CHRISTOPHER HARRISON ELDRIDGE
On the morning of Christmas Day 1885, St. Paul residents awoke to see a trail of black greatcoats and bowler hats cutting through the snow atop the frozen Mississippi River. Each man, armed with a household broom, was doing his part to clear off a long, narrow rectangle of pristine ice for the first curling match in the Twin Cities’ history.
Often compared to shuffleboard, curling is a deceptively simple game where two teams of four take turns sliding 40-pound granite stones across a sheet of ice, aiming for “the house,” a large bull’s-eye painted in the ice at the opposite end. One player throws the stone, and as the stone traverses the distance, two teammates, the “sweepers,” scrub the ice in front of the stone to influence how the stone will curl in one direction or another—hence the name. The goal is to get your stone as close as possible to the “tee,” the center of the house, while knocking your opponents’ stones out and trying to stop them from returning the favor. After every player on each team has “delivered” (to use the proper terminology) two stones, the team with the stone closest to the tee gets a point. Then, the team with the stone closest to the tee gets an extra point for every additional stone closer to the tee than the opposition’s closest stone. This whole process is called an “end.” After 10 of these, a winner is declared and, by magnanimous tradition, they buy the defeated a round of beer.
The game was a recent import in 1885—it came to the United States in the 19th century with Scottish immigrants that had been playing the game on frozen lochs since the 1500s. Curling found an inviting home on both sides of the Great Lakes, with long, cold winters providing the perfect environment for the game in the years before artificial ice rinks. After several years in a makeshift clubhouse on Raspberry Island (right next to the site of that historic first game), the St. Paul Curling Club took up residence at 470 Selby Ave. in 1912, where, for their first match, they simply poured water on the cement floor and kept every door and window open so that the December air could do its work. By the 1960s they had converted to modern artificial ice sheets, and they have since steadily grown into the largest curling club in the nation, with over 1,200 members—including Olympians Allison Potting, John Benton and Jessica Schultz. Now, as they prepare to lay down ice sheets for the upcoming season, their numbers continue to swell, as they do in curling clubs across the country. The explosion in interest is generally credited to the exposure gained through TV coverage since curling’s inclusion in the Winter Olympics in 1998, and most notably during the 2010 Vancouver games—best remembered for the Norwegian team’s gloriously flamboyant argyle pants.
The curling season at the St. Paul Curling Club runs from October through April, and this year begins on Oct. 2, but really kicks into gear with the Cash Spiel running from the 7th to the 9th. A “spiel” is the curling world’s word for tournament, and this one is one of the first stops of the World Curling Tour, which is apparently a thing. Top teams from around the United States will be competing in men’s and women’s events, and fans will have the chance to see some of the best curlers in the world, some of whom are native Minneapolitans and St. Paulites. In fact, eight members of Team U.S.A.’s 2014 Olympic curling team hail from Minnesota, more than any other state in the Union.
Up until recently the St. Paul Curling Club was the only outpost of the game in the Twin Cities, with most of the serious attention on the game focused farther north, around Duluth. Since 2010 there has been a rapid growth in interest in the capital, accommodated by the newly founded clubs of Frogtown in St. Paul, Dakota in Burnsville and the Four Seasons in Blaine. But this new competition has yet to put a dent in the St. Paul Curling Club’s membership—their unique tradition and history seem to inspire a loyal following.
The St. Paul Curling Club offers league play every night and a couple of weekdays on their eight rinks, with specific leagues for kids and those learning the game, up through their highly competitive “Super League,” and regular open leagues for the casual player. (The latter are for those who prefer a more social atmosphere for their sport.) They’ve also become a popular option for private parties and corporate outings, as space at both their rinks and bar can be reserved for any occasion.
