iOLDS — The Olds Firefighters Association is hosting the 64th annual Alberta Firefighters Championship Bonspiel early next month.
The event, featuring 28 teams from across Alberta, runs from Feb. 1-3 at the Sportsplex.
Organizing committee chair Cody Maetche anticipates the first draw will be held at about 8 a.m. Feb. 1 and the last one will be held at about 5 p.m. Feb. 3.
Each year, the tournament rotates around the province: north, south, east and west. Olds firefighters put in a bid in 2022 and were awarded the event last year in Hanna.
The tournament could provide a shot in the arm for the local economy.
Maetche estimates that 100 to 150 people could come to Olds for the bonspiel, including athletes, friends and family.
“We have events running from the A event all the way down to an F event,” he said during an interview with the Albertan.
The winner of the 'spiel will represent Alberta at the Canadians, which will be held in Moosomin, Sask. in March.
The quality of competition ranges from very high to some athletes just getting into the sport.
Strong competitors include two-time Olympic gold medallist John Morris and former firefighters provincial champion Aaron Bartling.
Maetche will be skipping an entry as well. On the ice with him will be lead Kyle Lytle, second Mike Lepiec and third Niklaus Nieder.
Maetche got involved in the Alberta Firefighters Championship Bonspiel not long after he joined the Olds Fire Department in 2014.
“We needed volunteers from the department to go and just assist; 50/50s or raffle tickets or whatever and I went down and I was really impressed with the curling,” he said.
As a result, he said, the Olds Firefighters Association has had a team in the event every year since about 2015 or 2016.
Maetche initially took up curling when he was around eight to 10 years old. A few years later, he dropped the sport.
“Now I'm back in it and loving every minute of it,” he said. “It’s all strategic. The way the rock curls, your angles, it's math. The way you’ve got to hit (a) rock on a certain part of it to move it this way or move it that way. And the ice is always different.”
