Canadian curlers gather in Sudbury, Ont., for 3 big tournaments

Curler Jacob Horgan says he's looking forward to welcoming the friends he's made in the sport to his hometown.

Horgan, who made it to the Tim Hortons Brier playoffs earlier this month with his brother Tanner, representing northern Ontario, is from Sudbury.

Starting today, the city is hosting Curling Canada College Championships and the U Sports University Championships.

Following his success at his first Brier, Horgan will skip for Laurentian University's team. After that tournament, he'll play with his sister, Tracy Fleury, in the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Sudbury.

"It's definitely pretty intense," he said about his schedule.

"I really love curling and I don't really need a whole lot of downtime. It's pretty easy for me to get up for curling games because I love the sport so much."

Horgan has kept up that schedule while also studying at Laurentian.

Because all his classes are online this semester, he said that has helped him manage those responsibilities. He said he sometimes did school work between games at the Brier.

Thanks to the sport, Horgan said, he has built some lifelong connections.

"It's really special to me that all these nationals are in Sudbury because I have all these people from across Canada that I've met and connected with over the years coming to Sudbury," he said.

"I get to now share, you know, my hometown with all these people I've met throughout the years."

'Great opportunity' to see curling live

For Tom Leonard, the three tournaments will give people in Sudbury the chance to see some of the best curlers in Canada, and the world.

Leonard is the chief ice technician for the competitions at the Countryside Arena in Sudbury's south end.

The arena is normally home to two hockey rinks, but Leonard and his team have been working to transform those into eight curling sheets.

"We covered up the hockey ice and we just started building curling ice," he said.

"We went with white paint, circles, logos, sealing and flooding, and now we're doing cut down."

Cutting down is when technicians remove pebbles from the ice.

"If you haven't had a chance to see curling live, this is a great opportunity," Leonard said.

The college and university tournaments run from March 15 to March 19. The Mixed Doubles Championships are the week of March 21.