Mountain Pacific Curling Association

Nominations are now open for the Tim Irish Volunteer Service Awards 2022. Time to nominate those superheroes in your clubs who have lived the Spirit of Curling and made a difference over this past season. The Award recognizes those who have given excellent service to curling. Volunteers can be nominated by their home and will be recognized by MoPac for their hard work. In past years, these nominations were done concurrently with nominations for the International Tankard, however with cancellation of the Tankard for a second year, the Service Award nominations were moved later in the season to allow clubs more time to determine their nominees. The period for nominations will remain open until Saturday, April 30th. To nominate a candidate clubs should submit a nomination here.

The 23 Rocky Mountain Bonspiel is adding a new component this year – Camp and Curl!  The 3-game guarantee spiel takes place April 22nd to the 24th on the scenic Weber State Campus area of Ogden, Utah. This year the Ogden Curling Club has secured a large campground on a nearby 84-acre site. Happy curling campers will enjoy a game and then chow down on BBQ as they enjoy the beauty of the Fort Buenaventura area or indulge in a 18-hole disk golf competition.  As Club members will tell you “having the best arena ice you can have on hockey ice” means teams playing the following weekend at Arena Nationals can play in the Rocky Mountain spiel as a last training opportunity before Nationals event.  Good ice isn’t an exaggeration; the ice magicians at Ogden will have a three-day prep to ensure the ice is not only good, but memorable. And to help share love for the sport anyone who wants to volunteer can also stay and participate in an adaptive Learn-to-Curl event. So register now! 

This past year has been difficult yet a new curling season awaits and brings the promise of bonspiels, championships and other curling events. It also brings opportunities to reconnect with friends and make new ones, even if done with social distancing. With this in mind the Lake Tahoe Epic Curling club (LTEC) plans to kick off their Spiel season with the Thin Air II spiel, October 15th to 17th, in the midst of beautiful Lake Tahoe.

The organizers hope to have participants from as many clubs as possible.  All clubs within MoPac are invited to send a team! Time for clubs to represent! Anyone interested in playing can contact Eric Hazard (775) 600-1972 to learn about registration details.

Note: Despite recent wildfires, the town and rink were untouched and the rink will be ready to welcome curlers.

Where will you be on August 24th to the 27th? Maybe at Great Parks Ice & Fivepoints Arena in Irvine, California? Tickets are on sale for the event which promises Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed Doubles events in the four rink facility. For ticket information visit the website and join our friends from the Orange County Curling Club as we proudly welcome a nationally broadcast curling event to Southern California! View schedule here.

Nominations are now open for several key positions within the MoPac Board. This season the positions up for election are Vice-Chair, Secretary, and two At-Large Representatives. Descriptions of the positions are found in the MoPac Bylaws. MoPac Assembly Representatives will be voting on the MoPac Board positions in May. Nominees do not need to be current Representatives. Nominations can be submitted on behalf of a third person or by the nominee themselves. To submit a nomination, please send an email with the person’s name, email or phone number and home club information to: nominations@mopacca.org. Nominations will remain open until May 23.

No we are not back to curling. However, you may have noticed our website was off line for a time this past week as we did some fine tuning and got a little carried away! We are sorry for any inconvenience.

The MoPac region is putting forth a call for any curlers from clubs located within the MoPac region who wish to be considered as a candidate for the consolidated position of USA Curling Director for the West Coast. This position takes the place of the former USA Curling Director from the MoPac region. In the past the MoPac region had elected a member from within the MoPac region to serve as a Director on the USA Curling Board. Last year USA Curling changed its bylaws to merge that Director position into a larger area representative which would also include the Washington and Alaska’s regions beginning in June 2021. The candidate will not necessarily become the USA Curling Director but may be put forward as the region’s candidate. Interested inquiries may be directed to secretary@mopacca.org no later than December 8, 2020.

This year our world has dealt with a crisis not seen in 100 years. Our routines have been substantially altered as a result and many events have been suspended or canceled.  As you have seen, Covid-19 continues to take a toll, creating hotspots and requiring renewed shutdowns and uncertain reopenings. While news of a vaccine is promising, the reality is that risks exist and balancing the opportunity for the MoPac region to submit teams to national competitions must be weighed against concerns for the safety of every MoPac curler and their family. With these concerns in mind, the MoPac Board of Directors have made the never-before decision to cancel playdowns for the 2020-2021 season.  Further, the Board also made the difficult decision to not submit MoPac teams to attend the U18 Nationals Championships, the Club National Championships and the Mixed National Championships for the 2020-2021 season.  The Board expects to resume playdowns and submit teams in the 2021-2022 season.