Schmirler inspired young Hebert
Ben Hebert’s initial memory of Winter Olympics curling featured four gold medallists from his home province.
The Queen City product, who will soon become a second-time Winter Olympian, remembers being at the Regina airport in 1998 when the triumphant Sandra Schmirler team returned from Japan.
Schmirler, third Jan Betker, second Joan McCusker and lead Marcia Gudereit were greeted by hundreds of fans after winning the first Winter Olympics gold medal awarded in women’s curling.
Seeing the women and their medals changed Hebert’s perception of competitive curling.
“My first memories of getting into curling weren’t about going to the Olympics,” Hebert said. “They were always about getting to the Brier.
“My first Olympic memory was going to the Regina airport and seeing Sandra and her team with their medals and the big reception that they got. I remember that like it was yesterday. That was the first time that I thought I could be an Olympian in curling and I took note of that.”
Hebert has now qualified for the Winter Olympics for the second time, having first competed on sports’ grandest stage in 2010.
On Sunday, skip Kevin Koe, third Marc Kennedy, second Brent Laing and Hebert beat Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 7-6 in the men’s final at the Canadian Olympic trials in Ottawa.
The Calgary-based foursome will represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Ottawa’s Rachel Homan will skip the women’s team.
Koe and Laing are preparing to make their debuts at the Winter Olympics. Kennedy and Hebert were both members of Kevin Martin’s gold-medal-winning team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
“I’m so fortunate,” Hebert said. “I feel blessed and so lucky that I get to go to the Olympics again. Being a one-time Olympian is so rare and so few people get to achieve something like that. For me to go twice with two different teams and with such great friends is an amazing feeling.”
Hebert grew up curling in Regina. He was a Saskatchewan men’s champion with the Pat Simmons team in 2005 and 2006 before moving to Calgary to work and curl.
Hebert then connected with Martin and third John Morris and developed an enduring friendship with Kennedy.
“(Kennedy and I) have a special bond and we’re more like brothers than friends,” Hebert said. “It’s true, because we fight like brothers.
“He’s such a hard worker and I look up to him at the work he puts into curling. He teaches me a lot about the game. He’s one of the best to play the game. I’m pumped to go back to the Olympics with him and to have a chance to win another medal.”
Hebert has enjoyed success while curling in Calgary. He shared in Brier wins with Martin in 2008 and 2009. The Martin team won the 2008 world title and placed second in 2009.
Kennedy and Hebert joined Koe and Laing after Martin’s retirement from competitive curling in 2014. In 2016, the Koe foursome won Canadian and world championships.
Hebert noted the 2016 Brier championship was won in Ottawa, where the latest Olympic berth was secured.
“Ottawa has been a good city for me,” he said. “I’ve only curled there twice and I’ve won the Brier and the trials. Hopefully they will hold some more events there before I hang it up.”
Hebert, 34, has gone through personal changes since the 2010 Winter Olympics. Back then, he was dating his future wife Teddi. They now have a four-year-old daughter (Sloane) and six-monthold son (Griff ).
“I have such a good support system at home,” said Hebert, who is the business development manager for Caltech Surveys, an oil and gas land survey company.
“(Teddi is) super-wife, supermom and super-everything when I’m on the road. She really holds down the fort and makes it easy for me when I train. She’s just as big a part of this as I am.”
Saskatchewan will always be a part of Hebert, despite his current residency to the west.
“I’m a Saskatchewan boy through and through and I know where I got my start,” Hebert said. “Alberta has been good to me with the curling and the way the business is working.
“I haven’t forgotten where I came from and I’m a proud Saskatchewan boy.”