The newly-created under-18 Canadian curling championships will hit the ice in Moncton next spring.
“Moncton has led the charge in hosting events, especially in curling starting way back in 1952,” says Ron Hutton of the Curling Canada Board of Governors.
That was the Canadian men's junior championships. Young curlers are again looking forward to the opportunity of a lifetime.
“It's so exciting because we have the chance to be the inaugural champions of this event in our hometown,” says curler Layton McCabe.
“With this championship, even just representing our province, it's a real dream come true,” says curler Will Robertson.
Currently the only national event for junior is the under-21 curling championships, which Curling Canada says created an uneven playing field.
“For years we've had younger athletes like 16, even 14 and 15-year-olds competing against our 19 and 20-year-olds, so it will be nice to have more of an age-and-stage appropriate competition for under-18 kids,” says Helen Radford of Curling Canada.
The under-18 Canadian championships will be held April 18-22 of next year. The new downtown arena will be completed a year later.
Having a state-of-the-art facility will allow Moncton to bid for larger events like the Canadian Brier and the Canadian championships.
“Is there a world U-18? Probably will be coming. Could Moncton host it? Certainly,” says Hutton. “They have the capabilities of hosting whatever they would like to host.”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jonathan MacInnis.
