/50. Weve won the Brier; this [Olympics] is the next step. We want this really bad," he said. "You etch your mark in history when you win the Brier, but I think you do that even moreso when you win an Olympic gold medal." Gushue knows what it means to be an Olympic champion. He won it as a 25-year-old in 2006, alongside veteran Russ Howard, Mark Nichols and Jamie Korab. Fast-forward eight years later, Gushue has a completely new – and younger – team. Third Brett Gallant, 23, second Adam Casey, 24, and lead Geoff Walker, 27, make up one of the youngest squads in curling and Gushue says it will take time to click. "This team wasnt probably ready to win this year anyway. Were still young, we still make stupid mistakes and it cost us this week," he said. Having said that, Gushue likes the path theyre on. "I think were only going to get better. I think there are a lot of teams out there right now that probably are on the downside of the longevity of their teams," said the owner of a Menchies Frozen Yogurt franchise. "I think theres a lot of upside in our team and what we can do. Were going to regroup from this and learn from it and try to get a little bit better." Its easy to see curling is going through a transitional period with younger teams like Jacobs and Rachel Homan quickly rising through the ranks. Yet a lot of the top rinks still have skips who are in their 40s or 50s, namely Glenn Howard, Kevin Martin and Jeff Stoughton. "There are a lot of good, young players [in the game], fortunately for me I have three of them on my team and Im not that old myself," said Gushue. Sweetings rink is a youthful group as well but Courtney doesnt believe being young is an advantage when it comes to curling. "There are two sides of the coin there," said the 24-year-old. "The older teams have a lot more experience in this type of setting – the arena, being on TV, being micd, all those type of things. I dont know really if age plays a ton." The Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials run from Dec. 1-8 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg with complete coverage on TSN and TSN2. Air Max 720 Canada .Heres Ralph the Dog with the crew here at TSN jumping into the James Duthie TradeCentre selfie: Happy to drop by! RT @TSN_Sports: @tsnjamesduthie: Take this Ellen. Nike Air Max 97 Canada .Simon will work with head coach Gord Dineen and associate coach Derek King behind the bench of the Toronto Maple Leafs American Hockey League affiliate for the 2014-15 season. http://www.clearanceairmaxcanada.com/air-max-95-canada-sale.html . Make that, almost always subjective. Saturday at Carrow Road, the spirit of fair play trumped the rulebook, costing Norwich City three points. Air Max 90 Canada . -- The San Francisco 49ers have re-signed cornerback Perrish Cox to a one-year contract. Nike Air Max 360 Canada .com) - Even on the day his New Hampshire football team became the nations top-ranked team two weeks ago, coach Sean McDonnell conceded something about the team they replaced at No.DENVER -- LaTroy Hawkins is returning to the Colorado Rockies and the veteran reliever may just possibly wind up as their closer. Hawkins agreed to a one-year, $2.5 million deal on Tuesday, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal has yet to be announced and is still pending a physical. The right-hander played an integral role in the bullpen for Colorado in 2007, when the Rockies made their only run to the World Series before being swept by the Boston Red Sox. Hawkins, who turns 41 in December, will be in contention for the closer role with left-hander Rex Brothers, who stepped in last season after Rafael Betancourt got hurt and finished with 19 saves. The Rockies also like the hard-throwing Brothers as a set-up man in the eighth inning. Hawkins spent last season with the New York Mets, going 3-2 with a 2.93 ERA and 13 saves in 70 2-3 innings. The Mets tried to keep him and made an offer. "Were happy for him. He did a great job for us last year," Mets GM Sandy Alderson said. "Was a terrific part of the team, in the clubhhouse, as well as his role on the field.dddddddddddd We wish him well. "Hes 41 years old. We werent necessarily counting on him to fill the same role for us next year. We certainly would have liked to have him in the pen, but going into the spring, I think that, again, given kind of the vagaries of relief pitching anyway and his age and what we had coming, it wasnt clear what his role would be." USA Today first reported the agreement. On his Twitter account Tuesday, Hawkins posted a thank you to the Mets organization and fans. He closed his tweet with, "Now off to BowHunting." Earlier this month, the Rockies took a big step toward keeping their bullpen intact as right-handed reliever Matt Belisle and the team exercised their mutual option for 2014. The bullpen had a 4.23 ERA in 2012. Colorado also exercised the club option on left-handed pitcher Jorge De La Rosa, who was solid on the mound last season as he finished 16-6 with a 3.49 ERA. De La Rosa is scheduled to make $11 million next year. The Rockies are coming off a season in which they finished last in the NL West with a 74-88 record. ' ' '