If there was ever any doubt about the popularity of curling in Saskatchewan, attendance at the Humboldt Curling Club for the SaskPower Scotties Provincial Tournament of Hearts put that rumour to rest once and for all.
From January 25-29 the cream of Saskatchewan's ladies curling teams came to Humboldt to battle it out for a chance to win the provincial title.
The 12 teams in attendance were selected based on their standings in the northern and southern playdowns of the Saskatchewan Curling Association or with the Saskatchewan Women's Curling Tour. Three of those twelve teams had players with local connections in Humboldt.
The Humboldt-based rink led by Jolene Campbell included Marysburg native Meagan Clark (Strueby), while Sarah Collin of Bruno was playing with the Trish Paulsen rink of Saskatoon Nutana. The daughter of John and Josie Krueger of Humboldt, Linda Kloschinsky, was playing with the Gillies rink from Kerrobert.
Although none of the three teams with local connections advanced to the semifinals, just qualifying to play in the Scotties Provincial Tournament of Hearts is an achievement many would aspire to.
It takes a lot of hard work, dedication and practice to play at this level, and all the players gave the most they could give. In the end, it was those with years of experience who were able to use it to their advantage to make it through the draws and into the semifinals.
Team Campbell and Team Gillies were both in Pool A, while Team Paulsen was slotted into Pool B.
In the overall standings for the five-day tournament, Team Campbell finished in sixth place in its pool with a one-win, four-loss standing. Their final game was against Team Gillies, whom they lost to in the morning draw on January 28, 5-4.
For Team Gillies, their standing was aggravated when they lost to Team Lawton in the evening draw, January 26, and then to Team Eberle in the morning draw on January 27.
The rink finished fifth in its pool, with two wins and three losses.
At the 10 a.m. draw on January 27, Team Paulsen was in second place in their pool with two wins and no losses. By the time they reached the morning draw on January 28, the team had accumulated three losses and sank to fourth place in Pool B.
While the ladies on the ice kept the spectators coming back for more, a contingency of volunteers were working round the clock to make sure all the events during the Scotties Provincial Tournament of Hearts ran smoothly.
The event was decidedly a huge success. Committee coordinators Joy Butler and Sheldon Sperling worked tirelessly to assure that, but credited their crew of volunteers for running a tight ship over the five days.
"I'm tired, but it was definitely worth it," Butler said after the closing ceremony. "Just seeing an amazing crowd was so rewarding, and seeing the players have so much fun at the cabarets and everywhere else was awesome."
Butler also said that the attendance numbers had surpassed their expectations.
"It was an amazing turnout," she confirmed. "We sold 400 event passes, probably 400 day passes, and 600 draw passes. We've heard a lot of positive feedback from the fans who attended."
With such a successful venture under its belt, the obvious question for the Humboldt Curling Club was if they would consider hosting another major curling event, to which Butler replied, "We will be looking to host something big soon, but the volunteers need a break. We probably need a year off before we can take on another event."
For photos from SaskPower Scotties Provincial Tournament of Hearts, see photo galleries.
