The spanking new Phillips Curling Centre is about to host its first bonspiel and the numbers are huge for what organizer Doug Campbell informally calls the "ice breaker."

A record 44 teams will be participating in the 8th Annual Super Seniors Square Spiel, Nov. 22-25, and the new curling rink at the SLS Family Sports Centre is the reason why.

Campbell says having two more sheets of ice has made it possible to increase the size of the tournament and there's been keen interest in trying out the newest ice in Southern Alberta.

"We're really pleased to report we've broken all records," says Campbell.

"The fact that it's new is drawing people, so we're getting some new seniors coming in for the first time and we're getting some that haven't curled for 15 years that are coming back to the sport."

Even with additional ice, the bonspiel has had to be expanded to four days from three and includes four distinct social evenings.

The word "squares" appears in the bonspiel title because players and teams are grouped by age and skill level. Each square has peers playing peers and the result is a much more fun event for everyone. A total of $4,000 in prize money is up for grabs. More sponsors would make it possible to increase those prizes in the future.

There are four social curling categories for those ages 50 to 91 and three competitive categories for those ages 50 to 84. They've also added a sturling event to the squares, a two-player stick game that continues to grow in popularity around the globe.

With the number of people rejoining the sport, Campbell found they were short of thirds and skips to anchor the teams, so they found a creative solution to accommodate their interest.

"We've found we had a lot of the new people who aren't experienced and didn't know how to play third or skip and are leads and seconds, So we've brought in what I called "Angel" skips and thirds who are doing double duty so the greenhorns have their own squares and don't have to play against people who are going to trounce them; they're playing against their peers"

There's a big social Wednesday night, more modest one Thursday, a new costume night on Friday with live music and an awards banquet on Saturday. Canada 150 is the theme for the costume night and they'll be prizes.

Entry fees and banquet tickets did go up in cost because of the new facility, but it's still a modest $70 per person and $30 for banquet tickets on a very tight budget.

The seniors' bonspiel was running into the difficulty of attracting enough teams prior to the start of the Super Squares.

"We're really proud. We started with 16 teams, we built it to 20, then 25, then 30 and this year we've broken through with 44 teams."

Being the first to host a bonspiel at the new centre has its challenges, but also its rewards.

"We're the ice breaker. There are some growing pains, we must admit, but we're really pleased with where we're at right now."