Curling fans will be hurrying hard to Victoria this week as the 2013 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship takes over Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre beginning Saturday and continuing through to April 7.
Twelve of the best men’s teams from across the globe — including Canada, which will be represented by Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs — will settle in this week for preparation.
It will be the second stop on the Island for the men’s worlds as the 2005 event rolled through Victoria when Alberta’s Randy Ferbey rink claimed the title, much to the delight of the home crowd.
Canada has won the last three world championships and five of the last six.
Jacobs and his rink of third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden are looking forward to making it a four-peat.
But there’s much more to the nine-day event than just the curling. The Victoria Curling Centre has been transformed into party central as the licensed Original 16 Patch will feature refreshments, food, live music, informal discussions with competing teams and, of course, Island hospitality.
Organizers are hoping to sweep fans off their feet.
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Jacobs and his rink aren’t sure if they can ever duplicate the euphoria of winning the 2013 Brier, but they are definitely more than willing to try.
Just donning the Maple Leaf brings sheer excitement for the team, who are anticipating a warm, welcoming stay.
“It’s going to feel crazy wearing the Maple Leaf,” Jacobs, a 27-year-old accounts manager with RBC, said of the opportunity to represent Canada in Victoria.
“You hear people say, ‘You’re Team Canada now, how does that feel?’ I honestly don’t know what that will feel like and we probably won’t know until we get there,” he told the Times Colonist.
“It’s really going to hit us once we get there. We’ll have a lot of attention on us. Having that gear on, walking around the rink and city as Team Canada is when it will hit us.
“The support is going to be phenomenal,” Jacobs added. “We expect it to be amazing. They are going to care for their home country and that’s going to be out of this world.”
That’s what the four are hoping for as they will undoubtedly become fan favourites, much in the same way Randy Ferbey’s Alberta foursome — which included Dave Nedohin, Scott Pfeifer and Marcel Rocque — did when it represented the nation back in 2005. The Ferbey Four, as they were known, ventured to Vancouver Island to win a world title in the very same facility Jacobs will be playing in.
“We’re ready,” said Fry. “We had all been dreaming about it for a long time and now we’re ready to roll with it — Brier champs.
“I’m stoked. I’ve been trying this for a long time,” added the 34-year-old full-time curler and part-time contractor who had competed in five previous Briers (Canadian championships), his first with Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton back in 2007, then four straight with Brad Gushue of Newfoundland from 2009 to 2012.
Canadian rink aims for the button
Fry finished third in 2007 with Stoughton — ironically, the team Northern Ontario beat in the Brier final in Edmonton — and third again with Gushue in 2011. Fry had joined the Newfoundland skip the year after Gushue had won an Olympic gold medal in Torino, Italy, in 2006.
Fry then made the move to Northern Ontario following the 2012 curling season. Now he’s looking ahead to finishing off this season with a world crown.
“We’ve played all these teams that are in the worlds and we’ve had success against them. For us it will be cool being on that world stage,” Fry said of the upcoming challenge. “It’s even better that this world championship is on home soil and we get to compete in front of all our friends and family.
“All the people in the stands will be cheering for us and all the people watching on TSN will be rooting for us as well. It will be an absolute honour to throw that Maple Leaf on, especially being able to do it in front of everyone you care about who is watching.”
For Fry that will include his father, Barry — who won the Brier back in 1979 playing for Manitoba — and his mother, Judy, who was born in Victoria and still has relatives in the B.C. capital.
But the Jacobs team realizes representing this curling-crazed nation will bring with it plenty of pressure.
“Sure it will,” admitted Jacobs. “Canada is expected to do well at worlds, whether it’s men or women, but at the same time we expect that of ourselves every time we step on the ice, be it at the Brier final or a men’s league game.
“We want to go out there and perform at a high level and that’s what we’re going to try and do each and every game. As much as it is a cliché to take one game at a time, you have to do it that way or you’re not going to succeed,” said the skip.
Especially against a talented field that features numerous teams capable of winning like Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud, Scotland’s Tom Brewster and Sweden’s Niklas Edin.
“We have to wear that Maple Leaf proud, fight hard and want to win it for ourselves and our country and we’ll see where we stand at the end of the week,” said Jacobs.
The team earned the right to advance to Victoria after defeating Stoughton 11-4 in the Brier final, wreaking havoc on the Canadian field in Edmonton, especially in the playoffs in which they never maintained last-rock advantage. Jacobs dumped Gushue 6-5 in an extra end in the Page Playoff 3 vs. 4 game and then toppled Ontario’s Glenn Howard 9-7 in the semi-final.
The Jacobs rink, as a team, curled 91, 92 and 95 per cent in the three playoff games, respectively, to earn the title as Canadian champs and become favourites to win the worlds. Canada has claimed the last three titles and five of the last six.
