Saskatoon hosts curling champs

The country’s top Aboriginal curlers will once again be deciding national bragging rights in Saskatoon.

This year’s National Aboriginal Curling Championships will be held Apr. 1-3 at Saskatoon’s Granite Curling Club.

This marks the fourth consecutive year that Métis Nation - Saskatchewan, which organizes the national event, has staged the Canadian championship at the Saskatoon club.

“It’s a central location, both provincially and nationally,” said Louis Gardiner, the chairperson of the national bonspiel, explaining why the event is once again at the same club. “And they have nine sheets of ice there. We use them all.”

Organizers have been forced, however, to make a major change in this year’s championships. Due to low registration numbers, not only this year but in previous events, officials have decided to cancel the two youth divisions.

The original plan was to have both female and male divisions for those aged 16 and under. But in late February organizers cancelled those two groupings.
Instead, the national tournament will feature a free youth skills camp.

“We’re just trying to get a lot more younger people into curling,” Gardiner said. “So we’re going to open it up and offer this youth skills camp.”

This segment of the nationals will be available to the first 50 youths that sign up.

“The numbers have been low (in the youth categories) so we decided to go in another route and see what happens,” Gardiner said.

As a result, there will be just two divisions contested at this year’s nationals. The men’s category will be the largest one as it will feature as many as 32 teams. There’s also a mixed division - each entry has two female and two male players - which can accommodate up to 16 teams.

In recent years, the majority of the teams that have competed at the nationals have been from Saskatchewan. There are also some entrants though from British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba.

Due to travel costs, Gardiner said eastern Canadian clubs do not participate.

Teams in the men’s division must pay a $500 registration fee while it costs $400 per side to enter the mixed category.

Participants, however, can more than make back their entry fees if they fare well.

Members of the winning team in the men’s division will split $6,000. Plus, they will all receive championships jackets.

Meanwhile, the second-place team will win $4,000 and the third- and fourth-place finishers get $2,000. Also, those that place fifth through eighth receive $1,000 each.
In the mixed grouping, the winners will be presented with $4,000 plus jackets. The runner-ups receive $2,000 and those that finish third and fourth will get $1,000 each.

Gardiner said the quality of play at the nationals traditionally varies.

“Usually every year there are 6-8 teams that are pretty competitive,” he said. “Some other teams just do it for fun. For a lot of them this is the only time of the year that they curl. For some of them it’s just a chance to network with people they haven’t seen in a number of years.”

The registration deadline for this year’s event is Mar. 25.
More information on the tournament is available by emailing Gardiner at l.gardiner@sasktel.net or by calling him at (306) 833-2007.