The eyes of the nation鈥檚 curling fans will once again be squarely on the Victoria region as it will play host to the 2017 Canadian Junior Men鈥檚 and Women鈥檚 Curling Championships, this time at the Archie Browning Sports Centre in Esquimalt.
Keith Dagg, the co-chair for the tournament along with Marilyn Kraeker, wouldn鈥檛 want it any other way as the local committee anxiously looks forward to the event, slated for Jan. 21-29, 2017, at both the arena and the Esquimalt Curling Club.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a big deal for Victoria, especially in January,鈥� Dagg said regarding the tournament, which is expected to generate about $3-4 million in economic benefits. 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to have something to look forward to, to kick off the new year.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really wonderful news,鈥� he added of nationals, which will carry a tab of $250,000 to host. 鈥淲e started working on this two-and-a-half years ago, working on trying to get something in the winter time. With world curling, you just can鈥檛 get it back into the arena anymore because it locks horns with the [Victoria] Royals鈥� playoffs.鈥�
Victoria has previously played host to the men鈥檚 worlds in 2013, the Brier (men鈥檚 championship) in 1958 and 1984, and the Scottie鈥檚 women鈥檚 nationals in 1974 and 2009.
鈥淭he plan was to try and get a [national] juniors and, if that鈥檚 successful, then a Brier maybe in four or five years. It will bring a lot of people to Victoria in January, which is a time of year that we need them,鈥� said Dagg.
鈥淎 lot of people say that sa国际传媒鈥檚 sport is hockey, but I think curling is right up there with it and, you know what, we鈥檙e pretty good at it,鈥� said Peter Fassbender, minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, who represented the provincial government, which provided $50,000 toward the bidding process.
鈥淚t鈥檚 indicative of what we in British Columbia can do when we open our doors to host great events,鈥� Fassbender added, alluding to the former national and world events held in the region.
The Canadian juniors were also staged at the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre in Colwood in 2004, which Victoria鈥檚 Chris Baier competed in, donning the sa国际传媒 colours.
鈥淔antastic memories 鈥� it was our first big curling event that we ever played in. It was our first trip to provincials that year and we won. It鈥檚 definitely a memory to treasure forever,鈥� said Baier, who had William Sutton at third, Ryan Campbell and Andrew McMullen at lead.
Among the other former junior champions on hand for Tuesday鈥檚 announcement were Julie Skinner (nee Sutton), Mike Wood, Todd Troyer, five-time champion Stephanie Jackson-Baier and several other more recent competitors.
Wood, who won the 1988 Canadian juniors with third Mike Bradley, second Todd Troyer, lead Greg Hawkes and coach Gord Hooey, echoed Baier鈥檚 sentiments.
鈥淲e were playing Northern Ontario in the final and they were the favourites,鈥� Wood, wearing his 1988 sa国际传媒 sweater, said recalling the title. 鈥淲e were down, 3-4 (wins and losses) early in the week, and we put eight wins together to win it.鈥�
Skinner went a few steps further.
鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting to be involved in this kind of event again and Victoria does such a great job, so I鈥檓 happy that they called me,鈥� said Skinner, who went on to win the Scotties twice, a world championship and represented sa国际传媒 and earned bronze at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002.
And that type of achievement is what the national juniors is geared toward.
鈥淢y job as national curling coach for sa国际传媒 is finding the talent who will be the next generation,鈥� said Elaine Dagg-Jackson, also part of the local organizing committee.
鈥淚n tracking results and looking back at how we find champions or how champions are developed, we know that this is a critical competition area,鈥� she said of the national juniors, which will feature 14 men鈥檚 and 14 women鈥檚 teams.
鈥淚f they hope to compete at the Olympics or the world championships and represent sa国际传媒, they have to be competing at this level, at the Canadian juniors.鈥�
And now Victoria will get to experience it first-hand, once again.
