Regina curling legend joined The SportsCage to talk about his Olympic experience — including one rather infamous incident<\/p>\n
REGINA — It was the video that touched off an Olympic-level kerfuffle and became a major talking point for men\u2019s curling in the first week of the Milan Cortina Games.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s Oskar Eriksson called out the double touch, it led to a profanity-filled exchange and controversy that would follow\u00a0Canada the rest of the Games.<\/p>\n
It was all a bunch of drama that Regina product and Team Canada lead Ben Hebert had a front row for, and it\u2019s safe to say he had little use for the antics when chatting with Barney Shynkaruk on The SportsCage\u00a0about the whole situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cA 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,\u201d Hebert began. \u201cWe have a hockey mentality on our curling team,\u00a0we\u2019re 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.”<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hebert is long known in curling media circles for not being afraid to speak his mind, and he didn\u2019t let up in his ire when it came to the genesis of the entire situation —\u00a0Eriksson.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat snake in the grass,\u201d Hebert said. \u201cThe stuff he tried to pull at the Olympics is not very Olympia of him\u2026 I lost a lot of respect for him with the stuff he tried to pull. He\u2019s won the Olympics, they\u2019ve won Grand Slams, they\u2019ve 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\u2019ve been on a brutal stretch and pretty irrelevant in the curling world, haven\u2019t won anything, they\u2019re out of the Grand Slams, dead last in the Olympics puts a stamp on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The controversy led Olympic officials to immediately start policing the hog lines and it wasn\u2019t long before double touching the rock became a bit of a plague at the Games.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d Hebert said.<\/p>\n
That led to rocks being pulled at an alarming rate, and before long a quiet decision was made to\u00a0let things be.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they started getting rocks pulled all over the place, man, it got real quiet with the curling teams and the people that were sour.\u00a0Then the WCF said we can\u2019t go through the Olympics like this, we\u2019re going to fix this, we\u2019re going back to what it was before, let\u2019s get rid of this stupid double touch thing,\u201d Hebert explained, adding that he wouldn’t be surprised to see the WCF get rid of the rule altogether.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean anything, it doesn\u2019t do anything, it doesn\u2019t affect the game, it doesn\u2019t affect the outcome. It was a rule that was\u00a0put in, I\u2019m not sure what the purpose was, it obviously didn\u2019t have a lot of thinking time put in.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was all a sour patch in what was otherwise a glorious time for Hebert and his Brad Jacobs\u00a0rink teammates, as they overcame the controversy to defeat Scotland\u2019s Bruce Mouat for gold in the\u00a0final. The medal was the second of his career after also winning gold with Kevin Martin at the Vancouver 2010 Games.<\/p>\n
After all the games are done and won, there comes the time to celebrate, and interestingly enough, Hebert and crew didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t long before they had a few rather special guests stop by to join them, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cRachel\u2019s 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,\u201d Hebert said, naturally referring to Rachel Homan\u2019s Team Canada foursome. \u201cJust reminiscing with our team, their team, all the hard work put in, blowing off some steam and making more memories, it was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a single game per\u00a0day on the Olympic men\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t 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,\u201d Hebert said. \u201cMy 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.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was amazing, we got to celebrate properly with them on Sunday night in Venice, had a nice family dinner and watched the men\u2019s hockey game, it was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s room and spent hours watching Canada compete in other events, including Regina\u2019s Mark McMorris in slopestyle snowboard.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were in our Canada section with all the sliding athletes, so we were always there cheering on whoever was playing those nights,\u201d Hebert said. \u201cStill living that Olympic spirit when you\u2019re dressed in all your Lulu gear and your kit feeling very Olympia with all the other athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n
With as much fun and success as he had at the Games, the question always comes: will\u00a0Hebert be around for the next Olympic quadrennial? The 42-year-old was pretty much unequivocal with his answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no intentions of it,\u201d Hebert said, later adding that this could be his final year, pending a conversation with the rest of the Jacobs foursome. \u201cIf 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.”<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I have no interest in that, I\u2019ve done way more in this sport than I ever thought I was gonna, I\u2019m still a very good player and I\u2019m probably better now than I was when I was 30. But I\u2019m going to talk with my team at the Brier, see if we want to play one more year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interestingly enough, the 2027 Canadian men\u2019s curling championship is in Saskatoon, and one last hurrah in his home province would be attractive.<\/p>\n
\u201cSelfishly, I wouldn\u2019t mind playing in one more back home before I retire,\u201d Hebert said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see if I play one more year, I\u2019m content either way. I\u2019ll coach my daughter\u2019s softball team and maybe coach my son, get them both into curling and be around for my job I haven\u2019t been to since November.”<\/p>\n
\u201cAll good, I\u2019ll be happy either way and I\u2019ll talk to the boys these next couple weeks and I\u2019ll make a decision.\u201d<\/p>\n