By KEVIN BERGER, Local Journalism Initiative
The biggest event that the Martensville Curling Club has ever hosted is now less than two weeks away.
The Grand Slam of Curling Tier 2 event will be held at the Martensville Curling Club from Tuesday to Saturday, December 16-20.
This huge event is running parallel to the Grand Slam of Curling Tier 1 event taking place in Saskatoon, with the finals being held on Sunday, December 21 at Merlis Belsher Place.
According to the GSOC website, the actual name of the event is the HearingLife Canadian Open, and this is the first time it has featured a Tier 2 division.
This addition is a boon for the Martensville Curling Club, which will be able to keep 100 per cent of all ticket sales.
As pointed out by Martensville Curling Club board member James Gordon, this will help with future upgrades at the club, which in turn will lead to more great events in the future.
Tickets for the event can be purchased online at TheGrandSlamOfCurling.com. Draw times are at 8 a.m., noon, 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., with tiebreakers set to occur on Saturday morning.
The women’s quarter finals are at noon on Saturday, while the quarter-finals follow at 4:30 p.m. The men’s and women’s semi-finals are at 8:30 p.m.
Both the men’s and women’s divisions will feature 16 teams.
The men’s field will feature the likes of 2018 Winter Olympics Canadian men’s team skip Kevin Koe; Reid Carruthers, who played second on the 2011 World Men’s Curling Championship winning team; Jordon McDonald, who is the youngest skip to ever participate in Olympic Curling trials; U.S. curler Korey Dropkin, who competed at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics; Sam Mooiebroek and Mark Kean of Ontario, who also recently qualified for the 2025 Canadian Olympic Curling pre-trials; Takumi Maeda, considered to be one of Japan’s top curlers; 2026 Cortina Olympics contenders Lukas Klima of Czechia and Magnus Ramsfjell of Norway; and Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi of Japan and Xu Xiaoming of China, who are currently competing at the Olympic qualifier in Kelowna from December 5-11.
Also competing in the men’s division from Saskatchewan are Kelly Knapp, Dustin Kalthoff and a Martensville junior team skipped by Dylan Derksen.
The women’s field is highlighted by Kaitlyn Lawes, who won the gold medal as part of the Jennifer Jones team at the 2014 Winter Olympics; Isabella Wrana, who skipped the Swedish team at four World Junior Curling Championships; Madeleine Dupont of Denmark, who has competed at three Olympic games and is also competing at the 2026 Olympics; 2022 World Junior Curling Championship gold medalist Miyu Ueno of Japan; Youbeen Park of Korea; Serena Gray-Withers of Alberta; Kayla MacMillan and Taylor Reese-Hansen of B.C.; and Hollie Duncan of Ontario.
A number of female curlers who also competed at the Canadian Olympic Curling trials this year will also appear, including Corryn Brown, Kate Cameron, Christina Black and Kayla Skrlik.
And finishing off the field are local Martensville teams Nancy Martin, Ashley Thevenot, and Kamdyn Bauldic.
Gordon noted that this event being held in Martensville means it will be a great opportunity to get autographs from these top-tier curlers.
“This provides a way to get even closer to the teams than you would at a larger venue,” he said.