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Shelburne hosting provincial mixed curling championships

KATHY JOHNSON TRI-COUNTY VANGUARD kathy.johnson @saltwire.com

The teams of curlers that will be competing at the Nova Scotia Mixed Curling Championships in Shelburne on March 23 to 26 reads like a list of who’s-who in the curling world.

“We have one world champion, Colleen Jones, she is playing with her son Luke Saunders who is just coming back from the Brier and they are partnered with Paul Flemming, the defending provincial champion in this event and that’s just one team,” says Matthew King president of the Shelburne Curling Centre.

This year’s mixed curling championships will be the first of three of these events that the Shelburne Curling Centre will be hosting. They were awarded the three-year rights to host the Nova Scotia Mixed Curling Championships through a bidding process that the Nova Scotia Curling Association (NSCA) puts out every year.

“The NSCA encourages clubs around the province to apply for the right to host events on their behalf and they also encourage a threeyear term. We chose the mixed provincials as one we wanted to pursue and were selected for the next three years, starting this year,” says King.

Ten teams will be competing for this year’s provincial mixed curling title. The winners will represent Nova Scotia

at the Canadian Nationals in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, in November 2023.

Competition begins each day at 9 a.m. and this is a round-robin event, says

King, with two groups of five teams. Each team is guaranteed four games. The top two teams in each group move on to a paged play-off system, which is tradition in the curling world, says King. “The paged playoff will start Saturday afternoon and into Sunday.”

Other notable names in the field include Mark Kehoe, Tom Sullivan, Phil Crowell and Travis Colter all of whom have had at least one Brier appearance; Shelley Barker who played in the Scotties a few weeks ago; Adam McEachren, Canada Junior curling champion, world university games bronze medalist, world junior bronze medalist; and Joel Krats, Canadian Junior curling champion and world junior bronze medalist.

Representing the Shelburne Curling Center are Greg Hicks, Annie King, Andrew Blades and Sarah Bower. Hicks is the 2018 provincial Masters champion.

King says the age range of the curlers taking part in this event is “anywhere from 19 through to almost 70."

"There’s veterans and newcomers and everything in between," King says.

Leading up to the four-day spiel, King says the Shelburne Curing Centre engaged with the Town and Municipality of Shelburne and Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Shelburne County Arena, to increase awareness that the event is happening.

“We’re actually using some of the facilities at the arena, the dressing rooms and locker space and the chamber has engaged with their respective community to let them know the curlers will be in town,” says King.

“We hope the community will support the Shelburne Curling Centre’s effort to create a welcoming and memorable experience for those visiting us,” wrote the chamber in a Facebook post.

“Remember these curlers will be returning home and speaking about what Shelburne has to offer. Further to this they might be returning again in the coming years and thus this is not only an opportunity to host this event but to showcase our community," reads the post. "As such, our accommodations have already stepped up and (will) provide value stay opportunities and will work hard to provide a 5-star experience for their stay in our community.”

King is hoping the competitors and visitors will get out and support the community and the local restaurants while they are here enjoying the beauty of Shelburne during a time of year when there is not much traffic flowing through the area. The event will “provide an extra little economic boost during a time that might otherwise be dormant,” he says.

Besides the nine teams that will be visiting the area, King says others will be here too.

“We don’t have a sense of spectators or families coming with the curlers,” he says, adding spectators are encouraged to come and watch the action. “We do have a really small facility most of which I suspect will be occupied by the membership itself, but if people want to stop by they can certainly do that.”

Members of the curling centre are serving as volunteer timers for the championship spiel. “This is a timed event … basically to keep the game on pace,” says King.

He says the curling centre has seen growth over the last few years.

"In rural Nova Scotia that’s something that isn’t necessarily happening. We are certainly an anomaly to the case," he says.

"We’ve been seeing an influx of membership, young and old, and we’re just excited to come together as a volunteer organization to put on a world-class event. It’s not a world championship, by any stretch, but there will be a lot of participants who have traveled the globe to curl and we’re happy to host them at our facility and showcase all the different new infrastructure we’ve installed at the curling centre. We’re happy to show curling is alive and well on the south shore of Nova Scotia."

The Shelburne Curling Centre has hosted numerous provincial championships and competitions in the past including three women’s provincial championships, the senior mixed championship, men’s and women’s Masters events, and several teenage events.

TRI-COUNTY VANGUARD

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2023-03-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

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