Marc Kennedy’s return to competitive curling was smooth as ice.
Kennedy filled in at third for Team Jacobs at the Home Hardware Canada Cup after announcing March 3 he was leaving Team Koe, the fourth-place finishers at the 2018 Olympics, to heal a nagging sore hip while taking a mental break from the sport he excels at.
“This was a really good test for me physically just to see if I can do it and I'm really happy it all worked out not only for myself but also for them,” said Kennedy of the Canada Cup champions.
Kennedy, 36, was approached by Team Jacobs less than two weeks before the Canada Cup in Estevan, Sask., after Ryan Fry decided to take an indefinite leave to focus on growth and self-improvement after his disqualification from the Red Deer Curling Classic for what organizers called unsportsmanlike behaviour on and off the ice resulting from excessive drinking.
Fry was a substitute for the Jamie Koe rink that included Chris Schille and DJ Kidby and they were also kicked out of the World Curling Tour competition.
Fry was fined $1,000 by the WCT and the money was donated to Red Deer Junior Curling.
Fry, 40, is a 2013 Brier champion and 2014 Olympic gold medallist curling with skip Brad Jacobs, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden with the Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., rink.
“Having not played much I was a little surprised but excited once I got the call,” Kennedy said. “I was happy to help out. It was a tough couple of weeks for them as a team so to be able to come in and kind of give them just some positive energy and some excitement and help out while they’re going through the tough times it worked out really well.
“Emotionally they’ve been in a pretty tough spot with everything that happened and we were able to kind of go out there and enjoy each other and have some fun and be excited and I think that showed in the results.”
Team Jacobs placed first in the round robin at 5-1 and in Sunday’s final defeated Team Koe 5-4.
“I had no pain in my hip all week. I had some other pains just from not having played much this year, but all in all, physically I felt great,” said Kennedy, who ranked third in his position in the round robin by shooting 85 per cent. “In that final game I was just excited and refreshed and felt good and the fact that physically I felt good helped make me play that much better.”
Kennedy spent his curling sabbatical throwing practice rocks and in October teamed up with Rachel Homan to win the Sherwood Park Mixed Doubles Classic.
“I’ve had a really good six months of rest. I’ve also had some pretty intense rehab just to see if I could get to a place where I wanted to be physically,” said Kennedy of his sliding right hip. “It’s been bugging me for a couple of years now so it’s the one that really needed some rest and it got it and it will have some more rest for the rest of the season."
The three-time Brier winner in eight trips to the Canadian curling classic, two-time world champion and 2010 Olympic gold medallist was good to go after the brief layoff from high-level curling.
“A lot of it came back pretty naturally,” said Kennedy, a six-time Brier all-star. “There was an adjustment period just with the new guys. You’re not sure how you’re going to mesh as a team or what the chemistry is going to be like and I think we were all a little nervous to play together. We have a lot of respect for one another. We’ve had some battles over the years so I wanted to impress them and they wanted to impress me so we meshed pretty quickly and we kind of got into a groove. We won a couple of games early (9-5 against Koe and 8-4 against Team Gushue on the opening day) which made everything much easier and more relaxing, and we just played hard for each other the rest of the way and it worked out.”
Kennedy is a big fan of Team Jacobs after rubbing shoulders with the perennial Northern Ontario reps at the Brier.
“You compete so hard against them and you know they’re good so when they welcome you with open arms into that inner circle of theirs you get to learn about them as people and why they love the sport, why they play it, what their family life is like, all those things, and you gain a better respect for those guys,” Kennedy said. “You want to develop that connection so that when you’re out there on the ice you’re not just playing hard for yourself but you’re playing hard for guys that you care about and you’re starting to develop a relationship with and that part I really enjoyed. Being away from the game for the last six months or so you lose that camaraderie with guys so it was fun to be there in the battle with some great guys and some terrific curlers. They were very impressive all week.”
Ironically, Kennedy faced his former skip, Kevin Koe, and longtime teammate, lead Ben Hebert with the Kevin Martin and Koe rinks, at the Canada Cup.
