Kamloops This Week - Brier 2014

IN BE T KA ST HE M VI LO EW O PS !

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SPORTS

Rauter’s route started in the River City V

By Marty Hastings STAFF REPORTER

sports@kamloopsthisweek.com

The first curling event Vic Rauter ever called was the 1986 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship in Kamloops. He’s come a long way since then. Twitter photo

— his big break came at the 1984 Olympic Summer Games in Los

Angeles, where he covered, of all things, field hockey.

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events were put on ice for a brief period but, in a stroke of luck for Rauter, field hockey continued.

“Every afternoon, Brian Williams, who was hosting on CBC, would say, ‘It’s time for afternoon hockey — Hockey Day in Canada,’ and we would go off to East Los Angeles College and we would fill about 45 minutes until the afternoon sessions started elsewhere,” said Rauter,

C O N G R ATS

IC RAUTER called his first draw in the Tournament Capital and went on to become the voice of Canadian curling.

“Interestingly enough, my first curling event ever was the Canadian mixed in Kamloops in 1986,” said Rauter, whose name has become synonymous with the game in the Great White North.

“Would I have expected it to turn out this way? I don’t think anyone could have,” he said.

“The sport has been very kind to me and to be associated with it the way I have been is quite humbling.”

There’s another first in Rauter’s career that might surprise some

then a MotherCorp employee.

“That’s how I think I really became known to management.”

Many CBC brass members jumped ship to TSN that fall when the groundbreaking sports network launched. The CBC did not renew Rauter’s contract in 1985, but his work at the Games brought him favour with some of TSN’s new top dogs.

He was hired in

September of 1985 and it was not long before the relatively green media man’s career path took a life-altering turn.

The late Jim Thompson, a founding partner of TSN, had plans for Rauter.

“He said to me, ‘What do you know about curling?’ and I said, ‘Nothing,’” Rauter recalled of one of their first conversations.

“He said — ‘Perfect.’”

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SPORTS

Road to the Brier across the nation TSN anchor makes return

The 12-team field for the Tim Hortons Brier in Kamloops was decided at playdowns in Canada’s provinces and territories.

In what likely was the biggest surprise of the qualification tournaments, Glenn Howard’s eight-year reign as Ontario’s champion came to an end when he was beaten by Greg Balsdon’s rink.

Brad Gushue claimed the Newfoundland-Labrador berth with a win over Colin Thomas. Gushue has qualified for the Brier in eight consecutive seasons.

Jeff Stoughton and Mike McEwen faced off for a third consecutive season in Manitoba, with the Stoughton rink winning 8-3.

In Saskatchewan, Steve Laycock edged defending-champion Brock Virtue 7-6.

John Morris won the B.C. title, thumping Jason Montgomery 11-2 in the final. Morris will become only the third curler to represent three provinces (Ontario, Alberta and B.C) at the Brier.

The battle of Alberta was won

by Kevin Koe, who downed Kevin Martin 7-5 in the championship matchup.

Koe’s brother, Jamie Koe, prevailed in the Northwest Territories/ Yukon title tilt.

In Northern Ontario, Jeff Currie

X From D2

beat Brian Adams Jr. 9-4 to book a spot at the Brier.

On the Atlantic coast, playdowns in New Brunswick, P.E.I. and Nova Scotia were won by rinks with past experience at the Canadian championship.

James Grattan won in New Brunswick, Eddie MacKenzie was the victor in P.E.I and Jamie Murphy was triumphant in Nova Scotia.

Jean-Michel Menard is Quebec’s representative after defeating Philippe Lemay 7-4.

Ménard was the 2006 Canadian men’s champion.

Rauter was to be a straight man of sorts — an armchair curler — asking questions of the broadcast team’s experts, such as Ray Turnbull, Linda Moore and Russ Howard.

“It’s the role Jim Thompson wanted me to do back then and it’s what I’m doing now in my 28th year,” Rauter said.

“Sometimes I know what they’re going to play but, quite often, I still don’t know. The game has advanced to a level that I can’t imagine, so I’m still asking those question all these years later.”

Rauter was in Kamloops when Dave Van Dine’s Ontario rink won the 1986 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship.

He was at the 1998 World Men’s Curling Championship in the Tournament Capital when the Canadian

Ron Burgundy (middle) providing colour commentary with TSN’s curling broadcast team of Vic Rauter (right), Linda Moore and Russ Howard at the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings on Dec. 1 in Winnipeg. bellmediapr.ca

rink skipped by Wayne Middaugh won gold.

