Rock the house: Estevan ready to host Sask’s best curlers in back-to-back provincials

Estevan is ready to rock the rink with curling – and not just one event is on the horizon.

Affinity Place will be the site of the Viterra Scotties Women’s Playdowns, which are to run from Wednesday through Sunday. Then the SaskTel Men’s Tankard will take place there Feb. 1-5.

“We’re very excited,” said Helen Fornwald, the event liaison and planning committee facilities chair. “We’ve never ran two events before.

“First, it’s putting in a bid, getting a planning committee together, and going through the process of planning. It’s one thing to have one event, but we’ve got back-to-back events. Our team is called Back-to-Back Rocking the Hack.”

Steve Turner, CurlSask’s championship director, said Estevan made a lot of sense when determining the location of the events.

“We thought it would be a natural place to do it. The facility is absolutely beautiful, the volunteer committee — having worked with them before — has just been outstanding and just the community as a whole rallying behind the event,” Turner said.

Fornwald said Estevan proved what it could do when it hosted the Tankard in 2018. The event was such a success, Fornwald said Curling Canada asked the city to host the Canada Cup just nine months later.

“We thought if we had the same volunteer base, we could put this on and be successful,” Fornwald said.

The winners of each tournament will go on to represent Saskatchewan at Canadian championships — the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts women’s event in Kamloops, B.C. (Feb. 17-26) and the Tim Hortons Brier men’s championship in London, Ont. (March 3-12).

“This is our flagship event,” Turner said. “The field is absolutely top-notch.”

Both events will see 12 teams compete for the championship. The teams include the top four Saskatchewan-based rinks in the Canadian points standings, the top four teams from the Saskatchewan Tour and four from the last-chance qualifiers.

Penny Barker’s Moose Jaw rink will look to defend its provincial title on the women’s side while Saskatoon’s Colton Flasch will look to win a second Tankard in a row.

“We will see some of the best curling in the province around – the shot-making, the memories, meeting friends and reacquainting with old friends,” Fornwald said. “We hope to get a great attendance and hope everyone has safe travels to come.”