Category Archives: News

Keene’s Chloe York Heading To USA Curling Junior National Championships

Team Rodgers photo

We are delighted to announce that Keene’s Chloe York will be playing in the USA Curling Junior National Championships in Willmar, Minnesota from January 16-23, 2015 as one of the top 10 Junior women’s curling teams in the USA!  Last week at the regional “playdowns” (tournament), her team won one of two spots from the eastern USA for the “Nationals”.  The team will now travel to Minnesota starting January 15 to compete against nine other teams.

Chloe, on the right in the photo, is 13 years old and an 8th grade student at the Monadnock Waldorf School in Keene.  Chloe started curling in 2011 at the Petersham Curling Club about 45 minutes south of Keene in Petersham, MA.  Her team is led by skip (captain) Rebecca Rodgers, 15, also from Petersham Curling Club, and includes Anna Cenzalli, 14, from Cape Cod Curling Club, and Elizabeth Janiak, 14, from the Nashua (NH) Country Club. Chloe plays the “lead” position that throws the first rocks in a game.  All of the girls have been curling for 5-8 years and have been playing in competitive bonspiels (tournaments) throughout the region.

Given that this “Team Rodgers” is a new team without any corporate sponsorship, they are actively asking for donations to help fund the costs of flying 8 people (the 4 girls and their parent chaperones) out to Minnesota and housing/feeding them for the 9 days of the event.  If you would like to help support this amazing opportunity for these girls, please visit:

https://www.gofundme.com/teamrodgerscurling

If you are with a corporation or other entity that might be willing to help financially, please contact team coach Dan York at 603-439-0024 or [email protected] .

If you would like to follow the activities of the team over the next few weeks as they prepare for and then compete at the 2016 Junior National Championships, please follow the team on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TeamRodgersCurling where they will be posting updates.

Thank you to everyone in the area who has already helped out the team!  The girls are so excited for this incredible opportunity to play at a national level!

P.S. Wouldn’t it be great if we could offer the sport of curling in Keene?  Please let us know you are interested!

Congrats to Keene Ice On The Start Of Their Construction!

Keene Ice construction

Congratulations to the great folks over at Keene Ice on the start of their construction on Marlboro Street here in Keene!  It’s been great going for morning runs over the past couple of months and watching the construction evolve.  They’ve been posting some photos and comments over to their page on Facebook and it’s been fun to see.

People have asked me about whether we’d be able to have any curling at the new Keene Ice arena.  Given the fact that there is an extremely heavy demand for ice time for hockey leagues, figure skating and other ice activities, especially in light of the fact that Cheshire Ice Arena (our one other ice arena in the area) will not open next year, it’s highly unlikely that we’ll be able to figure out a way to do much in the way of curling at the Keene Ice arena.

I wrote last year about the challenges of scheduling in getting a curling club going at an ice arena and that really remains the biggest challenge.  I spoke with one of the Keene Ice folks earlier this year and the reality is that getting more than just a couple of hours at odd times is not likely to happen. I think it’s awesome for them that they have so much demand!

And, as someone who enjoys ice skating, I’m very much looking forward to skating at the new arena!

I wouldn’t rule out entirely doing something at the Keene Ice arena… even if it were just some demonstrations and “learn to curl” sessions at some point in time… but our focus continues to be on how we can identify a place for some dedicated curling ice that could let us grow the kind of curling club and curling community that we’d like to see.

If you’re interested, please do join with us and let us know your interested!

And if you get a chance to drive by the Keene Ice facility on Marlboro Street, do check it out – it’s great to see!  Let’s make Keene a winter sports destination!

P.S. And yes, in addition to the scheduling, curling ice is also different from skating ice… although there are many ice arenas that work hard to get their ice closer to what you can get at a dedicated curling club.

 

 

Keene Ice Speaking to Keene City Council Tonight at 7:30pm

Keene Ice logoThe folks at Keene Ice just posted to their Facebook page that they’ll be in front of the Keene City Council tonight (Feb 19, 2015) and asked for people to come and provide support:

Supporters wanted! Tonight – City Hall – 7:30pm

We are so VERY close to beginning construction on the new arena…Please show your support for Keene ICE by attending tonight’s City Council meeting at 7:30pm, when the Council will be updated on the project before the final agreements are signed and we can started building your new rink!

If you can get there to support Keene Ice I would encourage you to do so.  Unfortunately I have other plans (concert tickets) but I will be hoping all goes well for them.  We’re not exactly sure what we’ll be able to do with the new arena in the way of curling, but we definitely believe this region needs this new arena as a way to bring more winter sports activity to the area.  ThinkRink!

Great Keene Sentinel Article About Bringing Curling To The Region

Keene Sentinel article about curlingMany thanks to the Keene Sentinel for their great article on the front page of the Sports section in today’s Sunday paper.  It nicely promotes the open house happening today down at Petersham Curling Club and also mentions the work we are looking to do to bring a dedicated curling facility to Keene and the Monadnock region.  The online article strangely didn’t include any photos, but the print version has a few great photos.

If you are visiting this site from the Keene Sentinel’s site or because of the article, THANK YOU!  If you would like to see curling happen in the Keene region, there are three things you can do to help:

1. Visit the Petersham CC Open Houses – The closest place to curl right now is the Petersham Curling Club and to make curling a reality in Keene we need to build a group of people who know how to curl and want to make it happen here.  So please do check out the PCC open houses today from 12-5 and on this Thursday, Feb 20 from 6-9.   If you’d like to do more, please join the PCC and also check out their upcoming “Learn to Curl” sessions.

2. Fill out our interest form – Even if you’ve never tried it and just think it looks interesting, we need to get a sense of how many people are interested in the sport of curling.  We’re also definitely looking for people who would be interested in helping us build the organization in many different ways.

