On The Top 10 Shots of 2023

Happy New Year...

Happy New Year! As you may have seen on Twitter, the newsletter just crested 1000 free subscribers and I can’t thank you enough for that. When I started this, I wasn’t sure anyone would read it, and I’m very grateful for all of your support. If you want to subscribe for free and get every newsletter delivered to your email inbox, click here:

Now that 2023 has wrapped, we’ve seen a lot of “top curling shots” shared by the powers-that-be. The problem with those lists is that they are generally centered on a certain thing: networks are only going to share shots captured by their cameras, sport organizations are only going to share shots made at their events, etc. Luckily, your impartial observer friend John is here to walk you through what I thought were the best of the best in 2023.

And look: I don’t see every curling shot. This list may have some notable omissions, but that’s ok. There were many great shots made in 2023 and there will be more to come I’m sure.

I’m going to have a Twitter link for each shot, which isn’t ideal since Substack no longer embeds tweets, but if you can’t remember the shot in question…click on through. Alright, here we go with 10 official NBOBs (Nasty Bits of Business) and one Honourable Mention:

Look, I don’t generally love the whole “honourable mention” thing but while this wasn’t one of the greatest shots, Matt Dunstone’s blank right through the hole against Ross Whyte was stylistically one of the coolest shots I’ve ever seen.

https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1614009157707010049

10. Derek Samagalski’s quad v. Kevin Koe at The Brier

https://twitter.com/CurlingCanada/status/1633111219010666496

I heavily debated including this one here since it doesn’t have as much stakes as most of the shots on this list, but as Randy Jackson might say: it’s the roll for me, dog. I mean…look at that roll. You not only make the 6-foot runback quad, but you make the roll to almost dead-even to lie 2? Holy moly. The definition of nasty.

9. Tab Peterson’s angle double for 3 v. Delaney Strouse in the US Women’s Final

https://x.com/cullenoncurling/status/1624583305659314176?s=20

Sometimes these shots will be situational (the Hackner Double never gets as much attention if it isn’t a Brier-winning shot), and this is one of those. Degree of difficulty is high since the guard is in the way and you can’t see all of the first stone you’re hitting, but then add in the fact it’s the 9th end of the national final and you’re breaking a tie game open to score 3? Nasty.

8. Reid Carruthers’ angle double runback for 2 v. Braden Calvert in the Manitoba Semifinal

https://x.com/teamcarruthers/status/1624596005227229184?s=20

February 11 was a good day for big shots, as Tab’s double was made on the same day as this beauty. Reid’s run to the Manitoba final with just 3 players was impressive, but it comes into focus here as the angle on this shot is so difficult. YES, there was a bit of room to play with the catcher there, but this shot would’ve been so easy to miss even with that factor, as you’re crossing the face of the first stone you hit, which makes the angle so hard to read. Nasty.

7. Matt Dunstone’s angle double for 3 v. Joel Retornaz at the Champions Cup

https://twitter.com/grandslamcurl/status/1654644675347640326

The Champions Cup is (was?) so late in the schedule that it often falls a bit by the wayside, but this shot was so good I couldn’t forget it. My favourite part of this? You can tell by BJ’s body language that even he is shocked the top rock rolls overtop of the red for 3. One of those shots where you say “well, if we hit it perfect then maybe we get 3” but you don’t ever believe it’ll actually happen. Nasty!!!!

6. Kayla Skrlik’s double for 2 v. Casey Scheidegger in the Alberta Final

https://twitter.com/cullenoncurling/status/1617249707100897280

A memorable shot in many ways, from the high degree of difficulty to the tremendous amount of screaming, this is a classic iconic curling shot that will be talked about in bars at Alberta championships for decades. This is also not mentioning the fact that Kayla made an inch-perfect freeze in 9 to not give up 3 and even give themselves a chance for this moment. Nasty. And of course, we can’t forget Ben Hebert’s official ranking of the celly:

5. Bruce Mouat’s quad for 5 v. Byeong-Jin Jeong at Men’s Worlds

https://twitter.com/TeamMouat/status/1643948747901001731

This shot is absolutely stupid. No other way to put it. The way the one rock barely misses the Mouat stone in the back 12? The roll up to just push out the fourth Korean stone to guarantee the 5? The fact you had to hit the initial rock SO thin? My goodness. One of the shots on my list I’m shocked more people didn’t talk about in the wake of it. From Edinburgh to Glasgow, that’s nasty.

