NEXT STOP: PYEONGCHANG
Hebert off to second Olympics
Ben Hebert and Michelle Englot, both of whom hail from Regina, had their own reasons to celebrate after the Canadian Olympic team curling trials.
Hebert, skip Kevin Koe, third Marc Kennedy and second Brent Laing were celebrating after beating Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 7-6 in Sunday’s men’s final at the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings.
The Calgary-based team will now represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
In Ottawa on Sunday, Koe drew the four-foot with his final shot to earn the win over McEwen.
Hebert marked the victory by tossing his broom in the air.
“It was a great broom toss,’’ Hebert told Al Cameron, Curl Canada’s director of communications and media relations, on Monday.
“I didn’t plan it, but the guys told me that I threw my broom. I don’t totally remember and I think I blanked out when I threw it.’’
Englot also had something to celebrate after Ottawa’s Rachel Homan beat Calgary’s Chelsea Carey 6-5 in Sunday’s women’s final.
Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney and lead Lisa Weagle will represent Canada on the women’s side at the Winter Olympics.
Homan’s win meant she will be replaced as Team Canada by Englot’s Winnipeg-based team for the 2018 Canadian women’s curling championship, Jan. 27-Feb. 4 in Penticton, B.C.
Englot, third Katie Cameron, second Leslie Wilson-Westcott and lead Raunora Westcott were rewarded with the berth because they finished second to Homan at the 2017 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
“There was a silver lining to finishing second,’’ Englot said Monday from Ottawa.
“Usually there are only two teams that come home happy from the trials. We’re happy, for sure.’’
The defending Canadian champions are rewarded with a berth in the next national women’s championship.
It was decided before the trials that if the national champion finished first, the Team Canada berth would go to the Scotties runnerup because the Olympics and the Canadian women’s championship are too close together.
“For sure, it’s backing into it,” Englot said. “However, we had a really good run last year and we know that we need to prove that we deserve to be there.’’
Englot & Co. were also rewarded with a spot in the Continental Cup of Curling, Jan. 11-14 in London, Ont. The annual event features a team from North America squaring off against an international squad.
“That is one thing that I’ve always wanted to compete in,’’ Englot said. “As I wind down my curling career, that will be an awesome thing to have experienced.’’
Englot, 53, is considering her curling future after the latest developments. She had pondered retiring from competitive curling after this season, but may have to postpone those plans.
“It’s definitely on my mind,’’ Englot said. “I know that I can’t make the commitment to compete at the level we did this year. Knowing that we’re going to Scotties as Team Canada, we’re going to have to reset our goals.
“We want to go in there and go to a world championship because that would be something that I haven’t done, either. If we did win it and go back as Team Canada (in 2019), I would have to look at a reduced schedule, for sure.’’
Englot added that the opportunity to be Team Canada was a consolation after finishing the trials with a 2-6 record. Her team was formed in 2016 with the goal of representing Canada at the Winter Olympics.
“We just didn’t get rolling,’’ Englot said. “However, if we made a couple of shots in the games we lost, we could have easily been 6-2. That’s just how strong the field was and you can’t miss shots against teams like that.’’
It’s the first appearance at the Winter Olympics for Koe and Laing and the second time for Hebert and Kennedy. The latter two were both members of Kevin Martin’s gold medal-winning team in 2010.
“The experience will help a lot, but it seems like it was forever ago,’’ Hebert said. “There will be a lot of things that are the same and there will be a lot of things that are different.’’
Hebert, who moved to Calgary in 2006 to work and curl, has received numerous messages since Sunday’s win.
“It has been crazy with the amount of text messages and Twitter posts we received from friends I didn’t even know I had,’’ he said.
It has been crazy with the amount of text messages and Twitter posts we received from friends I didn’t even know I had.