Championship form
Transition from hockey arena to curling rink underway at Centre 200
SYDNEY — Brooms and rocks will replace sticks and pucks when the Scotties Tournament of Hearts opens at Centre 200 this week.
Before all of that happens, though, the smooth ice at Centre 200 that’s become accustomed to hosting hockey is being transitioned to a bumpy and pebbled version more fitting for a national women’s curling championship.
Dave Merklinger, a Vernon, B.C., native with East Coast roots, is leading a crew of 18 mostly volunteer ice makers through that detailed and time-consuming process.
“Curling rocks are smarter than hockey pucks,” he said when asked about the difference between curling and hockey ice. “Curling rocks are very sensitive to the ice, so you need to have a condition where the rocks are consistent.”
Keeping an eye on ice temperature levels, which are different from hockey, is one key to consistent rocks.
“Obviously, hockey (ice) doesn’t have to be perfectly level. It can have nuances to the ice and nobody is ever going to notice a thing.”
To achieve optimum curling conditions crews began shaving down the ice at Centre 200 not long after the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles defeated the Halifax Mooseheads on Saturday night.
Merklinger was in the house to enjoy the hockey game and to get a handle on the “heat load” produced inside a full arena. It’s among the many tricks of the trade he’s picked up in a 30-plus year career in ice making.
“The humans when they come in they create a lot of heat. They can affect the ice just by the number of people. There’s lots of little things we pick up.”
In shaving Centre 200’s ice, crews took its frozen level down to about three-quarters of an inch and then began building the curling ice right on top of it.
When the Scotties tournament is over, Merklinger said a Zamboni can simply take off the layer they created to make Centre 200 ready to host hockey again.
Reg Blunden has never curled a day in his life but watches the sport faithfully. He’s never helped to make curling ice before, either. But that didn’t keep him from joining the tournament’s ice making volunteer team.
“We are helping do the lines and the circles and pretty well a little bit of everything,” said the 74-year-old Sydney resident. “Even if it’s just to hold the string up for a straight line, you are doing something.”
Though new to ice making, he jokes that he’s already learned one very important technique.
“I’ve learned that this is a really, really fantastic job that they are doing but one fella knows what he’s doing and the rest of us are doing what we are told.”
Gordie Cormier is the volunteer ice director for the Scotties and the co-ordinator of the 18-member volunteer ice making team that began extensive ice transitioning activities early Sunday morning.
“We’ve been at it for two days,” said Cormier, who is also the president of the Schooner Curling Club. “We started at 2 a.m. and we flooded until 4 a.m. We were back at it at 9 a.m. and worked until 9 p.m.”
Despite a few long days, the longtime curling fan said being part of such a professional tournament was something he didn’t want to miss.
By late Monday morning, all the lines and logos were firmly in place in the ice at Centre 200. Foam that separates the four ice sheets, carpeting around the playing areas and drapes around the boards will be part of the following three days of work.
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts opens Friday night.