Avonlea curling club doors shuttered

The rumours are sad but true: on Tuesday the official word came about the death of Ontario's last 16-sheet curling club, the storied Avonlea.

This morning, the Toronto Curling Association issued a news release:

TORONTO – Avonlea Curling Club, the last of the 16-sheet curling facilities in Ontario, is closing its doors.
The owners, a private partnership, have sold the property on Railside Road in Don Mills, just steps from the Don Valley Parkway and Lawrence Avenue. The club will close on August 15, 2006.
Club Manager Dave Gardner said “The current owners received an offer they couldn’t refuse.” Gardner indicated that the club, which opened in 1961, was facing a number of repairs over the next few years, and “the current owners did not find it financially feasible to continue to operate it.”
Home to an estimated 1,500 curlers, Avonlea also enjoyed a championship pedigree. It was the home of the Dream Team, Ed "The Wrench" Werenich's Toronto squad which dominated curling in the 1980s, winning the Brier and World championship in 1983.
Team member Paul Savage said “This is a sad day because I have a lot of great memories. I threw thousands of hours of practice rocks at Avonlea.”
The club was doing well with membership and was especially popular with recreational and industrial leagues. “Avonlea had approximately 30 rental leagues with 1,500 curlers, many of the other local curling clubs are already full and don’t have room to accommodate them,” Gardner said.
Ron Tolhurst, President of the Toronto Curling Association, brushed off suggestions that the closure is a bad sign for metropolitan curling. “Curling couldn't be any stronger,” Tolhurst said. “Membership is exploding after the 2006 Olympics, and Hamilton is hosting the Brier in March. Growth is assured right up to Vancouver 2010. This is just part of the natural evolution of the sport in Toronto, which is unique to the country in its size and in competition for recreational dollars.”
The Toronto Curling Association (TCA) is a volunteer organization dedicated to the promotion of the sport of curling in the greater Toronto area. All 22 curling clubs in and around Toronto are members of the TCA.

And just like that, a major Toronto curling legacy is over. Let the anger, confusion and – finally – resignation spout forth.

Elsewhere, the news – most of it good – has been piling up...

• Hugh Millikin has won the 2006 Australian title, and is off to the Pacific championships in Japan. Here’s a pre-event story on one of the challenging teams, and here’s a post-event story on yet another opponent...

• First Rhona, now David: world champion skip David Murdoch is helping to promote London 2012 on a road tour, which stopped in Dumfries yesterday...

• We’ve another curling camp to tell you about, this one in Moncton, N.B., which will feature Russ Howard and Colleen Jones as guest instructors August 21-25...

• VANOC says that CCA head ice technician Hans Wuthrich will “oversee” the curling ice in 2010, but the WCF actually has the final say on who the true Olympic ice chief will be, and that decision has not been finalized yet...

• Still with B.C., the 500-strong Peace Arch Curling Club wants to do some renovating... to the tune of a whopping $3 million...

• Moving a tad east, curling will be a featured sport at the inaugural Outgames in Calgary, in April, 2007...

• Hey, Canadians: did you catch the new CBC comedy/drama Northern Town earlier this week? It takes place in far-off Henderson, in the Yukon, and the first episode featured our hero Brian (Luke Kirby) chasing a metorite when he should have been focusing on the big bonspiel with its $20,000 prize. Hmm. Curling in a small northern town. The big prize. Meteorites... as compared to NASA astronauts. Sounds ever-so-slightly familiar, doesn’t it?

• New Kevin Martin third John Morris, who will instruct at the September HOT SHOTS Fantasy Camp in Oakville, Ontario, is fighting fires in Vermillion, Alberta this summer...

• It’s been known for some time that Kelley Law is back on the ice this fall, and with former 2002 Olympic teammate Georgina Wheatcroft along for the reunion ride. The front end comprises Shannon Aleksic and Darah Provencal. "I'm so excited to get back in the thick of things," Law recently told the Vancouver Sun.
Team Law, minus their skipper, recently took part in the Four Foot Curling Camp in Mill Bay, and curling-crazed Blogger Patrick has been documenting his week at the camp online, in three parts (so far)...

• Still with Blogspots: this Blogger, impressed with Torino curling TV numbers, recalls his one and only brush with the sport... and we’re assuming this Swedish blogger is also discussing his (or her) first brush with the sport, but, er, can anyone read Swedish to confirm?...

• Recently we told you about unorthadox off-season uses for curling clubs, such as shelters from forest fires and police command posts. Now you can add – wait for it – roller-derby training ground to that list...

• Finally, a Public Service Announcement: the Ottawa Curling Club rocks this Saturday night with a stag & doe for 2005 Scotties finalist Jenn Hanna, who is soon to be married. Tickets are $5.00 at the door...