It’s shaping up to be a full house for the Canadian Open Stick Curling Championship.
The draw limit is 48 two-person teams for the March 30 to April 2 nationals at the St. Albert Curling Club.
“It’s going very good. We’ve got between 25 and 30 entries all ready and its still four months to go,” said Milt McDougall of the St. Albert organizing committee. “I hope to have about 60 registered because there will probably be some that won’t be able to make it at the last minute.”
McDougall said teams hail from Vancouver to Prince Edward Island. A strong St. Albert contingent is also part of the mix.
“Most of the teams are mixed,” he added, noting teams can also be all male or female as well.
Some provinces hold playdowns for nationals.
“There will be extra teams from each provincials too because some provinces don’t have stick curling (provincials),” McDougall said.
The entry fee is $130 and teams are guaranteed five games in the triple knockout, pay-for-win format. Eight teams qualify for the championship bracket. Consolation events will also be scheduled.
St. Albert hosted the 2012 provincials – 32 teams, including 12 from St. Albert – to rave reviews, prompting McDougall to bid for the 2014 nationals.
“We had some idea what we were doing so that’s why we did it,” McDougall said. “At nationals in Regina (last year) I said we would be interested if they were interested in us and then the people on the stick committee got on the phone and said they would accept us. In the meantime I had checked here with the St. Albert Curling Club and our seniors and everyone was gung-ho to have it.”
McDougall estimates 30 volunteers will be needed to make the St. Albert nationals the best ever.
“The big thing is we have to pick people up at airport to bring them to the host hotel, the St. Albert Inn, and shuttle them back and forth from the hotel to the curling club.”
McDougall and stick partner, Bob McKenzie, competed at the 2013 nationals in Cornwall, P.E.I. while spreading the good news about the St. Albert nationals at the banquet as the honoured guests.
They also handed out various pamphlets detailing the event and the city’s Cultivate Life brand.
“We made sure everybody there got them,” said McDougall.
He was impressed by the hospitality at the Cornwall Curling Club, host of the ninth nationals and the first to be held east of Winnipeg.
“It was a great experience. They ran a good show. They treated us very well. The people were good. The meals were good. The facility was good but their ice wasn’t near as good as what we have here,” McDougall said. “The rocks weren’t matched well and we didn’t curl well so we didn’t make it into the finals.”
McDougall and McKenzie also gave it their best shot at the 2012 nationals at the Highland Curling Club in Regina.
“We had a really good time. It went well. They ran a good show,” McDougall said. “We curled very well and made a little money at it but we didn’t win it.”
McDougall, 75, estimated the age range at both nationals was 60 plus.
“They were pretty well all retired but there were a few younger ones.”
He rates Alberta and Manitoba as the hotbeds of stick curling.
“Prince Edward Island is getting strong too and I would also include New Brunswick and Nova Scotia as well. Saskatchewan has quite a few too but nobody from there went to Prince Edward Island (for nationals). B.C. is getting a lot now. We’ve got about six, seven entries out of B.C. right now.”
Stick curling is also a popular pastime in St. Albert.
“In our 50-plus league there is about 35, 40 and in our stick league that we have on Friday mornings we have 28 fulltime team players and eight or nine spares.”
Stick curling is a relatively new sport for people with advanced age or physical disabilities. Games are six ends and the average playing time is one hour.
Two curlers alternate throwing six rocks apiece per end. The two curlers who were skips in one end then become the throwers for the next end.
“Instead of a squat delivery you deliver the rock with a stick and there are different types of those on the market. You shove it in front of you and walk up to speed that you want to go and then let it leave you and it slides down the ice,” McDougall explained. “There is no sweeping between the hog lines. Your partner can sweep it from the hog line into the house if need be. You’ve got to be pretty precise because you don’t have anybody out there helping you.
“You can also deliver from a wheelchair too.”
Visit www.stickcurling.ca for more information on nationals.
You can also contact McDougall at 780-458-1524 or McKenzie at 780-459-2679 or [email protected].
