Marc Kennedy of St. Albert slides into his sixth Tim Hortons Brier but his first without Kevin Martin as the skip.
The Brier first team all-star second in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011 and second-team all-star selection in 2013 will also serve as the third rocker for Alberta champion Kevin Koe.
"This one means a lot, just because of a new team and a new position for myself," said Kennedy, a two-time Brier winner, 2008 world champion and 2010 Olympic gold medallist with Martin, John Morris and Ben Hebert.
The powerhouse Koe foursome includes Brent Laing from Glenn Howard's rink from Ontario and Hebert and the team is affiliated with the Glencoe Club of Calgary.
Koe, the 2010 world champion, is going to his third Brier, Laing will curl in his 10th and Hebert will compete in his eighth.
"Any time you can get to a Brier you just enjoy every minute of it because you never know it might be your last one," Kennedy said. "In Alberta, there is so much depth and so many good teams and now they're all so young so it's going to get harder and harder every year."
The Koe rink cruised through the Boston Pizza Cup provincial triple-knockout bonspiel undefeated and the fifth win was 7-4 against Brendan Bottcher, a rising star from the Saville Centre, in Sunday's final at Wainwright.
A three-spot in seven made it 7-3, as Koe had outcurled Bottcher 91 to 70 percentage-wise at that point in the match.
The Brier starts Feb. 28 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
"This team feels like we have a lot to prove and this was a big step for us. This is going to be an exciting home province Brier and we're happy to be there," said Kennedy, who shot 90 per cent in the final.
The superlative southpaw has embraced his new role as third with open arms.
"I love it. It's a little more pressure but I feel I can have a bit more of an impact on the game," said the Paul Kane High School alumnus. "I've been lucky to be able to play third for Kevin Koe and I got the chance to play third for Kevin Martin at his last Players' Championship. It still feels like an honour to play with these great skips and it certainly made my role a lot less challenging."
Kennedy, 33, still sweeps the skip's rocks with Laing holding the broom.
"It was a conscious decision when we put our team together to try and not break up the sweeping that Ben and I have been doing for the last eight years," said the former high school quarterback for the St. Albert Storm. "I was a little concerned about not only having to throw third rocks but also adjusting to calling the line and everything that comes with that and I thought somebody like Brent would be able to help share that responsibility with his experience and it seemed to have worked out pretty well so far."
Provincials marked the first time Koe and his new rinkmates curled up to expectations. On the World Curling Tour the team is ranked fourth on the Order of Merit and fifth on the men's money list at $60,201.
"It's probably the first weekend where we've put together a full team effort for the whole four days," said Kennedy, who used to curl with Koe before hooking up with Martin during their run of greatness.
"It's been a bit up and down. It's tough to just put four guys together and expect immediate success. We've seen some moments of brilliance and we had a few tough weekends as well but sometimes its those tough weekends and adversity that makes you better," Kennedy added. "We've really concentrated on trying to improve and look at our areas of weakness and what we can do to get better. We've really taken a long-term approach to this so that we can be the best team we can be by 2018 and the next Olympics. That's kind of our goal so we've been taking it one week at a time."
Koe assembled his star-studded rink for a shot at the Olympics and in the process gave up the opportunity to skip the first Team Canada at the Brier. Morris will take Koe's spot on his former team with Pat Simmons, Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen.
The Koe-Kennedy-Laing-Hebert quartet have won a combined eight Briers, five world championships and two Olympic gold medals.
Team Alberta will be among the Brier favourites, along with 2014 Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
"This is a pretty incredible Brier. You're going to have Team Canada there, Brad Jacobs is coming back and Brad Gushue is there. It's going to be a real tough one," Kennedy said. "For us, the goal is to try and play our best and try and sneak into those playoffs."
King of the Brier
The alternate for the Koe rink at the Brier is Jamie King of St. Albert.
King, a 10-time President's Cup playoff champion at the St. Albert Curling Club and three-time Edmonton and area Tournament of Champions winner with the Hootie and Old Fish rink, was Koe's alternate at the 2010 and 2014 Briers and worlds.
King, 41, completed his 10th provincials with a record of 4-3 curling with Jeff Erickson, Warren Hassall and Glen Kennedy, Marc's older brother. The St. Albert foursome lost to Koe (A quarter-finals), Bottcher (B qualifier) and Mick Lizmore (C qualifier).
King, who lost the 2003 and 2005 provincial finals to the Ferbey Four, is also a lead-pipe cinch to be the next inductee into the St. Albert Curling Club wall of fame in the Friendly Giant Lounge.
Kennedy, Hec Gervais, Don McKenzie, Scott Pfeifer, Cathy King and Jackie Rae Greening were the original 2011 inductees and Dan Holowaychuk joined the select company last year.
