The legacy of the Ferbey Four as Kings of Canadian Curling will be enshrined in the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.
“It means we really made an impact on the sport and on other people’s lives,” said Scoff Pfeifer of St. Albert, the southpaw second for the four-time Brier champions and three-time world gold medallists during a storied 12-year run that ended in April 2010 at the World Curling Tour Players’ Championship in Dawson Creek, B.C.
“It’s really exciting because it allows you to kind of relive all the great memories you had as a team and to think after so many years down the road that they still want to give us the honour of being in the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame,” Pfeifer said.
The Alberta Curling Federation’s Team of the Century – with Randy Ferbey calling the shots and throwing third rocks, Dave Nedohin delivering the final stones and Pfeifer joining forces with Marcel Rocque as the front-end powerhouse sweeping tandem of Huffer and Puffer – is revered for their greatness as rock stars.
“It amazes me even after nine years how many people come up to me and ask whether I was Huff or I was Puff. Things like that are the things that really stand out where you can tell people really enjoyed us as a team and it went beyond the shots we made on the ice but the personalities and kind of the additional dimension we gave to the sport,” said Pfeifer, who was pictured on a 48-cent postal stamp sweeping a rock and the date of issue was Jan. 25, 2002, to coincide with 2002 Olympic Winter Games.
Does it really seem like nine years to Pfeifer since the Ferbey Four graced the ice?
“The biggest thing is it seems like we don’t get together near as much as we used to so every time we see each other now we always look a little bit older than we did the last time before, so it really makes you realize how long It’s been since we’ve been together.”
As for the last get-together, “We went out for a great dinner with our wives about a year ago so we’re overdue for another one. Obviously we have the induction banquet in May, so that will probably be the next time we all get together, all eight of us,” Pfeifer said.
The Class of 2019 inductees to be feted May 31 at the Sheraton in Red Deer include Kreg Llewellyn (water skiing athlete), Mike Rogers (hockey athlete), Lyndon Rush (bobsleigh athlete), James Donlevy (hockey/football builder), Dorothy Padget (artistic swimming builder), Edward Thresher (wrestling builder), Herman Dorin (Pioneer Award, wrestling) George Stothart (Achievement Award, multi-sport athlete, coach and official) and Rob Kerr (Bell Memorial Award, media).
The Ferbey Four enter the Hall of Fame as a curling team second to none. The origins of greatness started in 1997, when Ferbey teamed up with Nedohin, Carter Rycroft and Pat McCallum and the next season Pfeifer was brought on board as Rycroft moved to lead with the departure of McCallum. In 1999, Rycroft joined Kevin Martin’s rink and was replaced by Rocque.
The first game together as a foursome was tough to pin down.
“That is a very good question,” Pfeifer said. “Marcel came on a year after the three of us got together so it would’ve been somewhere in Alberta because I remember we won five out of seven bonspiels in our first year together and we never left Alberta.
“It didn’t take long for the four of us to really gel together and became an impactful team.”
The first of five in a row Alberta championships was 2001 and the fifth-straight Brier final was 2005 as the Ferbey Four were awarded their fourth Tankard after losing the previous year to Mark Dacey of Nova Scotia.
The Ferbey Four also conquered worlds in 2002, 2003 and 2005 after finishing fourth in 2001.
The highlight for Pfeifer with the Ferbey Four was twofold.
“On ice, I would say probably our win in Edmonton at the Brier (in 2005). Being in front of the hometown crowd is always special,” said the first curler to receive all-star honours at five Briers: first team all-star second in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 and second team all-star second in 2001.
“And probably off ice one of my favourite things I always look back on is we did the head shave for cancer (and raised nearly $50,000) at the world championship in 2007 (in Edmonton) so it’s always nice to have that positive impact on other people’s lives outside the sport as well as what you’re able to accomplish on the ice.”
Pfeifer, 41, remains involved the roaring game in the post Ferbey Four era in a variety of capacities. The Bellerose Composite High School alumnus returned to competitive curling briefly with the Jamie King rink at the 2013 provincials and as a spare on call when available has assisted the legendary Hootie and the Old Fish (King and Pfeifer’s dad, Brian, are teammates), winners of several President’s Cups in the St. Albert men’s league playoffs and city finals in the Edmonton and area Tournament of Champions. King was also Pfeifer’s first skip back in the day when they were too young to shave.
Pfeifer was also recruited by Team Koe as the alternate for the 2016 championship-winning rink at the Brier and worlds, and remained as the fifth man for skip Kevin Koe, third Marc Kennedy of St. Albert, second Brent Laing and lead Ben Hebert at the 2017 Brier as finalists and the Roar of the Rings as the victorious Olympic qualifiers. Team Canada placed fourth overall in Pfeifer’s first Olympic appearance.
Pfeifer is currently serving as a consultant with the Curling Canada High Performance staff.
“Basically I’m just doing consulting for Curling Canada working with some of their high-performance teams at specific events and basically helping out where I can,” said the gold medallist at the 1994 world U20 juniors as the second for the Colin Davison rink and bronze medallist in 1997 as the third for the Ryan Keane rink.
“With the Kevin Koe team over the last few years, I really enjoyed being in a support role and I want to stay involved with the sport so naturally the first place that I wanted to be to help was with other Canadian curlers and their pursuit of wearing the Maple Leaf on their backs.”
The latest assignment was the Canada Cup in early December in Estevan.
“I was helping out with the Next Gen, which is kind of like junior young adult curlers. We put on a mixed doubles tournament for them with the winner going to the next mixed doubles nationals,” said the 2011 wall of fame inductee at the St. Albert Curling Club, the birthplace of his competitive curling career at age 11. “It was really fun. I really enjoyed it simply for the fact that I remembered when I was starting out at that age how much fun and how much I loved the sport of curling and just being on the road and being able to meet all the more famous curlers at the time.”
