By Brady Lang

What you need to know ahead of the Pinty’s 2019 Meridian Canadian Open

Jan 7, 2019 | 1:00 PM

It’s been 10 months since the announcement, and the wait is finally almost over.

The Pinty’s 2019 Meridian Canadian Open is set to begin tomorrow night, with five men’s games ready to start up the six-day bonspiel. This is the second time that North Battleford has held the tournament, with the last stop being in 2017, and the city is buzzing with anticipation ahead of the start.

Among those excited for the tournament is North Battleford’s Mayor Ryan Bater. With the 2017 edition still engrained in his memory, he is excited for not only the event itself but to have world-class curlers in the mix and many fans travelling from far and wide to soak in the competition.

“[2017’s Meridian Open was the biggest and most successful sporting event that this community has ever hosted,” he said. “We’re looking forward to reprising that again this week. We have the best curling teams from around the world with six countries being represented.”

Bater was very thankful for the community’s support in creating this one-of-a-kind sporting event, and even started up something special for the city to capsulate the transformation of the Civic Centre. A camera was mounted on the upper part of the stands in the arena to capture a time lapse of what the transformation looked like, with the video being posted in the near future.

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“The transformation from a hockey arena into an international curling arena is pretty dramatic,” he said. “There’s a lot that goes into it. It’s not a matter of slapping down lines and putting some dividers between the curling sheets.”

Along with the economic benefit, there is also a means of putting a spotlight on the community. With Sportsnet coming in and broadcasting from Thursday to Sunday, the Civic Centre is being revamped into a place which can be seen by millions across the nation.

Bater mentioned that the city will also be broadcasting national ads promoting the city and the community. This is the second time that they’ve been able to do that following the 2017 edition of the tournament. All in all, Bater said this is a great way to show off the city.

“(The Civic Centre) is also turning into a national broadcasting centre,” he said. “It gives a positive spotlight to the community. Last time, the commentators were saying glowing things about the hospitable nature of the people here. We hope that will happen again.”

Locally, it’s not just the event the city of North Battleford can rally behind. Robyn Silvernagle’s North Battleford rink will be showcased as the hometown team. With Silvernagle originally from Biggar, her rink consists of Prince Albert-product and four-time Scotties Champion Stefanie Lawton at third, Edmonton’s Jessie Hunkin, and Prince Albert’s Kara Thevenot.

Silvernagle has finished runner-up at the past two provincial championships and has taken home three titles this season. The team took a long break leading up to this tournament, something that was much needed, according to their skip.

“It’s nice to take some time off and enjoy your family,” she said. “We took a full on break, and we were back on the ice again this week and had a nice team practice yesterday. We just feel ready now.”

The Silvernagle rink will definitely have the crowd behind them when they take the ice on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. to kick off their tournament. Their first matchup will be against East St. Paul, Manitoba’s Tracy Fleury. Fleury’s rink consists of Selena Njegovan at third, Liz Fyfe at second and Kristin MacCuish as their lead. Those three women were previously curling for Kerri Einarson, who is also competing in the tournament with a brand new squad.

Regardless of the matchup, or who they take on, Silvernagle is excited to hit the ice at the Civic Centre.

“We’re going in and hoping to have lots of fun, play well and make a lot of great shots,” she said. “It will be awesome to have the crowd behind us; it’s awesome to have the fans right there and cheering us on.”

Tuesday, January 8th

The 2019 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tour’s Meridian Open will start tomorrow night when 10 of the 16 men’s rinks hit the ice at the Civic Centre at 7:00 p.m. Among those games, two-time World Champion Kevin Koe will take on Saskatoon’s own Rylan Kleiter on sheet A and John Epping out of Toronto will face Saskatoon’s Kirk Muyres on sheet B.

On sheet C, Scotland’s Bruce Mouat is up against Kingston, Ontario’s Scott McDonald, and sheet D will have Niklas Edin out of Sweden up against Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugson.

Rounding out night one of action will be the match to watch, as two-time Meridian Open Champion Brad Gushue’s St. John’s rink will battle it out against Glenn Howard’s rink from Penetanguishene. Howard has earned 14 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling titles, and also two Meridian Canadian Open titles on his long resume.  

Stay with battlefordsNOW throughout the week for updates.

brady.lang@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @BradyLangCJNB