The producers of a calendar that exposed curling in more ways than one have already sent the second edition to the print, and this year, an Olympic medal winner will be one of the posing beauties.

“It’s looking very beautiful…I’m very pleased,” said Ana Arce, the calendar’s photographer and Andorran skip for three years. “This year, every time I approach a girl, they are very happy (to participate) and it has been very easy this year.”

Arce said the 2006-07 Team Sponsorship Calendar will tentatively be released in Europe in a few weeks and in about a month in Canada. 

The new calendar will feature 12 new models and “a surprise or two,” according to thecurlingnews.com, the web site that sells the calendar. 

“It’s only that we have really big names this year and also it’s maybe not only 12 girls…but I cannot say much more for the moment,” Arce said cryptically.  “The only thing I can tell you is that the girls are really, really beautiful.”

The money raised from calendar purchases last year was divvied up between the teams of the models. This year, the participating curlers will also donate some of the money to different charities.

The 2005-06 Ana Arce Team Sponsorship Calendar, which featured 12 international female curlers in the buff, managed to raise a fair sum of money for the teams of the models, as well as the eyebrows of everyone else. 

“I know some people didn’t agree with the (concept) but everybody said that even if they didn’t agree, it was tasteful,” Arce said. “In general, (the response) was very, very positive.”

The idea for the calendar was borne out of some half-joking conversations between Ana, who posed for the calendar herself, and her friends. 

“It was really a surprise because it started in a very silly way…we thought we would sell, like, 500, maximum,” Arce said. “We expected very little…I’m so happy about the reaction.”

Arce wasn’t the only one surprised.  Lynsay Ryan, daughter of three-time Brier champ Pat Ryan, posed for the calendar with fellow Canadian Melanie Robillard and was suddenly inundated with interview requests.

“I was really surprised, and so were my parents, with how much publicity it got,” Ryan said. “I had the phone ringing off the hook, and I was on Off The Record on TV, so it was kind of shocking at first.”

“I think there was a mixture of opinions but I think everyone who actually saw the calendar really liked it,” she said.

Ryan, who’s in her fourth year at McMaster and doing her thesis, won’t be posing for the calendar again this year although there will be a page dedicated to last year’s photos. 

“Right now I’m actually just focusing on my school…and I’ve been working on my music,” she said. “So I hope one day maybe I’ll get my name in the papers for my music.”

Ryan, who sings and plays guitar and piano, will be singing the national anthem at this year’s Brier in Hamilton.

As for some semi-serious Internet buzz about a possible male curler calendar, Arce said she hasn’t seriously considered it although she has discussed it with her friends—the same way the first calendar came to be. 

“I have a big list of men that would like to be in the calendar, there are plenty,” Arce said. “The only thing we wonder is will girls buy it?”

To purchase the calendar go to thecurlingnews.com to check availability.

By Nick Conrad