Curling in the hallowed halls that used to be the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs will add something special to this year’s Players’ Championship.
For some of the competitors who grew up watching Leaf games at Maple Leaf Gardens, either in person or via TV, playing at the Gardens, even if it is now known as the Mattamy Athletic Centre, will be a truly unique experience. The tournament, which is the fourth and final of the Grand Slams that Sportsnet bought last year, runs Tuesday through Sunday. Sportsnet’s coverage of the Players’ begins on Thursday.
“This means more for me to play personally in this arena than any other one,” said Glenn Howard, whose career includes 15 Briers appearances, four of which he’s won, along with four world championships. “I’ve played at the MTS Centre (in Winnipeg), the Saddledome (in Calgary), all those places where hockey is played. Don’t get me wrong, those are really cool but this is Maple Leaf Gardens. To me it’s the shrine of hockey. Albeit we’re not going to have 14,000 people there — I think it only holds 2,500 — but it’s still the same building. There’s just so much history there that it’s going to be very special.”
“There’s a lot of tweeting and emails going from different players about playing at Maple Leaf Gardens with all the history, so it’s pretty cool,” said Kevin Martin, a four-time Brier winner, one-time world champion and reigning Olympic gold medalist.
The Players’ will feature a total of 30 world-ranked men’s and women’s teams battling for a purse of $100,000 in each division. There will also be valuable points on the line for garnering a qualifying spot in the Canadian Olympic Trials in December.
And there’s also bonus money at stake. Ottawa’s Rachel Homan, whose team won the Scotties national women’s championship and placed third in the worlds, has a chance to claim a $100,000 added prize if her team wins. Homan’s squad won the Rogers Masters of Curling back in November, giving her team the only chance at the bonus, which Sportsnet made available as part of its purchase of the Slams, the signature events of the World Curling Tour. If Homan’s team does not win, the top three teams from the Rogers Masters and Players’ will split a $25,000 bonus, with $15,000 going to the top team, $7,500 to the runner-up and $2,500 to the third-place finisher. The men’s division will have a $100,000 bonus that will award $50,000 to the top team from the four Grand Slams, $30,000 to second and $20,000 to third. Kevin Koe’s team from Calgary won the Rogers Masters, the first-ever Grand Slam victory for the 2010 Canadian and world champions, and was eligible for a $1-million bonus if it swept the final three men’s Slams. But Howard won the second Slam — the Canadian Open of Curling — and Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton won the third, The National. Koe leads with 24 points, followed by Stoughton, a three-time Brier champion and two-time world champion, with 22.
Individually and collectively there are so many elements that will add intrigue to this year’s Players’, but playing at the old Gardens is the one thing that may be the most meaningful of all. Venues such as the Saddledome, Rexall Place in Edmonton and MTS Centre have housed many national championships, some of them with crowds that numbered between 10,000 to almost 20,000 for the finals. That has been part of the evolution of the sport, which has grown exponentially, but playing in a venue that opened in 1931 and housed Maple Leaf hockey until February 1999 will truly be a first in Toronto.
“The history is where the Players’ Championship this year is different,” added Martin, who has won a record 17 Grand Slam events, including seven in the Players’. “We do play in bigger buildings to a fair amount so it is becoming more common, but being able to play at Maple Leaf Gardens … that’s not common.
“Growing up as a kid, I watched a lot of great stuff happen at that building. I guess I can equate it a little bit to our first world championship in 1991 played in the old Winnipeg Arena. Now that was cool, playing in an NHL arena for the first time. But now we move it ahead a mere 22 years and being able to play at the Gardens, that’s pretty special, especially for people my age. Somebody 25 or 30 years old might not have seen any big hockey played at the Gardens, but I did. I watched a lot of them, so having an opportunity to get in there and play is very special for myself and I’ll bet you Glenn Howard will say the same thing.
“I’ve never been in the building. Everybody’s excited about playing at Maple Leaf Gardens. It would be no different if we’re playing in Montreal at the Forum. Most hockey players have a lot of time in the afternoons so they watch a lot of curling. Guess what? Curlers watch a lot of hockey. We’re big hockey fans and now we get a chance to play in that building.”
“It’s huge for me, too,” said Howard, who has recorded 11 Grand Slam titles as a skip, including one Players’ Championship title. He also won the tournament twice as third for his brother Russ. “I’ve grown up being a Leaf fan my entire life — still am — and I’d been to the old Maple Leaf Gardens many a time as a kid. My dad used to take me there and I went as a young adult. The history of the building is incredible, especially from a hockey perspective. But to curl in the same historic building that the Leafs played in is unbelievable. It’s really, really cool. I’m really looking forward to playing there, albeit it’s not going to be the same ice surface but it’s still the same four walls.”
Koe’s lead Nolan Thiessen summed it up perfectly: “It’s going to be super exciting,” he said. “It’ll be pretty incredible.”