Here’s a spectator’s guide to this weekend’s Continental Cup

Competition in the Continental Cup will officially begin Thursday morning.

The curling event will attract avid and casual fans from across the United States and Canada to Orleans Arena. There will be sessions at 9 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The lineups for Sunday’s two rounds of skins competition will be determined Saturday afternoon.

For those who don’t know much about the sport, chair of the Continental Cup host committee Jon Killoran recommends sitting down next to somebody who does.

“Hopefully you sit down next to somebody who knows the sport and can help talk you through it, because there’s not a lot of PA public announcement during the competition,” Killoran said. “To just sit next to or near somebody who has a good grasp of the sport would be great.”

Here are a few things to keep an eye out for:

WHAT TO WATCH

What’s the most important thing to watch?

Greg Violette, Las Vegas resident and former director of the U.S. Curling Association, says to keep an eye out for the skip and the stone.

The skip is the captain of the four-man team and determines the strategy.

“I’m watching what the skip is calling, the type of shot he’s calling, and then I’m watching the shooter throw the stone and I follow it down, watch the sweeping, so the first thing is to determine what type of shot the skip is asking for,” Violette said.

NORTH AMERICA VS. WORLD

The Continental Cup features teams from North America and the World

This is the third Continental Cup in Las Vegas. The second was last year, and the competition was especially tight, with North America taking a 30.5-29.5 victory.

“From a competition standpoint, the World team has come in and they’ve done the best they can to stack their lineup because they came within a whisper of winning it, the last shot last January, and Team North America has won it four years in a row, so I think the world team is very motivated to get a victory this year,” Killoran said.

OFF THE ICE

Off the ice, fans can hang out at The Patch at Orleans Arena.

The Patch is the social gathering spot of the event, and it will be split into two parts.

“There’s a part in the evening with live music, live entertainment. During the afternoon, though, there’s a lot of interaction when the curlers come in … do interviews and the fans can ask questions,” Killoran said.

He said The Patch goes on between draws and after the final game of the night, ending about 1 a.m.

“Curling fans are very social, and they like their beer. They like to spend time together, but in the two years we’ve had it there so far we haven’t had one security issue,” Killoran said. “The security guys tell us at The Orleans when we come into town, they’re like on a working vacation that week.”

GLOSSARY

Here’s a list of terms to know from the WFG Continental Cup of Curling – Spectator Guide:

In-turn: A rock that rotates clockwise, curling from left to right.

Out-turn: A rock that rotates counter-clockwise, curling from right to left.

Draw: A lightweight shot designed to place a stone in scoring position.

Guard: A rock in front of the house that provides cover to prevent opposing players from removing potential scoring stones from the house.

Takeout: A heavier weight shot to remove the other team’s stone(s). At times, players may execute double, triple or even quadruple take-outs.

Steal: When a team scores in an end without the hammer.

Hit-and-roll: A lightweight takeout that removes an opposition stone and rolls to another position, generally behind a guard.

Hurry hard!: The direction to sweepers, generally delivered in a high voice, urging them to sweep harder and faster.

Hack: Similar to a starting block in track and field, the device imbedded in the ice used by players to push off when delivering a stone.

Hammer: The last rock of an end that provides a major advantage in the opportunity to score points.

Raise takeout: The delivered stone hits another stone, which then knocks a third out of play — also known as a runbank.

Freeze: A precise draw that comes to rest directly on the face of another stone, making it extremely difficult to remove.

Hog line: A line in front of the house at each end of the ice. Players must release the rock before crossing the line, and the stone must clear the line at the other end to remain in play.

Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.