Registered: Oct 2013
Location: St.Claude
Posts: 128

Is there any ice kept all year long in Manitoba? If not, how come? I would think there is a enough demand to keep 1 club open year round. Maybe I'm wrong. But instead of teams traveling down to Edmonton to throw rocks they could do it here. I'd imagine there would be enough interest to start a summer league as well.

Has this idea been explored before? If so what was the reasoning for not keeping ice in 1 club all year? Was it a cost issue or was it that ice makers wanted time off after a busy winter or a combo of a bunch of things?

I'd think alot of your junior teams would be wanting to play during the summer along with a handful of mens and womens teams. Then your teams like McEwen and Jones ect.. would use it for practice. Could have a summer bonspiel or 2 as well to generate some money for the club to help with costs.

I know its only been a couple of weeks since last throwing rocks for me and I already miss it. Would be nice to have ice within a couple hours of home to be able to play or at least throw rocks a few times a week.

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Registered: Feb 2009
Location: Ottawa
Posts: 900

New Zealand has ice.

Turn curling practice into a vacation. Win win.

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Registered: Feb 2014
Location: Winnipeg
Posts: 23

Perhaps partnering up with Canlan or the MTS Iceplex where they have year round ice and staff on hand with multiple ice surfaces would be a solution. Depending on the extent of their summer hockey leagues and summer camp programs they may be interested in putting in arena ice on one of the surfaces if it meant bringing in more revenue? Way back in the day all the ice at Canlan (The Highlander) was curling ice!!

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: St.Claude
Posts: 128

I had wondered about the ice plex as well. Would have to think the ice is booked non stop with hockey but maybe not.

Guess it all comes down to if someone wants to take a chance on it. If it didnt work out then just not do it anymore. But I still really think there would be enough interest to support it in Winnipeg.

Cant see people wanting to come out to the 3 sheet barn we have in St.Claude in mid July but close to the city I think it would go over.

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Registered: Feb 2014
Location: Winnipeg
Posts: 23

Throw a curling camp or two in there along with a couple of bonspiels to help generate revenue and keep the ice being used. I'm sure a number of teams would also use it for practice ice, if not in early summer, probably in August. Running a league with a major sponsor to help with the costs would be ideal. Just need to find a couple of people with the time who are interested in checking into the feasibility of summer ice but first would need to find out if there would be enough interest outside of a few diehards. Put a poll out here to see who would be interested in a number of things such as league play, curling camps, practice ice or bonspiels. If the interest isn't there then no point in going any further. Other Provinces and States have summer ice with curling camps and bonspiels...why not Manitoba??

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