Curlers have the mercury on their minds

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This article was published 24/01/2017 (3478 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After practice was over, Jennifer Jones breezed into the hallway at the Eric Coy Arena where a media throng awaited.

This is familiar territory for the reigning Olympic champion.

When the 2017 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts kicks off today, Jones and her foursome will begin hunting for their eighth provincial championship.

So the rhythm of practices, games and media scrums is all too normal. Yet there is one thing about this year’s provincials that is very different — and it has to do with what’s happening outside the Charleswood arena.

“Nice and warm, hey?” Jones said, as she greeted reporters. “Usually, it’s freezing this week.”

It’s true: record highs have warmed Winnipeg lately — rising above 0 C from a typical range of -12 C to -23 C — and even spurred a rare January rainfall last weekend.

For the average resident, that may be a spot of winter relief. But for an elite curler, the prospect of damp and unseasonably warm weather is somewhat less appealing.

Yes, Jones said, it’s something her team will keep in mind as they watch how the ice responds through the week.

“Generally, we kind of like it cold, because you know that you’re not going to have any issues, and it’s going to be really dry,” Jones said. “But… I don’t anticipate there being any problems.”

Besides, Jones said with a laugh, it rained while her team was competing in the recent Continental Cup in Las Vegas.

“They managed,” she said. “So I’m sure we can figure it out here… it’s almost the same temperature!”

Whatever happens with the weather, there is one big reason Jones is so confident on the ice, and his name is Greg Ewasko.

The longtime provincial ice maestro is once again handling the Scotties’ pebble-tending duties.

“So far, it’s been good here,” he said. “I have my monitoring system outside, and also inside, so we’re watching what’s going on.

“Every hour we kind of take a look at what’s going on, and everything looks like the up and up.”

There is one thing Ewasko frets about in the arena, which seats about 800 people.

Occasionally, he’s been told, meltwater will drip from the ceiling, directly above the sheet that will be used for the Scotties’ televised games. But as of Tuesday afternoon, he’d yet to see a sign of that drip.

There is some good news on the horizon: the forecast is calling for this week to get steadily colder, which will only help Ewasko keep the ice crisp and stable.

“We’ll be all right, so long as it doesn’t turn to 2 C and start raining,” Ewasko said.

As contenders hit the Scotties ice for Tuesday’s practice, the early reviews for the Eric Coy Arena’s ice were glowing.

“It was moving really nice, the speed was really good,” said Selena Kaatz, who plays third for Kerri Einarson.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca