World curling will have negative effect on Canes

The coming of the 2019 World Men’s Curling Championship next year will potentially bump the Lethbridge Hurricanes out of their house.

In a joint announcement between the World Curing Federation at the Curling Canada Wednesday at the Enmax Centre, it was revealed the 2019 World Men’s Curling Championship was coming to Lethbridge next March 30 to April 7.

Though indications at Wednesday’s press conference from City officials and Curling Canada officials were that the Hurricanes were on board with the event that could potentially cost team some home playoff dates, Hurricanes president Doug Paisley said the team found out after the fact and after the bid process was brought up.

“I don’t know how much say we would have had in it anyways, but certainly it’s affecting,” he said. “We plan on qualifying for playoffs and earning the right to be there and play as long as we can and you earn the home ice. To create a new challenge of your building not being available, for us, had we been involved a little sooner, maybe some of the things we currently working on could have worked out at the same time of the announcement that they were successful in their bid and moving forward with it.”

Still, Paisley credited the City for landing the event that generates between six to $10 million in revenue for the city.

“We’re really proud of Lethbridge and really proud of the ability to attract a world curling event on an international level,” said Paisley. “It’s great for our city and it impacts us economically in a positive way. It puts us on a high profile and showcases our wonderful city, but it does affect the Hurricanes. We have to get past that and find a solution moving forward. The City has said to me that ‘We’re going to work through this and make this right, we’ve got your back.’ There are a lot of moving parts and I understand that. We support the event, Lethbridge and curling, 100 per cent.”

Now, the Canes and the city will brainstorm the possible scenarios.

“It does create some challenges for us, but moving forward we’re currently working and we’re confident we’re going to come up with a solution. It’s never going to be as good as the best solution, which is to play at home, we know that. But we’re going to come up with the next best thing and we’re going to make it work.”

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