Around the House
Until recently, if you wanted to curl in Schomberg or Nobleton, King Township, Ontario, you could do so – one night a week in a hockey arena.
They’ve been curling in Collingwood since 1881, thanks in great part to the enthusiasm and hard work of its volunteers since those early days.
It’s the season of giving gifts, socializing with family and friends, and looking back – and forward. Yes, it’s resolution time.
Curling in Winnipeg? Winter wouldn’t be complete without it. But curling in Winnipeg, in the dead of winter – outdoors?
Every curler knows that a well-considered strategy can be the difference between winning and losing. But what about strategy off the ice?
In some parts of the country the leaves are still falling, and in others, the snow shovels are in action – it’s curling season from coast to coast.
It’s the nightmare that no curling club ever wants to experience: on September 25, 2007, the Windsor Curling Club in Windsor, Nova Scotia, burned to the ground.
It all started, so the story goes, when a young man named James Baird (later to be the Hon. J. Baird, member of the Legislative Council) cleared space on Quidi Vidi Lake to play the first curling game ever seen in St. John’s. The year was 1844.
In September 2011, icemakers went to work at the Club de Curling Valleé de la Gatineau/Gatineau Valley Curling Club in Maniwaki – for the very first time.
Stepping inside your curling club for the first time this season is like coming home, right?
Welcome to the second season of Around The House, a twice-monthly feature that offers glimpses into curling club life across Canada – both on and off the ice.
The lights were off over the ice when I walked into the club last week for the closing banquet. Actually, the lights were off over eight sheets of water. In the dark, I could see the reflection of the illuminated clock on the surface. Strange, and kind of sad.
Curling clubs are wrapping up their seasons with closing banquets, Annual General Meetings and the crowning of new champions – in some clubs, followed by a skate on the ice before the compressor is turned off for the summer.
The recent win by Jeff Stoughton’s team at the Ford World Curling Championships in Regina hit all the right notes: a highly skilled team, with a long drought since their last world title, trying to erase the well-publicized disappointments along the Brier and Olympics trail. The victory was sweet – for Team Canada, and for Canadian curling fans.
Not all curling championships take place on arena ice, with TV coverage and thousands of spectators ringing cowbells, buying 50-50 tickets and cheering every shot. Some of them take place at your local club.
True Sport Movement
