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. Wade Baldwin Blazers Jersey .com) - Manu Ginobili capped off a 26-point night with a go-ahead layup with 24 seconds left in overtime, with the basket giving the San Antonio Spurs a much-needed 95-93 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. 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Warburton replaces Justin Tipuric, one of three changes announced on Tuesday by coach Warren Gatland.Prior to kick off, few would have given Euro 2016 minnows Iceland a chance against Portugal. The Nordic side, competing in their first ever major competition, are the smallest nation ever to make it to the European Championship finals.But while some might hail their improbable 1-1 draw as a triumph for the underdog, Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo had a different view. In his post-match interview, the Real Madrid forward blamed his sides failure to win on their opponents tactical approach, saying, Iceland didnt try anything, they were just defend, defend, defend and playing on the counter-attack. It was a lucky night for them.They scored a goal, they created two chances in the 90 minutes but otherwise they got every player behind the ball. They put the bus in the net.While no road vehicles actually made it onto the pitch during the game, Ronaldo isnt the only sportsman to use a strange excuse to justify a result, weve picked a few of our favourites from over the years…BOUNCY BALLS Kenny Dalglish blamed Newcastles FA Cup defeat to Stevenage on the ball being too bouncy Kenny Dalglish won the Premier League with Blackburn in 1995, but three years later was struggling to explain how his Newcastle side had only managed a draw against Stevenage in the FA Cup.The Scotsman eventually opted to apportion the blame to the ball, claiming it was too bouncy, an excuse which has become renowned as one of the worst in the sports history.AIR CONDITIONING Mervyn King blamed the air conditioning on his 2003 World Darts Championship defeat to Raymond Van Barneveld Mervyn Kings defeat to Raymond Van Barneveld in the 2003 World Darts Championship, was, the Englishman maintained, due to the air conditioning.Elaborating on his suggestion, King said I asked for it to be turned off before I went up there and it wasnt. I asked for it to be turned off at the break - it wasnt. The air conditioning doesnt affect Raymond because he throws a heavier dart and a very flat dart.Organisers insisted the air conditioning was left off for the duration of the match.dddddddddddd.WARDROBE MALFUNCTION Sanath Jayasuriya blamed Sri Lankas clothing in 2001 In the wake of their 2001 Champions Trophy loss, the Sri-Lanka cricket team held their kit responsible, alleging that it was too tight.Sanath Jayasuriya said: We had to add extensions to the trousers and the shirts looked more like tight-fitting womens blouses. UNEXPECTED DISTRACTION Ronnie Osullivan was put off by a streaker at the Masters in 1997 Leading 8-4 in the 1997 Masters Snooker final, little, it seemed, could derail 21-year-old Ronnie OSullivans quest to lift the trophy against fellow finalist Steve Davis.However, an unprecedented occurrence had taken place earlier in the match, in the form of Lianne Crofts, who at the start of the third frame became Snookers first-ever streaker.Needing to secure just two more frames to win, OSullivan was allegedly distracted by the incident, despite it taking place 10 frames before. He went on to lose the next six and ultimately the match.I needed to pull something out, fortunately a member of the crowd pulled something out and Ronnies…concentration was affected, Davis later said. THE PARANORMAL Eddy Curry was spooked ahead of a New York Knicks fixture Perhaps the most bizarre explanation on the list, in 2010 the New York Knicks blamed their defeat to Oklahama City Thunder on ghosts.Staying at the Skirvin Hilton, Knicks players claimed they had trouble sleeping, as they were convinced the hotel was haunted.Seven-foot tall centre Eddy Curry said he slept for just two hours on one of the nights of their stay because he couldnt stop thinking about ghosts roaming the hotel. Thunder ran out 106-88 winners. Also See: Sky Bets Premier League odds Sky Bets Transfer Specials ' ' '