CORNER BROOK George Spracklin won’t be upset when he sees people throwing rocks again.
He’s actually hoping to see it sooner than later.
The president of the Corner Brook Curling Club is hoping to see curling come alive again in the city when the first rock is thrown at the new state-of-the-art Corner Brook Curling Club. The curling community hasn’t had a place to call home for two years so it’s a safe bet local curlers are anxious to check out the new digs located adjacent to the Pepsi Centre Studio.
Spracklin, who is expecting the city to turn over the keys to the four-sheet facility as early as today, is hoping to have curlers on the ice by Dec. 1 or earlier. He said there is a bit of work to be done over the next couple of weeks with preparing the ice, moving furniture into the facility and moving a number of items over from the old building where it’s been in storage for the past two years. There are also housekeeping items to address such as an occupancy permit from the city and a thumbs-up from the fire chief.
“The ice is in to a point where another five, six hours maybe it would be ready to use,” said Spracklin, who said a crew of volunteers managed to get in to the building a few weeks ago and get familiar with the new plant and actually started making the ice.
Even though there has been some frustrating moments in trying to get the facility open, Spracklin wants curlers to hang tight because it’s only a matter of time now before everything is ready.
“Guaranteed there will be curling this year. In fact, we hope to have curlers on the ice between now and the first of December,” he said.
Once the association gets the green light to start curling, Spracklin said plans will be made to get various leagues up and running. He said there will be a free week of curling for people to give the sport a try once the facility is open and he’s confident the curling community will be impressed with the new home.
“Absolutely beautiful,” he responded when asked his thoughts of the facility.
He believes the new facility will go a long way in alleviating some of the headaches the association had to deal with on a constant basis in the old curling rink.
“We no longer have roof problems like we had in the old place and we no longer have a dinosaur of a plant that you went into in October, turned it on and said a prayer and hoped that it would start and wouldn’t cost you $4,000 or $5,000,” he said.
The association has a number of volunteers in place eager to get the various leagues and the junior program started once the green light has been given. It’s a safe bet there is a scattered ‘hurry’ being shouted around in the local curling community.
