Warren Hansen, the director of events operations and media for the Canadian Curling Association, says he has not been approached by local organizing committees regarding bringing another Scotties or a Brier to Victoria’s Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
But he believes the facility and city would definitely work under the right circumstances, much like Kamloops, which will host the 2014 Brier at the 6,000-seat Interior Savings Centre.
“A Brier could work if the financial circumstances are correct,” said Hansen. “We would have to see some support from local government, from provincial government.
“It’s always amusing, these events bring huge financial impacts into the communities they go to,” explained Hansen. “They place the community across television for 60 hours, yet we seem to be struggling to get money when things like the Junos (Canada’s music awards) can walk in and get $1 million or the Hindi Film Festival can go into Surrey and get $11 million.
“It blows my mind, quite frankly,” said Hansen, who would love to see a national men’s curling championship in Victoria.
Five days into the 2013 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship, Hansen says: “Everything is going fine. Hopefully, we get some more people, but again that’s dependent on how Canada does.”
The event brings with it certain challenges, one being the availability on television.
“It’s the way the world is today. It’s nothing unique to this event, we’re having the same struggles with everything we do,” said Hansen. “Since 2008 the worlds has changed a bit and we have to fight to get the bodies into the building.”
Before Wednesday’s draws, the competition had attracted 26,109 fans over 14 draws.
ALL IN DELIVERY: Canada is one of the only teams here that drops its non-delivery arm straight down and glides the broom along the pebbled ice when throwing stones, as opposed to angling the arm in support with the broom.
E.J. Harnden says it’s nothing new, a strategy that the CCA has promoted for years. Marc Kennedy and John Morris of Kevin Martin’s foursome are well known for it.
“It’s become standard technique. I tried it when I was younger as well. It comes down to whatever you feel comfortable with,” said Harnden. “We’ve been throwing like that since we were kids.
“It’s more used for balance — to have a balanced, square delivery. It’s an easier way to gain that quickly.”
BRADY’S BUNCH: Brady Clark’s Seattle-based U.S. rink has had an up and down week, winning two games on Tuesday, including a 10th end steal off Scotland. On Wednesday, he tapped and rolled for two with his last stone for a 7-6 win over Finland.
“We’ve joked around that we can be Team Rollercoaster at times. We can play poorly and bounce back and play great,” he said.
