It’s shaping up to be a full house for the Canadian Open Stick Curling Championship.
The draw limit is 48 two-person teams for the March 30 to April 2 nationals at the St. Albert Curling Club.
“It’s going very good. We’ve got between 25 and 30 entries all ready and its still four months to go,” said Milt McDougall of the St. Albert organizing committee. “I hope to have about 60 registered because there will probably be some that won’t be able to make it at the last minute.”
McDougall said teams hail from Vancouver to Prince Edward Island. A strong St. Albert contingent is also part of the mix.
McDougall and stick partner, Bob McKenzie, competed at the 2013 nationals in Cornwall, P.E.I. while spreading the good news about the St. Albert nationals at the banquet as the honoured guests.
He was impressed by the hospitality at the Cornwall Curling Club, host of the ninth nationals and the first to be held east of Winnipeg.
“It was a great experience. They ran a good show. They treated us very well. The people were good. The meals were good. The facility was good but their ice wasn’t near as good as what we have here,” McDougall said. “The rocks weren’t matched well and we didn’t curl well so we didn’t make it into the finals.”
He rates Alberta and Manitoba as the hotbeds of stick curling.
“Prince Edward Island is getting strong too and I would also include New Brunswick and Nova Scotia as well. Saskatchewan has quite a few too but nobody from there went to Prince Edward Island (for nationals). B.C. is getting a lot now. We’ve got about six, seven entries out of B.C. right now.”
Visit www.stickcurling.ca for more information on nationals.