Fry set for return to Team Jacobs
Former Olympian ends self-imposed exile
WINNIPEG — Seven weeks after taking a step back from curling to focus on “growth and self-improvement” following a drunken incident at an event in Red Deer, Alta., Ryan Fry is ready to return as the third for the Brad Jacobs team next week.
Fry will play with the Jacobs foursome at the Grand Slam of Curling’s Canadian Open, from Jan. 8-13 in North Battleford, Sask.
It will be his first appearance with the 2014 Olympic gold medal winners since the Grand Slam’s Tour Challenge in Thunder Bay, Ont. — an event his team won — on Nov. 11.
Fry declined interviews on Wednesday, but tweeted a New Year’s greeting that gave some insight into his current state of mind.
“How we handle adversity can show how strong we can really be,” Fry tweeted.
“2018 threw a few punches ... glancing blows. I felt the love and am turning the hatred into fuel. Excited to respond to the challenge and continue to fight with a healthy mind and refreshed focus. Much love in 2019.”
Jacobs announced Fry’s return on Twitter, as well.
His team played in two major events without Fry, winning the Canada Cup in Estevan, Sask., with Marc Kennedy filling in at third, and making it to the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam National in Newfoundland and Labrador, with Matt Wozniak filling it at second and regular second playing third.
Asked for a comment on Fry’s return Wednesday, Jacobs declined an interview, but said in an email: “We are happy to have him back — we talked over the holidays as a team and Ryan said he felt good and was ready to go so we are getting back at it — we are excited about his return.”
Fry, 40, was at the centre of an incident at the Red Deer Curling Classic in which he and members of his team showed up drunk for a game and caused a disturbance, which prompted organizers to kick them out of the bonspiel.
Skip Jamie Koe was too intoxicated to play and the World Curling Tour determined Fry’s behaviour was the reason for the team’s dismissal from the event.
Fry’s boorish behaviour included swearing and breaking brooms and causing damage to equipment in the locker-room.
He was fined $1,000 by the World Curling Tour, and a couple of days later, he announced on Twitter that he would step away from the game.
Another major event, another different look for the Reid Carruthers rink from Winnipeg.
Carruthers said Wednesday that he’ll be skipping and throwing last rock for his team in the Canadian Open next week, after Mike McEwen had handled those duties in a few events last month.
The team went a combined 1-9 in the Canada Cup and the Grand Slam National, with McEwen skipping and throwing last rock, then won the Karuizawa International in Japan just before Christmas with Carruthers skipping and throwing last rock.