Espanola gearing up for Ontario women's curling championships

NEWS RELEASE

ESPANOLA CURLING CLUB

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Espanola gearing up for 2008 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts

The week of January 21‐27, 2008 the Espanola Curling Club will play host to the 2008 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts, just two weeks after the club wraps up the Northern Ontario Women’s Championships.

Ten teams, six representing the Ontario Curling Association (OCA) and four from the Northern Ontario Curling Association (NOCA), will compete for the opportunity to represent their province at the national level in the Canadian Scotties Tournament of Hearts held in Regina, Saskatchewan February 16 – 24, 2008. The winner of that competition progresses to the Ford World Women’s Curling Championships in Vernon, British Columbia March 22‐30, 2008 and will represent Team Canada in next year’s Scotties event.

The Ontario Scotties schedule consists of a ten‐team round robin format beginning with Game 1 on Monday, January 21 at 1:30pm. Regular games continue, two per day, with Game 9 slotted for 1:30pm Friday, January 25. At this point, if no tie breakers are required, the top four teams advance to the page playoffs with additional spectator seats setup on Sheet E. The winning team is announced after the semi‐finals, Saturday 7:30pm and finals, Sunday 1:30pm have been concluded.

Some of the week’s special events: The Opening Ceremonies Monday, January 21 at 7:00pm will see the two of the club’s long‐standing members teamed with two of its junior curlers in the ceremonial throw of the first rock. Live entertainment planned for Monday, Friday & Saturday nights in the HeartStop Lounge at the Masonic Hall. The Mayor will be hosting a luncheon for the participants Tuesday, January 22 at 12:30pm to welcome them to Espanola. The Scotties banquet held at the Georgian Room of the Pinewood Motor Inn on Thursday, January 24th at 6:30pm.

The whole community, not just club members, is showing its support by signing up to volunteer for the event. Kim Everett is in charge of volunteer recruitment and has 70% of the required positions filled already.

Full event passes are on sale now at $60 ($80 for window seats). Weekend passes ($25) to the finals and individual game tickets ($10/finals, $7/page playoffs, $5 regular games) will be available beginning the first weekend in January. Tickets can be purchased from Jack Tait only at 705‐869‐3186. Information can also be obtained by email at [email protected].

http://www.espanolacurlingclub.ca/Scotties

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