February 7, 2008

Saskatchewan Junior Curlers Team Up With Scotties Provincial and Territorial Champs

Twelve junior curlers from across Saskatchewan will have an opportunity of a lifetime at the 2008 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, which will run from February 16 - 24, 2008 at Regina's Brandt Centre at IPSCO Place.

Each of the young curlers will be the honourary fifth member of one of the twelve teams competing at the 2008 Scotties. The twelve honourary team members are the lucky winners of the SaskEnergy Junior Stars Contest. SaskEnergy and the 2008 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Host Committee launched the contest in November 2007 as a way to give young Saskatchewan curlers the chance to team up with one of the twelve teams competing at the Scotties and take part in this prestigious national tournament.

The winners of the contest were unveiled today at the Caledonian Curling Club in Regina.

As part of the contest, junior curlers were asked to submit short essays describing why they should be selected. The theme of the entries ranged from talking about their favourite curlers, to the pride curling provides a community, to the love of competition in the sport.

“The SaskEnergy Junior Stars contest is a unique opportunity for a junior curler to get to know one of the tournaments teams and to experience the excitement of the tournament from the best seats in the house. The passion for this sport runs deep in Saskatchewan's young curlers, as we can see with the interest in this contest,” said Christine Tell, MLA for Regina Wascana Plains on behalf of Ken Cheveldayoff, Minister of Crown Corporations. “Saskatchewan has an outstanding reputation for hosting highly successful national curling events and SaskEnergy is proud to support these future up-and-comers in this sport.”

As an honourary fifth member of one of the teams, each junior curler will take to the ice and practice with his or her designated team, receive a duplicate provincial team jacket and a photo with the players, and sit with the team’s coach during their team’s game.

“This is an exciting program and is an opportunity for young curlers to get up close and personal with some of this country’s best curlers,” said Ron Pugsley, Co-chair of the 2008 Scotties Host Committee. “For these young curlers, this is an opportunity of a lifetime.”

“It's important that we have young people involved in major curling events like the Scotties,” added Cathy Trowell, co-chair of the 2008 Scotties Host Committee. “The Junior Stars program not only gives the twelve Junior Stars selected the experience of spending time with a provincial champion, but it also creates awareness about the great sport of curling among the youth of Saskatchewan.”

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