By Jeff D'Andrea

Canadian junior curling kicks off this weekend in P.A.

Jan 18, 2019 | 9:20 AM

The 2019 New Holland Canadian Junior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships kick off this weekend in Prince Albert. The event runs from Jan. 19-27.

How the games came to be in Prince Albert is a cool story itself.

Most of the time to get a big event like this, local committees will have to make bids for the rights to host the tournament.

As host site committee chair, Bryan Rindal said Prince Albert got to skip that step.

“We didn’t actually bid for this, which is I think an even bigger feather in our caps. New Holland, this is the second year they’ve been the title national sponsor. Last year after the event in Quebec, Curling Canada asked the New Holland people ‘where would you like to host it?’ And they picked Prince Albert, Sask. We haven’t had a lot of lead time to try and get this event together, but we’ve got a team second to none. They’re professionals.”

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Rindal estimates the economic spinoff for the event will be about $1.5 million for Prince Albert. Due to flights coming into Saskatoon, that spinoff extends to $2.2 million provincially and $2.8 million nationally.

On the ice, multiple pieces of history could be made. No player has ever won three junior championships, but three could be possible this year.

Should they win the tournament this year, that would make three in a row for B.C.’s Tyler Tardi and Sterling Middleton.

Karlee Burgess from Nova Scotia could also be the first to win three women’s national championships.

That victory would be extra special for Burgess. The last time the national juniors were in Prince Albert back in 1987, her father, Craig Burgess won the national title.

The B.C. men and the Nova Scotia women are also the defending world champions.

Winners will move on to the World Junior Curling Championships in Liverpool, Nova Scotia next month.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 1:33 p.m. on Jan. 23, 2019 to correct the location of the World Junior Curling Championships.

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW