Members of the Curling Centre pose for a photo on its new ice Thursday prior to opening Monday after undergoing repairs and renovations since 2022.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Brendan Miller
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Monday evening marks the beginning of a new chapter for curling in the Hat as the local men’s league will return to the ice following a two-year closure of the facility in October 2022 after discovery of a brine leak along its concrete slabs.
The leak prevented ice from being maintained, and required the Medicine Hat Curling Club to invest in new ice-making equipment, including an ice plant and ice mats, to continue operations.
In July 2023 city council approved spending $870,000 to acquire the facility, a request made by the club, after it and city officials went back and forth during the spring on a deal to get $1.7 million to pay for repairs.
At the end of the year in December 2023 the club secured the second half of funding through a Community Facility Enhancement Program grant, worth more than $870,000, and was able to purchase all the ice equipment needed to host a 2024-25 curling season.
As well as repairing the ice, the curling facility has undergone renovations to its lounge and kitchen area, plus modernizing the aesthetics of its viewing area. The curling club has also been rebranded and will now be referred to as the Curling Centre.
This July, Curling Centre board members elected past president Byden Smith as its new general manager, and appointed Paul Hartmann as its new head ice technician.
On Thursday, longtime members, sponsors, board members and reporters were invited to check out the new ice in the facility prior to its opening Monday evening.
To christen the new ice the curling club is planning to let longtime member and volunteer part-time handyman Cliff Landsiedel throw the first rock before the men’s league officially kicks off Monday evening at 7 p.m.
Landsiedel is over the age of 90 and began curling at the club at the age of 65. He has been actively curling in Medicine Hat for more than 25 years.
“I started curling with normal weight,” explains Landsiedel. “Then about five, six years ago I started using the stick because I was not strong enough to throw the rocks anymore. I find that playing with a stick, you’re a much better player, and it’s not as hard on your body.”
The Curling Centre announced its title sponsor will be Rocky Mountain Equipment. Co-owner Garrentt Ganden says curling in Medicine Hat runs in his DNA and recalls fond memories of spending time at the curling club while he was a child in the 1970s.
“As long as I can remember, we would be here and we’d be watching mom and dad curl in the old box seats that they had in the main viewing area,” says Ganden.
“The amount of times I fell asleep in those seats, or you know, you got that dollar from dad so you could have a plate of fries. We were here all the time, me and all my siblings.”
Rocky Mountain Equipment has installed new bird’s-eye cameras above each circle on the ice and the feed will be live-streamed to new TVs located in the renovated lounge area upstairs.
Local curling leagues are filling up quickly and board members say the centre will be in full swing by the middle of October as junior programs begin after Thanksgiving.
The return of ice in the facility has felt like a weight has been lifted off the shoulders of everyone who was involved in fundraising and renovations efforts, says Smith, including several community groups and sponsors.
“Now that the ice is in, every day the stress is going down a little bit more and now it’s turning from stress to excitement. And now that we’re back, we are better than ever and looking forward to growing and getting more people out.”
