By Brady Lang

Civic Centre begins transformation for Meridian Open

Jan 4, 2019 | 6:00 PM

Ahead of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling 2019 Meridian Canadian Open, the Civic Centre is being transformed from the home of the North Stars to the home of some of the premier curlers from across the nation.

The transformation started Friday, but Wayne Cubbon, who is a certified level three ice maker and an official Grand Slam, World Curling Federation and CurlSask ice maker, has worked to get the ice even, ready to paint, and set in.

Head Ice Technician at the Twin Rivers Curling Club Ian Naismith said rigorous work is done to create just the foundation of the surface underneath the curling sheets.

“The hockey surface is generally not level,” he said. “They’re even, but not level. It will probably take another 800 to 900 gallons of water to seal in paint, markings and rings and advertising logos.”

In terms of what has to happen before the first rocks are thrown on Tuesday, a long list of transformations on the ice and around the Civic Centre has to happen. It starts with evening out the ice, removing the glass, netting and banners. With Sportsnet televising the event, the wiring for the camera and their sightlines to the ice have to be considered.

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Friday afternoon the ice was whited out and they started to build the curling sheets on top of the hockey ice. The crew has four days to fully flip the arena into a playable curling rink.

Friday night, when the paint is set and sealed, they layered water on top of the paint to prevent it from rising or migrating. In the last few days, approximately 8,000 to 10,000 gallons of water was used to level out the ice.

Saturday, the sheets will be laid out with foam and they will begin icing down each sheet, making it its own separate entity. Prior to the tournament, each sheet must be flooded at least five times, using approximately 150 gallons of water per sheet.

Naismith says the totality of the tournament will include around 15 ice makers, including himself and Cubbon. Once the tournament begins, however, its a race against the clock to keep the ice in playable conditions.

“Once the ice is in and we’ve scrapped it and got it to where it’s playable, it gets scraped and pebbled every draw,” he said. “We have a very limited time in between draws, less than an hour to do the regular ice maintenance.”

Once the foam is installed, the plan is to use as little water as possible. Each sheet will have an additional inch-and-a-half to two inches of ice.

Including preparations and actual play, around 150 volunteers are working to make the event run as smoothly as possible.

Everything kicks off on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. with the first draws of the six-day tournament. The men’s final will be at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 13, while the women’s will be at 3 p.m.

brady.lang@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @BradyLangCJNB