The Toronto product was in Canada’s living rooms in 1996, when Jeff Stoughton and his Ontario rink won the Brier in the River City.

Rauter said the men’s and women’s national curling championships are unique — the only events that provoke fever-pitch provincial passion.

“Very few sports

allow you to have that homegrown feeling,” Rauter said. “Wherever you may be in the country, you suddenly put on your blue nose if you’re a Nova Scotian, or you feel like a Newfie, or if you’re from the Wild Rose Country or if you’re from Beautiful B.C, you happen to feel the kinship with those provincial teams and no other sport, no other tournament, even gives

you that chance.”

This year, he comes back to where it all started as the voice of the 2014 Tim Hortons Brier — only now he’s a Canadian curling icon.

“Quite honestly, it’s an honour,” Rauter told KTW. “Goodness, how do I put it into words?

For people to come up and want to say hello . . . that’s a great compliment and I never take that for granted.”

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SPORTS

Cotter’s Kamloops Brier dream materializes

By Adam Williams STAFF REPORTER

adam@kamloopsthisweek.com

Jim Cotter remembers sitting in the stands of Riverside Coliseum, a 21-year-old watching Kamloops’ Barry McPhee compete in the 1996 Kamloops Brier.

“It was quite the feeling to sit in the crowd and see that unfold,” Cotter told KTW. “Being a big fan of Barry McPhee and Kenny Brown and those guys, it was like ‘Wow, what a dream come true for those guys, I would love to be in that situation.’”

Eighteen years later, now 39, Cotter will have the opportunity to realize that dream when he steps into the hack on March 1 at the Interior Savings Centre for the 2014 Kamloops Brier.

Though this will be his fourth Brier appearance — he threw fourth stones for skip Bob Ursel in the 2008 Brier in Winnipeg and skipped his own teams in 2011 in London, Ont. and 2012 in Saskatoon — this time things will be a little different. He’ll be returning to his hometown to play on one of the biggest stages in Canadian curling.

Jim Cotter, born and raised in Kamloops, is curling for John Morris’ Vernon-Kelowna rink at the Tim Hortons Brier, which gets underway at Interior Savings Centre on Saturday, March 1. Curl BC photo

Cotter throws fourth stones for John Morris’ rink, which will be representing B.C. at the Brier.

Despite now calling Vernon

home, Cotter was born and raised in Kamloops and still thinks of himself as a Kamloops boy, even though he left the city

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“It definitely makes it a little more special,” he said. “Born and raised in Kamloops, I grew

up curling there, playing baseball, I’ve got tons of family and friends there. So, it definitely makes it extra special to go back to my hometown and play in such a big event like the Brier.”

Cotter’s mother, Pat, and his sister, Richelle, still live in Kamloops. He also has a lot of friends who still call the city home, connections from his years in sports and his time as a student at NorKam secondary and the University College of the Cariboo.

Cotter doesn’t know how much free time he’ll have to visit friends and family — the Brier runs on a tight schedule — but regardless, he’s excited to have the opportunity to play in front of a hometown crowd.

“It’s fantastic,” Pat said. “He’s really excited. This is his hometown — he was practically raised at the Kamloops Curling Club” She’s hoping that despite the fact he now makes his permanent home in Vernon, people around the city still think of him as a local product.

“I’m hoping he’s got lots of supporters, I’m pretty sure he does,” she said.

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SPORTS

Morris eyeing national gold X From D4

This year’s Brier is special for Cotter not only because of its location — it’s one of the best shots he has had at winning the national title.

This season’s addition of Morris at skip has helped Cotter take his game to another level, focusing on throwing the last rocks rather than calling the game.

“John’s one of the best players, if not the best player, in the world,” Cotter said.

“It kind of spreads the pressure amongst our teammates. John calling the game, he can concentrate on that, and I can concentrate on throwing the last brick.

“I think it’s a great combination and we work extremely well together.”

The Morris rink came up just short in their bid to represent

Patch party The Patch is home to a nineday party that will be in full swing throughout the Tim Hortons Brier.

It’s situated in Memorial Arena, just a short walk or complimentary shuttle ride from Interior Savings Centre.

There will be food, beverages and a nightly lineup of live entertainment.

