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Duncan Curling Club gears up for Scotties

Two days worth of games will be televised when the Duncan Curling Club plays host to the 2017 Scotties BC Women’s Curling Championship
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SARAH WARK

Two days worth of games will be televised when the Duncan Curling Club plays host to the 2017 Scotties BC Women’s Curling Championship at the Glen Harper Curling Centre next week.

“We’re pretty excited,” Scotties committee co-chair Brent Dellebuur said on Monday. “We’ve never had television coverage for anything we’ve ever hosted before.”

But Dellebuur hopes local fans will come to the club to see them in person rather than just tuning in to Shaw from home.

“We’d love to have the place full,” he said. “Ticket sales have been OK, but we’re expecting an onslaught in the next week. We’ve got competitors coming from Nanaimo and Victoria, and that’s not a far jaunt, so we’re expecting a lot of their families will be here. We’d just as soon have the building be full.”

Curling may translate well to television, but it’s even better live, Dellebuur insists.

“It’s much more exciting if you’re in the atmosphere of the game,” he related. “We’ve got probably the top eight women’s teams in the province, so there will be some pretty good curling.”

The club is close to finalizing preparations for the event, the biggest one the Glen Harper Curling Centre has ever hosted.

“We’re down to the short strokes now, getting our i’s dotted and our t’s crossed,” Dellebuur said. “We’ll have a big work party this weekend, and we’re hoping that by noon on Monday all our preparations will be finished.”

The teams will start arriving next Monday (Jan. 17), with practice time and a luncheon scheduled during the day on Tuesday. The opening ceremonies will take place at

5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, followed by the first draw at 7 p.m.

There are two draws each on Wednesday (11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.), Thursday (11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.) and Friday (9 a.m. and 2 p.m.). Page playoffs are on Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., followed on Sunday by semifinals at

11 a.m. and the final at 4 p.m. Both games on Saturday and Sunday will be televised.

For local fans, a highlight of the field will be the rink skipped by Sarah Wark, who curled out of Duncan from 2010 to 2016. Now based in Chilliwack, Wark will be making her eighth appearance at a B.C. Scotties since 2008 with her new rink of Kristin Pilote, Stephanie Prinse and Michelle Dunn.

“A lot of people from our club will be supporting her and will be excited to watch her,” Dellebuur said.

Also in contention will be the defending champion Karla Thomson rink from Kamloops, Marla Mallett from Golden Ears Winter Club in Maple Ridge, Dailene Pewarchuk from Victoria, the Kesa Van Osch rink from Nanaimo and Richmond, the Lindsay Hudyma rink from Vancouver and Victoria, the Diane Gushulak rink from Royal City and Vancouver, and Julie Hernier from Cloverdale.

Tickets for the Scotties are available at the Glen Harper Curling Centre (3191 Sherman Rd.), both in advance and at the door. An event pass good for the entire week costs $30, a day pass is $10, and single-draw tickets are $5.



Kevin Rothbauer

About the Author: Kevin Rothbauer

Kevin Rothbauer is the sports reporter for the Cowichan Valley Citizen
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