Mississauga is no Vancouver. But the curling might actually be better.
If you can’t get to Vancouver to watch the curling at the Winter Olympics next February, you may want to consider traveling to Mississauga (Toronto’s largest suburb) and attending the Capital One Masters of Curling. The field will feature all the men’s teams that have qualified for the Olympics or, in the case of Canada, have pre-qualified for the Tim Horton’s Roar of the Rings, the event that will determine Canada’s representative.
The Canadian teams will be Martin, Howard, Ferbey, Koe and Gushue. World champion David Murdoch’s team will play, along with John Shuster’s U.S. rink, Thomas Ullsrud of Norway and Feng-Chun Wang of China. When the field fills out, it will actually be stronger than the collection of teams that will compete in Vancouver — all of the championship rinks from around the world and four of the very best teams from Canada.
It’s a Capital One Grand Slam event so there’s a decent cash purse at stake. And the teams that are competing are going to want to build on their confidence as they head into the Roar of the Rings and the Winter Games. The event runs from October 21-25, 2009 at the Hershey Center. If you want to make a trip somewhere next season to watch some great curling in person, this is as good an event as you’ll find. And if you’ve never been to Toronto, it’s a good time of year to check out that terrific city — stay downtown and travel out to Mississauga for the curling. If you’re big on convenience, Toronto’s airport is in Mississauga so you could fly in and be right by the arena. The drive is about eight hours.
Just something to keep in mind as we look forward to a big season for curling next year.
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