The transformation from hockey to curling is well underway at the Sandman Centre.

Curling Canada officials are in the city ahead of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts opening draw Friday night, Feb. 17.

Sean Smith, the City’s Event’s Supervisor, says work to get ready for the Canadian women’s curling championship began in the hours after the Blazers’ 5-4 win over Prince George Saturday night.

“Our arena crews and changeover staff were in there taking the boards out,” Smith said on the NL Morning News.

“There is a lot of ice prep work to be done before they cover it up. I believe I did see some surveyors out there the other surveying the ice for low spots to make sure it is as level as can be come next week.”

Smith says the idea is to give city crews a head start on making sure the arena is ready for the arrival of Curling Canada staff.

“Sunday morning, Curling Canada arrive with a lot of their equipment to start moving in and setting up and its going to be a pretty busy place down there from Sunday through Thursday,” Smith added.

Team Kerri Einarson will begin its quest for a record-tying fourth consecutive title at 6 p.m. on Feb. 17. That is when Team B.C., represented by the Clancy Grandy rink, will also open their tournament.

In all, there will be 18 teams vying to be crowned Scotties champion – Team Canada, 14 provincial and territorial champions, and three Wild Card teams split into two pools of nine, seeded based on their final standing on the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) as of Jan. 30, 2023.

Teams will play eight round robin games with the top three in each pool moving onto the championship round.

Kamloops becomes the fifth city, and the first in B.C., that will have hosted the Brier (1996 and 2014), the Scotties Tournament of Hearts (2023), the World Men’s Curling Championship (1998), and the World Women’s Curling Championship (1998) – joining Winnipeg and Brandon in Manitoba, Saint John in New Brunswick, and Lethbridge in Alberta.

The city will also join Brandon as the only two cities that will have also hosted the Canada Cup, with Kamloops doing so from 2003 until 2008.

While the Scotties takes over Sandman Centre, the Kamloops Blazers will be on a six game Central Division road swing, beginning with Friday night’s game in Red Deer. Their next home game will be against the Kelowna Rockets on Mar. 3.

The City of Kamloops will also use the Kamloops Curling Club as The Patch – a beer garden and entertainment venue – for the duration of the Scotties Tournament. You can find a list of entertainment here.

– With files from Jon Keen and Jeff Andreas

Kamloops is starting to “Paint the Town” in anticipation of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts rolling into town just over a week from now! Check out those beautiful windows 😍#STOH2023 pic.twitter.com/91QDkd4Cii

— Curling Canada (@CurlingCanada) February 9, 2023