Sturling starting in city
Two-person team curling, also known as sturling, is about to rock the house in Prince George. To try to get more people interested in playing the game, the Prince George Golf and Curling Club is starting up a sturling league this fall, with teams gathering on Wednesday mornings for two draws per day beginning next week.
“I think it will go over well,” said PGGCC member and sturling league organizer Jamie Mould. “We had a little tryout last spring and a lot of people gave it a try and indicated they would consider doing it.”
Sturling is a variation of stick curling, a game created about 12 years ago which addressed the needs of curlers who, due to physical limitations or just personal preferences, are unable or uncomfortable with releasing stones out of the hack using the standard slide position. Sturling players have their choice of using a stick or the traditional sliding motion to throw their stones.
In sturling, the two players on each team stand at opposite ends of the rink and are not allowed to cross the centre line to discuss shot selection except during their two allowed timeouts. Sweeping or brushing is allowed only from the hog line to the back of the house. Each player alternately delivers six stones per end and after each end they switch from delivering to receiving the stones.
Games are six ends, with a seventh end played if necessary to break a tie. If a seventh end is needed, each team member will deliver three stones and the role of each player will reverse halfway through that end. Each player will throw at least 18 stones, close to that of an eight-end game of traditional curling. The format reduces likelihood and degree of lopsided games and reduces the time it takes to complete a game.
“You can actually play a game in an hour and (the registration fee is) half the price of what a regular league is,” said Mould. “They only have to prep the ice once, for two games. Because there’s no sweeping you’re not burning the pebble off (the ice).”
At the start of each delivery, the skip has the option of placing one foot in either hack or can begin anywhere inside the hog line with the stone touching the centre line.
To encourage more offence and make the game more interesting, players are not allowed to remove any stone prior to the delivery of the fourth stone of each end. If that does happen, the delivered stone is removed and all other stones are placed back to their original positions. The rule extends the free guard zone from the hog line to the back line. All stones must be released before reaching the hog line.
There are no age or gender restrictions and the game will also appeal to wheelchair curlers.
PGGCC members Mould and Gary Shalansky played as a team last year in the Canadian stick curling championship in St. Albert, Alta., winning five of their eight games at the triple-knockout tournament. They are leading the push to get sturling started in the city.
At least 16 teams have signed up for the season.
Like most clubs across Canada, the PGGCC has seen curling participation drop from 10 or 15 years ago but at the Prince George club Mould said the number of local players is no longer in decline and has leveled off the past three years.
“Last year it was still over 400 people who played in a league at least once a week, and lots of people played two or three times a week,” said Mould.
The club is offering players a chance to try out sturling free of charge for an introductory period. An an online registration form is available at www.shalansky.com/ PGSturling/Sturling.html, which also explains the rules. Sturling draws will be played Wednesdays at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m.
For more information, call 250563-0357, extension 104.