Canada Cup was more successful than anticipated

Opinion

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This article was published 06/12/2016 (3209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon and Westman should take a bow.

The Home Hardware Canada Cup of Curling went off without a visible hitch and all early indications are that the first Curling Canada event at Westman Place in nearly 15 years turned out better than anyone expected.

There were compliments from curlers and Curling Canada staff about the corporate support, the volunteers and how well Brandon First and vice-chairs Ryan Shields, Nate Andrews and Eric Dickson organized and ran the five-day event, which was won by Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones and Reid Carruthers.

People also came out in droves to watch 14 of the best curling teams in the country. Brandon destroyed the old overall attendance mark of 33,160, set in 2012 in Moose Jaw, Sask, with the new unofficial figure of 48,786. The new watermark for a single draw was set Friday evening when 4,445 people took in the final round-robin games as well.

The Patch was hopping between draws and in the evenings and the fans were supportive of all the teams during the competition, something all the players appreciated even though the Manitoba teams may have drawn some louder cheers.

When talking to curlers about Brandon as a host, the same comments were made: The fans were fantastic, the volunteers were great and they love the facility, especially with the hotel attached so they didn’t have to go outside or travel back and forth to a hotel between games. Four of seven curlers who were asked about Brandon as a host said, unprovoked, that they would like to see the city land either a Brier or a Scotties Tournament of Hearts in the near future as well. When asked directly, the others agreed with their peers. There were also numerous thank you tweets by players and teams after the event and similar posts on team websites as well.

Braeden Moskowy, who is Carruthers’ third, was asked if there was anything Brandon could improve on from a players’ perspective.

“Honestly no,” he said. “I think this would be a phenomenal place to have a Brier and, I really don’t know if it’s in their plans, but I really hope to see a Brier here as soon as possible.

“It’s a great venue, the ice is perfect and it’s so great having the hotel and restaurants attached as a player. Especially in events like this and a Brier, you don’t have a lot of down time in between games. To zip back to your hotel quick in five minutes and eat right there it’s awesome.

“Maybe I’m a little biased, but Brandon has been awesome to us. The sooner we can get back here, the better it will be, that’s for damn sure.”

Moskowy’s bias is understandable. Even though nobody on his team is from Westman, the foursome has won both events in which it has played at Westman Place — the 2015 provincial men’s championship being the other — and sports a 14-3 record overall here.

It hasn’t been much of a secret since it was announced that the Canada Cup was coming to Brandon that this would be an event to prove what Brandon could do in hopes of getting back on Curling Canada’s Season of Champions map. The community hosted an Olympic curling trials in 1997, the world championships in 1995, the Tournament of Hearts in 1993 and 2002, but it’s a Brier, which the Wheat City last hosted in 1982, that is the most-coveted event.

Shields couldn’t have been happier with the way things went with the Canada Cup and hopes Brandon sent a message to Curling Canada that it’s ready for bigger events like the Brier.

“It’s gone better than we could have dreamed of,” he said. “The community support has been great. We had some weather issues at the beginning and at the end of this one, but we knew we’d get the support. Setting the (overall attendance) record and single-draw record was the icing on the cake really.

“I don’t think we could have drawn this up any better,” Shields said. The ball is out of our court a little bit at this point and we’ll have to see where Curling Canada wants to go, but I feel we’ve put our best foot forward in showing them what we can do and what Brandon and Westman has to offer.”

Shields and the committees will debrief with the national curling body before the two sides decide if and when another event is coming here, but Shields was right about making an impression on Curling Canada.

Al Cameron, the organization’s director of communications and media relations, was impressed with the way the Canada Cup was run.

However, there is more than filling stands and making players happy to hosting a Brier or Scotties. Since a Brier can bring $12-15 million to the host community, Curling Canada wants a financial commitment from the city.

The Canada Cup did put Brandon back on Curling Canada’s radar though.

“Clearly the city responded and it went beyond fan support,” Cameron said. “A great corporate support from the Brandon community and Brandon First did a real great job of leadership and bringing everybody together.”

“There’s a lot of communities out there who see the value in hosting a Curling Canada Season of Champions event,” he continued. “It’s a competitive environment out there, but Brandon certainly took significant steps by hosting such a first-class event this week.”

So give yourself a pat on the back for doing a fantastic job with the Canada Cup. Let’s hope we won’t be resting on our laurels for too long though and can get back to work to host another big curling event in a few years’ time.