Flaxey blames himself for issue out of his control

Caleb Flaxey is gutted. It has been an awful week for the two teams he is coaching in the Canadian Olympic curling trials and he feels responsible.

“I understand it was out of my control, it was a health thing, but for it to happen during this week, I’m truly devastated, heartbroken to have put both teams in that situation.”

Flaxey arrived at the Olympic trials Nov. 30 to work as coach for both his wife Allison’s team and the Brad Jacobs team.

The 34-year-old was feeling good despite being just a few weeks removed from hipreplacement surgery. He has had Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, a degenerative hip disorder, since he was a child. His hip became so arthritic he needed surgery.

On Friday, he noticed his incision, which had been completely sealed, was opening again. He called his surgeon, who suspected a possible infection and told Flaxey to get to North York General Hospital in Toronto quickly.

He flew out Sunday and later that day was in surgery again, having the parts from the original hip replacement replaced. He’s now on an IV for the next six weeks to clear out any remaining infection.

He’s dealing with pain, walking at about 60 per cent and carrying a heavy load. He is terribly upset about the timing, which left his wife with more on her mind than she needed during the biggest event of her curling life.

Allison’s team is 0-7. Things haven’t been much better with the Jacobs rink, which is 3-4.

“I love both teams and for an event that happens once every four years, for it to happen right now, is so unfortunate,” Flaxey said. “Again, completely gutted. I want to wear a lot of responsibility for what’s going on this week.”

Flaxey’s clearly pretty tough. He made it back to Ottawa by Wednesday and resumed his role as coach of both teams.

Now, if he can just stop being so hard on himself.