ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — In the local curling community, it’s called barbecue season.
It supposedly relates to backyard discussions in advance of an upcoming season, talk that often leads to the formation of new rinks or the shuffling of current lineups.
I'm not sure what it’s called nationally, but whatever the label, it’s already well underway.
This past week saw news of big changes to four of Canada’s top women’s teams, with 2019 Scotties champion Chelsea Carey’s rink blown up completely; Ontario’s Rachel Homan bringing in Sarah Wilkes, who had been with Carey, and jettisoning Lisa Weagle, who had been Homan’s longtime lead; Weagle, in turn, joining Jennifer Jones’ Manitoba rink, which will become a five-player combo; and Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silvernagle replacing two players.
On the men’s side, Alberta’s Kevin Koe, the 2019 Brier camp, is bringing back John Morris, who will now play second, taking over for Colton Flasch, dropped after two years with Koe.
The movement is unusual, but only for the timing. With the 2019-20 curling season cancelled entirely because of the coronavirus, the developments are coming earlier than normal.
But make no mistake, this annual and extensive remaking process has become the norm.
For example, since the start of 2017, every one of Canada’s top 10 men’s rinks — as listed in the World Curling Tour’s Order of Merit rankings — has undergone some kind of personnel change.
Except for one.
That is the team skipped by Brad Gushue, who ironically, once swapped out more front ends than an auto mechanic.
The St. John’s-based foursome if Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker has been together for six years, three of which have seen the rink claim the Canadian men’s championship, its most recent Brier title coming earlier this month in Kingston, Ont.
It’s the longest run of an unaltered top-level men’s quartet since Ontario’s Glenn Howard, Richard Hart, Brett Laing and Craig Savill and before that, the Ferbey Four of Albertans Randy Ferbey, David Nedohin, Scott Pfeiffer and Marcel Rocque.
When asked about the continuity, Gushue didn’t cite success as the key factor or even chemistry, although he says his is a close team. He sees it largely as the result of dedication and recalls a conversation he had with Ferbey when the latter was a member of Gushue’s rink in the first half of the 2010-11 season.
“I talked to Randy at length about it back then and he said toward the end of what you could call their team cycle, they lost a little bit of energy and a little bit of commitment, I guess,” said Gushue.
“That always kind of weighed on me and I knew when you’d assess your team year in and year out, if you noticed that stuff would arise, you would certainly have to address it.
“But I have to say I haven’t really seen any of that with this team. Last year, we might have had a little bit, but having said that, we had made a collective decision not to play as much and probably not train as much as we used to, knowing we still had a few years left in the Olympic cycle.
“But this year? Absolutely not. I thought we were all committed, that we were working as hard as we used to.”
Team Gushue over the years
The lineups for Brad Gushue-skipped rinks at Tim Horton Brier’s Canadian men’s curling championships (players listed as skip, third, second, lead):
- x 2015-2020: Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant, Geoff Walker
- 2013-2014: Brad Gushue, Brett Gallant, Adam Casey, Geoff Walker
- 2012: Brad Gushue, Ryan Fry, Adam Casey, Geoff Walker
- y 2011: Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Ryan Fry, Jamie Danbrook
- 2009-2010: Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Ryan Fry, Jamie Korab
- 2008: Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Chris Schille, Dave Noftall
- 2007: Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Chris Schille, Jamie Korab
- z 2006: Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Russ Howard, Jamie Korab, Mike Adam
- 2005: Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Keith Ryan, Jamie Korab
- 2003-2004: Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Jamie Korab, Mark Ward
Notes
x - Team won Canadian men’s championships in 2017, 2018 and 2020 and world men’s championship in 2017
y - Team began the 2010-11 season with Randy Ferbey in the lineup as third (Nichols had moved to second), but Ferbey left in early 2011
z - Team did not compete in the Brier as it was in Torino Italy, where it won gold at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games; team had started the season with Mike Adam as second, but he moved to spare to make way for Russ Howard
Gushue also mentioned changes to the rink’s “support team, which kind of freshened things up for us.”
That included bringing in Dr. Erin McGowan, a sports psychologist and professor at Memorial University’s School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, and giving a bigger role to veteran curler Jeff Thomas, who was officially the team’s spare in Kingston (and did play a couple of ends), but really has been a constant coach.
“And I started working with someone to help me with what I would call ‘pre-hab,’ working specifically to make sure my hip and groin were stronger and do some preventative management on that,” said Gushue, referring to what had been nagging injuries the last few years.
Walker, a 34-year-old native of Grande Prairie, Alta., joined Gushue’s rink in 2012. The 30-year-old Gallant, who is from Charlottetown. P.E.I., came on board the next year. At the time, Nichols wasn’t with them; he spent three years (2012-14) in Manitoba playing with Jeff Stoughton. But Nichols was back in 2015 to round out what it is still the team roster today.
Nevertheless, Gushue says the team is evolving even if the players remain the same.
For example, Walker now lives in Edmonton, having moved back to Alberta after his marriage to Laura Crocker, who skipped that province at this year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian women’s championship.
Originally, when he was added to the Gushue team, Walker (and after him, Gallant) had to maintain residency in Newfoundland and Labrador in order to represent the province at the Brier. Since then, Curling Canada has permitted each team to have one “free agent” or import player and still qualify for provincial and national playdowns.
That residency rule amendment — and a more recent one that allows provincial representatives to have players with “birthright” status (born in the province but not living there) — has likely contributed to the steady changing of players on high-performance teams. But Gushue and Co. used it to maintain their group
“We’re all evolving as adults, as well as curlers and as a team of curlers." — Brad Gushue
With its lead returning to Alberta, the Gushue team has invoked the free-agent rule, making Walker, as the skip says with a chuckle, the rink’s “come from away.”
His teammates realize Walker’s relocation was going to have an impact, but Gushue said it turned out to be greater than they anticipated.
“I think it’s because we’re super-close and I think it took that change to show how much we depended on that closeness,” said Gushue. “We had trained together every single day and all of a sudden, one guy was out of the mix and I don’t think we handled it was well as we could have.
“But we made adjustments to scheduling and the amount of time we could get Geoff down here and I think it certainly has addressed some of those issues.”
Still, the metamorphosis has involved more than changes in geographic location.
Maturity has very much come into play on a team that now has a 40-year-old in Nichols and will gain a second when Gushue reaches his June birthday.
“We’re all evolving as adults, as well as curlers and as a team of curlers,” said Gushue. “When Brett and Geoff first came on to the team, they were in their 20s and had no cares in the world.
“But they’re older with more responsibilities. Geoff is married now and Brett is in a long-term relationship with Jocelyn (Peterman, the lead on Jennifer Jones’ rink) .
“Probably, you’ll eventually see kids come on to the scene, just like they have for Mark and I. They’ve bought houses, so they have mortgages, and as a result, you see the priorities shift a little bit. We’ve had to work around that the last couple of years and we’re going to have to continue to do that.
“But we’ve been able to make adjustments and survive, and succeed, and I think speaks well for our team.”
Twitter: @telybrendan
