Marc Kennedy slides into his seventh Tim Hortons Brier after a brush with adversity at provincials.
The Kevin Koe rink, with the St. Albert southpaw at third, Brent Laing at second and Ben Hebert at lead, repeated as the Boston Pizza Cup champions after losses in the A semifinals and the A-B playoff in Camrose.
“We ran into some really hot teams and that definitely made it tough on us,” said Kennedy of the B qualifiers in the playoff round.
Koe swept the provincial field last year in Wainwright with his new lineup based out of the Glencoe Club in Calgary.
“This one was a little different because we took a different road to get there so in a way it’s a bit more special because we really had to fight through some adversity this week,” said Kennedy, winner of five Purple Hearts with the Kevin Martin rink before joining Koe, a Brier champion in 2010 and 2014.
The first loss was 6-4, as Mick Lizmore of the Glencoe Club counted two with the hammer in the 11th end Thursday.
The A-B playoff Saturday was also decided in an extra end, 7-5 for Charley Thomas of the Crestwood/Glencoe clubs. It was the first ever win for Thomas, a former two-time world junior champion, against Koe.
Koe regrouped Sunday and overcame a stiff challenge from Brendan Bottcher of the Saville Centre to win 7-4 in nine ends. A deuce in seven for Koe after blanking the previous end snapped a 4-4 tie.
In the final, Koe doubled Thomas 8-4 in nine ends.
“We ran into some really hot skips,” Kennedy said. “Mick did not miss one shot the whole game and then when we lost to Charley he played amazing. We actually had them in some trouble most of the game and Charley just played fantastic to win that one.
“Even (Sunday) morning when we were playing Bottcher in the semifinal, Brendan came out just lights out. He made six perfect shots to start the game and we thought, ‘uh, oh,’ here we go again, and then Kevin made a great double for three in the fourth end (to make it 4-2) and the tide kind of started to change for us and we started to catch a few more breaks as the day went on.”
Thomas had last rock advantage to start the final, but a three in the third end put Koe on top to stay, leading 4-2. A steal of two in nine sealed the deal.
“That three was big. We played a really good end. We had them in some trouble, and then on Charley’s last one he didn't really have a great shot to not leave us a shot for two so he tried to get a little bit cute with it and left Kevin the hard one for three so definitely that was the turning point,” Kennedy said of the triple takeout for three. “When we’re up two in a four-rock free-guard zone our defence is pretty good so we knew we would have pretty good control of the game and it worked out for us.”
Overcoming adversity at provincials was a major milestone for the first rink to qualify for the 2017 Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials as winners of the Home Hardware Canada Cup in December.
“That’s something that in the past with our old team we weren’t very good at. When things got tough we weren’t great at battling back from adversity. We kind of let our emotions take over and we would get pretty frustrated and grumpy,” said Kennedy, a two-time Brier winner, 2008 world champion and 2010 Olympic gold medallist curling with Martin, John Morris at third and Hebert.
“A big focus of this team has been trying to battle through those emotions and really earn our victories because it’s not going to come easy. I’ve given a lot of credit to our coach, John Dunn. He’s a sports psychologist at the University of Alberta and he’s been really good for us at keeping us even keel and just making sure that we have that fighting attitude, whether we’re winning a game or losing a game and keeping that attitude throughout the game. He’s been really big for us so this was a big, big step for our team.”
The Brier starts March 5 at TD Place in Ottawa and the field is being touted as the greatest ever in the 87-year-history of the premier curling championship in Canada.
Nine of the top 17 rinks in the Canadian Team Ranking System will compete for a berth at worlds, April 2 to 10 at Basel, Switzerland. They are as follows: No. 1 Brad Gushue (Newfoundland/Labrador), No. 2 Koe, No. 3 Mike McEwen (Manitoba), No. 6 Steve Laycock (Saskatchewan), No. 7 Brad Jacobs (Northern Ontario), No. 8 Glenn Howard (Ontario), No. 11 Jim Cotter (B.C.), No. 12 Pat Simmons (Team Canada), No. 15 Jean-Michel Menard (Quebec) and No. 17 Jamie Murphy (Nova Scotia).
Bottcher and Thomas are also ranked ninth and 11th, respectively, in the CTRS standings.
The top three leaders on the World Curling Tour money list will also be at the Brier: Gushue ($128,551), Koe ($112,856) and McEwen ($86,613).
“Every Brier seems to get tougher and tougher. This looks like a Grand Slam field, the only difference there are Grand Slams you don’t have to play everybody. Here you do, so it’s going to be tough,” Kennedy said. “Like I said to the boys, we could play really good and still go 6-5 in this spiel so we have to be sharp. It comes down to which team is playing the best and who is the hottest skip so hopefully we can get ourselves in a good spot.
“Kevin Koe has been one of the two, maybe three of the best players in the world all year, so hopefully we can keep him playing good and see what happens,” Kennedy said of Koe, the 2010 world champion who celebrated his third consecutive provincial title and fifth in six years.
At the 2015 Brier in Calgary, Koe finished fifth at 6-5 as the skip battled the flu. Kennedy was also throwing third rocks but sweeping skip rocks with Laing holding the broom. This season the Paul Kane High School alumnus is in the house fulltime for skip rocks.
“We’re definitely feeling more confident because of the season we’ve had. I think we’re a different team than we were last year,” said the St. Albert Curling Club wall of fame inductee in 2011. “There is also a little bit more motivation based on the disappointment last year (at the Brier). We got off to a tough start with Kevin sick and never really did rebound so we’re excited to have another opportunity and hopefully improve on last year’s performance.”
Kennedy, 34, is a six-time Brier all-star as the second-team selection at third last year after making the first team at second in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011, and the second team in 2013.
HOG LINES: The deadline to register for the inaugural Marc Kennedy Classic U18 Junior Bonspiel, presented by Sarasota Homes & Realty, is March 1.
The March 24 to 27 competition at the St. Albert Curling Club is filling the void when the annual Kevin Martin Junior Bonspiel at the Saville Centre ended after a long run.
Rinks can register online at www.stalbertcurling.com.
For more information, contact Leanne at 780-902-9853 or [email protected].
