After a 10 year absence the Canadian Women’s curling championship will return to Regina in 2008. The 10-day event, bringing together Canada’s best female curlers at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, will be held February 16-24, 2008 at the Brandt Centre at Ipsco Place in Regina.

It will also mark the 10th anniversary of Sandra Schmirler’s team bringing home Canada’s first ever curling gold medal from the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. Schmirler and her rink of Jan Betker, Joan McCusker and Marcie Guderheit arrived back in Regina just in time to compete in 1998 but finished a disappointing third.

That’s a fact that hasn’t been lost on Bernadette McIntyre who was Host Committee Chair in 1998. “It was magical. Absolutely magical is what I think of every time I think of that event,” McIntyre remembered. “Because of the huge Schmirler factor and all the other women’s teams that were out there and were part of it was the most magical event I have ever been involved in.” McIntyre, who is chair of the bid committee this time around, said Schmirler, who died of cancer in 2000 and her teammates will be honoured at a special ceremony during the 2008 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. “That will be something we will work our theme around and we’ll be focusing on that,” she added.

The 1998 championship set the all-time attendance mark of 154,688. Regina also hosted the first ever Scott Tournament of Hearts in 1982 which was won by six-time Canadian women’s champion Colleen Jones.

“Returning the event to Regina simply makes sense,” said John McClelland, Corporate Vice President of Scott Paper. "We are thrilled to be back where Sandra Schmirler and her team came on to the ice to a sell out audience who stood on their feet and cheered for ten minutes. Regina is the heart of curling and this is the first venue we have returned to for a third time," he added.

Regina has had a long history of success with major curling events according to Warren Hansen, manager of event operations for the Canadian Curling Association. "Certainly the building and the layout for this size of event is perfect. There's no better building in the country," said Hansen. The 1998 championship set the all-time attendance mark of 154,688. "We understand that the event in 1998 was a very unique set of circumstances but is still the biggest and most successful Scott Tournament of Hearts that was ever held," he added.

Scott Paper, a member of the Kruger Company, is a leading tissue manufacturer in Canada. Kruger has operations in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, the United States, Columbia, and Venezuela and employs over 10,500 people.

Scott Paper is the longest corporate sponsor of amateur sport in Canada.

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For more information contact:
Robin Wilson
604-230-5871
wilson@wwater.com