It might have been a men’s curling event, but it was Mother Nature that dominated at the Canad Inns Classic in Portage La Prairie, Man., over the weekend.
The World Curling Tour competition drew about a dozen of the world’s top men’s teams, including Brad Gushue and his St. John’s rink. But a blizzard his southern Manitoba on Friday, the opening day of play, leading to a power outage at the Portage Curling Club and the adjoining hotel. The outage continued throughout the weekend and into early Sunday, making it impossible to continue with the event.
The situation was such that the Manitoba government declared a provincial state of emergency.
Playoffs were supposed to have been held Monday.
Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker had won their first two games in what was to have been a triple-knockout event.
Next up on the Gushue rink’s schedule is the Masters Grand Slam event Oct. 22-27 in North Bay, Ont.
