Curling’s Buried Treasure: March 1998

Canadian Curling News • Volume 40, Issue #4 • March, 1998

March 1998 was, depending on your interests, perhaps not that memorable. James Cameron’s Titanic was notable, winning 11 Oscars out of its 14 Academy Award nominations. I never watched it in the theatre and when it was available to view at home, I kept flipping the channels, waiting for the damn boat to sink.

That’s over three laborious hours of my life I will never get back.

The month prior was historic, however, and not solely because Reginald Kenneth Dwight was knighted by the Queen and became “Sir” Elton John.

February of 1998 launched the beginning of modern Olympic curling. And to no one’s surprise, it made the March 1998 cover of Canadian Curling News.

Past Olympics had demonstrated the sport, in 1932, 1988 and 1992. In 2006, The IOC decided to retroactively make the 1924 Winter Olympic results from Chamonix “official” and William Kilgour Jackson of Great Britain was crowned the first Olympic gold medalist in the sport. Sadly, Willie passed away in 1955 at the age of 83 but I’m certain he’s up there looking down at a Wikipedia page which recognizes his accomplishment—and is smiling.

Let’s start by looking back 25 years to a journal of sorts from a past owner of Canadian Curling News. “The Peripatetic Publisher” was a regular column by Doug Maxwell, where he shared his collection of thoughts for each issue. This edition weighs heavily on the Nagano Olympics.

The next article of note in this buried treasure of curling news is the buried article on Cathy King (then Cathy Borst) and her victory at the 1998 Scott Tournament of Hearts in Regina, Sask. Cathy was a guest on episode 21 of the Curling Legends Podcast.

It’s understandable that with all the Olympic coverage Cathy’s victory didn’t make the front page—but they couldn’t find a photograph? Borst’s Team Alberta of Edmonton bested one of the greatest Scotties bridesmaids in Ontario’s Anne Merklinger (episode 52) with a final score of 7-6 in 11 ends. Anne had defeated local hero and Olympic gold medallists Team Schmirler in the semifinal.

It’s notable the women’s game is not given near the same attention in the Canadian Curling News as it will be once it transforms into The Curling News.

Just as the Olympic curling era blooms and the sport shifts to a more professional game, this issue also includes a writeup on the Strathcona Cup, the historic home-and-home event between recreation curlers from Canada and Scotland held every five or so years, dating back to the winter of 1902-03.

In 1998, Canadian teams travelled to Scotland and won the event by 373 shots (points).

Since then, the tour has taken place five more times; 2003, 2009, 2013, 2018 and this current winter.

Here’s a column by the late great Manitoban Bob Picken (Curling Legends Podcast episode 49) where he considers the risk of professionals taking over the Brier.

It’s fascinating to see Bob play the role of Nostradamus at predicting future perils brought on by growing the Canadian Men’s Championship into a bigger and more lucrative event.

This article comes just a year after the 1997 Brier held in the Calgary Saddledome. You may recall the crazy final game between Alberta’s Kevin Martin and Manitoba’s Vic Peters with the (then) largest and wildest crowd to ever witness a curling game.

In future Buried Treasure stories we’ll look ahead a few years, to the infamous men’s player boycott of provincial playdowns and the Brier. It’s possible the points (and dollar signs) Bob raises in this article are a contributing factor to many players’ future decision to challenge the status quo.

It’s interesting that he doesn’t mention a word of the recent Olympic Games, which ultimately become a much greater influence on bringing drastic changes to the Brier (and Scotties). Even today, Curling Canada continues to tinker with the format, leading some to wonder if a Tankard final matters at all anymore.

There are many differing opinions on what the Brier should become, and I’m drawn to Bob’s 25-year-old thoughts on David M. Stewart fostering the Brier’s theme of “developing geographic ties within Canada”.

Last but not least, in recent years both Canadian Curling News and The Curling News featured a Top 15 list. Here’s how the CCN brain trust had Canadian men’s and women’s team’s ranked at this point of the 1997-98 season.

BONUS CONTENT

As a reminder of how we produce this Buried Treasure column, other content from the featured issue gets posted to the Curling Legends Facebook page as a warmup to this published summary. Here are two of the four other stories we posted last week.

So in future, follow Curling Legends on Facebook and you’ll get a complete look at every issue featured as part of “Buried Treasure.”

This was a look at legal troubles facing the controversial Ed Lukowich team.

CCN and TCN occasionally showed off Letters to The Editor—here are submissions received from New Zealand, Quebec and the founding owner and publisher, who was based in Kelowna in the later years of his life.