Elite curlers look to next Olympic cycle
Martin and Nedohin likely to drop out
Dave Nedohin was so disappointed Kevin Martin’s rink failed to win the Canadian Olympic curling trials in December that he swore he wouldn’t watch the Winter Games in February.
“It was my last chance to go to the Olympics,” said Nedohin, who dedicated his life to helping Martin earn a fourth trip to the five-ring circus since replacing third John Morris on the 2010 Olympic gold-medal winning foursome last May.
Nedohin has since relented his vow to boycott the Sochi Games after getting to know the Brad Jacobs team during TSN’s recent all-star skins game at Banff. He was a teammate of Jacobs lead Ryan Harnden on Jeff Stoughton’s winning rink.
Martin had a different reaction after losing to former teammate Morris in the Olympic trials semifinal.
“It didn’t take me long — a couple of hours — from the time that final rock came down the ice by (Jim) Cotter to the time we were booked on a flight Christmas morning to Palm Springs until early January,” he said.
“I definitely would have liked to go to one more Olympics, especially when it is the last try on the ice as a player. I think we gave it a pretty good effort.”
There will be more fallout down the road as contending teams across Canada regroup and rearrange themselves to start the next four-year qualifying cycle for the 2018 Olympics.
Obviously, Martin, 47, and Nedohin, 41, don’t intend to be involved in the process.
“They (second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert) know that’s not in the cards,” said Martin, who considered not playing past the 2010 Olympics, “but the team was going good still and I still feel good today ... but I can’t play forever.”
Martin still wants to curl competitively next season, but doesn’t want to hurt Kennedy’s and Hebert’s chances of qualifying for the 2017 Olympic trials.
“We don’t know the rules yet for the next Olympic process, but if they’re the same as what they were, next year means nothing, and it sounds like even the next year, if I play, I don’t screw up Ben’s and Marc’s chances of getting to the next Olympics. So I think that’s still an open window,” he said.
If qualifying for the 2017 trials started next season, Martin would quickly dismantle his team so Hebert and Kennedy could move on. There is a pre-trials berth up for grabs in the Canada Cup at Camrose Dec. 3-7, but Martin said, “as long as you curl pretty good, you’re in the pre-trials, so don’t worry about that.”
Martin thinks the Canadian Curling Association is likely to top-load the qualifying points on events closer to 2018 than 2015 in an attempt to get the hot team coming out of the trials, which happened in December with Jacobs winning.
Meanwhile, the future plans of two of the three Alberta women’s teams at the Olympic trials are also up in the air.
Val Sweeting, who is representing the province in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian championship at Montreal, said her Saville Centre rink of Joanne Courtney, Dana Ferguson and Rachelle Pidherny will chase the Olympic dream again.
“We’re all pretty young, so 2018 Olympics will be definitely the goal for us,” she said, “especially after getting a taste of it this year and being in the mix of things. It definitely gets you hungry for the next one.”
Heather Nedohin, 38, has already had a lineup change on her 2012 Canadian championship team while Grande Prairie’s Renee Sonnenberg, 42, would love to continue to curl with her current rink — which includes Edmonton’s Lawnie Mac Donald and Rona Pasika — but doesn’t know if she can make the huge commitment to be a full-time player again.
Beth Iskiw, who has been Nedohin’s third for eight years, decided to take a year off competitive curling to spend more time with her family in addition to work commitments.
Calgary’s Amy Nixon, who was Nedohin’s alternate player at the 2012 national and world championships and 2013 Olympic trials, will replace Iskiw next season. Second Jessica Mair and lead Laine Peters remain with the team.
Asked recently if she would make another run at the Olympics, Nedohin said: “I don’t know, personally, if I’ve got it (in me). Life, kids, work have come into play. Physically, mentally, can I do it? Yeah. Like really, can we do it? I don’t know.”
Sonnenberg said she would do it “in a heartbeat” if she was 24 and in university or had a part-time job and was a funded athlete.
“It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just my life won’t allow that,” she said, admitting she’s not prepared to keep making the necessary financial, lifestyle and family sacrifices.
“The Olympics has changed curling in that way,” Sonnenberg said. “It’s a good way, too, because the profile of curling has increased a ton. For me to get $5,000 sponsorship five years ago was a big deal and, this year, we got over $25,000, but we needed it because we were not working.
“I’m happy for the sport of curling because of the profile, but sad for competitive curlers like me who can’t give it 110 per cent, but still would love to.”