The party in the Patch kicks off tonight (Feb. 28) with Fan Appreciation Night for Old Classic and Double Impact ticket holders, whom are invited to meet with the competitors from all 12 teams and

dance to the sounds of the Chevelles.

Buying a single-draw ticket grants same-day access to the Patch throughout the Brier, from Saturday, March 1, to Sunday, March 9.

Fans can participate in the Cool Shots shuffleboard-curling competition, which gets underway on Sunday.

Go online to curling.ca for more information on entertainment.

Autograph-signing sessions will be held at the Kamloops Curling Club.

Below is a schedule of Patch events.

Jim Cotter in the house lining up a shot for the Morris rink at the B.C. men’s curling championship earlier this month in Vancouver. Curl BC photo

Canada at the 2014 Sochi Olympics — they finished second to Ontario’s Brad Jacobs at the Roar of the Rings — but winning the Brier will give them the opportunity to represent Canada in another capacity.

A gold medal in Kamloops would mean a berth in the 2014

Men’s Curling World Championship in Beijing, China. For the first time in Brier history it would also mean an automatic berth in the 2015 bonspiel as Team Canada.

Not that Cotter needs another reason to be excited about coming home to slide in Kamloops.

“The Brier is just a phenomenal event,” he said. “People compete their entire lives to try and get to the Brier and for us to go back there — you want to be 100 per cent ready, go out there and put in a great effort. Hopefully, at the end of the day, you’re standing on the podium.”

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Quirky, campy, downhome vignettes have become a staple of TSN’s Brier broadcasts.

At the helm are anchor Vic Rauter and his longtime cameraman, Jim Young.

“It’s about introducing the community to the rest of Canada,” Rauter said.

“It’s one of those things we really like because viewers may never get there, but they get a sense of what the community is like.”

Rauter jogged his memory in an interview with KTW and recalled three of the vignettes TSN did in Kamloops during the 1996 Brier.

“It was cold enough

there for an ice-fishing bit, then we went up to where Nancy Greene Raine was at Sun Peaks and we took her a Mars bar, of course, and were silly about it, but I also visited a psychic in Kamloops and she read the cards about what the final would be.”

(Greene Raine, the alpine skier voted Canada’s female athlete of the 20th century, did promotional work and commercials for the chocolate-bar company.)

Lee Morris, CEO of Tourism Kamloops, has been in contact with TSN, providing the network and Rauter with vignette ideas for this year’s Brier.

“We don’t have it finalized yet, but we’ve given them places to take a look at,” Morris said.

“We’ve suggested they look at going to the [B.C.] Wildlife Park, golf, heritage structures and the downtown core. We’ve given them a full list.”

Morris was hoping to meet with TSN on Wednesday, Feb. 26, after KTW’s press deadline to nail down the vignette locations.

“It all started very innocently,” Rauter said.

“We started doing them about 25 years ago. It’s very nice for me and for Jim. There is something very monotonous about going from the hotel to the arena. You do the game and go back to your hotel. This breaks that cycle.

“We get to go out and see something of the community.”

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LOCAL NEWS

Striving for surface perfection

By Adam Williams STAFF REPORTER

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Dave Merklinger and his ice-making team will be hard at work throughout the 2014 Tim Hortons Brier in Kamloops. Crew members are pictured here working on the ice at Interior Savings Centre on Sunday, Feb. 23. Adam Williams/KTW

the paint and logos, before itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all topped with a layer of pebble â&#x20AC;&#x201D; water droplets sprayed on the surface that freeze into bumps (pebble) and create the movement (curl) of the rocks.

Maintaining the ice will require Merklingerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s constant attention throughout the week.

Sheets will need to be scraped and re-pebbled between games, with everything from humidity and temperature inside to the weather outdoors and the number of spectators in the building impacting how the ice will play.

For Merklinger, all these factors are nothing new.

He has made ice for every major curling event, including the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, and has made ice for more than five Briers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Well I like curling, so when I was young I started curling at the age of 12 or so,â&#x20AC;? Merklinger said.

He apprenticed under one of Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most famous ice technicians, Clarence â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shortyâ&#x20AC;? Jenkins, who made the ice when the Brier last came to Kamloops in 1996. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He took me under his wing and I pebbled my first sheet in 1969 . . . been doing it ever since.â&#x20AC;?

Merklinger had an opportunity to see how the ice was playing when the Kamloops Super League used it to play their championship final on Thursday, Feb 27.

