Marc Kennedy is back where he belongs as a Brier champion.
The first Brier Tankard in seven years and the third of Kennedy’s storied career was celebrated in Sunday’s coronation after Team Alberta, skipped by Kevin Koe, led from start to finish in beating Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador 9-5 in nine ends at TD Place Arena in Ottawa.
“They’re all different and they’re all emotional. They’re all special in different ways,” said Kennedy, a back-to-back Brier winner as the second on the Kevin Martin rink in 2008-09, who sounded physically exhausted on Monday morning en route home to St. Albert.
The 87th annual Brier was hailed as the greatest field of rinks in the history of the Canadian curling classic with 16 previous Brier winners, with 30 titles in total, 13 former champions, nine Olympic gold medallists and 304 Purple Hearts.
“The quality and the depth of the Brier was way more than what it was even seven years ago when we won. This was extremely difficult. Every single game we played we knew we had to be sharp. Brad Jacobs (skip for Northern Ontario) said it great at the start of the week: the team that wins this event is definitely going to have to earn it,” Kennedy said. “When you have to go through Mike McEwen, Brad Jacobs and Brad Gushue (in the playoffs) to win you have earned it so it feels really special because of what we had to do to win.”
Kennedy, 34, competed in his seventh Brier and second in a row with Koe, Brent Laing and Ben Hebert.
“Winning never gets old,” said Kennedy, the team’s third. “This one is a little bit special for me moving to a different position. It’s definitely a different feeling having to be one of the go-to guys the team relies on to make the big shots. It’s quite a bit different than the first couple of wins.”
Scott Pfeifer, a four-time Brier champion with the Ferbey Four, was the team’s alternate at the Brier and the coach was John Dunn, a sports psychologist at the University of Alberta.
Kennedy and Pfeifer were among the original six inductees into the St. Albert Curling Club wall of fame in 2011.
“It was a fantastic moment for the six of us. Having Scott Pfeifer there was a huge part of this team. He was an unbelievable fifth. He knows what it takes to win so having him there was pretty special for me personally too. Being able to win a Brier with one of my curling idols growing up is huge. Our coach, John Dunn, was great too,” Kennedy said. “I’m so happy for our families too. They put up with a lot from us. We all sacrifice a lot to play this sport and so for them to be able to enjoy the victory as well as us means a lot. Everybody is pretty excited and pretty happy right now.”
The Paul Kane High School alumnus was anxious to rock the Brier final again.
“You never know if you’re going to get that opportunity again. It crosses your mind because there are so many great teams in Canada and everybody is just getting better and better so you wonder if the time has passed you by,” Kennedy said. “That’s one of the reasons we really tried to enjoy the whole week. The round robin was fantastic and then once we knew we were in the playoffs we tried to relish it and not take it for granted like we may have done in the past because you never know when you’re going to get back. I actually think that was a big part of our success because we played loose, we played excited and we played like we were having fun and it led to us playing probably the best we’ve ever played as a team.”
It was the 27th title for Alberta, tying Manitoba for the most by any province. It was also the third Brier Tankard in six years for Koe and the third as well for Laing, the former second for Glenn Howard of Ontario, and Hebert, the former lead for Martin.
“We’ve all been there enough and that experience you can’t put a price tag on it. It really prepares you well for big moments and I think you saw it (Sunday) night in the final, especially with Kevin the way he played. There was no fear and no nerves, just give it all you've got and he played amazing,” Kennedy said of the Hec Gervais Award recipient as the playoff MVP who shot 96 per cent in the final, compared to 86 per cent for Gushue.
Alberta finished third in the round robin at 8-3 and in the playoffs beat McEwen of Manitoba 7-5 in the 3-4 game and Jacobs 6-5 in a semifinal that was decided with a measurement of a biter for two in a dramatic 10th end. It was the only deuce of the contest.
“It was just such an exciting moment and an exciting game for us. You’re in prime time on Saturday night in front of all Canadian curling fans so that was awesome. We left that game just vibrating with excitement and emotion. We did a good job of bringing ourselves back down to an even keel but it definitely gave us a boost of momentum and the confidence going into that final,” said Kennedy, who emphatically pumped his fist after the successful measurement like he had just throw the game-winning touchdown pass for the St. Albert Storm, the team he quarterbacked in high school.
“We got a couple of breaks in that semifinal. I know Jacobs had a couple of chances to put us away and definitely luck was on our side but for the other games we definitely controlled them.”
Alberta’s seventh-straight victory at the Brier was against Gushue, who knocked off the undefeated Jacobs 7-6 in an extra end in the 1-2 game for a berth in the final.
Alberta stole singles in the first two ends and led 4-2 after five. Koe’s chip takeout of a stone in the four-foot ring in seven resulted in three points and a commanding 7-3 advantage.
Alberta shot 94 per cent overall, led by Laing’s perfect 100 per cent, and Gushue’s rink was graded at 91 per cent.
“We were feeling really confident. We knew we had a pretty hot skip and his game and his strategy was based on how he was feeling and I think he felt like if we hit them hard with all we’ve got early we have a chance to get control of those games and that’s what we did. We didn’t want to be conservative and leave something out there so we just tried to put it all on the table and played aggressive and made some big shots and it worked out for us,” said Kennedy, who curled 94 per cent in the final, 89 per cent against Jacobs and 93 per cent against McEwen.
“I think Gushue was a little bit tentative in the final because he knew what level we were playing at and that had a bit of an impact in the game.”
The foursome of the Glencoe Club of Calgary will now represent Canada at worlds, April 2 to 10 in Basel, Switzerland, but starting today they are in Victoria competing at the Elite 10 on the Grand Slam of Canada tour.
“There is a lot to do in the next couple of weeks but we’re excited. It’s been quite a few years since we’ve had the Maple Leaf on our back. I know Kevin didn’t have a great experience in Beijing at worlds a couple or years ago (fourth place as the 2014 Brier winner) so it could be a little bit of redemption for him. We’ve got a great support group going with us, a couple of really good Curl Canada coaches that we know very well, and we’ve got a plan in place to try and medal and hopefully win. If we keep rolling and keep playing the way we’re playing we’ll have a great chance,” said Kennedy, the 2008 world champion and 2010 Olympic gold medallist curling with Martin, John Morris at third and Hebert.
The Koe rink will also return to the 2017 Brier in St. John’s as Team Canada.
The first rink to qualify for the 2017 Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials as winners of the Home Hardware Canada Cup in December also received $225,000 for its Brier triumph, including $144,000 in Sport Canada funding over two years.
