Meet the expert who has spent 34 years getting curling ice competition ready
CBC
All ice is not created equal and Greg Ewasko — who has spent over three decades as an ice technician — knows that better than just about anyone. He is the head ice technician with Curling Canada. Ewasko, along with two other technicians and 24 volunteers have been hard at work perfecting the rink at the Mary Brown's Centre for the 2026 Montana's Brier, which runs until March 8.
The usual smooth hockey ice at the Mary Brown's Centre is not suitable for curling. The reason? Curling ice is pebbled.
"It basically allows the rock to slide, right?" Ewasko said.
According to Ewasko — who took training to become an ice technician — it takes between 36 and 48 hours to transform standard ice into conditions that are fit for curling and it's a multi-step process.
A laser is used to make sure the ice is as close to level as possible. Ewasko said in the case of the Mary Brown's Centre ice, they had to do a little bit of cutting, and some major hose floods to get it just right.
Then comes painting the rink ice white, and the installation of all of the the circles, decals, and lines for gameplay. After that, the carpets and scoreboards go in and the lights go on.
But, back to the pebbling, the most important step in getting the ice ready for the curlers.
"When you pebble and you have the right thickness of pebble on the ice it will allow the rock to curl and have the right speed," Ewasko said.
For pebbling, technicians wear water tank backpacks with hoses and nozzles and "we decide on what size of pebbling droplets we want on the ice," said Ewasko. Two layers of pebbling are laid down, then the ice is lightly shaved.
After that, it's game on. The ice is shaved smooth and pebbled again before every game.
Ewasko's path to becoming an ice technician started when he curled as a teenager.
At 16, he said he "got the itch for ice making" after watching people at his rink.
"[It] was pretty cool how the ice makers back then could do certain things to ice to make it curl or speed up the rocks," Ewasko said.
He started taking ice technican courses in his early 20s and started getting involved in the community, and he "slowly just hung around with the right people and got to know the craft a little bit better."
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