The Kamloops locals were the first to use the surface, with the Brierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s teams practising on it today (Feb. 28). â&#x20AC;&#x153;To me the game of curling has to be exciting and the only way to make it exciting is if you have it look good for TV, look good for paying spectators and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s having ice that curls and guys can make good shots on,â&#x20AC;? Merklinger said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the bottom line.â&#x20AC;?

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A crew of 13 walks the ice surface at Interior Savings Centre, busying themselves with hoses, measuring tape and pieces of plastic with sponsor logos on them.

They stretch string more than 45 metres (150 feet), from one end of the freshly made curling sheets to the other, making sure everything is perfectly straight.

The surface that will be home to the 2014 Brier barely resembles that which the Kamloops Blazers played on a little more than a week ago, with rings painted in blue and red at each end of the sheets and lines going this way and that.

Ice maker Dave Merklinger and his crew have been at work since Friday, Feb. 21, and wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be finished until Wednesday night.

Below the seats, giant rolls of carpet â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the iconic blue carpet that appears at every major Canadian curling event â&#x20AC;&#x201D; sit in stacks six feet high.

The 40-pound rocks that will soon be hurled sit dismantled, red and yellow handles separated from their granite bases.

In the stands, crews assemble scaffolding for the bench that will house the media, bringing the event nationwide.

It seems like quite the process, but thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a science to creating ice for Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest curling event. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a little more level than hockey,â&#x20AC;? Merklinger said of the surface. He and his crew brought a surveyorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s level into the building on Friday to smooth out any highs and lows. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got a Zamboni that drives around dropping water, going around in circles, it can be a little unlevel.â&#x20AC;?

The crew put a layer of ice paint on the surface on Saturday, giving it the vibrant white seen on TV, and hand-painted the rings at each end of the four sheets.

They also installed the foam bumpers around the sheets and laid ribbons in the ice for each sheetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lines.

Merklinger said about three quarters of an inch of ice would be laid on top

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SPORTS

Businesses, hotels to see Brier boon

The Brier is back Kamloops, bringing with it, most likely, lots of money and tourists.

If the projections of organizers prove true, what is arguably the world’s most competitive bonspiel will mean big money for local hotels and businesses.

Lee Morris, CEO of Tourism Kamloops, said she expects the Brier to have an $8-million impact on the local economy.

Organizers are anticipating about 3,000 curling fans to make the trek to Kamloops for the event, which runs from March 1 to March 9.

Curling fans will eat, shop, sleep and no doubt party while in the Tournament Capital.

Kamloops has about 3,500 hotel rooms, meaning Brier fans, athletes and officials would essentially fill up all local accommodations.

Morris said local businesses will also be hurrying hard to get in on the action.

“There will be a lot more engagement, maybe, than the last time around,” Morris said, referencing the 1996 Brier in Kamloops — the last time B.C.

hosted the event.

“But, I know for ’96, you couldn’t miss the fact the Brier was in town.”

Morris said the 1996 event also had a “significant impact” on the local accommodation sector and Kamloops businesses.

“We always love to have 3,000 people in our downtown core,” said Gay Pooler, general manager of the Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association.

“It’s good for restaurants, good for shops.”

The Brier Patch — a gigantic beer garden that has been a Brier staple for 30 years — will be located in Memorial Arena.

That means spectators and partiers will likely spend at least a little bit of time on foot downtown, and Pooler said that will be good for business.

“Our downtown is the type that out-of-town visitors like to walk around in,” she said.

“So, it works. People will definitely be going out and walking around downtown.

“It’s good for our businesses, it’s good for the visitors — it’s good for everybody.”

According to Morris, one of the biggest benefits of Kamloops hosting the Brier will be the media coverage — hours and hours of high-definition beamed to millions

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The Sandra Schmirler Foundation was created in January 2001 as a legacy to three-time world curling champion and Olympic gold medalist, Sandra Schmirler, in recognition and celebration of her love of family. She died in 2000, at just 36, but her legacy continues to grow through the Sandra Schmirler Foundation which is dedicated to raising funds for life-saving equipment for babies born premature and critically ill. The Foundation has now contributed over $2.5 million to 35 hospital newborn intensive care units (NICUs), in every province in Canada. And the list continues to grow every year with the generous support of our many donors.

In BC, the Foundation has helped fund life-saving equipment in hospitals in Vancouver, New Westminster, Victoria and Kelowna.

