REGINA — It was the video that touched off an Olympic-level kerfuffle and became a major talking point for men’s curling in the first week of the Milan Cortina Games.
Team Canada third Marc Kennedy sliding to the hog line with the very tip of his finger touching the stone. A minor infraction to say the least, but when Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson called out the double touch, it led to a profanity-filled exchange and controversy that would follow Canada the rest of the Games.
It was all a bunch of drama that Regina product and Team Canada lead Ben Hebert had a front row for, and it’s safe to say he had little use for the antics when chatting with Barney Shynkaruk on The SportsCage about the whole situation.
“A lot of the stuff there came out at a bad time for us, we took a little bit of heat for standing up for ourselves, but 95 percent of Canadians loved it,” Hebert began. “We have a hockey mentality on our curling team, we’re not going to be bullied and pushed over by a bunch of Swedish guys out there that are getting their a**es handed to them."
“We didn’t have any of that, we finished at the top of the podium with the gold and they finished dead last, so I think that says a lot.”
Hebert is long known in curling media circles for not being afraid to speak his mind, and he didn’t let up in his ire when it came to the genesis of the entire situation — Eriksson.
“That snake in the grass,” Hebert said. “The stuff he tried to pull at the Olympics is not very Olympia of him… I lost a lot of respect for him with the stuff he tried to pull. He’s won the Olympics, they’ve won Grand Slams, they’ve won World Championships, and when they were at the high of their peak, you never saw that stuff from him. These last two or three years, they’ve been on a brutal stretch and pretty irrelevant in the curling world, haven’t won anything, they’re out of the Grand Slams, dead last in the Olympics puts a stamp on that.”
The controversy led Olympic officials to immediately start policing the hog lines and it wasn’t long before double touching the rock became a bit of a plague at the Games.
“We were the first people that there was video that saw us double-touching the stone, but then toward the end of the Games, you saw video of Niklas Edin, Oskar, Bruce Mouat, all the best teams men and women accidentally having a fingernail drag the back of the rock,” Hebert said.
That led to rocks being pulled at an alarming rate, and before long a quiet decision was made to let things be.
“When they started getting rocks pulled all over the place, man, it got real quiet with the curling teams and the people that were sour. Then the WCF said we can’t go through the Olympics like this, we’re going to fix this, we’re going back to what it was before, let’s get rid of this stupid double touch thing,” Hebert explained, adding that he wouldn't be surprised to see the WCF get rid of the rule altogether.
“It doesn’t mean anything, it doesn’t do anything, it doesn’t affect the game, it doesn’t affect the outcome. It was a rule that was put in, I’m not sure what the purpose was, it obviously didn’t have a lot of thinking time put in.”
It was all a sour patch in what was otherwise a glorious time for Hebert and his Brad Jacobs rink teammates, as they overcame the controversy to defeat Scotland’s Bruce Mouat for gold in the final. The medal was the second of his career after also winning gold with Kevin Martin at the Vancouver 2010 Games.
After all the games are done and won, there comes the time to celebrate, and interestingly enough, Hebert and crew didn’t go too crazy. Their post-win commitments — including the medal ceremony, drug testing, media and all sorts of pictures and videos with friends and family — kept them at the rink until midnight, after which they just sat back and relaxed with a few beverages in their Olympic Village dorm room.
It wasn’t long before they had a few rather special guests stop by to join them, though.
“Rachel’s team came in and had a couple with us, they were feeling good because they were out for dinner that night after they won bronze,” Hebert said, naturally referring to Rachel Homan’s Team Canada foursome. “Just reminiscing with our team, their team, all the hard work put in, blowing off some steam and making more memories, it was amazing.”
With a single game per day on the Olympic men’s curling schedule, Hebert and crew had plenty of down time, and that meant a chance to hang out with his family, who had also made the trip to Italy. Having them by his side made the whole experience even more special, especially with a chance to see the incredible sights around the country.
“I didn’t have any aspirations of going to Italy for a family vacation by any stretch, but we got to do that, took a couple wicked private boat rides in Venice and got the best pictures and memories that are going to last a lifetime,” Hebert said. “My wife was a champ, she hosted the kids and everyone else for two full weeks in Italy while I got to sleep in the dorms with the boys — old school."
“It was amazing, we got to celebrate properly with them on Sunday night in Venice, had a nice family dinner and watched the men’s hockey game, it was awesome.”
The Jacobs foursome also did all they could to take in as much of the action as possible, and with the sliding venue near the curling training venue, they were able to check out a handful of skeleton and bobsleigh runs. They also had a projector set up in Hebert’s room and spent hours watching Canada compete in other events, including Regina’s Mark McMorris in slopestyle snowboard.
“We were in our Canada section with all the sliding athletes, so we were always there cheering on whoever was playing those nights,” Hebert said. “Still living that Olympic spirit when you’re dressed in all your Lulu gear and your kit feeling very Olympia with all the other athletes.”
With as much fun and success as he had at the Games, the question always comes: will Hebert be around for the next Olympic quadrennial? The 42-year-old was pretty much unequivocal with his answer.
“I have no intentions of it,” Hebert said, later adding that this could be his final year, pending a conversation with the rest of the Jacobs foursome. “If I really, really wanted to and not be involved with my kids and not work a full-time job and not be with my wife, yeah sure. Could I get to the gym every day and throw rocks every day? Sure."
“But I have no interest in that, I’ve done way more in this sport than I ever thought I was gonna, I’m still a very good player and I’m probably better now than I was when I was 30. But I’m going to talk with my team at the Brier, see if we want to play one more year.”
Interestingly enough, the 2027 Canadian men’s curling championship is in Saskatoon, and one last hurrah in his home province would be attractive.
“Selfishly, I wouldn’t mind playing in one more back home before I retire,” Hebert said. “We’ll see if I play one more year, I’m content either way. I’ll coach my daughter’s softball team and maybe coach my son, get them both into curling and be around for my job I haven’t been to since November."
“All good, I’ll be happy either way and I’ll talk to the boys these next couple weeks and I’ll make a decision.”
