The Province

Canadian volunteers, all 117 of them, are leaving their mark on Las Vegas ... Australian’s love for curling runs deep ... Scotland’s Mouat enjoys beating Gushue

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LAS VEGAS — There are 153 volunteers at the ‘Las Vegas Rocks’ World Men’s Curling Championsh­ips.

Of them, 117 are from Canada.

Of those 37 are from Alberta, 28 are from Saskatchew­an, 20 from Manitoba, 19 from B.C., five from Ontario, three from both Quebec and Nova Scotia and one each from Newfoundla­nd and the Yukon.

There are also volunteers from Germany, France, Scotland and even one from Australia.

The rest are Americans. Thirty-one states are represente­d. Only four are from Nevada.

Twenty-three of them are from curling clubs of the Northern Alberta Curling Associatio­n where the worlds were held in Edmonton last year. Two are from Lethbridge where it will be held next year. You get the idea.

It’s like that with the attendance so far as well.

But consider the volunteers. They pay their own way to get here, pay their hotel and meal costs when they’re here and even pay $100 each for a volunteers jacket, two shirts and a volunteers pin.

Anne Cribbs , a USA swimming gold medal winner at the Rome 1960 Olympics, is the volunteer head of the volunteers.

“The first year we did curling in Las Vegas I did focus on the volunteers and I had a great time,” she said.

“I decided I’d return and do it again and again.

I do love the volunteers.

“These people love to do what they do. They go all over the place. Some of them even go to Europe.

“The Canadian volunteers who follow curling are remarkable. They without question pay for their uniforms. They come down here and stay in the hotel. They fly or drive down. And they pay for themselves the whole time.

“I just find them remarkable. And there’s such a spirit of enthusiasm, camaraderi­e and all that sort of thing.”

Many of the volunteers are ice technician­s sent by their clubs around the U.S.

“When we first did this in 2014 with the Continenta­l Cup, all but two of our icemakers were from Canada. Now it’s the other way around,” said Cribbs.

“We have a family from Edmonton, April, David, Lori and Paul Capper who are doing our 50-50.

“There’s a group from Boston who have come here to volunteer because the want to bring this event to Boston. So they’re here looking at all of that.”

IT’S A TRIP

Michelle Frankston is from Australia. Cost of flight from Australia — $2,300 Canadian.

Hotels, meals, etc. — $2,000.

One lime green jacket and two lime green shirts — $100.

Chance to volunteer at World Curling Championsh­ips — Priceless.

Why would a 30-something woman take a 14-hour flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles and another hour flight to Las Vegas and pay for hotel rooms and meals plus the $100 uniform fee to volunteer?

“I love curling and I love volunteeri­ng at curling in Las Vegas. It’s good fun. Good people,” she said.

It all started with a friend from Edmonton suggesting they come here to the first of three Continenta­l Cups in 2014.

“Dana Soloski, a friend of mine who lived in Australia for a time sent me a message that the Continenta­l Cup was going to be in Las Vegas and to meet her there. I thought ‘Awesome!’

“It gave me a chance to talk to people and players that I wouldn’t see normally. I got my ‘Men of Curling’ calendar autographe­d. I did all three Continenta­l Cups in Las Vegas and even did the one last year in Calgary.”

Frankston is a rare commodity in Australia. She’s a curler. There are no curling clubs in Australia. Canadian ex-patriot Hugh Milikin managed to round up some others with a curling background to get a team in the world championsh­ips. But nobody has put up a dedicated curling facility yet.

“New Zealand has one. Australia’s nationals are held in New Zealand. At home I pebble the ice at a skating rink.

I get all the hockey guys to carry rocks and everything. We only have an hour to set up.

“I coach junior men’s and manage junior men’s and women’s for a couple of years so this is kind of an insiders education for me, then, isn’t it? And it’s great fun.”

A NICE WAY TO BEGIN

Bruce Mouat of Scotland returned to the ice here Sunday after stopping a 14-game World Men’s Curling Championsh­ip winning streak by Canada’s Brad Gushue.

“It’s quite exciting to be here in the first place and to win our first game against Canada was pretty special,” he said.

“The steal in the seventh end was a turning point,” he said.

“We were one down and then we took two, so it was quite a big change. And it was nice to have a draw for two for the win. We don’t want to take our foot off the pedal now.”

 ?? BOB WEDER/PHOTO ?? Without the help from volunteers, events such as the men’s world curling championsh­ip in Las Vegas would never go off.
BOB WEDER/PHOTO Without the help from volunteers, events such as the men’s world curling championsh­ip in Las Vegas would never go off.

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