During the Tim Horton’s Brier, the Sandra Schmirler Foundation will present a $51,000 cheque to the Royal Inland Hospital for the purchase of an Overbed Warmer to replace a 15 year old monitor in their NICU and a Vital Signs Monitor which is an essential piece of life-saving equipment that quickly lets staff know when a baby is in distress, requiring immediate attention. With this latest grant, the Foundation will have donated $320,372 to help BC families and their miracle babies, helping to give them the chance to grow up and be a champion like Sandra.

This much needed life-saving equipment enables families to stay together in their own communities and not be separated as these miracle babies receive the care they so desperately need.

Emma Gushulak is one of those babies that spent the first part of her life in a NICU at BC Children’s Hospital. In many ways Emma is the poster child for the Sandra Schmirler Foundation. Her Mom, Diane, is a competitive curler who represented Ontario at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in 1995 and then BC in 2004, 2009 and 2013. Here is Emma’s story as told by her Mom, Diane: “In the summer of 2006 I was pregnant for the first time and we were thrilled. My husband Brent Gushulak and I had already gone through two IVF cycles with no success, and we were told that the third time would have to be our last. Happily, one out of only two little embryos took. Becoming pregnant was our first miracle and we were ecstatic. Unfortunately, our happiness was short lived. On October 7th, at exactly 23 weeks gestation, I started having very painful contractions. We rushed to the hospital and after an ultrasound we knew we were in trouble. Not so much from the Doctors’ words, but from the expressions on their faces. We were very frightened.

My contractions got worse and were very painful. If the baby survived, there was a 50% chance that there would be something fundamentally wrong with one or all of the major organs. I had an emergency Caesarean section, and our baby girl was born at 23 weeks and 4 days gestation. She weighed 1 pound, 1 ounce and was given 20% odds of survival. When her Dad first saw her she was in a plastic bag to keep warm and she grabbed his finger as if she never wanted to let go. We named her “Emma Diane” and held our breath.

Emma was in the NICU for 120 days. She was so fragile that we weren’t allowed to hold her for two weeks. Her skin was so thin it was translucent. She had surgery at 27 weeks and the operation was successful, but they had to paralyze her for two days so she could heal.

I cannot describe the horror and helplessness of watching your tiny baby in a coma for two days unsure if she will ever wake up again.

Emma was in an incubator for six weeks. She didn’t breath on her own until a week before Christmas. She opened her eyes for the first time on her Dad’s birthday, 13 days after she was born. It was the best present he has ever received. She had 11 blood transfusions and daily blood tests and was wired up to a machine or monitor until the day we took her home. We brought her home on Valentine’s Day 2007, one week after her due date. Our second miracle.

Emma was a fighter, but she didn’t do it alone. She needed all the help a neonatal facility could provide. Emma turned 7 on October 11.

Today, she is a happy, healthy little girl who loves to skate, ski, dance, do gymnastics, swim, bike, run races and yes she loves to curl!

Emma and I do a fundraiser for the Foundation every year. Please join us in helping other babies and families get the same expertise and life-saving treatment that we received.”

The Sandra Schmirler Foundation will be holding a crowd sweep during the third end break of the semi-final game on Saturday, March 8. The curling community has been very generous in its support of all of our fundraising efforts.

Miracles don’t just happen, it is people like you who make them happen!

Thank You!

D12 ❖ TIM HORTONS BRIER • March 1-9, 2014

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North ,BNMPPQT Diner With An 0VUTUBOEJOH .FOV 'PS Everyone!

Pleased to Welcome the Best Curlers in Canada to Kamloops!

Cathy McLeod, M.P. Kamloops OfÀce 979 Victoria St. Kamloops, BC V2C 2C1 Tel: 250-851-4991 Fax: 250-851-4994 Toll Free: 1-877-619-3332 cathy.mcleod.c1@parl.gc.ca www.cathymcleod.ca

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250-374-0080 cornerstonerestaurant.ca

TIM HORTONS BRIER • March 1-9, 2014 ❖ D13

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LOCAL NEWS

Tale of the Tankard First presented by the Macdonald Tobacco Company in 1927, the Macdonald Brier Trophy was awarded annually to the winner of the Macdonald Brier until 1979.

Macdonald Tobacco withdrew its sponsorship that year after 50 years and the Macdonald Brier Tankard was retired.

