(Graphic courtesy/Melfort Curling Club, Facebook)

By Ben Tompkins

Curling Day in Canada

Curling legends coming to Melfort soon

Jan 31, 2024 | 6:00 AM

In less than a month, two Canadian curling legends will be in Melfort.

The Melfort Curling Club announced on Monday that Jill Officer and Pat Simmons will attend the 2024 rendition of Curling Day in Canada.

“It’s a very exciting opportunity for Melfort and this whole general region because an opportunity like this doesn’t come around very often. These are people that you’ve seen curling on TV and they’re going to be here,” said club board member, Kerrie de Gooijer.

“We’ve been planning this whole festival for nearly a year now and working pretty closely with Curling Canada, so we wanted to bring a couple of celebrities to town and we wanted people that would be inspirational and fun and decorated as professional curlers.”

Officer is one of the best Canadian curlers ever (men’s and women’s), as she is a six-time national champion (Scotties Tournament of Hearts), a 16-time Grand Slam champion, a two-time world champion, and an Olympic Gold Medalist.

Crime

Crime severity index dropped four per cent last year, Statistics Canada says

3h ago

tradition

LLRIB member invited to partake in historic military role in London

23h ago

Smart meters

SaskPower installing smart meters in Melfort area

23h ago

The Winnipeg native played second for Team Jennifer Jones from 2003 until 2018, becoming the first women’s team to go through an Olympic campaign undefeated (2014).

She is also just one of three players in history to have six Scotties titles to her name, joining her teammate Jennifer Jones, as well as Colleen Jones.

In 2019, Officer was also named the greatest Canadian female second in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and curlers, while simultaneously being named the sixth greatest Canadian curler in history.

She also has a Canadian Junior Curling Championship under her belt, back in 1994 alongside Jennifer Jones.

Officer is now the chair of the World Curling Athlete Commission.

As for Simmons, he is a two-time national champion (Tim Hortons Brier), and a two-time Grand Slam champion.

The Moose Jaw native also has a bronze medal at the World Championships and has collected a silver and a bronze medal at the Brier.

Simmons is now the Director of High Performance for Curlsask.

Both Officer and Simmons will be participating in on-ice curling clinics earlier in the day before they hang around the festival grounds for meet-and-greets and photo-ops.

The 2024 Curling Day in Canada is scheduled for Feb. 24.

–

Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X @BenTompkins_8