Good cash draw to bring into the house

Curling fans were treated to a great finish at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts on Sunday at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

Jennifer Jones won her sixth Canadian national women’s curling championship when she defeated team Wild Card skip Kerri Einarson. Jones ties the legendary Colleen Jones of Nova Scotia in Scotties’ titles.

The caliber of play in the finale was definitely better than the start. The lack of star power playing in this year’s Scotties was among the topics of conversation at the media bench. Some of the matchups a were a bit of a yawner, with several blowouts. Jones had a hand in delivering a few of those lopsided finishes with three straight double-digit victories.

There were good moments from younger teams. Kesa Van Osch, the Nanaimo skip for Team B.C., was the lone person on her squad with any Scotties experience. They qualified for the Page Playoffs.

The teenagers from Quebec also managed to win three matches in their Scotties debut, while feeling the love from fans, except when they played B.C.

And of course, it was cool to see Einarson’s Wild Card team get the backing of fans while being serenaded to the song Wild Thing.

The Scotties attracted a total crowd of 55,138, an average of 2,205 over the 25 draws. An early draw attracted the smallest crowd of 1,581. The finale lured in 3,840. A good total to finish on.

The volunteers I dealt with were great. Those working the media bench area asked us reporters slaving away on copy if we wanted anything to eat or drink and they would deliver it. That was very kind. Kudos to the volunteers working the event. Not all of them were local.

Volunteers were also a big part of connecting with the curlers. Curling Canada had reporters fill out interview request sheets that were given to the volunteers, whose responsibility was to hand it to the curlers. Request sheets were to be given by the eighth end, but that sometimes was a challenge if a game seemed to end early or abruptly, or if a matchup was close and deciding who would be good to speak with.

There were several times where I had to semi-sprint down the stairs to make it in time for interviews. I didn’t mind as I had to burn off some of the doughnuts I enjoyed.

The athletes were great to talk to and on the odd occasion I had them to myself, not having to try and squeeze a question in during a scrum. I’m sure fans also enjoyed the opportunity to ask the curlers questions when they sat on the stage of the Heartstop Lounge.

After filing stories to The Canadian Press, I managed to catch the tail end of one Q&A. Chances are some of the questions people asked resulted in more colourful responses than what the media got.

The other great thing the Scotties brought to Penticton was an economic impact of between $6 and $12 million according to a radio interview with Mayor Andrew Jakubeit. That kind of cash is always a welcome to businesses in the community. At this time of year, outside dollars are not always easy to come by.

That’s a good cash draw to bring into the house.

Emanuel Sequeira is a Penticton writerwho covered last week's Scottie's Tournament of Hearts for The Canadian Press.