“It was a bit weird. We played them actually in the very first game so that was a little tough. There were mixed emotions. I’m good friends with those guys. I don't know how much they liked seeing me on the other side of the ice either, especially with Benny. We played together for 12 years. I don’t think I’ve ever curled against him since I was in my early 20s,” said Kennedy of winning Olympic gold with Hebert on the Martin rink in 2010, as well as the 2008 and 2009 Briers with Martin and 2016 Brier with Koe, plus world championships in 2008 and 2016.
In the final, Jacobs counted a deuce in one and in nine gave up a steal of one. In the 10th end he made a last-rock hit for the winning point.
Koe, who is curling with third B.J. Neufeld and second Colton Flasch with Kennedy and Brent Laing not returning this season, had a chance to match the only deuce of the contest with a draw for two in five but his throw didn’t count due to a time violation despite using a timeout in the end.
The new timing system of four minutes per end in the first five ends and 4:15 in the last five was being tested at the Canada Cup as a possible replacement for the 38-minutes per game time.
The new five-rock rule was also in effect for the Canada Cup, one of Curling Canada’s major events on its Season of Champions.
“To play them (Sunday) night was tough and then having a bit of controversy with the time clock made it difficult as well,” Kennedy said. “We’re all competitors, but at the end of the day we can have a pop together and talk about the good old days and still be friends which is a great part about our curling community.”
Team Jacobs collects $14,000 for the winning the Canada Cup, in addition to $10,000 for the five round-robin victories, and also receives a spot in the 2021 Road to the Roar Pre-Trials and a berth in the World Curling Federation’s Curling World Cup event next season.
The Canada Cup triumph was the fourth of Kennedy’s career after victories in 2009 and 2011 with Martin and 2015 with Koe.
As for Kennedy’s next major curling gig, “My focus doesn’t change. I’m still doing some coaching consulting with Curling Canada and I’m getting healthy and getting some rest and spending some quality time with the girls (wife Nicole and daughters Aubrey and Brechan) and then I will decide what I want to do from there,” said Kennedy, noting Matt Wozniak will spare for Team Jacobs at the National this week at Conception Bay South, NL. Wozniak, a former second for Team McEwen, will play second and E.J. Harnden moves up to third.
“For them, it’s kind of waiting to see what happens with Ryan, when he comes back and when he’s ready and then go from there.”
As a coaching consultant, Kennedy is available as a roving coach for eight women’s and seven men’s rinks in the National Team Program.
“If any of them want to reach out and get some help on anything, whether it’s strategy or technical or whatever is curling related, they can ask to spend some time with me,” Kennedy said. “I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve been busy. I feel I’ve got lots to give back, a lot of experience I want to share with teams to help them get better because at the end of the day it’s about helping Canadian curlers improve and teams get better, and I want to be a part of it and that's why I took on that role.”
Some of the rinks Kennedy has helped tutor include Kerri Einarson, Chelsea Cary and Casey Scheidegger, plus some junior teams.
“There is that group of the next generation of curlers, kind of the next up-and-coming Canadian curling prodigies, and I got a chance to spend some time with them about what it’s like to play at this level so it’s been great,” said the 2011 St. Albert Curling Club wall of fame inductee.
Also upcoming is the fourth annual Marc Kennedy Junior Classic, presented by The Co-operators, March 23 to 25 at the St. Albert and Crestwood curling clubs.
“We filled up in 17 minutes this year,” Kennedy said of the 56 teams in the U21, U18 and recreation divisions, an increase of 10 from the 2018 'spiel.
Two teams through the Over The Pond Junior Curling Exchange, a joint initiative by Kennedy and the Nordic Junior Curling Tour, and the male and female winners on the Ontario Junior Curling Tour, are confirmed.
“It’s getting bigger and bigger, which is great,” said Kennedy, a quarterback for the St. Albert Storm while attending Paul Kane High School.
