More university, college teams needed to improve Canadian curling scene

In the aftermath of missing the playoffs in February's Winter Olympics, Jennifer Jones and her teammates discussed why other countries have become so strong in international curling.

The conversation planted an idea in the head of Jones' second Jocelyn Peterman. She was still in Beijing when she messaged her curling club's director about establishing varsity curling teams for the University of Calgary.

A U of C alumnus, Peterman looked north for her reasoning. The University of Alberta in Edmonton graduates some of top curlers in the country and the world.

Curling Canada runs annual national university and college championships, with Sudbury, Ont., the host city of the 2023 tournaments.

Just 16 of the 56 U Sports schools field varsity curling teams, however. Another nine operate the sport at a club level and the other 31 don't have curling teams.

Of the 98 schools in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association, there are just 14 men's teams and a dozen women's teams playing this season.

Calgary never had Dinos curlers before Peterman's pitch to athletic director Ben Matchett made it easy for him to say yes for 2022-23.

"We sold it as fairly hassle-free from their end," Peterman said. "I've been putting in a lot of volunteer hours to get this program going.

"We sold it that way, that there wouldn't be a lot of financial risk to them, that we could do a lot of fundraising and that we could get the support from the curling community in Calgary.

"Curling Alberta has been trying to get something going in Calgary at the university level for awhile so they were eager to help in whatever way they could."

WATCH l Reviewing the inaugural Mixed Doubles Super Series:

A fundraising golf tournament produced $15,000. Peterman and