Icemaking is wrapping up at three of PEI’s seven curling clubs, as another curling season gets underway. The five-sheet Charlottetown Curling Club, complete with new energy-efficient ice surface lighting and an expanded pro shop, is ready to go this weekend, with an adult curling camp on the 8th and 9th, a junior camp on the 10th and 11th, their free curling schools taking place Oct. 12-15 from 6 to 8 pm, and a golf and curling event being held on the 16th. The Super League begins Oct. 13, with other leagues starting the week of Oct. 17.
The four-sheet Cornwall Curling Club will be holding its free adult curling instruction October 12-14, from 7-9 pm, with a startup funspiel on the 16th, and leagues beginning on the 17th. Both Cornwall and Charlottetown have painted some of their ice circles in the blue and gray corporate colours of The Dominion General Insurance Company, sponsor of The Dominion National Curling Club Championship, which the two clubs are co-hosting November 23-28. The Cornwall ice plant is sporting a new condenser unit, after experiencing a problem with their old one last season, along with a Jet Ice water conditioning system, courtesy of The Dominion, who are also sponsoring a wheelchair lift at the Charlottetown club.
In Summerside, the six-sheet Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club are holding their free curling clinics Oct. 19-21, from 7-9 pm. League curling starts Oct. 26, with Junior curling getting underway with registration/orientation on the 30th.
The other full-time curling venues on the Island, the Western Community in Alberton, the Maple Leaf in O’Leary, the Crapaud Community club, and the Montague Curling Rink, will be getting underway in the late October/early November timeframe. The Eastern Kings Sportsplex in Souris, which introduced curling on a trial basis last March, is also planning to offer some curling in the upcoming season.
Besides the national “The Dominion” event, the highlight of the 2010-11 season on PEI will undoubtedly be the hosting of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian Women’s Curling Championship, February 19-27 at the Charlottetown Civic Centre.
Photo: Final stages of ice surface preparation at the Cornwall Curling Club, including painting two sheets in the corporate colours of The Dominion.