In the house: Sault to host its first World Curling Tour event

For the first time ever, a World Curling Tour event will take to the ice in Sault Ste. Marie.

Some of the top men’s curling teams in the world will be competing for a guaranteed prize purse of $80,000 during the Soo Curlers Fall Classic, a World Curling Tour (WCT) event scheduled for October.

“This is the first time the world tour has come to Sault Ste. Marie and we’d love to make this an annual event in the city,” Al Harnden, event coordinator, said in a news release. 

“We have already locked up major sponsorship for this event for the next three years,” he added. 

Among the teams already confirmed for the Sault event are:

• Team Mouat from Scotland, ranked #2 in the world
• Team Retornaz from Italy, ranked #5
• Team Dunstone from Manitoba, ranked #6 with the Sault’s Ryan Harnden throwing lead rocks
• Team Koe from Alberta, ranked #8 in the world
• Team Whyte from Scotland, ranked #9
• Team Carruthers from Manitoba, ranked #12 with Brad Jacobs as Vice

“Sault Ste. Marie has a strong reputation for hosting successful major curling events,” Harnden said. 

For example, the 2021 Canadian Senior Curling Championship in the Sault was one of the best run and most profitable events on the national scene, he said.

In addition to teams from the World Curling Tour, northern Ontario curling teams, from Thunder Bay, Sudbury and the Sault, have shown interest in competing in the high-profile event, according to the release.

The four-day WCT event will feature 24 curling teams in a triple-knockout competition with eight teams qualifying for the championship round. 

The event will be played at the Soo Curlers Club on Anita Boulevard from Oct. 26 to 29.

The competition will be live streamed on six sheets of ice at Soo Curlers through YouTube on the Curling Zone.

Ticket sales for the event will be announced in the early fall. Full event passes for all of the games including the championship round, will be available for $100. Daily passes will also be sold, organizers said.

The presenting sponsor for the October event is Kioti Tractor.