NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Councillors Stuart Young, Yusuf Mohammed, Dan Reynish, Mayor Linnsie Clark, Olympic gold medalist curler John Morris and members of Team Miller, a local youth curling team, were all on hand for the announcement Tuesday morning that Co-op Place will host a Grand Slam of Curling event in November. The GSOC Masters event will be held Nov. 3-8.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com
Some of the world’s top curling talent will be on display in Medicine Hat this fall.
The Grand Slam of Curling’s Masters event will be held at Co-op Place from Nov. 3-8, announced Tuesday morning at Co-op Place.
The six-day event will feature 16 of the men’s and 16 of the women’s top teams from around the world, including world champions, Olympic medallists and Canadian favourites. There will also be a U21 Jr. GSOC, which will run Nov. 5-8 at the Curling Centre, with the finals to be held at Co-op Place on Nov. 8, alongside the GSOC Masters championship games.
“This is one of the premier events in the sport, bringing together world class athletics and a national audience over the course of six days, the Grand Slam of Curling organization anticipates welcoming close to 50,000 spectators,” Mayor Linnsie Clark said. “This is significant for a community of our size. It represents economic activity certainly, but also represents visibility with national coverage on Sportsnet and international streaming on the rock channel, Medicine Hat will be part of a much broader conversation.
“Events like this matter because they situate communities within larger networks, they create connections, they allow us to demonstrate not only our capacity to host but our willingness to invest in shared experiences.
The event will mark the first major curling event hosted at Co-op Place and the first GSOC event in Medicine Hat since 2013 when they hosted the Canadian Open of Curling at The Arena.
“It’s crazy to think that the Grand Slam of Curling hasn’t been back to Medicine Hat since 2013, particularly with the city’s passionate curling community and rich history of supporting sporting events,” said Nic Sulsky, CEO of The Curling Group. “The Masters will be a showcase of the best the sport has to offer, featuring newly Olympic-crowned champions, Canadian favourites and curling’s emerging superstars.”
More information regarding teams and schedules will be announced in the coming months. See Wednesday’s News for more on the announcement.
