From September 1-5, Martensville was a hot spot for curling enthusiasts as host of the 2022 Curling Stadium Martensville International with some of the biggest names in both men’s and women’s curling attending.
A total of 79 games took place throughout the event, with 22 teams participating. Games were live-streamed via multiple sources, with approximately 250,000 views and more expected to take place in the coming weeks. One game per draw was sent out to CBC Gem, and there was a commentator onsite sending out an additional feed to Japan and Korea with Korean language commentary. This year marked the second season of live-streaming from the Martensville Curling Rink.
“This event was a ton of work and (good) stress being co-event organizer alongside Gerry Geurts of CurlingZone, as well as being the ice maker and doing the live streaming. But it was a blast and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Being able to bring such a high caliber field to a place like Martensville is huge for the curling club,” event co-organizer James Gordon said.
The finals for the event were held on Monday, September 5th with it all coming down to matches between Canadian Team Grandy vs Team Tirinzoni of Switzerland, the current reigning world champions for the women, and Team Schwaller of Switzerland vs Team Yanagisawa, the Japanese champions for the men.
Team Grandy ended up winning over Team Tirinzoni with a score of 7-1, which earned them $10,000, as well as 40.000 world ranking points, with Team Tirinzoni receiving $5000 and 27.000 world ranking points. For the men, Team Schwaller came out on top over Team Yanagisawa with a score of 6-5, earning them $10,000 and 30.000 world ranking points, and Team Yanagisawa $5000 with 22.000 points for second place.
“Seeing all of the people come out to watch and support the event was really nice to see, despite the fact that we didn’t have the budget to properly promote the event. There was a lot of fans that were really excited to take pictures and get autographs of their favorite teams,” Gordon stated.
For Gordon, another highlight of the weekend was the quality of the ice, despite the fact that it was 35 degrees outside, and competitors acknowledged this, stating that they would be coming back again next year.
More events such as this one are possible in the future; however Gordon noted that bringing in this caliber of athletes is only possible with support from sponsors to assist with prize payout costs. For businesses that are interested in supporting future events, contact CurlingStadiumSask@gmail.com.
“Thank you to Craig Van Busker for all of the hours he put in helping with the ice, and a huge shout out to our live-streaming team of Rory McCusker, Gerry Geurts (CEO of CurlingZone and Curling Stadium) for the remote support and streaming from his home in Ontario, as well as John Benton from Blaine, MN for the tech support whenever we had issues. Thank you as well to the City of Martensville for letting us open the rink early,” Gordon added.
