A pair of St. Albert Curling Club wall of fame members are poised to celebrate Canada’s first men’s world championship since 2012.
Third Marc Kennedy and alternate Scott Pfeifer of the Kevin Koe rink were two wins away from standing on top of the podium after finishing first in the round robin at 10-1 in Basal, Switzerland.
The winner of Friday’s Page 1-2 playoff against Rasmus Stjerne of Denmark (8-3) advances to Sunday’s 7 a.m. gold-medal game. The score was unavailable at press time.
The loser is back on the ice today at 11 a.m. against Yusuke Morozumi of Japan (8-3) or John Shuster (8-3) of the United States in the semifinal. They play at 6 a.m. today, in the Page 3-4 playoff and the loser meets the semifinal loser for bronze at 2 a.m. Sunday.
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Canada needed an extra end last Sunday to score three to beat Denmark 11-8.
Canada, with Brent Laing at second and Ben Hebert at lead, closed out the round robin Thursday with wins of 6-4 against Thomus Ulsrud of Norway (7-4), last year’s silver medallist, and 8-2 against Sven Michel of Switzerland (4-7).
Pfeifer, 39, played the whole game against Switzerland, as Hebert watched from the alternate’s seat at ice level. The three-time world champion (2002, 2003 and 2005) throwing second rocks for the Ferbey Four curled a cool 93 per cent.
Pfeifer also served as the team’s alternate at the Tim Hortons Brier in Ottawa and has seen first hand what makes this foursome so special.
“Curling has evolved a ton, even since I left the game five years ago. The amount of mental preparation those guys go through, the amount of concentration, it’s at another level compared to when we played and this team is at the leading edge. They’ve played fantastic. They’re obviously great players, but it takes a lot more than that right now to be a great team. They’re doing everything right. They struggled the one day with the ice, but they had a very good debrief and came out the next day with guns blazing,” Pfeifer, a four-time Brier champion, told Al Cameron of Curling Canada.
“It’s blast watching them. It’s exciting being on the bench and being on a competitive team again.”
Ironically, Canada’s last world championship was celebrated in Basel.
Kennedy, 34, and Hebert are competing in their third worlds but the first with Koe and Laing and both are former champions.
Kennedy and Hebert won gold in 2008 and were silver medallists in 2009 curling with Kevin Martin and John Morris.
After the round robin, Koe (90), Kennedy (88) and Laing (87) were tops at their positions in cumulative percentages and Hebert (87) tied for third.
The only loss for the Calgary-based Glencoe Curling Club rink after eight-straight wins was Wednesday’s tense 4-3 extra-end setback against 2015 gold medallist Niklas Edlin of Sweden (6-5). The opening five ends were blanked by Canada despite several rocks in play before scoring one in six. The teams traded singles in the next two ends before Sweden counted the only deuce of the game. Canada had a shot a two in 10 but settled for one and Sweden replied with the winning point in the 11th end.
Sweden was eliminated by Denmark on Thursday, as Stjerne pulled off a double-takeout for two to win 8-7.
