‘Papering’ causes wee kerfuffle in Calgary

By: Jason Bell Posted: 11:56 PM CST Saturday, Mar. 13, 2021

Call it Granitegate, although most teams Saturday let it slide.

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Call it Granitegate, although most teams Saturday let it slide.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/03/2021 (1869 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Call it Granitegate, although most teams Saturday let it slide.

Curling rocks at the Canadian men’s championship in Calgary were freshly “papered,” or sanded down, prior to the afternoon draw of the eight-team championship round, catching at least one squad off-guard.

Clearly the most fired up about the Brier controversy was the Glenn Howard team, which tweeted out its dissatisfaction that teams hadn’t been warned technicians tinkered with the stones, even though it’s standard procedure during the course of the championship.

Glenn Howard was fired up over not being warned technicians tinkered with the stones, even though it’s standard procedure during the course of the Brier. (Jeff McIntosh / The Canadian Press files)

Papering rocks is a method of roughening up the sliding surface, increasing the amount of curl. A couple of teams found out on their own but most others didn’t know until they started tossing rocks in the pre-game practice.

Curling Canada admitted teams should have been alerted Friday night.

“At that point, there was a communication breakdown, which Curling Canada regrets, as none of the teams was officially informed that the rocks had been touched up,” the federation said, in a statement. “Two teams approached (chief ice technician) Greg Ewasko (of Oakbank) prior to practice to ask if the rocks had been touched up, and he confirmed to them that they had.”

Howard’s Wild Card 2 crew, skipped by Canadian Curling Hall of Famer Wayne Middaugh, surrendered a first-end deuce and went on to lose 6-3 to Team Canada’s Brad Gushue.

The defending champion said he took it upon himself — as he does before each game at the Brier — to chat up Ewasko about potential changes in conditions.

“Greg said there’s going to be a little curl, he touched up the rocks, so we knew what to expect and (held the broom) for it. I thought it was great,” said Gushue. “The little extra curl is going to make the next three or four games — however many are left — pretty entertaining.”

Four-time champion Kevin Koe echoed those sentiments.

“You can always go ask the icemaker. We did and we knew. That being said, it’s not an issue out there. The ice is fantastic,” said Koe, skip of Wild Card 3. “Should they have papered them? That’s not up to me. Obviously, we’re playing good and we don’t have an issue with the ice. Some people might just say that’s because we’re winning but we didn’t have an issue with it.”

Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher said his team “loved” the tweaking of the stones.

“The more curl the better. I would say 95 per cent of the athletes out here love the extra curl. It’s a very small minority that would be opposed to it,” he said. “I honestly don’t think it’s that big a deal.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell