Retornaz Undefeated into Stroud Sleeman Playoffs
Italy's Joel Retornaz (WCF Photo) won 10-2 over USA's Ben Levy to go clean through the round-robin.
By Frank Roch
Retornaz, with Amos Mosaner at third, Sebastiano Arman at second and Mattia Giovanella finish atop their 4-team pool in the 16-team event played at the Stroud Curling Club, about an hour drive north of Toronto.
For over a decade, Joel Retornaz was best known for his performance at the 2006 Olympics in Torino. His little-known Italian team defeated two of the three teams that went on to win medals in Torino, including Canada's Team Gushue. It is a story that many Canadian curling fans will be familiar with as it has often been told on TSN broadcasts by Russ Howard, a Team Gushue member that year.
Retornaz was constantly on the European curling circuit for the next decade, but when he teamed up with a young Mosaner, both careers turned. Since joining forces, Reotrnaz and Mosaner have consistently qualified for the A event at both the World and European championships, winning bronze twice at the Europeans and surprising many by winning bronze at the 2022 Worlds. The podium finish at the 2022 World Championships was the first time Italy finished higher than 7th at a men's worlds and, combined with an Olympic gold won by Stefania Constantini and Mosaner in mixed doubles, put an exclamation point on the best curling season in Italian history.
With success comes privilege, and Team Retornaz finds itself ranked in the Top 10 in the world rankings to start the 2026 Olympic cycle. It will be a critical quadrennial for the Italian curling teams as their recent success will likely make them an integral part of the local marketing efforts to promote the 2026 Olympics in Milan, Italy.
In a recent interview with the From the Hack podcast, Retornaz reiterated just how important these next four years would be to help grow the sport and attract more sponsors, an ongoing problem in many countries, including Italy.
In the meantime, Team Retornaz has hit the ground running to start the 2022-23 season. They qualified for the playoffs in each of their first four events of the season, including winning two titles in Europe at stops in Scotland and Switzerland. The team struggled to find their form against a solid field at the season's first Grand Slam event in North Bay, where they went winless, albeit against high-calibre teams such as Bottcher, Koe, Flasch and Howard.
Team Retornaz is competing in this weekend's Stroud Sleeman Cashspiel as they prepare for the season's second Slam next week in Grand Prairie, Alberta.
By Frank Roch
Retornaz, with Amos Mosaner at third, Sebastiano Arman at second and Mattia Giovanella finish atop their 4-team pool in the 16-team event played at the Stroud Curling Club, about an hour drive north of Toronto.
For over a decade, Joel Retornaz was best known for his performance at the 2006 Olympics in Torino. His little-known Italian team defeated two of the three teams that went on to win medals in Torino, including Canada's Team Gushue. It is a story that many Canadian curling fans will be familiar with as it has often been told on TSN broadcasts by Russ Howard, a Team Gushue member that year.
Retornaz was constantly on the European curling circuit for the next decade, but when he teamed up with a young Mosaner, both careers turned. Since joining forces, Reotrnaz and Mosaner have consistently qualified for the A event at both the World and European championships, winning bronze twice at the Europeans and surprising many by winning bronze at the 2022 Worlds. The podium finish at the 2022 World Championships was the first time Italy finished higher than 7th at a men's worlds and, combined with an Olympic gold won by Stefania Constantini and Mosaner in mixed doubles, put an exclamation point on the best curling season in Italian history.
With success comes privilege, and Team Retornaz finds itself ranked in the Top 10 in the world rankings to start the 2026 Olympic cycle. It will be a critical quadrennial for the Italian curling teams as their recent success will likely make them an integral part of the local marketing efforts to promote the 2026 Olympics in Milan, Italy.
In a recent interview with the From the Hack podcast, Retornaz reiterated just how important these next four years would be to help grow the sport and attract more sponsors, an ongoing problem in many countries, including Italy.
In the meantime, Team Retornaz has hit the ground running to start the 2022-23 season. They qualified for the playoffs in each of their first four events of the season, including winning two titles in Europe at stops in Scotland and Switzerland. The team struggled to find their form against a solid field at the season's first Grand Slam event in North Bay, where they went winless, albeit against high-calibre teams such as Bottcher, Koe, Flasch and Howard.
Team Retornaz is competing in this weekend's Stroud Sleeman Cashspiel as they prepare for the season's second Slam next week in Grand Prairie, Alberta.