Canada is on top of the world in men’s curling with two St. Albert Curling Club products on the gold-medal winning rink.
Marc Kennedy was the third and Scott Pfeifer the alternate for skip Kevin Koe, as Canada captured the world crown for the first time in four years in Sunday’s 5-3 final against Rasmus Stjerne of Denmark in Basel, Switzerland.
Kennedy’s brilliant runback double takeout in the 10th end sealed the deal for Canada’s 35th championship in the event’s 58-year history.
“A great week! Couldn’t be more proud of my teammates. Thank you Canada for all your support!” Kennedy tweeted after the game.
Kennedy, 34, curled 91 per cent in the final, the same percentage as Koe and second Brent Laing. Ben Hebert, the lead, was graded at 95 per cent.
It’s the second world gold medal for Kennedy, Koe and Hebert and the third for Laing, who curled with Glenn Howard’s 2012 team that finished first overall at worlds at St. Jakobshalle in Basel.
Kennedy and Hebert won gold in 2008 and were silver medallists in 2009 curling with Kevin Martin and John Morris.
Pfeifer, 39, was a three-time world champion in 2002, 2003 and 2005 as the second with the Ferbey Four.
The St. Albert Curling Club wall of fame inductee with Kennedy in 2011 was also the alternate for Koe at the Tim Hortons Brier in London, Ont.
Team coach John Dunn and national coach Rick Lang rounded out the Canadian squad at worlds.
Canada ended the round robin at 10-1 as Kennedy suffered a wardrobe malfunction: his gripper shoe fell apart Thursday in the last game before the playoffs.
Kennedy took it to a Swiss shoe repair shop and it was glued back together perfectly. However, it was also polished, despite Kennedy’s instructions not to because the scuffing on the toe of his right shoe helps him control his sliding speed.
“I knew right away when I saw it. ‘Oh no, he got rid of my rudder. It’s too pretty now,’” Kennedy told Al Cameron of Curling Canada.
On Sunday morning, Kennedy went to a curling club 20 minutes away from St. Jakobshalle to scuff up the shoe properly.
“I’ve spent the last two days trying to scuff it and grind it down and get some repetition so I could get used to the speed,” Kennedy said. “I knew I needed to throw some rocks this morning to get a little more friction on it and it made a big difference. I didn’t come out with any uncertainty.”
In the playoffs, Canada also posted a 5-3 decision against Denmark in the Page 1-2 game Friday as Kennedy curled 90 per cent. The Paul Kane High School alumna finished the round robin at 88 per cent, tops at his position.
The final saw both teams match shot for shot. Canada had to take a single in the first end and then Denmark replied with the game’s first deuce in three.
Canada regained the lead with a deuce in five and the next end Canada forced Denmark to a single.
Canada blanked the next two ends before scoring a deuce in nine when Stjerne barely missed on a double runback raise takeout to give Koe the open draw for two.
Koe’s heater in 10 picked out the Danish stone after a freeze by Stjerne to kick-off the celebration.
Early in the round robin, Canada needed an extra end to count three to beat Denmark 11-8.
Stjerne’s foursome started the season in the European championship B pool before their historic debut in the final. The country had never reached the gold-medal game in 39 previous attempts.
“I thought we played a good game. My shot in ninth, it was there really and then we just let it slide away,” Stjerne said after the loss.
Koe, who won worlds in 2010 with a different team, described the final as a battle.
“They’re a good young team. It wasn’t flashy but it was solid,” Koe told reporters after becoming the 15th skip to win two or more world titles. “It’s so hard to win the Brier so you just want to win the worlds when you get here and it feels awesome.”
The 2017 worlds are April 1 to 9 at Rexall Place.
This is the second year for the Koe team, the first qualifier for the 2017 Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials as winners of the Home Hardware Canada Cup in December.
The Team Canada rink for the 2017 Brier is also ranked second on the World Curling Tour money list at $126,856 and behind Brad Gushue’s $156,051.
“We put a lot of hard work into it,” Koe said. “Last year was a bit of a struggle and we made some changes (with Kennedy moving to third) and they’re paying off. What a year we’ve had; world champions, we’ve won a lot of other big events and hopefully we’ll just keep getting better and I think we can. It’s only our second year playing together and with more time I think we’ll get better. We’re still learning a lot about each other but what a team we’ve put together this year.”
The world champs are now in Toronto for the Players’ Championship, the sixth event of the season on the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tour.
Visit www.thegrandslamofcurling.com for draw times and result.
