Nolan’s Notes: 50 Slams for Ice Maker Mark Shurek
By Nolan Thiessen
Eighteen men’s teams from across Canada and the World will congregate in Medicine Hat on November 13th for what will be the 50th Grand Slam of Curling, the Golden Jubilee of the Grand Slams if you are so inclined. This past weekend in Abbotsford I was chatting with many of the veteran players who have toiled their craft at the Slams from the beginning in 2001 to try to figure out if anyone has played in all 50 of the events. Everyone had a story of missing one or two of them. The only guy who has been a part of each and every one of them is our ice maker, Mark Shurek.
Have you ever heard curlers talk about good curling ice? The saying that is always uttered when we discuss ice that we all love to play on is “it’s like Slam ice.” Mark is the key piece to that puzzle. He often gets to the building late, but the ice is always the way we expect it, excellent and great for shot making.
If you tally up the amount of arenas that the 50 slams have been played in, it probably totals 35 to 40. Every single arena has its own idiosyncrasies and challenges for anyone making curling ice. Airflow patterns, air conditioners and dehumidifiers, the amount of fans in the building, which doors are open and outside temperatures all play a factor in what the icemakers need to do to ensure the ice is good. The fact that Mark has been able to figure out how to make nearly identical conditions in over 35 arenas is amazing and much harder than it seems.
When curlers say that ice is really bad, I think what is really meant is that it limits the ability to make all shots. Whether ice does not curl so rocks cannot be buried behind guards, or is really slow and patchy so delicate draw shots cannot be made consistently, the ice is always “playable” but not all shots are available. It can be frustrating when a shot looks like it is there under normal conditions but you know that the ice will never allow the shot to be made.
That is the difference with Mark’s ice, it is always playable. Every single shot from draws to light weight hits to big weight bombs, can all be made on any part of the ice. Mark provides a canvas for us to make anything necessary to win the game. If you throw it good you still get punished, but it’s all available for us.
Do not get me wrong, we as curlers can take it too far and be whiny at times about the conditions. Most who watch curling on TV know that when the conditions are not up to snuff we can whine out there to varying degrees, some more vigorously than others. But has anyone ever read comments from the players after leaving a Grand Slam saying that the ice was bad? Mark has the thankless job that typically will only hear from us when something goes wrong, but hopefully when we get to Medicine Hat for his 50th we can have a ceremony thanking him for everything he has done to make us look good!
