Yarmouth to host provincials Feb. 14 to 16
Two Yarmouth teams look to defend their provincial titles at the Nova Scotia stick curling championships Feb. 14 to 16 at Yarmouth Curling Club.
The duo of Dave McDougal and Paul Doucet are reigning provincial and national champions in the open division, while Pauline Bullerwell and Diane Mallinson enter this weekend’s event after winning the 2019 women’s division crown in New Glasgow.
Twenty teams are slated to take part – 13 in the open division and seven on the women’s side.
Yarmouth also hosted the Nova Scotia stick curling championships in 2013.
Stick curling is a modified form of curling for players who may have a bad back or knee trouble or other mobility or flexibility issues.
Stick curlers from this end of the province have done very well in competition in recent years and the sport is growing in popularity, both in the Yarmouth area and across Nova Scotia.
“It’s going crazy right across the province,” said McDougal. “This year we have 17 teams on Wednesday night (in Yarmouth).”
McDougal, who is leading the organizational effort for the provincial bonspiel in Yarmouth, picked up another title Feb. 1 in New Glasgow, where he and John Cameron won the Nova Scotia Competitive Stick Curling League championship.
The competitive league is designed to give the province’s stronger teams more competition. Fortunately for stick curlers in the Yarmouth area, given the strength of the sport at this end of the province, there’s some pretty good competition close at hand, McDougal said.
Cameron and Brian Nickerson, who were third at last year’s stick curling nationals, will be among the participants competing at provincials in Yarmouth.
Play on the first and second days of the competition will start at 9 a.m., with the playoffs getting underway Sunday morning, also at 9.
Anyone interested in viewing the action is invited to come out and have a look, McDougal said.
Spectators are “more than welcome,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to promote (the sport).”