There鈥檚 no rest for the wicked, or for the newly crowned Brier champ, for that matter.
Kevin Koe and his Alberta rink returned home late Monday afternoon from claiming the national curling championship in Ottawa and after a quick couple of days, were scheduled to get back on a plane with equipment in tow, heading to Victoria.
The now three-time Brier champ will highlight the Pinty鈥檚 Grand Slam of Curling鈥檚 Elite 10 event at The Q Centre, beginning Thursday morning at 11:30.
Koe and his rink of third Marc Kennedy, second Brent Laing and lead Ben Hebert, will have a bye in the opening draw but begin play at 4 p.m. against Steve Laycock, Saskatchewan鈥檚 rep at the recent Brier.
He will then play Brier fourth-place finisher and defending Elite 10 champ Mike McEwen of Winnipeg in the 7:30 p.m. draw, before having to tackle world champion Niklas Edin on Friday at 11:30 a.m. Koe rounds out his round-robin portion of the 10-team tournament against up-and-comer Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton, the 2012 world junior champ, at 3 p.m. on Friday.
鈥淲e鈥檒l throw a few rocks just to loosen up,鈥� Koe said over the phone before arriving on the Island later Wednesday with plans for practice ice early this morning. 鈥淲e鈥檝e played a lot lately so it鈥檚 not like we need the reps going into the event.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking forward to it, though. It鈥檚 nice that it鈥檚 a skins-like format,鈥� said Koe, who was back at work on Tuesday and Wednesday as a surface landman with Talisman Energy in Calgary. 鈥淚 think that will help us get into it early because that鈥檚 always fun to play.
鈥淚t might be a little tough to get motivated coming off a Brier win, being on the ice just a few days later, but Grand Slams are great events, too, and once you get into the arena setting you鈥檙e good to go. The skins format will help. It won鈥檛 be your typical game, with lots of rocks in play.
鈥淲e have a tough pool with lots of good teams to play. Once we get out there, the competitive juices will get into us. We still want to win. We鈥檙e not coming out there to throw the week away, for sure.鈥�
The four were far greater than OK at the Brier, rattling off three straight key wins in the playoffs, defeating McEwen, Brad Jacobs and then Brad Gushue in the final, with some incredible shot-making.
鈥淵ou beat one and there鈥檚 another just as good waiting for you. For sure, it was the toughest one [of his three Brier titles to win] and teams are just so good now,鈥� Koe said. 鈥淲e had one off day, but once we got in the playoffs we played our best. We got a few breaks along the way, too, which you need.鈥�
Asked where it ranked among his three Brier championships, the former Edmonton-based curler, who now plays out of the Glencoe in Calgary, said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 up there. It never gets old.鈥�
鈥淭he first one was special. This one, with the quality of the field, was great. You used to be able to come to the Brier and you鈥檇 have four or five wins just for being there and you鈥檇 be in need of a few big wins against real good teams for a playoff position,鈥� said the skip, who gave Alberta its 27th Brier crown, tying Manitoba for the all-time lead. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like that at all anymore. Teams at the bottom of the standings had a lot of close games. We could have lost a couple to them, easily.
鈥淔or this team, it was pretty special,鈥� he said of the group that formed in 2014-15 with eyes on the next Olympic run. 鈥淲e had, not a terrible year last year, but it was a little disappointing. To bounce back and win the Brier is pretty special.
鈥淲e had high expectations when we put the team together. It shows you, you just can鈥檛 throw a team together and win everything these days. A couple of the top teams, like Jacobs and McEwen, they鈥檝e been together a long time and that showed a bit last year, for sure. We鈥檙e still learning as we go. It shows that it was a good decision when we put this team together.鈥�
