If you’re the type of person who thinks of hairstyling when you hear the world curling, attending the 2017 Canadian Junior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships can be like a visit to another planet.
Indeed, the spectacle of seeing scores of gifted young athletes and wildly enthusiastic fans wearing colourful costumes at Esquimalt’s Curling Club and Archie Browning Sports Centre on Thursday was out of this world.
Who needs to watch Men With Brooms again when you can see the real thing, complete with the sounds of moose calls from northern Ontario curling enthusiasts.
Even if terms like sliders make you think of tiny hamburgers instead of material on the sole of a shoe to help a curler slide along the ice, you couldn’t help but be swept away by the sights and sounds.
As colourful as the on-ice action was, it couldn’t upstage flashbacks to Christopher Walken’s classic Saturday Night Live “more cowbell” sketch prompted by the antics of Nova Scotia fans in the stands.
“It’s because we’re Bluenosers,” said Judy Burgess with a laugh, drowned out by a chorus of cheers and the sounds of kazoos, horns and clattering cowbells while attempting to explain why so many Nova Scotia fans colour their noses blue.
She flew out to see her granddaughter Karlee Burgess, who throws third for the Team Nova Scotia, in action.
“I grew up at the curling rink. My whole family has curled, and my dad was a competitive curler,” said Lori Kaeser, visiting from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories.
“Everything about it is appealing,” she said, breaking into laughter when she suddenly realizes she has inadvertently quoted a lyric from Irving Berlin’s There’s No Business Like No Show Business.
“I’m freezing,” said Kaeser, who because she was sitting beneath an air vent had to bundle up in a blanket while watching the action through a window in the upstairs clubhouse.
The curling fan whose son Sawer, 14, is skip for the Northwest Territories Junior Men’s team smiles when told how funny her complaint sounds coming from someone who lives in the great white north.
“It’s a balmy minus 9 there right now,” she quips after consulting with her friend Janelle Minute for an update on what the weather was like back home on this mild Victoria afternoon.
“I love the good-natured competition,” adds Minute, whose son Garret, 12, is the team’s lead. “We’re always cheering our kids on, encouraging them, trying to show the importance of teamwork.”
The northern neighbours got to know seatmate Anne Matkowski, who flew out from Saskatoon to cheer on her grandson Ryland Kleiter, 18, who is skipping for the Saskatchewan team.
“I loved curling in my younger days. I know the game well and love it,” said Matkowski, who, when she wasn’t watching the championships, tried to visit some local wineries “but they were all closed.”
The fans we spoke to were living proof of an observation about players, fans and volunteers made by Deborah Dagg, co-chair of the information desk with Gerry Lister.
“Curlers are a special breed of people, very warm and friendly,” said Dagg, whose husband Keith Dagg is co-chair of the host committee with Marilyn Kraeker.
“A lot of people haven’t been to Victoria before and this is a great way to showcase our beautiful city,” she said. “They sure came at the right time.”
Dagg was fielding enquiries and welcoming spectators with Kevin Walker, one of the event’s many volunteers wearing Curling Canada’s signature red outfits.
“I haven’t curled in recent years,” admitted Walker, founder of the Oak Bay Beach Hotel. “In the early part of my life I was quite active in the curling community. I’m a Winnipegger. Everybody curls in Winnipeg.”
Rocks will be thrown for the last time today during the championship game that concludes the competition involving 14 junior women’s teams and 13 men’s on both sheets of ice at the E-Town facilities.
