It was just minutes into the tear down at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre when 2013 Ford World Men鈥檚 Curling Championship co-chairman Chris Atchison was cornered for his thoughts on the event.
Slow-building crowds during the early part of the nine-day event forced a slower slide out of the hack compared to 2005, the first time the world event as held in Victoria.
鈥淧art of me is feeling for Team sa国际传媒, obviously. They had everyone in this building behind them, willing them to win, but Sweden was the better team and deserving of the win,鈥� Atchison said right after the 8-6 Sweden win over sa国际传媒 in the championship final before a raucous crowd on Sunday.
鈥淔rom my point of view, it鈥檚 still tremendous pride in this city for hosting another fantastic championship. The comments we received from around the venue and the city about how the volunteers conducted themselves 鈥� I鈥檓 very proud of that.鈥�
The championship game was played before 5,340 fans, which pushed the total to 60,382 for the event. Organizers were pleased with the final weekend attendances and admitted Sunday that they are going to sit down and discuss the possibility of bringing a Brier to Victoria.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the natural [event] that we would look at in this community,鈥� said Atchison. 鈥淲e鈥檒l take some time to reflect on what we did well this time and what we need to do better. I think in terms of a natural progression of events, absolutely, that would be the next thing to go after.
鈥淲e would need to make sure all our partners are in place, including the Canadian Curling Association. There needs to be buy-in from the province of British Columbia and City of Victoria, primarily, and then we work from there with the rest of our sponsors.鈥�
The 2014 Brier is already committed to Kamloops so it would be several years before it returns to sa国际传媒, but Atchison said he hoped the capital could see it within the decade.
鈥淲e need to de-brief on this event, but there were comments made by the CCA that they love this city, they like this venue so from what I鈥檝e read that discussion will happen in due time,鈥� said Atchison.
鈥淚 think we had a fabulous finish,鈥� said Warren Hansen, director for the CCA. 鈥淭he Canadian team, coming through the way they did, brought a whole bunch of people out that probably wouldn鈥檛 have come otherwise.
鈥淚t was fabulous,鈥� stressed Hansen, who had told the sa国际传媒 earlier in he week that a Brier is a possibility if a partnership and the correct sponsorship was formed. 鈥淚 would say 2018 or 2019 probably would be feasible to look at.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have to go into some smaller centres. We鈥檝e relied on the big venues too much and the world has changed a bit,鈥� added Hansen.
The players also loved the stop, including Scotland鈥檚 David Murdoch.
鈥淚 love this place. It鈥檚 like a home away from home. My wife is from Vancouver Island and I love coming here. The crowds are great and it鈥檚 such a nice place to be,鈥� said Murdoch, who won the bronze-medal game over Denmark.
鈥淚 think because it was my first worlds in 2005 [silver medal], it鈥檚 always really inspired me. We made that break through of getting to the final and that gave me, personally, the belief to go forward.鈥�
sa国际传媒鈥檚 Brad Jacobs also loved the support.
鈥淭hey were living and dying on all our shots, [Saturday] in particular, They were just going crazy,鈥� he said of the pro-sa国际传媒 crowds. 鈥淯nfortunately, we didn鈥檛 bring our A game [Sunday] and we didn鈥檛 give them much to cheer for.鈥�
