And the news is especially good given the circumstances -- plenty of teams, action every night during the week and a whole lot of enthusiasm for things to get going.
In the era of COVID-19, that’s all anyone can ask for.
“We’re just about ready to go,” said Rhonda Wenarchuk, curling manager at the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre. “The ice is going in right now, things are coming together and we’ll be ready to play on Monday.”
Things will kick off with games in the Two-on-Two and Money Tree leagues on Monday night, featuring a full slate of rinks and even needing a staggered start, which will see one group of games start followed a half hour later by another group in order to limit congestion in the lobby area.
The Tuesday and Thursday night leagues are both full, the Legion league has the same number of players as in the past using five sheets and things are especially positive in the weekend Fun Curl and Youth leagues.
“With the kids we have around 12 teams and the older leagues might have to go to staggered starts since there is a lot of interest with no school sports going on right now,” Wenarchuk said.
The Original 16 Cash League on Wednesday nights took a bit of a hit and will also feature a dozen rinks, down from 18 last season as the junior foursomes opted out and a handful of other rinks couldn’t commit this season.
Curl Moose Jaw is also looking for a handful of teams for their Friday Night Fun League, which currently has three rinks signed up and might be amalgamated into another night for the first half.
“”So if you’re wanting to come out as a family or a group or even a business, let us know as soon as you can,” Wenarchuk said. Interested rinks can e-mail [email protected] or call the curling office at 306-624-2040.
Players will notice a few changes when they hit the rink for the first time.
In addition to the myriad signs and crowd controls in place to deal with COVID-19 restrictions -- including a host of markers on ice indicating where players are allowed to be -- the centre four rings all have special advertising set into the ice, with the EMJ Marketing initiative offering a colourful improvement to the facility.
“They’re almost finished flooding, they’ll start scraping and getting the equipment out pretty quick,” Wenarchuk said of where things stood Friday afternoon. “It’s a new look and it looks really great out there right now.”
The first major event of the season is right on the horizon, too -- the Sask Men’s Curling Tour hits the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre during the Oct. 30 weekend and will feature 20-plus teams.
For more information on curling in Moose Jaw, visit www.moosejawcurling.com.
