Canada’s Ben Hebert, Marc Kennedy and Brett Gallant of Canada during their match against Sweden on Friday.Jennifer Lorenzini/Reuters
The Canadian men’s curling team said its Swedish opponent had a premeditated plan to catch it out at the Winter Olympics for hog line infractions.
“They have come up with a plan here at the Olympics, as far as I know, to catch teams in the act at the hog line and it was planned, right from the word go yesterday,” said Canadian third Marc Kennedy on Saturday. “From the words that were being said by their coaches and the way they were running to the officials, it was evident that something was going on, and they were trying to catch us in an act.”
Kennedy wonders if the Swedish players believed Canada was committing infractions with double touches on the rock, why they would not have just had a private conversation about it.
Curling Canada CEO Nolan Thiessen described himself as “surprised” that someone had filmed a video at the centre of a simmering curling conflict between Canada and Sweden.
The video in question, which was circulating online and was not shot by the Olympic Broadcasting Service, was tightly focused on Kennedy releasing a stone at the hog line in Friday’s Canada-Sweden match that later devolved into foul language and allegations that Canada had cheated.
“I was surprised that there was a live video on the hog line outside of OBS rules,” Thiessen said Saturday. “That seems odd to me.”
OBS says all accredited media rights holders – including SVT – that have acquired broadcast rights from the International Olympic Committee are permitted to film within Olympic venues.
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The team’s coach Paul Webster said taking video seemed part of Sweden’s plan and sees a connection in the video ending up on Swedish media.
“They actually had videos for the Italian team as well. So they’ve got people up there videoing, and that whole thing was premeditated and planned,” said coach Webster.
“They were ready at the hog line, video recording. So if that’s what you’re gonna do, then you should plan ahead. And the Olympics are a big event … they had to send it to someone.”
Marc Kennedy said he regrets language used in heated exchange with Sweden’s Eriksson, but will not apologize.Misper Apawu/The Associated Press
The heated exchange erupted during the ninth end of Canada’s 8-6 win over the reigning Olympic champs Friday night at the Winter Games in Cortina. Sweden’s third Oskar Eriksson accused two curlers on the Canadian men’s team of second-touching stones after the hog line, which is not allowed. The Swedish player said he’d show Kennedy a video later.
Live TV microphones picked up Kennedy, seemingly offended by the accusation, swearing at Eriksson.
Asked Saturday what video he was referring to when he said that, Eriksson said video from past events where he’s noticed Kennedy making an infraction.
“There’s a lot of games back in the days, where some players are over the hog line,” said Eriksson of Kennedy. “And he’s been over a few times before.”
Kennedy said Saturday he regrets the language he used but not that he stood up for himself.
“When you get called out, my instinct was to be a little bit of a bulldog and come after Oskar for it. That’s human nature for me,” said Kennedy. “I don’t regret defending myself or my teammates in that moment. I just probably regret the language I used.
“I can understand if he feels that way. I don’t think he has slept too well, while I slept like a baby.”
A video with an SVT watermark that seems to belong to the Swedish national broadcaster, appeared on the internet later Friday.
That vantage point – above the hog line – is not from an OBS-positioned camera inside Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium. But that video appears to be shot a couple of rows up from the stands in the venue, just above the hog line.
Sweden’s third Oskar Eriksson accused two curlers on the Canadian men’s team of second-touching stones after the hog line, which is not allowed.Misper Apawu/The Associated Press
Swedish skip Niklas Edin denied that his team had planned in advance of the game to catch Canada in the act of second-touching a stone and said they did not arrange for any videotaping to take place. He said Swedish media filmed that independent of the team.
“We’ve been saying this for maybe seven, eight years,” said Edin. “There’s more kind of people watching the streams and the TV coverage I think that didn’t know what was going on, so the media crew decided to place the camera on the hog line to see what was happening.”
Sweden’s Rasmus Wranaa echoed that: “We as a team did not tell anyone to film.”
The sport’s governing body, World Curling, issued some rule clarifications, a tweak in officiating and a terse warning about “offensive language.”
Official protocol was followed, said World Curling, after Sweden complained that Canada was double-touching stones beyond the hog line after releasing. Instant replay is not used in curling to re-umpire game decisions.
At the Olympics, umpires are situated at the end of each sheet but can’t see delivery infractions. If a team gives reason, the umpire repositions to watch deliveries for three ends, which they did in Friday’s game. No violations were recorded in that time.
World Curling said starting with the Feb. 14 men’s games, “two officials will move between all four sheets and observe deliveries.”
“The clarification of the rule was helpful. … I’ve never done anything like that with the intent of cheating or the intent of getting an advantage,” said Kennedy. “And if that was the case that we were doing, I would have loved a conversation with the Swedish team before the game, and that’s what got my back up.”
Thiessen said the national federation is “fully supportive” of the Canadian rink, skipped by Brad Jacobs.
“I stand behind those guys. They always play with a lot of integrity, and they would never knowingly do anything that was offside from the rules,” said Thiessen. “And if they do, then I hope that it gets called, and I hope that it gets called on anybody, if there’s rules infractions.”
Thiessen said it’s not his job to umpire games, so he would not comment on whether any Canadians were second-touching stones.
While he said Kennedy probably made a “poor choice of words,” Thiessen reminded that heated exchanges are common across many sports.
“It’s an intense competition. This is the biggest stage in the world,” he said. “I think it happens in a lot of sports, but it’s a gift and the curse, our live mics.”
The heightened awareness of double-touches persisted on Saturday. Switzerland’s team reported Kennedy to the umpire for the same offence in their 9-5 win over Canada.
Then in Saturday’s night session, Rachel Homan, skip of the Canadian women’s team, had her first stone of the game removed from play after a hog line official said she touched the granite after she released it against the Swiss. Homan was incensed.
“Absolutely not,” Homan said on the hot microphone. “I’ve never done it in my life.”
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