Canadian champion wheelchair curlers hope to see sport grow across province

Team Saskatchewan hopes that what they’ve accomplished at the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship is just another step in the growth of the sport at Moose Jaw and across the province.

And with the success of the local participants in last week’s tournament at Moose Jaw Curling Center, that seems like a possibility.

The Saskatchewan 1 quartet of Skip Gil Dash, third Marie Wright, second Darwin Bender, lead Moose Gibson and trainer Lorraine Arguin won the national championship Friday afternoon when they defeated Douglas Dean of Northern Ontario in the gold medal game.

Dozens of fans were on hand to watch the action throughout the week, and that number rose into the hundreds as Saskatchewan celebrated their medal run.

“Some fans said they had never seen the wheelchair curling game before and they came out and watched it for the first time and loved it,” Wright said of the reaction to the game. “Some said they liked it even better than watching the able-bodied games, so it’s a really good showcase for our sport.”

They might even have won a player just by watching the event.

“Actually, here was a girl from Saskatoon in a wheelchair, and she’s interested in Lorraine and I going upstairs and working with her in the summer once the ice is in,” Wright said. “That’s what we want to see.”

Dash was also impressed with the support Saskatchewan had throughout the event, particularly as the tournament progressed.

“It’s been amazing how many more people are talking about it, watching it, checking it out on Facebook and everything,” he said. “When I opened my phone before the game there were so many messages of support, it was just amazing to see and so appreciated.”
Gibson wore a pair of hats at the tournament as he also served as event chair leading up to the event. He pointed to the game’s growth as a key element of the whole week.

“My whole goal here was to expose southern Saskatchewan to wheelchair curling,” Gibson said. “We had so many national team players here and some of the shots were phenomenal. And they can say whatever they want about Moose Jaw, we might be the most notorious city, but we’re definitely the friendliest city.”

Of course, it wouldn’t have turned out the way it did without a small army of volunteers to help pull it all together. Gibson gave a special thank you to everyone who helped, especially the staff at Moose Jaw Events Center who made sure things ran as smoothly as possible from day one.

“Working with everyone has been a real gem, everything has been outstanding and I can’t thank Moose Jaw Events Center enough,” he said.

Now they are preparing to do it again. The 2024 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships will be back in Moose Jaw next March, and you can count Bender – who shared her fourth national title with Dash and Wright – among those who love the idea of ​​returning in a year’s time.

“Two years in a row works really well because you know the facility,” he said. “It’s a really wheelchair accessible facility and to know that and how everything works is really great. We look forward to coming back and trying to win it all again.”