Something big is coming to Martensville this September! From September 1-5, some of the biggest names in curling will be participating in the 2022 Men’s & Women’s International, which will be taking place at the Martensville Curling Rink.
Curling fans can expect to see familiar faces such as; Jennifer Jones, Silvana Tirinzoni; the reigning 3x world champ from Switzerland; Mike McEwen, John Epping, and many more International and Canadian teams including local favorites Colton Flasch and Steve Laycock.
The event is being organized by Curling Stadium Saskatchewan, which consists of James Gordon of Prairie Ice and the Head Ice Tech for the Martensville Curling Club and Gerry Geurts of CurlingZone.com.
“We are aiming for a field of up to 40 teams; with 20 men’s and 20 women’s teams. We are currently about half full with a lot of well-known teams in the lineup,” Gordon said.
All games will be available via live-stream for free on multiple platforms, with YouTube being the primary platform. Gordon explained that one game from every draw will also be available via CBC Gem, the streaming platform for CBC.
“Based on our stats from last season, we are expecting over 500,000 people to watch this event over the weekend, with a goal of hitting one million total views,” Gordon added.
The option for streaming games live is made possible through contributions from Sasktel, who is the title sponsor at both Sasktel Curling Stadium Martensville and Sasktel Curling Stadium Swift Current.
“Without their support we wouldn’t have the streaming available that lets us put on big events like this. Their partnership played a major role in making the streaming possible in both Martensville and Swift Current beginning in the 2021/22 curling season.”
Both Curling Stadiums feature four to six permanent cameras on each sheet of ice, with streaming available for everything from major events, down to leagues and corporate events. “In only our second year of business, we are already in nine facilities worldwide; four in Canada, four in the USA and one in Scotland, with more to come.”
Full event packages are now on sale for $40 and can be ordered by emailing CurlingStadiumSask@gmail.com. VIP table packages, which include six full event passes, along with prime seating upstairs are available for $500 and day passes will be available for $10 once the draw has been released. Another option will be a $5 admission to attend the final draw of each day.
Additionally, this September, there will be a CurlSask U20 Junior event – Sask Cup #1, which takes place September 9-11, a Sask Curling Tour Mixed Doubles event from September 16-18, and CurlSask U18 from September 23-25. All of these events will be live-streamed as well.
According to Gordon, they are looking for sponsors to come on board to help support these major events, as it costs a considerable amount of money in prize purses to bring big names to these events. “Having sponsors in place helps make it possible to grow the events and help put Martensville on the map as being a major event destination for curlers and fans.”
Anyone interested in contributing to these events can contact CurlingStadiumSask@gmail.com for more information on sponsorship.
