(File photo/northeastnow staff)

By Ben Tompkins

2021 Saskatchewan Junior Curling Provincials

Melfort no longer co-hosting Junior Curling Provincials with Tisdale

Oct 25, 2021 | 9:48 AM

Junior curlers from across Saskatchewan will converge on Melfort and Tisdale come Oct. 27, or at least that was the original plan.

The two municipalities were supposed to be hosting the Provincial Junior Curling Championships this year until some complications arose.

When the idea was first brought up, for the event to come to the northeast, it was supposed to be only Melfort who was hosting. However, when the number of teams that were coming was announced, it was thought that Melfort wouldn’t have enough sheets of ice, so the event was split into two, the men’s in Melfort and the women’s in Tisdale.

Now, however, after some late warm weather delayed the flooding date in Melfort, the number of teams significantly decreased and COVID concerns still in the picture, the event has officially moved to Tisdale and Tisdale only.

Manager at the Melfort Curling Rink Gerald MacGillivray, told northeastnow losing out on an event like this isn’t the ideal circumstance, however, he knows the right call was made.

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“We felt that we weren’t gonna be able to get our plant ice in, in time, so we decided that Tisdale is going to host them both. It’s obviously disappointing, originally we were expecting 20 teams for both and I mean you’d always like to hold a provincials, but you can only do what you can do.”

The Melfort Curling Club has tried to have some sort of provincial championship every year. In 2019, they held the Provincial Club Championships, and in 2018, the Viterra Scotties Provincials were in Melfort. They were also set to host the Masters Provincials in 2020, but those were shut down due to COVID-19.

For Bob Jackson, chair of the event and icemaker at the Tisdale Recplex, he told northeastnow they are thrilled to be hosting this event and that should something like this come up again, he would want Melfort to have it.

“It’s nice, we’re quite happy to look after it for this year. We’re just hoping that people come out and watch the juniors play. Any time you can do a provincial event for CurlSask, if you do well, it can put you in line for something else down the road.”

Jackson also said this isn’t an event where they are looking at the finances, as the event will have no admission and will not charge for advertising. The only requirement for anyone in the building is that they must be masked and double vaccinated.

“We’ve had some pretty good events here in the past with good attendance and good participation, so we think the upcoming event will be great. Everyone is welcome to come see and watch the kids curl. This is just a relaxed atmosphere with all the protocols in place and we hope people can come and enjoy it.”

Tisdale recently hosted the senior provincials at the RecPlex and were set to host a total of five Provincial events in February of 2021 before the pandemic paused things again.

The Town of Tisdale also previously served as the host of many other CurlSask Championships, most notably the 2018 Affinity Credit Union Senior Provincials, 2017 SaskTel Tankard Men’s Provincials and 2014 Viterra Scotties Women’s Provincials.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8