Teams rave about ‘outstanding’ ice and facility for Canadian Senior Curling Championships in Vernon

The curlers at the 2023 Everest Canadian Senior Curling Championships had a lot of positive feedback on the tournament held in Vernon so far.

Speaking with Vernon Matters Wednesday, Dec. 6, curlers from across Canada had high praise for the ice at the Vernon Curling Club.

“The ice and the facility here is outstanding. We’re really loving curling here, it’s been fantastic and awesome,” Deanna Doig, third for Team Saskatchewan, said.

“The ice has been great. One of the things is it has been super consistent, the speed has been consistent, the curl has been consistent, so you know what you’re getting when you go out there every time. It’s a great facility, a nice eight-sheeter, and just a great place to curl,” Steve Bragg, lead for Team Newfoundland, said.

“I couldn’t say enough good things about the facility. The ice is absolutely immaculate, some of the best we’ve ever played on, I’d have to say,” Phillip Gorveatt, skip for Team Prince Edward Island, said. “That’s all we ask for. You can ask anyone the same question and you’d get the same answer, it’s absolutely fabulous, with Gorveatt adding there’s a lot of factors that makes the ice good, from heat and humidity to the rocks, and the quality of the sheets at the Vernon Curling Club showed that the staff are professionals and “some of the best in the world.”

Mark Longworth, co-chair of the Everest Seniors Curling Championships, told Vernon Matters, the teams were “really happy with the ice, the facility, and are enjoying themselves.”

Many of those who spoke with Vernon Matters also complimented the work the organizers and volunteers were doing to make the tournament happen.

“We cannot say enough about the host committee and the volunteers. The volunteers have just been fantastic right from picking us up at the airport. It was smooth and slick, and everyone here, drivers and people in the rink, it’s just been seamless, absolutely seamless. They’re just doing a fantastic job,” Cathy Inglis, lead for Team Saskatchewan, remarked.

“Vernon’s been fantastic, we’ve had a lot of fun here already. We’ve got the best drivers [shuttling curlers around Vernon] in the world and the best volunteers in the world. The ice is fantastic, so we’re having a really good time,” Sharon Cormier, skip for Team Northwest Territories, said.

“I want to take a shout-out to the Vernon Curling Club, all the officials, Everest Curling. It’s a fantastic event and everybody around here has been fantastic. It’s been nothing but top notch from top to bottom,” Terry Miller, skip for Yukon, told Vernon Matters.

“We have 75 to 80 volunteers between drivers, people with hospitality, people at the door, and everybody’s got a smile on their face and it’s been a really good event,” Longworth added.

The tournament has kept many of the curlers busy since play began Sunday, Dec. 3, so most had not been able to explore much of Vernon and the Okanagan, but there was still positive feedback for the city and the community.

“I kind of just walked around by our hotel [Tuesday] when we did have some time, but some of my teammates had a little more time to check things out. It’s beautiful here. We come from flat-lands Saskatchewan, so being able to see the mountains, it’s so pretty here,” Doig said.

“We just discovered the downtown district behind us. The other night we went downtown. I didn’t have any idea, I thought we were in the downtown [where the Best Western Hotel is], so we’re excited to get out there and walk around the streets a little bit in the next couple days now that the snow is melted, we look forward to doing that,” Gorveatt said.

“The people are super friendly. Everybody has been so easy-going and welcoming, it’s been a pleasure so far for us,” Cheryl Tordoff, third for Team Northwest Territories, said, adding she hopes to have some free time to explore the city, do some shopping, and check out the sights.

“We’ve had a chance to walk around a bit and it’s a beautiful city, so we’re just super happy to be here,” Bragg said.

“It is the winter time here so we do get the grey days and the liquid sunshine, but hopefully we’ll get a little bit of sun [Thursday] and the next day for them. We welcomed them with the first snowfall on Saturday when they arrived, so a little bit ominous maybe for the week as far as the weather goes, but they’re really happy with the action inside, and that’s our main concern,” Longworth told Vernon Matters.

The curlers taking part in the tournament at the Vernon Curling Club are aged 50 and older, and most of them have been curling for a majority of their lives.

“I’ve probably curled competitively for 40 years, but I can remember being about five in the curling rink in the community I grew up in. Everybody was always at the curling rink, so I’d wait for the adults to be done and then I would go out and throw some rocks around. Two feet in the hack and try to push that rock down to the other end. So I started pretty young, but I’ve always enjoyed curling, it’s been a lot of fun for me throughout my life,” Doig said.

“I’ve been curling for probably 40 years. When I was 13 I had to kind of make a decision between hockey and curling and our third, Mark Noseworthy, was playing in the ’87 Briar semi-final and I watched that on TV and it was kind of the inspiration to get into the game of curling and now to be here at the Canadian Senior Championship with Mark is kind of special,” Bragg told Vernon Matters.

“For me, it was a family sport, my dad and mom both curled, so it was natural for me to curl. Now my daughter curls, and hopefully my grandkids soon will curl,” Cormier said.

“I think I got in trouble, and was in the principals office, and someone talked about curling in the office and then I saw it on TV closely after that and said ‘Yeah, I think I can try that game.’ I was very athletic back then and I started doing it and I loved it, so that’s why I’ve been doing it for over 45 years, it’s amazing,” Miller said.

Some of the curlers who spoke with Vernon Matters had played in big tournaments prior to the 2023 Everest Seniors Curling Championships, including the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Canadian Curling Championships, Mixed-Nationals, and previous Seniors Championships tournaments.

The tournament continues with round robin play Wednesday. The top teams will be seeded and play elimination rounds Thursday and Friday, leading up to the semi-finals and finals Saturday, Dec. 9.