Jasontek to Appear in "Rink & Rock" Event for USA Curling

August 27, 2001

Silver screen stars Leslie Nielsen and Paul Gross have agreed to host a special USA Curling production slated for national television broadcast this fall. Nielsen (Airplane, Naked Gun) and Gross (Due South) will be in Ogden Sept. 7-8 for the primary location filming for "Rink & Rock: The World of Curling." The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, under the direction of Pamela McNair, is producing the one-hour special for USA Curling.

Filming will take place at The Ice Sheet, the same venue that will house the curling competition for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. The program, also supported by the World Curling Federation, will revolve around a pair of "pro-am" games and a community bonspiel. Two teams of U.S. Olympic-hopeful curlers (one men’s, one women’s) will be on the ice against two teams of all-star athletes from other sports. Nielsen and Gross, along with color commentators Colleen Jones (reigning World Curling Champion) and George Karrys (1998 Olympic silver medalist), will interact with the athletes as the games progress. They will use the competition and the community games as a backdrop to explain the sport of curling, its history, and its growing interest in the United States and abroad.

"Rink & Rock," slated for national broadcast this fall, is designed as an "Olympic primer" to help educate viewers about the newest Winter Olympic sport of curling, and to increase interest in and awareness of this 500-year-old sport. Local curlers and spectators are invited and encouraged to take part in the community bonspiel, or to just sit in the stands and show their curling and Olympic spirit. Youths and children are also invited, and there is especially a need for "Little Rockers" (children 4-7 already curling or interested in trying). Filming is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday and continue through about 3 p.m. that day. The filming will continue from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.

The celebrity athletes scheduled to participate to date include (identified with sport) Natalie Williams (WNBA), Tricia Stumpf (skeleton), Becky Jasontek (synchronized swimming), Zach Lund (skeleton), Andy Gabel (speed skating) and Lyle Nelson (biathlon). U.S. curlers who will be participating include Patti Lank (Lewiston, N.Y.), Erika Brown (Madison, Wis.), Allison Pottinger (Eden Prairie, Minn.), Tracy Sachtjen (Lodi, Wis.), Andy Borland (Hibbing, Minn.), Paul Pustovar (Hibbing, Minn.), Matt Stevens (Bemidji, Minn.) and Cory Ward (Eau Claire, Wis.)

Nielsen and Gross are also working together in Canada on a major motion picture about curling entitled "Men with Brooms," slated for release in February 2002.

The Ice Sheet is located on the campus of Weber State University, 4390 Harrison Boulevard,
Ogden, adjacent to the Dee Events Center.