(by Jason Simmonds)
The Players’ Championship, which will feature eight-end games, gets underway on Tuesday at 7 p.m., and continues through to the championship games on Sunday.
Preparations continued at Eastlink Arena on Monday for this week’s Players’ Championship curling event. Checking out the ice, from left, are: Jennifer Bradley, event manager of the Grand Slam of Curling for Rogers Sportsnet; Mark Shurek, head ice-maker, and Kristi Petrushchak, manager of the Grand Slam of Curling.
© Jason Simmonds/Journal Pioneer
“The Players’ Championship is the final event of the season,” explained event manager Jennifer Bradley in an interview at Eastlink Arena on Monday morning. “It caps off four Grand Slams of the season, which are the four majors, based on the Order of Merit rankings, which are the world rankings in the curling world.
“We are going to see some of the best teams in the world compete again after the Olympics. We have all the Olympic medals here. . .
“There is a lot of interesting stuff in the curling world, announcements being made of teams moving forward. This is potentially one of the last times you will see some of these incredibly influential teams play and play against each other.”
“I would hope this city and this Island will rally around this event, knowing what kind of history it’s going to make and come and check it out. Especially, throughout the weekend and the evening draws, we are hoping to see this place full.”