Throwing Stones with the Ocean State Curling Club

Members of the Ocean State Curling Club compete at the Smithfield Municipal Ice Rink. Photography courtesy of Ocean State Curling Club.

Youth hockey is winding down at 8:30 on a Thursday night, but the competition at the Smithfield Municipal Ice Rink is just heating up.

Photography courtesy of Ocean State Curling Club.

Members of the Ocean State Curling Club congregate in the stands, prepping for a night of friendly rivalry. League members ranging from their teens to their eighties chatter excitedly and don extra layers while the Zamboni makes the rounds. As the machine completes its final lap, they head down to the ice as a group to transform the rink into a playing surface.

“It’s about fifteen to twenty minutes for us to turn hockey ice into curling-capable ice,” explains Dave Rosler, the club’s president.

Rosler, like many members, discovered curling through a common introduction: while watching the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics on television. The following year, after moving to Rhode Island from Seattle, he participated in a Learn to Curl event with the OSCC, eventually joining a league. Originally based in Middletown, the club now meets in Smithfield and holds weekly leagues and regular Learn to Curl events year-round.

“When they won the Olympic gold [in 2018], I think it really blossomed the sport for everybody,” Rosler says. “It exposed it to everybody, despite the fact that it was televised at 3 a.m.”

At its most basic, curling is not so different from another Rhody pastime: bocce. Each playing surface, or sheet, is 150 feet long, with a circular “house” at either end. Players compete in teams of four to see who can throw closer to the center of the house. Sweepers pursue the stones down the ice, creating a thin layer of water that allows them to glide just far enough to nudge a competitor aside. Delivery sticks make the sport accessible to players in wheelchairs and those with hip or back injuries.

Photography courtesy of Ocean State Curling Club.

Glancing around the ice, it’s clear the league serves a range of skill levels. While some players lunge with the grace of an Olympic athlete, just as many wobble. The longtime members zoom around on specialized curling shoes — one coated in Teflon for sliding, the other rubber for gripping — but an old pair of Chuck Taylors modified with stick-on grippers works just as well, Rosler assures me.

The OSCC is the state’s largest curling club, but it’s not alone. The Pawcatuck River Curling Club was formed after the local YMCA hosted a demonstration and now competes seasonally on an outdoor rink in Westerly. Howard Taylor, a founding member, says the club continues a long tradition of Scottish and Italian immigrants curling in the region after bringing the sport from their native countries.

“We’ve been curling down there for about seven years,” he says.

With four simultaneous matches underway in Smithfield, shouted instructions echo around the rink. Equally important to the competition, Rosler says, is the tradition of broomstacking, when players convene at a local bar before or after a match.

“Harking back to the days of curling lodges and things like that, you literally go with the team you played against, stack your brooms up, and sit down,” he says.

Photography courtesy of Ocean State Curling Club.

Next month, the club will showcase the sport when it hosts the Grand National Curling Club Arena Club Championship April 24–27. Clubs from around the East Coast will descend on Schneider Arena at Providence College, where the competition will be open for public viewing. It’s a good opportunity, Rosler says, for those considering joining a Learn to Curl event to see how the sport is played.

Until then, they’ll have to make do with a smaller audience. As the curling continues late into the night, one straggling hockey player presses his face into the Plexiglas, peering curiously at the Teflon-clad figures sliding around the rink — one more convert for a sport that’s still going strong in the Ocean State. oceanstatecurling.org