4. Cameron de Jong’s angle double and nudge for 2 v. Catlin Schneider at the Penticton Classic

https://x.com/cullenoncurling/status/1731749064835014955?s=20

This isn’t the men’s worlds, and Cameron de Jong isn’t a household name, but this shot is absolutely filthy. The most difficult part of this shot comes from having to throw the in-turn because of the corner guard. It’s much more natural to play the out-turn, so having to call the line against the grain, then not only getting the double but getting enough roll across to nudge the potential second shot stone to ensure the victory? Wowza. It’s nasty baby!!!

3. Fay Henderson’s runback double for 3 v. Yuina Miura in the World Junior Final

https://x.com/worldcurling/status/1739949488481907069?s=20

As I said on Twitter, I somehow didn’t see this shot until last week, but there is no recency bias here, this is just an absurd piece of shotmaking. Down 3, facing 2 in the 9th, your season on the line, and this is what you come up with. If the guard wasn’t there, making this shot would have a high degree of difficulty, as the double was SO THIN to score 3. But adding a 10-foot runback on top of that? Holy god. Scotland would go on to steal 2 in 10 to win, and I’m guessing it’s because this shot was SO GOOD it shocked the Japanese team into giving up the game. Nassssssty!

2. Cameron Bryce’s spinner split for 2 v. Ross Whyte at the Scottish Nationals

https://x.com/cullenoncurling/status/1626351923116015616?s=20

Look, everyone knows what #1 is, so we might as well talk about it frankly. Before Niklas Edin changed the game with one of the best shots of all-time at the Worlds, Cameron Bryce pulled out this little number at the Scottish nationals. With his tournament on the line and down 2, he makes this shot with such a low margin for error, it’s almost astonishing. I can’t say this is better than Edin’s shot, but my god, it’s really close. You have to throw this absolutely perfect and there was exactly one square inch you could hit the rock to split it in for 2, and they hit it there. My favourite part of this clip is the look on Robin Brydone’s face. It felt like Bryce had done the impossible. It’s so nasty! But then…

1. Niklas Edin’s spinner nudge for 2 v. Magnus Ramsfjell at Men’s Worlds

https://x.com/worldcurling/status/1741398838949081559?s=20

It simply couldn’t be anything else. A shot that’s been said to have changed the game, we’ll see if that evidence continues to mount as the 2023-24 season rolls along. Certainly we had seen teams experimenting with the spinner before, though it was often in desperation and the attempts weren’t especially close. But then Oskar Eriksson tried it in Penticton and narrowly missed. Then Cameron Bryce made that split. And all of a sudden, it set the table for this, a shot that your eyes would tell you is impossible. Russ Howard, Olympic gold medallist and one of the best to ever play the game, in the TSN booth says JUST before the Swedish stone makes contact with the Norwegian one, “well this red isn’t going to go very far”.* Even the most veteran of eyes, ones that have seen hundreds of thousands of curling shots couldn’t understand it.

It was a shot that defied logic and everything else that’s happened in the hundreds of years before in curling would’ve told you was impossible, but that’s the beautiful thing about this game and the intense wall of physics behind it: we will continue to discover and push the limits of what is possible with every passing game and every passing year. They say soccer is the beautiful game, but watching this shot, I’m not so sure it isn’t ours.

* - It must be said, credit to Sander Rølvåg and Tyler George, who were on the call for the WCF feed and despite the crowd laughing as Edin started the spin, Sander immediately identified what Edin was trying to do and said as Edin let it go, “if he makes it, this will be the best shot in curling history”. One of the most prescient and perfect calls in curling commentary history that set up the moment in real-time for any fan watching.

There you have it. What a year for curling 2023 was. I can only imagine 2024 will be even better as we start to ramp up for the Olympics in just two years’ time, and we’ll have another year of great shots to look forward to. Thanks for reading.