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Plans in place, but now waiting begins for Wheelchair Curling Nationals in Moose Jaw

Rising COVID-19 cases a concern for event at end of February, but all systems currently a go for national tournament at Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre
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Darwin Bender (left) and Moose Gibson look on as Marie Wright throws a stone for Team Saskatchewan at the 2019 Curling Canada national wheelchair curling championship. | Patrick Beauchemin
MOOSE JAW — Plans are in place, volunteers are ready to go and the draw is coming together for the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship in Moose Jaw at the end of February.

Now it’s just a question of if it’ll take place.

With COVID-19 cases rising all over Canada in recent weeks, organizers have been waiting with bated breath for news as to whether or not the tournament will be held from Feb. 21-26 at the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre.

For now, though, no news is good news and it’s just a matter of wait and see.

“I'm a little nervous when I see the provincial bodies cancelling their Scottie playdowns, but we'll wait until Curling Canada tells us it's cancelled, if it gets cancelled,” said chairman and Team Saskatchewan member Moose Gibson. “We’ll deal with that then, but other than that it’s looking pretty good. I think we have everybody almost in place, the banquet is organized, our meet-and-greet is coming together. Now we're all sort of waiting, is it a go or isn't it to go?”

Moose Jaw was originally supposed to host the 2021 championships, but that event was cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. Shortly after that announcement, Curling Canada asked if Curl Moose Jaw could host back-to-back years in 2022 and 2023, which the local group was more than happy to take on.

While wheelchair nationals don’t require hundreds of volunteers like the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, plenty of folks still signed on quickly to lend a hand during the busy week.

“(Curl Moose Jaw president) Kevin deDelley sent out a mass email to the membership and people were stepping up right away, and throughout the year, people have been putting their names forward,” Gibson said. “It’s always nice to see that kind of support.”

It’s expected up to 14 teams will take part in the tournament, including a pair from defending champion Alberta as well as two each from medalists Manitoba and Ontario.

Saskatchewan will also have two teams as the host, and those rinks will have a huge Moose Jaw flavour with six of the eight players hailing from the Friendly City.

That includes 2018 Paralympic bronze medalist Marie Wright and fellow perennial national title contenders Gil Dash, Darwin Bender and Gibson himself.

The second team will include Rod Pederson, Cheryl Pederson, Russell Whitsitt and Devon Nancarrow.

Whitsitt and Nancarrow have taken up the sport relatively recently and have made huge strides in Gibson’s eyes -- something that he feels could make Saskatchewan a contender for a pair of medals.

“Everybody's curling throughout the week and everybody puts in the time,” Gibson said. “Like Devon, she came out here the end of last year before it got shut down, and Russ just took it up this year, he's super dedicated to trying to get better. And same with Devon.

The whole idea was to try to promote the sport and to recruit new curlers out of Moose Jaw, the exposure will do wonders for the sport, and it’s great to see new people come out.”

One thing that’s for certain is it’ll take an impressive week of outstanding shooting to reach the playoff round. Especially with the quality of players who are at the highest echelon of the sport.

“The shooting ability of the curlers from across the country is amazing,” Gibson said with a tone of awe. “It’s unbelievable when you realize there are no sweepers and you have players who can put the rock on the button consistently. So we’ll all have to be at the top of our game to do well, and make a lot of shots.”

The event will feature two draws a day other than the first, which will have a single draw. Tickets are $15 per day or $50 for the complete tournament, which will feature a total of 11 or 12 draws.

“So you could watch quite a bit of curling for that price and we’re hoping fans will come out and support it,” Gibson said. “We're hoping that this will be a big bang and a huge success so that people want to come back in 2023 and want to come back to Moose Jaw because they saw it’s a great facility and we put on a good show. And really that's all we can ask for right now: the curlers enjoy themselves and we see some great games throughout the week.”

For the latest information on the 2022 Canadian Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship, be sure to visit www.curling.ca.