Every year, the towns of Little Current and Espanola, located roughly an hour southwest of Sudbury, Ont., play host to one of the nation’s longest-running curling championships: The Baxter Cup.
The tournament dates back to 1925, making it older than Canada’s biggest curling showdown, The Brier, and is one of the few sporting events to have never missed a single year—yes, that includes during the pandemic and the Second World War—and this year marks the Cup’s 100th anniversary.
Each year, the Espanola Curling Club and the Little Current Curling Club men’s leagues offer up 20 players from each club to compete in the 10-game tournament. To play in the Cup is considered an honour, says David Gallant, the vice president of the Espanola Curling Club and a Baxter Cup trustee.
“Because [the tournament] is steeped in such history, it’s very desirable to play in. The players are those with the most Baxter Cup seniority,” says Gallant. Baxter Cup seniority, he explains, isn’t necessarily dependent on skill level or age, but on how many years you’ve competed in the Cup.
“The way I got in was at the last minute somebody was sick and couldn’t play, and so they started calling on the wait list, ‘Are you available?’” says Gallant. “I got a little half-notch of Baxter Cup seniority, and that’s the only seniority that matters with the Baxter Cup.”
Photo courtesy David Gallant
Photo courtesy David Gallant
Photo courtesy David Gallant
Photo courtesy David Gallant
Photo courtesy David Gallant
Photo courtesy David Gallant
Photo courtesy David Gallant
Photo courtesy David Gallant
In order to get your name in, a sign-up sheet is posted, and players are chosen at a gala where the Espanola and Little Current clubs come together for a social hour and dinner. As tradition dictates, there’s a retelling of the history of the Baxter Cup and dinner is served at a table with the Espanola club seated one side and Little Current on the other. The teams then toast one another before players are picked for that year’s tournament, explains Gallant.
To be claimed by the worthy victors: an impressive silver cup donated in 1925 by George Baxter, the founder of the tournament, an avid curler, and once the proprietor of the Kingsborough and Baxter Hardware Store in Little Current.
This year, the tournament took place on February 7 and 8, and with it being the 100th anniversary, Gallant and another trustee for Espanola Mike Wall pulled out all the stops. They had team jackets and a Baxter Cup logo made up; included letters received from the Prime Minister, the Premier, and MPPs in the tournament program; and had famous curlers, such as David Murdoch and Jeff Stoughton, send congratulations videos for all the players to be played at the rink on tournament day.
At the end of the weekend, Espanola won the Cup for the second year in a row with a 21-point win. But with the historic tournament’s consistent track record, Little Current will get the chance to win back the trophy next year.
After all, the Cup has braved the Great Depression and many a winter storm. It was even stolen for a short stint and went for a swim in Lake Huron’s North Channel, rumour has it. More than that, it’s a cherished tradition between two communities that players and audiences look forward to every year.
“I think [the tournament] has lasted as long as it has because of the camaraderie,” says Gallant. “It’s the celebration of the sport of curling, but it’s also just about the coming together of two clubs and sharing each other’s company and friendship. And there happens to be some curling in between all of that.”
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