Curling Canada announced Tuesday that the 2022 and 2023 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships will be held at the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre, with the announcement coming mere months after the city successfully hosted the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
“Moose Jaw is coming off of hosting a successful Scotties Tournament of Hearts and I’m thrilled to see another Canadian curling championship return to my home province of Saskatchewan,” said Mitch Minken, chair of Curling Canada’s Board of Directors in a press release. “This host committee is determined to provide a first-class experience for our country’s wheelchair curlers over the next two years and they have our full support.”
The 2022 championship will be held Feb. 21-26 and the 2023 tournament will run from Feb,. 20-25.
Moose Gibson is serving as the host committee chair for both events, which were awarded to the Friendly City after the 2020 event in Quebec was cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. Moose Jaw was supposed to host the 2021 event, but it too was cancelled, leading Curling Canada to ask if the local club would be interested in possibly hosting two years back-to-back, and Curl Moose Jaw was quick to jump on board.
“They thought it was great, it’ll be good for the community and good for the sport,” Gibson said. “It’s exposure on a national scale locally, they are totally amazing athletes and the shotmaking? Phenomenal. So we’re really hoping we’ll get a lot of people coming out to watch.”
Interestingly enough, the host community will have the opportunity to enter as many as two teams into the tournament, which could lead to plenty of local athletes to cheer for. And given the past of some local competitors, they’ll instantly be contenders.
Leading the way, of course, is 2018 Paralympic bronze medalist and national champion Marie Wright. She’ll be joined by fellow 2018 Canadian champ and Moose Javian Gil Dash as well as a host of elite players from all over the province. Lorraine Arguin and Lloyd Thiele will also be back in the coaching ranks.
They’ll be joined by the top players from across Canada in the 14-team event.
“We are proud to host these athletes here in our city competing for the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship,” said Curl Moose Jaw president Kevin deDelley. “These athletes participating in Moose Jaw will generate more exposure to wheelchair curling as a whole in our city and province and we are proud to help build this interest.”
The two tournaments continue the strong relationship between Moose Jaw and Curling Canada, which in addition to the 2020 Scotties has hosted the 2015 Scotties, the 2012 Canada Cup of Curling, the 1994 Canadian Senior Curling Championships, the 1983 World Women’s Curling Championship (first time hosted in Canada) and the 1979 World Junior Men’s Curling Championship.
