Southeast Event Centre hits ‘Grand Slam’ with curling event

Any questions the Players’ Championship in Steinbach would be a roaring success attendance-wise were put to bed in the first draw of the event.

The Grand Slam of Curling, used to mostly empty seats during morning mid-week games, advised the Southeast Event Centre not to stock up too much food and drinks and they didn’t expect to need a banquet space for fans in between draws early in the event.

When 1,000 people piled into the SEC to watch Tuesday, Jan. 6, calculations had to be quickly changed on the fly.

The Steinbach event was the second-highest attended event in Grand Slam history, which dates back to 2001. Capacity crowds piled into the rink for not only the playoffs, but also the final draw of the round robin.

Gabe Brandt is the newly minted events and scheduling manager at the SEC.

“The community support was amazing,” Brandt said after the event wrapped up.

“We turned away dozens of people who were interested in volunteering, we didn’t have tons of roles for them… It was really, really special.”

When the event centre announced the Grand Slam would be coming, staff called it their “Niel Armstrong moment,” referring to the first time a person walked on the moon. The pressure was on externally and internally within the SEC to put out a great first impression at the national/international level.

“We have a really high standard for excellence,” Brandt said.

“When we hear that fans, volunteers, spectators, the Grand Slam of Curling themselves, are really enjoying themselves and hear the positive feedback, that’s really special to us.”

The event-long 50/50 in support of the Steinbach Curling Club reached over $65,000.

Curling Group CEO Nic Sulsky called the energy in Steinbach “unreal,” in an article posted to the Grand Slam of curling’s website.

“We’re going to come back to Steinbach and Manitoba as quickly as possible,” he’s quoted as in the article, written by John Hodge.

“It takes time to organize all that, but candidly, I’ve already been talking to the folks who are in charge of the venue, the folks from the incredible town of Steinbach, and we want to come back as quickly as possible. This is unbelievable and that’s a message for the other curling communities around Canada and around the world that we hope to go to in the near future. If you love curling, show up because guess what? We’ll come back. Why wouldn’t we? This is unbelievable.”

The players also gave the venue and market rave reviews.

“It was brilliant,” men’s champion skip Ross Whyte said after claiming the trophy.

“I’ll tell you what, the crowds came out and when we can get crowds like that, it just makes our weeks so much more enjoyable. So, we really appreciate everyone that came out. The arena’s amazing, and the ice was perfect which is a credit to the arena because if you can’t get that, then it’s going to be a tough week for everyone. Steinbach was lovely. We had a great week.”

Brandt was announced as the centre’s new manager in late-December, meaning he’s finally about to figure out what his day-to-day duties are after weeks of Grand Slam related work.

“We want to do the absolute best making our community proud, making Steinbach proud, making the Southeast region of the province proud,” Brandt said.

The transition from curling back to regular programming was quick, as the Prairie Basketball League had games at 7 p.m. on Sunday in the centre. The curling ice was gone by Jan. 13, with hockey back on the schedule for the same day.

The city got to show off not only to event insiders, but to people across Canada, as Sportsnet broadcast games for five days out of the SEC, showing off shots around the region and from inside the building.

Part of Brandt’s job moving forward will be pitching the SEC for other high-level sporting events.

“Steinbach has shown us there’s an appetite for big events,” he said.

“We have some de-briefing to do, but we’re really excited about the possibility of bringing in many more exciting events. Don’t know exactly what that will be, or what that will look like but I’ve already been asked by so many people, ‘what’s the next big event coming here?’”

The Eastman Selects U18 AAA team will be in action at the Centre Jan. 15.

For more photos, check out Carillon Sports Second Shots, published every Wednesday on our website.