There is little doubt that sa国际传媒 will be the favourite both on and off the ice today as teams march in to the opening ceremonies of the 2013 Ford World Men鈥檚 Curling Championship.
Having won the last three straight and five of the last six titles, betting money would definitely lead toward Brad Jacobs and his rink of third Ryan Fry, second B.J. Harnden and third Ryan Harnden.
But the field is not shy of talent, with Scotland鈥檚 David Murdoch, Thomas Ulsrud of Norway and Sweden鈥檚 Niklas Edin, who is coming off a win at the World Curling Tour鈥檚 Victoria Curling Classic last weekend, right behind.
sa国际传媒鈥檚 international veterans know what Jacobs will be up against.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tough field,鈥� said 2010 Olympic champion Kevin Martin, who was in Victoria for the Classic. 鈥淭he world is getting better and better all along, and [the Victoria Curling Classic] was a great idea, to have all these international teams here before and the top Canadian teams. It was fantastic.鈥�
Eight teams competing at Worlds were at the local WCT stop.
鈥淪cotland鈥檚 changed its lineup, so it will be interesting to see how they do,鈥� Martin said of David Murdoch鈥檚 crew, which includes third Tom Brewster, second Scott Andrews and lead Michael Goodfellow. 鈥淏rewster was curling very, very well, and now he鈥檚 not skipping this rink, so that鈥檚 weird. I鈥檓 not sure what is up with that one.
鈥淥f course, Edin is very good and Ulsrud and Murdoch could be good, but as I said I haven鈥檛 seen that [Scottish] lineup the last three years, so it鈥檚 interesting.鈥�
Murdoch is a two-time world champion 鈥� the last non-Canadian rink to win it in 2009. He also lost the final here in Victoria in 2005 to Randy Ferbey before bouncing back to win it in 2006.
But the lineup change is of concern, and the team did struggle at the Victoria Classic last week, beating sa国际传媒鈥檚 Jim Cotter before losing to Manitoba鈥檚 Jeff Stoughton and Rob Fowler, downing Joel Jordison of Saskatchewan, then being eliminated by Ulsrud.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e probably the top international team out there,鈥� 2010 Brier and world champion Kevin Koe said of Ulsrud, who is without his regular third Torger Nergard, who remained back at home. 鈥淭hey have all the shots, and they鈥檙e a great group of guys and it鈥檚 always fun to play them.鈥�
But Koe, like most, says sa国际传媒 is the team to beat.
鈥淏rad is one of the favourites. He鈥檚 the top Canadian team, and that sets you up well when you get to an event like that,鈥� Koe said. 鈥淥bviously, it鈥檚 all in how he鈥檚 playing. If he鈥檚 playing like he was at the Brier, he鈥檚 a big favourite.
鈥淚 like Brad, Norway, Sweden and Scotland to be up near the top.鈥�
Then Jiri Snitil of the Czech Republic and Sven Michel of Switzerland roll in as dark horses.
鈥淲e鈥檝e never played that [Swiss] team once,鈥� Koe said. 鈥淭hey looked like they were coming on last year, and this year they have struggled a bit. The Worlds, though, you don鈥檛 know a lot of the teams and you can鈥檛 take any of them for granted.
鈥淏rewster and Murdoch together, Ulrsud and Edin will all be in there,鈥� Koe said. 鈥淭hose are not easy teams to beat, and they鈥檝e got that extra experience from all the international events they鈥檝e been to. Jacobs will have his hands full with those guys. He has to beat the teams he should beat and get into the mix on the final weekend.鈥�
The field is rounded out by China鈥檚 Rui Liu, Denmark鈥檚 Rasmus Stjerne, Finland鈥檚 Aku Kauste, Japan鈥檚 Yusuke Morozumi, Russia鈥檚 Andrey Drozdov and Brady Clark of Seattle representing the United States.
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