3. Spread the word! – Please help us spread the word that there are people who want to bring the sport of curling to Keene and the greater Monadnock region.  Tell people about the website… follow us on social media (and share/retweet our info)… invite us to come talk to your group (we can explain curling! 🙂 )… just let people know we’re here!

Thank you for visiting – and let’s bring curling to the region!

Great Video About The Sport Of Curling In Petersham, MA!

Recently WWLP-TV22 recorded a great video segment about curling at the Petersham Curling Club as part of their “Mass Appeal” show. The video gives a great overview of the sport of curling and shows how open the sport is to anyone to participate.  (And if you are interested in trying out curling yourself, the Petersham Curling Club has open houses about curling coming up on February 8, 16 and 20!)

And if you think this looks like a great kind of club to have in Keene, please sign up to help us! (And please read our vision of what we are trying to do.)

Watch Olympic Curling Qualification LIVE This Week (Dec 10-15)

Want to see amazing Olympic-level curling live over the Internet?  The World Curling Federation is streaming the Olympic Qualification Event live via YouTube.  The schedule is online and runs from today, December 10, through Sunday, December 15, 2013. I saw part of the first Korea vs. Japan game today and it was excellent!

World Curling Federation Olympic Qualification EventThis is the first time this “OQE” event has been run as a way to identify the last two teams that will compete in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Essentially, there are already 8 curling teams qualified for the Sochi Olympics and this event is a chance for everyone who hasn’t already qualified to potentially earn one of the last two spots. The USA already qualified for the Women’s event but the USA Men’s curling team is in this event vying for one of the two men’s teams.

Note that the times on the schedule of games are in Central European Time, which is currently 6 hours ahead of US Eastern time.

Tune in to watch some excellent curling!  And then… if you’d like to see the sport of curling brought to southwestern NH, help us get the word out and let us know you are interested!

WMUR To Showcase Curling In NH At 7pm Tonight on NH Chronicle

WMUR logoTonight (Dec 2) at 7:00pm WMUR’s “New Hampshire Chronicle” will feature a segment on the growth of the sport of curling in New Hampshire.  As they say:

A new ice sport is gaining traction and you don’t need skates, just some heavy granite stones and a few brooms. Curling is becoming a popular sport and there is a club in Conway that is helping it catch on.

The segment is about the Mount Washington Valley Curling Club up on the opposite end of the state in Conway, NH. The MWVCC was formed in 2011 and curls at the Ham Ice Arena.

This is VERY cool to see and I encourage everyone who can to watch it to see about curling in New Hampshire!   (And then let’s please join together to help bring curling to the Monadnock region!)

Congrats To Keene Ice On The Unanimous Keene City Council Vote!

Keene Ice logoCONGRATULATIONS to the team at Keene Ice for the unanimous vote of the Keene City Council to proceed with executing the development and operations agreements between the City of Keene and the Keene Ice organization!  This is a huge step forward and means that if the fund-raising all works out we should see a brand new ice arena here in Keene opening as soon as next September – awesome news for those of us who love winter sports!

I was there at the meeting and was delighted to hear Councilor Mitch Greenwald mention during his report about the previous week’s Finance Committee meeting something along the lines of:

“…there was even a guy there from a curling organization… that’s something even we could do [pointing to another councilor] given that we can’t skate…”

EXACTLY!

Curling is a sport that is accessible to all ages… young, old, and everywhere in between.  And while you obviously may play better if you are in athletic condition, you certainly don’t need to be.  I’ve played on teams with people of all ages and physical conditions.  If you can’t bend your knees you can deliver rocks with a special stick.  There are even leagues of wheelchair curlers.  Pretty much anyone can play curling!

That’s why we want to bring a dedicated curling facility to the Keene region – to provide another winter sport option and to make Keene a true center for winter sports activity!

WILL YOU JOIN WITH US and help us spread the word about bringing curling to the Monadnock region?

P.S. And yes, we are talking to the Keene Ice folks because there does appear to be a place in their plans where they might be able to add a couple of sheets of curling ice!  Stay tuned……..

Congratulations To Keene Ice! First Round Of Keene City Council Approval Tonight

Keene Ice at Keene City CouncilCongratulations to Keene Ice! In a completely packed Keene City Council Chambers tonight (including out into the hallway), the Keene City Council finance and operations committee voted unanimously to approve the two agreements between the City of Keene and Keene Ice. The agreements now go to the full Keene City Council next Thursday for approval… but tonight was the big step to get this approval from the finance committee!

Congrats!  We as a city are now that much closer to having a year-round ice rink right here in Keene.

And… in looking at the drawings… there seems to be this “open storage space” behind the bleachers that looks like it could be enough room to hold some curling sheets!  A regulation curling sheet is about 150 feet long and 15-ish feet wide.  I don’t know the scale of the drawings… but it looks like that storage space is maybe 40-ish feet wide by 200 feet long, so probably only enough room for 2 sheets.  I know we said in our FAQ that we’re really looking for 3-4 sheets to be able to bring in the large bonspiels and a large number of members… BUT… that could be interesting!   I think we need to follow up with Keene Ice and see what possibilities might exist there… 

Keene Ice At Keene City Council Tonight

If you get a chance to go to the Keene City Council meeting tonight, Thursday, November 14, 2013, the proposal for a year-round skating rink from Keene Ice will be under discussion.  While we’ve written in our frequently-asked questions why we are seeking a dedicated ice facility, we’re very much in favor of seeing Keene Ice’s proposal go through. The Monadnock region needs more access to winter sports facilities – and it would be outstanding to have a year-round skating rink here in Keene!  I (Dan York) am planning to be there and I hope others will join in the meeting as well.