Ice man cometh

By Doug Graham
Kingston Whig Standard
January 29, 2010

With the best curlers in the province set to begin play in Tankard 2010 Napanee on Monday, the spotlight is on London's Darren Sinclair.

He is the icemaker the Ontario Curling Association has entrusted with delivering the ice that will allow curlers to deliver their precise takeouts and draws at the seven-day provincial men's championship.

Sinclair said there are some specific challenges to the Strathcona Paper Centre, one being the facility has no heat.

But as the transformation from hockey venue to five sheets of curling ice began yesterday, Sinclair was confident his crew could produce the surface players such as former world champion Glenn Howard of Coldwater want for games.

"Curling wise (they want) 4 1/2 to five feet of curl everywhere. Speed wise about 25 seconds (from the delivery-end hog-line to the house tee (four-foot circle) would be perfect," Sinclair said.

Can he deliver it?

"I'm going to try my best. (Napanee) staff has left the ice in terrific shape so we're looking forward to a good event," Sinclair said.

It's the eighth provincial championship for Sinclair and his right-hand man, Dan Prohaszka. Sinclair's regular job is being the icemaker at the six-sheet London Highland Country Club.

Sinclair is a disciple of the ice man of curling -- the legendary Shorty Jenkins of Trenton.

"I've been working with Shorty since 1997," Sinclair said.

Jenkins was regarded as the very best at the business, particularly for his knack for adjusting the surface for the likes of the curlers.

Sinclair knows the curlers will be his biggest fans or critics.

"They will be verbal if they don't like it. They will come straight to us and let us know. That's one thing they are not shy about," Sinclair said.

One thing he doesn't have to worry about is complaints about the rocks. The curlers will be using a set that the OCA has used at the provincials since 2004.

"The rocks are terrific. There's no worries about the stones. All the players that have been here before have used the same rocks since 2004," Sinclair said.

"They all know how they want (them) to work. They know how to match them up already," agreeing with a suggestion that the players are known to keep notes on the rocks, matching stones so that each pair a player throws will be close to identical.

In most cases, the best two matched rocks from a set of eight on one ice would be reserved for the skip.

The provincial championship, which decides Ontario's rink to go on to the Tim Hortons Brier in Halifax, March 6-14, always is played on arena ice.

Sinclair said it is a bit of a challenge at Strathcona because the facility doesn't have heat, except for overhead heaters in the south side stands.

"We do like it warm when we do floods just so the water has a better chance to level out," Sinclair said.

"So it is going to be a little challenge with that aspect."

The curling ice will be at a 1.5- inch thickness, which is a little less than hockey. The major difference for curling ice is that each sheet is prepared by what is known as pebbling, a light mist of water which causes the surface to bubble up. The pebble allows rocks to slide faster over the surface.

Sinclair and his crew will watch the ice like hawks for the first couple of days, making adjustments until "we find an area we think is most comfortable (ice surface) temperature wise".

Once the ice goes in, every sheet will have one person monitoring it. Except for Wednesday when there are three draws, the ice technicians crew will begin work at 10 a.m. for the 2 p.m. draw and stay working on the surface, with scraping between draws, right through to the 7 o'- clock evening games.

Sinclair said if there are complaints about one sheet, he is prepared to act quickly.

"Maybe a sheet is curling a little more or there's a funny spot. That's the time (the ice technicians) will do a little extra if we're not happy with it," he said.

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Tankard notes: Stephen Paul, chair for Tankard 2010 Napanee, said ticket sales have been very good. "We're not worried about that," he said. "Now we're just looking for the walk-up sales which we know there will be." ... Single draw tickets go for $10 and $12 for the end zone. There is room for about 1,200 viewers. ...The end zone bleacher brought in for the home end (even numbered ends) is the same style as what is being used at Springer Market Square for FebFest.