Koe finds winning chemistry
Contrasting personalities jelled quickly as foursome ran the table at the Brier
As soon as our expectations for Canadians are to not go and win or compete for medals, that probably means we’re being surpassed on the world stage.
At the end of a media conference call with Team Canada earlier this week, there was one last question lobbed at skip Kevin Koe.
“Kevin, what’s it like to have a lead as good as Ben?” a call participant asked, without identifying himself.
The ensuing laughter made it clear that the question was coming from Team Canada lead Ben Hebert, who has a reputation for keeping things light, along with a reputation for being one of the greatest sweepers in the history of the game.
It spoke volumes about the dynamic on this team: Koe is the businesslike sharpshooter with the cool demeanour and third B.J. Neufeld fits that mould, as well, while Hebert and second Colton Flasch are the jokesters, who make sure everyone on the team is still having fun, even in the most tense moments.
“The two opposites marry well together and we form a really good unit,” Neufeld said.
“Our demeanours are all similar and we have a good balance of character on our team. Kev and I have a lot of similarities, we get along in the house, and we see the game the same way. Ben and Colton, they’re the jokesters, and they keep things light and they have a lot in common.
“Off the ice, we have lots to talk about. We’re all sports nuts and we love to talk about sports. It’s a pretty good mix.”
The Koe team, from Calgary, is set to represent Canada in the world men’s curling championship at Enmax Centre in Lethbridge, which starts Saturday.
Canada will play two games on opening day — against South Korea (Soohyuk Kim) and Russia (Sergey Glukhov) — and will look to get off to a quick start, knowing there are tougher matchups against Sweden (Niklas Edin), the United States (John Shuster) and Scotland (Bruce Mouat) down the road.
This is still a pretty new team and two of the members — Neufeld and Flasch — are playing in a world championship for the first time.
While the team jelled quickly and went undefeated in winning the Canadian championship earlier this month in Brandon, Man., the worlds are a different beast and the newcomers will have to lean heavily on the experience of Koe and Hebert, who have won four world championships between them.
“We haven’t talked too much about it,” Koe said. “Some people might think that’s a little strange, but I don’t. We have these curlers on our team because they’re great curlers and great teammates. They’re experienced, and once they get on the ice, they’ll be fine.”
HOMETOWN WORLDS
Though he’s played in the world championship three times previously and won it twice, this will be Koe’s first time playing in the event in Canada.
Not only that, it’s in his home province, just a couple hours down the road from Calgary.
“It will be a little different from playing overseas,” Koe said. “I think we’re good at limiting the distractions, and once we get on the ice, we’ll be fine.
“It’ll be a different experience for me, and I’m sure it will be exciting. With it being close to Calgary, we’re expecting to have quite a few friends, family, fans. A lot of people have been telling us they’re going to make the trip down and we’re going to have a pretty much full arena cheering us on all week, which will help us on.”
Of course, being the hometown team brings a little extra tension, with fan emotions hanging on every shot.
“I don’t think it will put too much added pressure on us,” Koe said. “We’re Team Canada at a world curling championship, there’s enough pressure as it is to perform.”
Social Media Firestorm
Things didn’t go well for Canada at the recent world women’s championship and skip Chelsea Carey and her Calgary teammates sure heard about it.
Canada went 6-6 in Silkeborg, Denmark, missed the playoffs and took plenty of heat on social media for putting in a subpar performance against the world’s best curlers.
Yes, expectations are high for Canada’s curlers at international events, but that seemed to go a bit overboard.
Still, that’s not going to bother Koe and his teammates, no matter what happens over the next 10 days.
“Social media can be a bit of a joke like that,” Hebert said. “Everyone has a voice behind the keyboard. Anyone can say whatever they want and have their own opinions, but that can be used as a good thing or a bad thing, as it was last week for Chelsea.”
Rachel Homan and Koe, who represented Canada at the Olympics in 2018 and failed to win medals, felt similar wrath from the keyboard army.
Hebert said that’s all something that comes with the territory when you curl for a country like Canada.
“As soon as our expectations for Canadians are to not go and win or compete for medals, that probably means we’re being surpassed on the world stage,” Hebert said. “I hope that day is nowhere near in the future. I don’t want those expectations to change. We’re expected to be on top of the podium and that’s fair.”
Curling Canada’s national coach Jeff Stoughton said there’s no official playbook for dealing with the trolls who give social media a bad name.
“It’s all individual,” Stoughton said. “Some people like to look at it and read it and dwell on it. It’s really up to the individual. At the end of the day, it’s about performance.
“If you’re trying 100 per cent and the team is supporting each other, whatever is said on social media can be used for motivation or used for jokes. As long as it doesn’t bring the team down.”