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Curlers and organizers praise North Battleford

Having grown up in Maryfield, Val Sweeting knows what to expect when she curls in Saskatchewan.
Grand Slam Crowd
Packed crowds were the norm at the Civic Centre during the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling’s Meridian Canadian Open in January 2017. Photo by Lucas Punkari

Having grown up in Maryfield, Val Sweeting knows what to expect when she curls in Saskatchewan.

With that said, Sweeting and her Edmonton rink were very impressed with what they saw at the North Battleford Civic Centre during the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling’s Meridian Canadian Open last week.

“The crowds for the 8 a.m. draws were fantastic and they were very supportive no matter who’s playing out there,” Sweeting said.

“There’s always great support in Saskatchewan and I love curling in my home province.”

The Civic Centre was packed all the way through the tournament, which lasted from Jan. 3 to 8, and was said to be one of best-attended events in tour history.

“This week exceeded all of our expectations,” Grand Slam of Curling events manager Jennifer Kjell said. “We knew that this was going to be a good week here in North Battleford, but this has been fantastic.”

“Nothing is set in stone by any stretch, but given the great support we’ve seen here this week, we’ll hopefully be back here in the future.”

Helping with the huge crowds was where the fans came from, with tickets being purchased from various locations in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

“That was a pleasant surprise,” Kjell said.

“Saskatchewan never disappoints when it comes to these events, but it was nice to see how many people were driving for a couple of hours each day to see this.”

The on-ice product had a number of twists and turns, which was highlighted by an upset win from Lethbridge’ Casey Scheidegger on the women’s side.

“Personally, I love seeing the new teams making their way through the ranks,” Kjell said. “But we also had our usual strong teams play well, so it was a nice balance.”

St. John’s Brad Gushue won the men’s title.