The 2020 BC Curling Championships officially open Tuesday at Cranbrook’s Western Financial Place as 24 teams compete to represent British Columbia at the Tim Horton’s Brier or Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
The action gets underway with Draw 1 at 9:00 am on Tuesday, continuing throughout the week until the Men’s and Women’s Semifinals on Saturday and the Provincial Championships on Sunday, February 2nd.
Rick O’Neill, President of the Cranbrook Curling Club is helping host the 2020 BC Curling Championships, which marks 125 years of curling for Curl BC. O’Neill told MyEastKootenayNow.com that this is a high level of curling as every team looks to take that next step to the national stage.
“You’re at that level, that you’re so close to making the National Championship,” said O’Neill. “It’s just something that they want to get to, that level, that if you’re curling as much as any other sport, you want that next level if you’re driven by it and all of these players are. We’ve talked to them, they’re standing around doing their practicing and they just want to be better, they want to get better, they want to do it, and they want to get to the Scotties and Brier.”
Of the 24 teams competing in Cranbrook this week, 16 are Men’s teams playing for a spot at the 2020 Tim Horton’s Brier in Kingston, Ontario from February 29th to March 8th, while eight Women’s teams are playing to represent B.C. at the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts from February 15th to 23rd in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
The one local rink is Team Medford from the Cranbrook Curling Club, who consists of Chris Medford (Skip), Steve Tersmette (Third), Mitch Young (Second), and Jeff Langin (Lead).
The first games begin at 9:00 am on Tuesday for Draw 1, although the Opening Ceremonies for the 2020 BC Curling Championships will be held at 6:00 pm on Tuesday prior to Draw 3 at 7:00 pm.
“All Draws during the week are $10 per Draw and that’s including all taxes,” said O’Neill. “The nice one is actually Tuesday night which has the ceremonies included so you can come down early, see the ceremonies and see a game for $10. The weekend games, being playoffs, are $15 all in. It’s family-friendly, you can come you can buy a pass, you can buy single games, single Draw, and we have that all week.”
O’Neill said this is a great event for the City of Cranbrook to be hosting, especially after the success of having the Grand Slam of Curling in 2017.
“One reason we have the Provincials is because we had the Grand Slam, so one leads to the other one. They want to see what the community does, they want to see how they support it.”
If the BC Curling Championships are also successful, O’Neill hinted at the possibility of Cranbrook getting the opportunity to host other major curling tournaments in the future.
“Will it happen down the road? The City is all for it, they don’t mind us going after it, it’s a draw to the community as much as curling as everything else, tourism, the whole gamut, so I think it’s a great event for the area.”
107.5 2day FM’s Dennis Walker hosted the Player’s Banquet on Monday and will be hosting the Opening Ceremonies at 6:00 pm before Draw 3, featuring Cranbrook’s Team Medford against Team Wenzek.
The full schedule for the 2020 BC Curling Championships is available here.
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