From: mark.pioli@ctfs.com Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 9:24 AM Subject: Pioli Papers-Out of Retirement 1-0. Pioli's retirement first broke over the summer when long time Vice Bruce Clark also hung up his slider. "I couldn't see myself going back on the ice without seeing Clarkie" . But that all changed on Monday when I got the call from Mauro… Mark we NEED you to play on Thursday, Garth can't play, but these were the words that brought me back… We can play with three….but we would only be able to buy six dollars worth of 50/50 tickets. That's all I needed to hear…… I was back. I found my broom next to the kitty litter box, pulled my productivity point sweater out of the goodwill bag and found my slider. I was ready to go. The walk into the Welland Curling club was very emotional - all the memories came flooding back, the championships, the camaraderie, the hard fought wins, the heart wrenching losses, I got there a bit early so the emotions wouldn't affect my game 6:59:35 to be exact for our 7:00:00 game. THE GAME….. I stepped onto the ice and found out we were playing the equivalent of the Russian Red Army, Sparrow Lakes led by not one, but two skips Dave Melenkoff & Marty. The best team in the league, CTFS has never beaten this curling giant. The team looked good George 2nd, Shannon Vice and Mauro Skip; I knew without Garth we had a chance. Sparrow Lakes pulled out all of their tricks, triple pebbling of the ice so my first 2 shots wouldn't make it past the hog line, but the team was unbelievable playing 6 stones to there 8, took the first point. The game went back and forth, amazing shot after amazing shot, then tragedy….. George in mid season form, me huffing and puffing, clipped my heal while sweeping and went down hard. Everyone held their breath, but George got up, I thought he was going to swing his broom and hit me in the head, but he got up pushed me out of the way and finished sweeping the stone. Wow. Since I have been away the game is far more advanced with all kinds of technical innovations. I had Shannon time me with her Stop Watch from hack to hog line and my slide was consistently 2.68 to 2.80 seconds. She mentioned when she times Garth in the hack it is consistently 500 to 600 seconds. The game came down to the last end down 6-5 with the hammer.Mauro, Shannon, George and yes even I came through with great shots and took 3, final score CTFS 8 Sparrow Lakes 6 one of the greatest upsets in Thursday night curling history. What a night another chapter in CTFS curling history. As I was leaving I heard our skip from a distance…Mark will you play for us next Thursday…no f$%#ing way. "Bruce and Karen Clark" I believe Garth's time in the hack was clocked using a sundial!!!!! Well done boyz,I can see "A" champs in the future but u gotta beat ctfs rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! b.c.