Security had to be beefed at MTS Centre Friday after Alberta skip Kevin Martin was the target of some heckling and taunting by fans.
"There were a couple specific issues (Thursday night) that the fans were heckling him in the process of his delivery, so we have increased our security presence here in the next couple of days, which is not uncommon," said Canadian Curling Association events manager Warren Hansen. "Once we get down to single games (on the ice), it's always a concern.
'It's not that bad,' said Alberta's Kevin Martin.
"We've also advised the players that if anything's happening, they should stop (their delivery) at that point in time so that we can find the person who's causing the problem."
Hansen said the increased security will be in place throughout the playoffs. An announcement is also now being made prior to draws, admonishing fans who might be entertaining thoughts of "hackling" -- heckling a curler while they're in the hack. Martin had discussions with CCA officials about the taunts during his game against Yukon/N.W.T. on Thursday night, but was downplaying the episode Friday.
"It's not bad," he insisted. "I'm not really even sure if (the shouts) were for us, actually, or against us. It wasn't really an issue (Thursday night) because it was only on a couple of open hits, but we just decided to keep an eye on things tonight. They (officials) were the ones who brought it to my attention after the game, actually.
"Those guys were pretty tanked. I think they wandered in from the Patch. They were in the top of the 300 section, so we're talking terrible seats."
The CCA also had to beef up security for the men's final at the 2005 Canadian Curling Trials in Halifax because of concerns that the staunchly pro-Brad Gushue crowd was going to heckle Winnipeg's Jeff Stoughton, who'd suggested prior to the event that Gushue had "no chance." The game went off without incident.
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