Kevin Martin is quite familiar with how much curling means to North Battleford.
The Canadian curling legend made numerous trips through the area with 鈥榃ild鈥� Bill Hunter and also competed in the Thunder on Ice bonspiel on a number of occasions during the 1990s.
鈥淭hat was back at the old club and there was talk back then about having the need for a new facility,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淪o to see what they have here now with the Twin Rivers Curling Club is really exciting.
鈥淭he Thunder on Ice event was a lot of fun and I became really good friends with the icemaker who was here at the time.鈥�
Martin, who is now an analyst for Sportsnet and an ambassador for the Pinty鈥檚 Grand Slam of Curling, was in town Tuesday at the Gold Eagle Casino Event Centre to help kickoff ticket sales for the Meridian Canadian Open at the Civic Centre from Jan. 3 to 8, 2017.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 going to be a very intense event and it might be a little bit of a different atmosphere than what the fans may be expecting,鈥� Martin said.
鈥淣ot only is it going to be the first event of 2017, but it鈥檚 also in the last part of the season where teams are trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials to have a chance to compete at the Olympics in 2018. The teams that are already well up in the standings will be fine, but for the rinks that are ranked from six to 10 on the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 sides, it will be nail biting time.鈥�
Martin says he feels that the Civic Centre will be a key part in helping to make the event a memorable one.
鈥淭he intimate rinks like the one here in North Battleford are a lot of fun,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淔rom a player鈥檚 standpoint, the smaller buildings are usually packed to the rafters and it鈥檚 a lot louder so that creates a lot more energy.
鈥淚t will also be fun for the fans as well because they will be right tight on the action with where they are sitting.鈥�
A total of 16 men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 teams will be competing in the event, which was won last year by Ontario curlers John Epping and Rachel Homan.
This will mark the third straight time the Canadian Open has taken place in Saskatchewan. Yorkton hosted the event in 2014 and 2015.
鈥淭hat wasn鈥檛 done by design but it鈥檚 turned out really well with Yorkton doing a great job the last two years and North Battleford being the hosts in January,鈥� Grand Slam of Curling events manager Jennifer Kjell said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no plans set yet, but we definitely like to keep it in Saskatchewan each year.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been about a two-year process to bring a Grand Slam of Curling event to North Battleford. Wayne Cubbon, who is a co-chair on the organizing committee, has been an assistant ice technician at some of our events over the past few years and he had spoken to us several times about North Battleford. Once everything came together with sponsors, finding the right date and getting everyone on board, it turned out to be a very easy process.鈥�
Although full event packages officially only went on sale Tuesday, 200 passes have already been sold for all of the draws.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 before we鈥檝e started to do a lot of our marketing both nationally and regionally, so that鈥檚 a great sign for all of us,鈥� Kjell said.
鈥淭he committee here has done a great job already of generating excitement through the community, and I think you will see that start to pick up throughout the next couple of months.鈥�
The full event packages will be on sale for an early bird price of $233.57 until Oct. 31.
Weekend playoff draw passes will be available starting on Nov. 1 and single draw tickets will start to be sold on Dec. 1.
Tickets can be purchased online at gsoc.goigniter.com or by calling the Battlefords North Stars office at 306-445-7827.
