The Innisfail Curling Club has hired an artist.
He's an artist with ice, the man responsible for providing curlers the best conditions to have the optimum performance for the roaring game.
And this veteran professional knows a thing or two about making the best ice conditions for some of the best curlers in the country. He keeps company with the best in his profession, even helping out as an ice technician at the 2009 Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary.
Brent Asham, 48, is the new manager and head ice technician at the local curling club.
He comes to Innisfail with more than 15 years experience working on ice.
“Everybody says it is an art,” said Asham. “It took a few years at it for me to catch on. A lot of it is trial and error.”
Asham came into the profession after being in the golf industry as a greens keeper.
He landed his first big job with the Calgary Curling Club and later with that city's Northhill Curling Club.
In 2004 he became the head icemaker at the Cochrane Curling Club and followed that up as manager and head ice technician at the Lacombe Curling Club where he ran the whole building until 2011. That year he went back to the Calgary Curling Club, stayed a year and briefly went back to the golfing industry.
But earlier this year the job in Innisfail was available and he's back producing the finest ice for curlers.
Asham is a perfectionist in preparing his product. The ice, after all, is nothing like what is available at the community skating rink.
“The big difference is that curling ice had to be a certain way for the rocks to react. It is 100 per cent sensitive. Curling ice has to be spotless,” said Asham. “It has to be completely flat. It has to be like a billiard table.”
Asham's contract with the local club officially began on Aug. 1. League play at the club begins Oct. 21 and he's now busy preparing the four sheets of ice to make them a masterpiece for curlers.
“I'm trying to get it to a level state,” he added. “The key is to keep the ice flat so the rocks will do what they are supposed to do.”
From now until the end of March, curlers and fans of the game will know they have a real pro at the club who will meticulously work day in and day out to ensure the local facilities are always in the best professional condition.
And while Asham has his own reputation to maintain he also knows he's working for a first-class organization with its own high standards.
“It looks to be a good facility,” he said. “I have heard good things about it.”
