There were sold-out crowds at the Sports Centre at Western Fair. There was a movie script of a finish. If the city of London was looking to impress just about every one of the top curlers in the world, they can declare: mission accomplished.
After spending the past two years in Las Vegas, the Continental Cup of Curling came to London and put on a show.
Now, the question becomes, what can London host next?
The Scotties and the Tim Hortons Brier have both been played at Budweiser Gardens. The World Championships are a tough get just because they are held in the middle of March and as the chair of Curling Canada’s board of governors, Peter Inch points out, a certain hockey team tends to have Budweiser Gardens booked right around then.
“The Knights are just too good,” chuckles Inch. “They are always in the playoffs and that’s when the World Championships happen. Probably one more that would be nice would be the Roar of the Rings or the Olympic curling trials, but that is four years away before we would have an opportunity at that.”
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Still, that event takes place in December on the curling calendar and would be much easier to schedule if there was further interest.
Inch admits, there could be interest in bringing the Continental Cup back. “I’ll put my hand up if they want to come back to London,” he said. “They held it for two years in a row in Las Vegas… so I’ll probably take 48 hours to sleep and then I’ll make a phone call to say, ‘Let’s talk about some future events here.’”
And why not?
As Inch describes, “We were sold out, there was noise, there was excitement. The prime minister showed up… the teams were tied after all of the games were done… it was one of those times when you are on the edge of your seat for the whole four days.”
The competition at the Continental Cup for January 11-15 in London also acted as a tune-up for the Winter Olympics next month in South Korea.
All but two of the rinks that participated in the event are heading to Pyeongchang and in a matchup of Team World vs. Team North America, the winner was not determined until the very last shot when Team World failed to inch closer than Brad Gushue’s stone in a draw-to-the-button tiebreaker.
Away from the ice, which Team Sweden called the “best ice they have ever played on,” things ran as smoothly as intended.
Inch credits the volunteers, the organizers and the fans for making the event run “without a hitch.”
Team North America now has a three-year winning streak in the Continental Cup. Where it heads next will not be decided for a few months, but the city of London did nothing to take themselves out of the running should the subject of a return visit come up.