“Undoubtedly, yes, there will be that pressure,” said Fry. “I’m not feeling any of it yet and I don’t think the guys are either.
“We’re focused on the task at hand. I’m sure there will be a point in the week where the pressure does mount, say if we have a couple of games where we struggle. But I believe in this team and the resilience of it. We’re very close, so between the four of us, if the nerves start kicking in, we’ll be able to get each other out of it.”
Fry joined the team for this season and replaced E.J. Harnden at third, shuffling Harnden and his brother Ryan Harnden down one position on the team to second and lead, respectively.
“Absolutely, there will be pressure there and rightfully so,” said E.J. “Canada is the No. 1 country in the world in curling and any time you compete internationally there is that expectation to win, and I think that’s fair.
“But, at the same time, we’ve talked about it as pressure being a good thing. Depending on how you handle it, it makes you focus a bit more and that’s a good thing.”
At 29, E.J. is three years his brother Ryan’s elder, and the two and Jacobs competed in the 2008, ’10, ’11 and ’12 Briers with Scott Seabrook playing lead.
E.J., like the remainder of the 2013 Brier championship team, looks forward to his first trip to the Island.
“I don’t know how it will feel once I put on that Maple Leaf,” said E.J. “I’m sure when I put it on it will feel different than I thought it would. When we were trying on some gear [after the Brier win], just to get our sizing, we all looked at each other with smiles on our faces, thinking and saying, we couldn’t believe it. It was unreal.
“As a kid in curling, the No. 1 goal is to win the Brier and represent your country and for us, it’s a dream come true and I’m sure it will feel absolutely amazing once we put it on for the first time and compete in our first game,” added the brand manager with Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.
And to share it with his brother Ryan (their dad Eric and uncle Al competed in five Briers, winning bronze in 1990) and Jacobs — a first cousin — will be that much more special.
The Jacobs rink, without Fry, also won bronze at the Brier in 2010.
The 2013 crew — which will include fifth man Mat Dumontelle and coach Tom Coulterman — is still having a tough time wrapping its collective head around the fact they are Brier champs.
“For me, we still have one more task to complete, so I don’t think it will really sink in until after worlds. I can’t wait to get it going,” offered Ryan Harnden, a real estate appraiser.
“We’re hitting the ice hard [preparing] and the days have been going slow because that’s all I’ve been thinking about.”
The Original 16 Patch will be ‘Canada’s Party Place’
They’ll be replacing their curling shoes with their favourite dancing boots as the Original 16 Patch takes over the Victoria Curling Centre for the entertainment portion of the 2013 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship.
While curling fans watch the best men’s teams in the world shuffle granite on the pebbled ice next door at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, the real rockin’ will be going on at the Patch.
“Canada’s party place,” said Michael Speakman, office and marketing administrator for the international event. “In between draws, after draws, live music, a great bar, tons of great food and the best part is the athletes will come in and meet fans. They’ll get to talk — just chat about curling.”
And, as usual, there will be surprises galore as past champions and the big names of curling often show up to socialize.
An emcee will pass around the microphone for fans to ask teams questions during the Up Close and Personal portion of the event, held daily at 5 p.m., and live entertainment takes to the stage every night at 10.
“One of Victoria’s favourite party bands, the Timebenders, are kicking it off on Friday [March 29] for fan and volunteer appreciation night” for full-event pass holders only, said Speakman. “And one of the highlights of the Patch at most, and if not all Canadian Curling Association events, are the Chevelles.”
That band recreates the live rock experience of the ’70s and ’80s, with a playlist of more than 200 classic hits as the group has become one of the fan favourites at Season of Champions curling events across Canada, said Speakman.
The Chevelles will play Thursday, April 4, and Friday, April 5, at The Patch, which continues operation right through to finals on Sunday. Live entertainment begins at 1 p.m. that final afternoon.
The entertainment centre opens at 11 a.m. and closes at 1 a.m. daily, except for the final Sunday where it will shut down prior to the 4 p.m. championship game.
Bands will take to the stage at 10 p.m. nightly and continue through to midnight.
Among the other groups performing will be Bryden Street; Shaky Ground; Don Peterson and the Push Band; the Sutcliffes; the Katzenjammers; March Hare; and the Radiators. The latter will play an extra session on Saturday, April 6 at 7 p.m. and close out the Patch the next day at 1 p.m.
More information can be found on the activities and entertainment section of the website at curling.ca/worlds and entrance is included with your ticket packages to the 12-team competition.
Autograph sessions will also be held during the week at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre so that younger fans can attend. They begin every day at noon, interchanging teams throughout the nine days. Canada — represented by Brad Jacobs’ Northern Ontario rink — will sign Tuesday, April 2, and a massive session will be held on Saturday, April 6. All teams, except for the two in the Saturday semifinals, will be in attendance.