While the Canadian Curling Association would love to come back to the Langley Events Centre, they wouldn’t mind some more fans in the stands.
Those are the sentiments of Greg Stemlaw, the CCA’s chief executive officer on the heels of the eighth annual World Financial Group Continental Cup of Curling.
It was held at the Langley Events Centre from Thursday to Sunday.
“From a spectator standpoint, we would like to have seen more spectators come out,” Stemlaw said.
“We knew that this is a very populous area (but) the draw hasn’t been there in that market place where it has been in some of the epicentres in the country.
“I don’t think that is anything that is a knock to Langley or the venue itself, it just is for whatever reason, it didn’t seem to be as well-attended as we would have liked to have seen.”
“We would certainly love to come back and host something in the future,” he added.
While final numbers are not expected for a few days, event manager Neil Houston expects figures will be in the 20,000 range, which puts them right in line with the past few Continental Cups.
Miranda Gathercole/Langley Times
Langley residents Helen Jeklin, 4, and her father Brent cheer on Team North America at the World Financial Group Continental Cup of Curling. Team World defeated North America 35-20 in the final game, winning them the cup. Brent Jeklin is a huge curling fan, playing on a team himself, and his daughter attends all of his games.
“I think the event went well, given that Mother Nature threw a little curve ball with the weather,” Houston said, referring to the weekend snow storm.
He said it is tough to know if the weather impacted the final two days of the four-day event at the Langley Events Centre.
“But you have to assume that people see bad weather moving in ... and TSN does a great job of broadcasting it, (people) might watch it from home.
“You can’t blame them for that.”
TSN broadcast live all 11 draws over the four days of the competition.
Heading into Sunday’s final draw, Team World needed just a single point to capture the Continental Cup.
Team World skip Thomas Ulsrud — the 2010 Olympic silver medalist — won the third end to give his team the necessary points.
They wound up winning the Cup 235-165, continuing a trend which sees the two sides winning alternating Cups. The all-time series is 4-4.
Houston said they had received good feedback from both the Canadian Curling Association and the curlers themselves.
“They enjoyed the volunteers and appreciated all the effort they put in,” he said about the hundreds of volunteers, the majority of them from the Langley Curling Club.
“The hotel was great, the playing conditions were great (and) they enjoyed the friendliness of the spectators.”