RESCHEDULED: 61st Canadian Firefighters Curling Championship

When:
March 24, 2023 – April 1, 2023 all-day
2023-03-24T00:00:00-03:00
2023-04-02T00:00:00-03:00
Where:
Montague Curling Club

UPDATE:
The CFFCA has rescheduled the 61st Canadian Championship to March 24 – April 1, 2023.

The PEI Host Committee has agreed to hosting in 2023 with the dates being March 24 to April 1, 2023 at the Montague Curling Club. The Host Hotel will be the Rodd Charlottetown.
Saskatchewan will now host in 2024.

2022 Canadian Firefighters Curling Ch’ship in Montague in late March cancelled

The Charlottetown Host Committee, after consultation with their local Chief Public Health Office, has cancelled the 61st Canadian Championship scheduled to start March 24th at the Montague Curling Club. The Canadian Firefighters Curling Association says that restrictions in place on PEI, which include restrictions on sporting events, limited numbers at gatherings, quarantine upon arrival on the Island, have made it impossible for the Host Committee to make any commitments, financial or otherwise, to the CFFCA and local businesses and suppliers. With no guarantee these restrictions will be lifted in time for the event, the Host Committee felt it was best to make the decision now before any more time, effort, or money was spent, both by them and participating teams. They have spoken with Dale Nixon, who is slated to be the Host Convenor for the 2023 Championship, and he would be agreeable to deferring for another year (again) should the Committee in PEI decide to host in 2023. They are hoping to be allowed to have a Committee meeting sometime in February at which time they will discuss future hosting possibilities. The Association knows that some provinces have held Provincial playdowns or have them scheduled in the next few weeks and is discouraged this was the decision that had to be made, but the health and safety of all was an all-important consideration. 

Canadian Firefighters Curling Championship resets for 2022 in Montague (Guardian)

The Canadian Firefighters Curling Championship will make one more effort to stage its 61st national event on P.E.I. after a frustrating two-year delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The championships, originally set for early spring 2020 in Charlottetown, are now scheduled for March 24-April 2, 2022, at the Montague Curling Club.

Peter MacDonald, left, and Winston Bryan, co-chairmen of the Canadian Firefighters Curling Championship, go over plans for the national event. The rescheduled championships are now set for March 24-April 2, 2022, in Montague. – Contributed

“It’s our fifth attempt to host this event. We’re confident we can hold a successful championship next spring,” says co-chairman Peter MacDonald. “If we can’t do it next March, then that will be it. We can’t go into 2023 against the Canada Winter Games on P.E.I.”

Co-chairman Winston Bryan said the move to Montague was necessary because of the lingering uncertainty surrounding the future of the Charlottetown Curling Club (CCC). The CCC didn’t open this season because of a major plant breakdown.

“It’s been a frustrating period,” said Bryan. “We were two weeks away from the start of the 2020 nationals when we were forced to postpone because of the pandemic shutdown.”

Organizers then hoped to hold the event in the fall, but those plans were scuttled with a second wave of COVID, as were attempts to hold it this spring. MacDonald said there were too many uncertainties for this coming fall, so a decision was made to stage the event in late March 2022 amid high hopes that vaccinations will finally help defeat COVID.

P.E.I. will hold provincial playdowns in January at the Silver Fox in Summerside to select its representative for the 2022 nationals. Skip Alan Brown from Charlottetown Station One had won the P.E.I. title in 2020.

Click to read the full story in The Guardian

 

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