In the days leading up to the B.C. Scotties, the ice at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club was transformed from its usual state into championship condition.
Ice technician B.J. Gagnon was tasked with leading the team devoted to recreating arena-style ice in a club setting.
"We have to make the conditions championship conditions, the speed, the curl and the surface," Gagnon said Thursday morning as he monitored the conditions during the start of Draw 7.
The idea is to both make the ice consistent across all provincial championship events and also give the teams the chance to play on the same ice conditions they'll face at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
In order to do that, Gagnon and the icemakers needed to make the water more acidic so it freezes faster and harder. They also lowered the temperature of the ice, scraped it differently and applied the pebble at a different temperature than in a traditional club atmosphere.
Gagnon also brought in rocks owned by Smart Ice Consulting, which are designed to perform at their best in arena conditions. Everything was put in place to give the curlers the best opportunity to perform at their peak during the provincial playdowns.
During each draw, Gagnon keeps a close eye on the temperature and constantly monitors the speed of draws to ensure the conditions remain ideal.
"The majority of these ladies teams that are out here, I've made ice for them since they were juniors," Gagnon said. "They know me, I know them, we go back a lot of years. It's a unique friendship between the teams and the icemakers."
The provincial championship is also a test event for the 2015 Canada Winter Games and Prince George Golf and Curling Club ice technician Murray Kutyn said it was a great experience to participate in the transformation of the ice conditions. Next February he will aim to duplicate the conditions for the under-17 event at the Canada Games.
"It will make the install for the 2015 Games that much easier because we already know exactly what we're going to do and how long it takes and where we're going to start and hopefully we'll end up with the same result we've had here," Kutyn said.
In addition to getting a handle on how the setup will work, the club also received a facilities upgrade for the games including new lighting and a new roof.
Kutyn and his team began prepping the ice before Gagnon arrived on Jan. 3 and was able to use his local knowledge to help the outside icemaker deal with some problem areas.
"This building is known for the floor moving and creating a few issues with the ice so we had to flood until it was flat and we found a few spots that were bad and we fixed them," Gagnon said. "We used water to do it."
The other challenge the group needed a day or two to get a handle on was how to control the heat and humidity in the club, given the concrete structure of the building.
"It's a colder building," Gagnon said. "We have to warm everything else up to offset the cold of the concrete."
When the Scotties final ends on Sunday evening, Kutyn and the team of volunteers will be busy getting the club ready for its regular Monday league play. The five sheets used for the provincials will remain in their current state, but gradually shift back to club conditions as the season goes.
Kutyn said club curlers will notice the ice performing a bit differently, but he's not sure how much because they will be using club rather than championship rocks.
"How much different the ice is, we won't know until we get a chance to throw [the club rocks]," he said.
