Heidts hope to reach new heights
MELFORT — The Heidt men, by their own admission, are a temperamental lot.
Which is why, if the long odds play out and they go Heidt-to-Heidt during Sunday’s provincial men’s Tankard curling final, things should get intriguing.
“It’s a common conversation piece,” says 23-year-old Josh Heidt, who is skipping his own team in a Tankard field that includes father Brad playing on a separate squad with sons Drew and Mitch.
“A Heidt final would be ideal. It would be a gong show, though — that’s for sure. It would get ugly.”
Brad Heidt, known for his volatile on-ice demeanour, skipped Kerrobert-based teams into the Brier in both 1982 and 1995. Drew, Mitch and Josh grew up around the curling rink, and they picked up his knack for high-end rock-throwing. They’ve got a pretty proud dad sliding alongside them this week at the Northern Lights Palace in Melfort.
“Our family’s kind of been based around curling all our lives, and it’s nice to see everybody at the pinnacle of the sport here,” Brad Heidt said Thursday morning after watching from the stands as Josh’s Kerrobert squad beat top-seed Steve Laycock 8-5 in an A-event match.
“The only bad part is I don’t sit back at the hotel and relax. This morning, I’m up at 8 o’clock and coming to the game. It’s like when they were in juniors and on two different teams, they’d never get the same draw, so I was at the rink all day. You never left.”
Josh played second last year on a team that included his dad and brother Mitch, but he knew that wasn’t his calling. He wanted his own team — one he could skip.
“I wasn’t happy playing second. I wanted to get back to the skipping role; I wasn’t ever comfortable not being in control,” says Josh, sounding like his father. “That’s the driving force.”
Ironically, father Brad is throwing second rocks this week — Drew’s in the fourth position — though Brad continues to call the shots as skip.
All four Heidt men played a World Curling Tour bonspiel together last winter in Swan River, the first time they’d ever done that at the WCT level, but the odds aren’t great that they’ll ever do it regularly.
“We have talked about it,” Josh said. “But it’s hard enough with two and three family members together, because we do have a bit of a temper. It doesn’t gel that well. But it would be fun to do sometime.” Brad concurs. “It’s tough with family members — especially our family,” he said. “We’re all a little more excitable. I’m sure we might play a ’spiel together again or something, but that’s probably it.’’