When Labatt Breweries became the Brier sponsor in 1980, it introduced a gold Labatt Tankard, which became the icon of the Brier and was awarded 21 times.

When Labatt decided to end its title sponsorship, the Labatt Tankard was retired.

When Nokia Products Ltd. became the Brier’s new sponsor, it decided in consultation with the Canadian Curling Association to reactivate the original trophy beginning with the 2001 Nokia Brier.

The trophy was restored

235 VICTORIA ST, KAMLOOPS BRITISH COLUMBIA V2C 2A1

250.372.9588 MEN’S CLOTHING STORE · ACCESSORIES STORE

The Brier Tankard Trophy.

and the base was expanded

by Clarkes Recognition Products of Vancouver.

For its first 27 years, the Tankard was presented with a sterling silver heart plaque attached to it on which the names of each team member had been hand-engraved.

After 27 years no space was left, so a single plaque was attached to the back,

where the names of all the winners from 1955 to 1979 were engraved.

Clarkes increased the size of the base so that a silver heart crest could be attached for every Brierwinning team.

The Tim Hortons Tankard now proudly displays a hand-engraved silver heart for each of the Brier winners.

The original cup on the trophy was hand-tooled in Great Britain and is a work of art that could be re-created only in Europe.

The replacement value of the original trophy has been estimated at $17,000.

The CCA invested $10,000 to complete the restoration.

— curling.ca

Mc&H

mcallisterandhoward.com

D14 ❖ TIM HORTONS BRIER • March 1-9, 2014

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SPORTS

Ford Hot Shots skills contest approaches

The action on the ice for the Canadian men’s curling championship gets underway with the opening draw on Saturday, March 1, at 1:30 p.m. at Interior Savings Centre.

But, there will be plenty of entertainment for fans leading up to the start of the battle for the Tim Hortons Brier Tankard.

The preliminary round of the Ford Hot Shots competition — a skills contest preceding both the Brier and the women’s national championship, the Scotties — will begin at 1 p.m. today (Feb. 28) at ISC. Admission is free to see all 48 players shoot for a two-year lease on a 2014 Ford Fusion 2.0L AWD with Ecoboost, which has an approximate retail value of $15,304.

The runner-up will receive a cheque for $2,000 and $1,000 will be awarded for third place.

The Ford Hot Shots playoffs, including Final Eight, Final Four and Final, will take place Saturday starting at 11 a.m. following the opening ceremony, which gets underway at 10 a.m.

Healthier for You and the Environment

Local Business and Local Salmon!

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RiverFresh Wild BC Salmon products are available year round at great prices. We strive to provide locally harvested products that raise the bar for conservation, sustainability, traceability and quality.

Come check out our fresh salmon products today!

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TIM HORTONS BRIER • March 1-9, 2014 ❖ D15

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Good Luck Curlers New Afton would like to wish all Canadian athletes the best in the Tim Horton’s Brier with festivities beginning on Friday, February 28th, 2014 at the Interior Savings Center. New Gold – New Afton Mine is proud to be part of the Kamloops community and applauds all the volunteers who are making this event possible.

March & April Specials!

Purchase 2 entrees and receive a

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COMPLIMENTARY FREE APPETIZER BEER or GLASS OF with purchase of any entree!

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March Specials not valid with any other offers

CUPE Local 900

CUPE Local 900 members are proud to provide quality public services for our communities throughout the Thompson Okanagan.

CUPE members are proud to work, live and pay taxes in the communities they serve.

Cities of Kamloops and Merrit | Thompson Nicola Regional District BC Wildlife Park | Villages of Lytton, Chase, Ashcroft & Clinton Districts of Logan Lake & Clearwater | Kamloops Golf & Country Club

Think Global, Shift Local.

Top 10 Reasons for Shifting to Local 1. Keep money in your community 2. Your community is unique - celebrate it 3. Get way better service 4. Better selection for you 5. More local ownership and jobs 6. Help out the environment 7. Support community groups 8. Better use of community space 9. Better public services 10. These are you friends and neighbours!

Take the 10% Shift pledge at tenpercentshif t.ca As a proud British Columbian, I pledge to dedicate at least ten percent of my consumer spending to local manufactured or grown products, and to locally owned businesses that offer locally produced goods and services

BUILDING STRONG COMMUNITIES

D16 ❖ TIM HORTONS BRIER • March 1-9, 2014

www.curling.ca/tickets