THUNDER BAY – For the curlers competing at this year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts, it’s the ice that matters most.
For the past five days, the crew charged with turning Fort William Gardens from a hockey rink into a world-class curling facility has been hard at work getting it ready for Friday’s opening slate of games.
Workers leveled out the existing hockey ice, painted it white and then added more layers to the mix, all the while putting down the rings, lines and sponsor decals. At least one more layer will be added before the icemakers start to pebble the surface.
“The hockey ice is still here. We go right on top in. What we do is we come in, we take a laser level, we cut the highs with the Zamboni, do dry cuts, and then we flood on top of the hockey ice. Then we purify the water, treat it with a jet-ice purification system, paint it, logo it, cut the circles, paint the circles, foam all the sheets out and start flooding,” said Sudbury’s Tom Leonard, brought in by Curling Canada to oversee the icemaking process at the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Consistency is the biggest concern throughout the 10-day event.
Curlers, many of whom aren’t used to playing on arena ice conditions, which differ greatly from the ice found at most Canadian curling clubs, want assurances the surface will play out the same way in every game they play.
“It’s what the rocks travel on. It has to be consistent. So whatever we start with at the beginning of the week, it has to be there at the end of the week, to the best of our abilities,” Leonard said. “What we don’t want the players to go through is a rollercoaster of ice conditions, from fast one game to slow the next, or lots of curl one game to no curl the next game,” Leonard said.
“We want to find a nice consistency that is going to allow the players to showcase their talent.”
Factors that can affect the ice include the outside temperature, the heating and cooling system in the building and the number of fans in the stands. The more people, the warmer the Gardens will get.
Leonard has plenty of local help, drawing on the expertise of the icemakers at Fort William Curling Club and the Port Arthur Curling Centre.
Having the help of veterans like Thunder Bay’s Brent Adamson is key.
“We couldn’t do it without them,” Leonard said. “We need the local crew. We need the volunteers. We need the local knowledge of guys like Brent Adamson, who works here in the Gardens on the curling club side. It’s just a massive team effort.”
Once the ice is in and ready, the icemakers will open the sheets to a group of local curlers on Thursday night to test it out, allowing crews to see how the ice performs and what, if any, tweaks are needed before the curling begins on Friday.
Thunder Bay’s Krista McCarville will open on Friday night against Saskatchewan in the opening draw, which begins at 7 p.m.
