Ask Niklas Edin what his best memories from his last trip to Victoria are and a smile instantly creeps across his face.
鈥淲inning,鈥� the Swedish skip said automatically.
Edin swept his way through the Victoria Curling Classic stop on the World Curling Tour at Archie Browning Sports Centre exactly two weeks before claiming his first World Championship at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre back on April 7, 2013.
They may as well have given him the keys to the city; he was that popular over that stretch.
Edin, who won his second world title last year in Halifax, is back in the sa国际传媒 capital for the Pinty鈥檚 Grand Slam of Curling鈥檚 Elite 10 this week at The Q Centre and feeling comfortable, despite opening the event with a loss to Winnipeg鈥檚 Mike McEwen, who won 2-up over the Swede. Edin bounced back to beat Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton 3-up in the afternoon.
After Day 1 at The Q Centre, Saskatchewan鈥檚 Steve Laycock leads one pool with five points, ahead of Edin, McEwen and Kevin Koe with three each. Brad Gushue leads the other pool with five points, ahead of Reid Carruthers with four and John Epping鈥檚 three.
Edin had the fans calling his name in warm-up on Thursday morning, obviously recalling his 2013 run when he downed McEwen 9-8 in a wild finish to claim the top $25,000 prize at the Victoria Curling Classic before downing Brad Jacobs鈥� rink 8-6 in the final at worlds.
鈥淚t was a really good event and beating Jacobs in our first worlds was really big for us because we were playing the best teams at the highest level. Winning that one gave us a huge boost going forward,鈥� recalled Edin, who vividly remembers feeding off that Victoria Curling Classic victory.
鈥淭hat was one of the biggest wins we鈥檇 had, especially in sa国际传媒, where we hadn鈥檛 won too much,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e hadn鈥檛 performed too well at [World Curling] Tour events, but winning that one was really big going into worlds. That鈥檚 what we鈥檙e trying to do again here.
鈥淭his is an important one for us. I don鈥檛 think we have as great a chance to win this one, but if we can start playing as well as we did that year, it will at least give us a good feeling going to worlds.鈥�
After this event at The Q Centre, Edin and his rink of third Oscar Eriksson, second Kristian Lindstroem and lead Christoffer Sundgren will travel home to Sweden for a few days and go through a pre-camp prior to the Ford Men鈥檚 World Championship in Basel, Switzerland, April 2-10, where he will face the likes of sa国际传媒鈥檚 Kevin Koe.
This rink is different from the one Edin had in 2013 which included third Sebastian Kraupp, second Fredrik Lindberg and lead Viktor Kjall.
His current team has not played for seven weeks, but they were spectators at the recent Brier and slipped in some practice time there, still adjusting to the new directional sweeping that has changed the game and working with the elimination of hair brooms.
Following worlds, the rink will return to sa国际传媒 for the Players鈥� Championship, return to Switzerland for European playdowns, then fly back to sa国际传媒 for the Champions鈥� Cup.
For now, he鈥檚 delighted to be on the Island again.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so good to be back. Everyone was so nice and winning that bonspiel before worlds made a name for us, so we were treated well all that week. We have those good memories.鈥�
He鈥檚 not alone.
For McEwen, he and his team are a worn-down lot after competing in its first Brier and finishing fourth, but glad to be back.
鈥淚鈥檓 pretty tired, but there鈥檚 something about the air when you come here. You feel better,鈥� said McEwen.
鈥淚 remember that final against Nik, we were down a lot and we came back and gave the fans a good game. Nik made a great shot to win that one in the end,鈥� recalled McEwen. 鈥淭he events that we鈥檝e come to in Victoria, have been a treat to play in. It feels right being here at the end of March. It feels right again.鈥�
