Families, fans flock to Moose Jaw for the Scotties

Moose Jaw has had its share of nicknames, from the Friendly City to Canada’s Most Notorious City.

Valerie Kosmenko may have given the town another handle.

“This is an amaaaaazing little city,” said Kosmenko, a resident of Iqaluit, Nunavut who was in Moose Jaw this week for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts at Mosaic Place. “(There’s) lots going on.

“This facility is great. The volunteers are awesome (and) very supportive of what we might call the underdogs, it seems — and so is the crowd. It’s really great.”

Moose Jaw played host to the Canadian women’s curling championship tournament in 2015 and is getting rave reviews again this year.

Kosmenko has been to previous Scotties, but this was the first time she was able to watch her daughter compete in the event. Sadie Pinksen is the third on Lori Eddy’s Nunavut foursome.

“(It’s) a really nice, nice homey feeling,” Kosmenko said of the atmosphere created by Saskatchewan’s curling community.

“This is a huge arena, but it’s nice really to see a lot of people coming out in the morning draws at 8:30 (or) the evening draws during the work week.”

Kosmenko and other visitors have been impressed with the way Moose Jaw restaurants and businesses have put up displays to welcome competitors and spectators to town.

That’s not surprising, considering Moose Jaw has done it before.

“We were really excited when we found out we were coming back because we really enjoyed ourselves when we were here in 2015,” said Dianne McQuaid, who came from Cornwall, P.E.I., to watch her daughter Michelle play lead on Suzanne Birt’s rink from Prince Edward Island. “They do a great job out here.”

For one contingent of nine people from P.E.I., there wasn’t any doubt about making the long journey to Moose Jaw.

“The group of parents always go,” said Janice Hughes, whose daughter Meaghan is Birt’s second. “It’s just a priority we have.”

Janice didn’t attend the tournament in 2015, but she has been to five Scotties to watch her daughter compete. Janice described Saskatchewan’s work as the host province as “wonderful.”

“I haven’t seen crowds like this at any of the other Scotties that we’ve been to,” she said. “It’s a really big curling town and province, so it’s pretty nice — and the curlers themselves really like that.”

“I think the fans are even much more into it this year (compared to 2015),” added McQuaid. “I don’t remember Saskatchewan being supported as well as they were this time, but maybe they were and I just didn’t remember. This year, they just seem to have so many fans behind them.”

Every team at the event has supporters, some of whom are attending the tournament for the first time.

Michel Cote of Trois-Rivieres, Que., is the father of Quebec second Marie-Pier Cote. Noémie Verreault’s team had never qualified for the tournament before, so the players — and their family members — were first-timers.

For the elder Cote, the event was good for watching curling, but also the fans. Some have signs, some have cowbells and some — like Cote — have noisemakers.

“You have the most wonderful crowd for curling I’ve ever seen,” he said. “In Quebec, (the interest level) is quite a bit lower. The town here is (focused on) curling. The restaurants are (focused on) curling. It’s completely different than our town.”

Cote had a busy week — “Mosaic (Place), room. Mosaic (Place), room. Restaurant, Mosaic (Place), room, restaurant. That’s enough,” he said with a chuckle — before heading home.

His favourite team went 0-7 in the round-robin and didn’t advance to the championship pool, but that didn’t detract from the experience for Cote, other Quebec fans or the team’s players.

“They are playing with their idols — Jennifer Jones, Rachel Homan,” Cote said of the Wild Card and Ontario skips, respectively. “Marie-Pier and the other girls on the team expect to play with them like them, so it’s very, very exciting for them to be here on the ice near their idols.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray