NISKAYUNA - If there’s one rule that Schenectady Curling Club holds dear, it’s “Don’t scuff the ice."
And yet, on one night each year, that rule is thrown out, offering members the chance to put on their ice skates and try a different approach to the sport: Keg curling.
“Tonight is our closing night of the club. From September to April, all we do is curl on the ice, so, tonight's kind of a free-for-all for people to do whatever they want to do [on the ice],” explained club president Chad Alojipan against a backdrop of club members skating laps around the four sheets of ice and sliding empty beer kegs–not curling stones–from one end to the other.
Schenectady Curling Club members celebrate the end of another season with ice skating and keg curling before melting the club's ice for the summer.
With the rink’s climate controls scheduled to be turned off this week, the shuttering of the club for the summer months requires more than just melting the ice. It also demands plenty of cooperation from members for the removal and storage of various items from the curling area and bar.
Between shuttling benches and gear from the ice, SCC members have a one-night-only opportunity to discover whether sending a keg across the ice is all that different from curling a stone.
“A little ice hockey, a little keg curling, it’s not going to hurt anything after today,” laughed Alojipan.
After spending months maintaining the club’s ice at a pristine, optimum level for curling, some members confessed to blanching a bit at the sight of kegs–or hockey skates, for that matter–touching the frozen surface. Any apprehension was short-lived, however, as allowing curlers the chance to let loose for one night has become an annual tradition while celebrating the end of another season at the club.
Alojipan indicated that anyone who wants to join the festivities next year has plenty of time to find out more about the club and the sport itself. SCC will begin holding open-house events and offering learn-to-curl sessions in the fall, with more information available at the club’s website, www.SchenectadyCurlingClub.us.
