Zamboni-Free Curling Weekend

This is the response I received from a friend after sending him a video recorded during a recent league night:

“That’s not curling. It’s mini golf.”

It’s a valid reaction, considering he just watched a rock fall about six feet laterally from the hog line in, to sit buried top 12 under a stack of guards.

Did I mention the rock had the opposite rotation of what should be a “normal” handle?

Welcome to arena curling.

It’s a world of zambonis, falling stones, negative handles and wildly different strategy from what you’d normally expect of the Roaring Game. Arena curlers know it was a good day on the ice when they find themselves exclaiming, “We saw the rock curl in both directions tonight!”

I always chuckle to myself when I hear a TV commentator refer to the playing surface at the Scotties or a Slam as “arena ice.” To me, that’s championship ice.

I’d love to see Brad Gushue, Satsuki Fujisawa or Bruce Mouat try to get a read and play on real arena ice. Ice freshly made by a zamboni with a poor blade, a quick layer or two of pebble thrown down, and some rocks sitting on the hacks just to help them freeze in a bit more quickly.

I’d pay good money to see the best curlers in the world deal with that.

But this weekend, we get to see the opposite. 

Twenty-four arena curling teams are headed to Wausau Curling Club in Wisconsin to battle it out for the USA Curling Arena National Championships on top-tier ice.

And the top teams don’t come from places like Wisconsin or Minnesota. The reigning champions come from Houston and Dallas, with their contenders hailing from places like Huntsville, San Jose, and Omaha.

John Lambert, a five-time arena national champion representing the Dallas-Fort Worth Curling Club, knows all too well the challenges of arena curling.

“Arena curlers used to be on the fringes, but arena curlers spend more money to travel to good ice and pay significantly higher league fees for terribly inferior ice conditions,” said Lambert.

“To be recognized by USA curling with our own championship tells us they know we love curling just as much as any other dedicated ice club curler.”

These are the curlers growing the game in nontraditional markets. These are the players putting in time, sweat, and dollars to create an even more diverse community. These are the curlers who try their best to grow and develop themselves to give you better competition at your next bonspiel, despite not having the same practice opportunities.

These are the folks who are putting our sport in a better place.

“(The arena national championship) provides an opportunity for a lot of really great curlers who might not otherwise get a chance to shine on a similar stage,” said Brian Bessert, skip of La Crosse Curling Club’s arena nationals team.

“Arena-based clubs are also perfectly positioned to introduce the sport to new curlers, so highlighting that aspect and where it can go is really great for the sport as a whole.”

Instead of names like Gushue, Fujisawa, or Mouat taking their places on “arena ice” this weekend, it’ll be names like Asis, Bessert, Walsh, and Ridder sliding out on “championship ice” without a zamboni in sight… and they deserve every bit of the championship experience and recognition.

If you want to learn more about the teams competing at this week’s USA championship and how to watch, I’ve gone into the women’s championships in more detail on Substack.