Club History

We recently celebrated our 30th anniversary and assembled an oral history of the club.

Pictures of our former home at Houghton's Dee Stadium, where the club curled from 2002 to 2005

The Copper Country Curling Club (CCCC) was formed in December 1993 by Gordon Maclean. During our first four years, the club curled in the Lake Linden Ice Arena, a natural ice facility which we shared with hockey and skating teams. Because the arena lacked an ice plant, the ice conditions were dependent on the outside weather. Even during a good winter, we would face melting ice some weeks, subzero temperatures other weeks and our season usually lasted only 8 to 10 weeks. Despite these challenging conditions, the club grew to over 40 members. Our proudest moment was when a CCCC-sponsored rink was runner up in the 1996 College Curling Championship.

The club has survived many tough challenges. At the peak of our enthusiasm, we suffered two warm winters in a row which considerably shortened the season. In addition, the Lake Linden Ice Arena closed permanently in 1997. For the next five years, the CCCC had no home ice to curl on. We were able to remain a ‘paper’ club and retain a significant portion of our peak membership, but our curling was limited to the bonspiel circuit. In the winter of 2002-2003, due to the excitement generated by the 2002 Winter Olympics, we were allowed a Saturday night slot on the ice at Houghton's Dee Stadium. We continued to curl at 'The Dee' for several years until we moved into the new Drill House facilities in the winter of 2005-2006.