Former champs to team up in return to the ice

A pair of former world champions are ending a self-imposed hiatus from curling and will be back on the ice as teammates next season.

Blake Macdonald, who took the 2011-12 season off after winning the Brier and world titles in 2010 as the third for Kevin Koe’s team, and Scott Pfeifer, who won four Brier and three world titles throwing second stones for Randy Ferbey before taking the past two seasons off, will play together on an Edmonton-based team rounded out by Jamie King and Jeff Erickson.

“We don’t know the positions yet,” Macdonald said with a chuckle. “Before each game we’re going to decide how we best line up against the opposition and we’ll throw them for a loop. Nobody can get too comfortable against us.”

While all four players have enjoyed curling successes of varying degrees over the years, the goal for the new lineup isn’t necessarily the same as those of Alberta’s undisputed top two teams, skipped by Koe and Kevin Martin.

“There’s a whole different mission statement with this team,” said MacDonald, who served as the fifth man for Koe’s Alberta champion team at the Brier last month but barely threw a rock during the season. “The reality is that curling used to be a really fun sport, where four good friends could get together and you’d be competitive when you wanted to be, but it wasn’t the end-all, be- all. I think curling has kind of lost its way there, so this is our attempt to say this is what we used to love about the game, so why can’t we just do it and not have to worry about Olympic points?

“But we have expectations, for sure. We wanted to put together a team that was going to be fun and everybody was on the same page with it, but at the same time, if we get into something like provincials and we’re playing a Koe or Martin, we don’t want to blown out of the water and have no chance of winning. We want a team that has enough firepower that we can still play with those guys if we have a great game. And I think we’ve done that.”

Pfeifer has curled rarely since he last suited up with the Ferbey Four.

“I really needed some time away from the game,” he said. “I really enjoyed taking the first year off. I got more interested in the sport again this past year; I haven’t thrown many rocks, but just socializing with all the friends I missed, and it really came down to a situation of playing with some really decent guys on and off the ice and giving it another kick at the can. With the Brier in our backyard (next March in Edmonton), you never know, right?

“Honestly? I’m just hoping that after two years off the ice I can actually go out there and throw a decent rock.”