Edmonton Journal

AlbertA men’s provinciAl­s go clubbing

Not everyone thrilled with idea of playing in a curling club instead of on arena ice

- Terry Jones tjones@postmedia.com Twitter: @byterryjon­es

In 1999, they held the provincial curling championsh­ip in the local curling club in Grande Prairie while a beautiful new 2,939-seat arena sat empty three blocks away.

I managed to make myself a public enemy in the city where my cousin was mayor when I referred to the venue as a “rinkydink rink.”

I won’t make that mistake again. Let it be said that there is nothing rinky-dink about the Ellerslie Curling Club, where Alberta’s Boston Pizza Cup got underway Wednesday. It’s a modern six-sheet complex built in 1995 with a membership dedicated to producing a good event. But it is a curling rink!

This Alberta event, after all these years, is back in a curling club and I still think that’s rinkydink — especially for the area known far and wide as the World Capital of Curling.

The event for most of the new millennium had been held on arena ice in small town centres around the province with world class Brier calibre icemakers such as Jamie Bourassa who has performed the task for the last decade. The women’s provincial­s were recently held on arena ice in Stettler with Bourassa hired as the icemaker. Three years ago, the Jiffy Lube women’s provincial­s were played at the St. Albert club with arena-calibre ice made by Bourassa.

Three-time Brier and twotime world champion Kevin Koe hadn’t played a game yet, but said it upsets him.

“I’m sure Ellerslie will do a great job to organize a great event, but for me it seems like a real step backwards. It seems like a real jump back especially when we have arguably the best provincial­s in the country year after year.

“The ladies were in an arena in Stettler and it looked like they had great crowds. It doesn’t make much sense for me for this event to be held in a curling club.”

Club icemaker Don Palmer has been put in a position Koe doesn’t think is fair.

“Jamie Bourassa has been making great ice for provincial­s as long as I can remember. He does the ice at a lot of the Briers, too. The whole event should be about getting the best conditions to get the best representa­tive competing for Alberta at the Brier.

“Maybe the ice will be good. Maybe the rocks will be good. We heard that they were going to use the club rocks and then got some backlash so we’ll see what rocks we’ll have now. As for the ice, who knows, though? Nobody has a clue. Tell me how it makes sense for Jamie to do the women’s provincial and not the men’s?

“Hopefully, it’s not a big talking point once we get into the event. Hopefully, we have good conditions. And hopefully, they’ll get this event back on arena ice in the future.”

Defending champion Brendan Bottcher said there’s one thing that should be considered paramount here.

“You not only want the best conditions, you want the conditions that replicate the Brier conditions.

“That’s what we’re doing here. We’re preparing to get to the Brier and want every advantage we can get for Alberta to win there,” he said of the province that has won more Briers than any other province (23 with Manitoba second at 12 and Ontario third with eight) dating back to Matt Baldwin’s win in 1954.

“I think it’s a shame that we’re taking away that opportunit­y. I think it’s also a shame we’re taking the opportunit­y away from some of the younger teams as well. They’re going to win the provincial and go to their first Brier and maybe they’ll never have played on arena ice before. The provincial­s are one opportunit­y for them to have that experience.”

Jill Richard, hired as the executive director of the new Curling Alberta combinatio­n of Northern, Southern and Peace associatio­ns, explains the situation from her perspectiv­e.

“In short, the former provincial body did not receive a bid from a host that had access to an arena for this year’s event. We are fortunate that the Ellerslie club was very supportive and willing to host this year’s championsh­ip.”

The rock problem, she said, has been solved with a one-time loan of Brier rocks.

“I believe that in previous years, Jamie supplied a new set of rocks for the event that were sold afterward. For the future, we’re investigat­ing ways to finance the purchase of our own set of championsh­ip rocks.” But why no Jamie Bourassa? Basically, cost effectiven­ess. If you are in a curling club why bring in an arena icemaker? So, basically, it’s money.

And what does the future hold? “As a priority the new organizati­on has conducted a review of the bidding and host selection process and is working hard to attract arena bids for the future.”

But, says Richards, there’s no telling what the future is going to bring.

“Given that most arenas must be secured several years in advance and that the hosting of these events in our current economy and environmen­t is growing increasing­ly challengin­g, we have no guarantee at this stage that next year’s events will be back in an arena.”

This is Alberta, Jill. Git-r-done.

 ?? Photos: Ian KuceraK ?? The Leach team plays against the Pahl rink at Alberta Boston Pizza Cup Men’s Curling Championsh­ip at the six-sheet Ellerslie Curling Club on Wednesday.
Photos: Ian KuceraK The Leach team plays against the Pahl rink at Alberta Boston Pizza Cup Men’s Curling Championsh­ip at the six-sheet Ellerslie Curling Club on Wednesday.
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