Scotties, Schmirler and Nagano Reunion

MISSISSAUGA, ON – The Scotties is synonymous with so many things curling.

Outside of the lasting legacy the athletes leave in their pursuit of greatness, it is the Sandra Schmirler Foundation that resonates with so many people.

On Friday I had the great privilege to reunite with all of the members of the Schmirler team from Nagano, along with my second Collin Mitchell. We reminisced about our adventures together from 28 (!!) years ago. So many laughs, and great stories were shared.

Curlers and snowboarders were the new kids on the Winter Olympic block in 1998. And we definitely had the feeling of being treated as such… uniforms were not fully available, including some items that were literally never received until after the Games were over, if you can imagine. Despite this fact, we had fun – a lot of fun – and Sandra and her team were a huge part of that, to be sure.

There are too many stories to share fully… but of note, it’s safe to say that today’s Canadian Olympic curlers can thank our team for having to sign waivers restricting the activities they can participate in prior to the Games. Our team went snowboarding three days before getting access to curling ice in Karuizawa… none of us had ever tried it before… that is not a typo.

Injuries included a scraped up face, a black eye and a couple of us had wrists that were so sore that we couldn’t put a handle on the rock for a couple of days.

In hindsight, we have conceded this was perhaps not the best idea.  

When we did get onto the local curling club ice we played a practice game against Sandra’s team. Richard Hart and I literally could hardly throw the rock, our wrists were so sore, and  Team Schmirler drilled us… I think it was 9-1 after six ends or something similar. We actually weren’t too concerned, but Rich and I knew we were already in so much trouble for snowboarding, we didn’t dare tell anyone our wrists were in such rough shape.

The next day we were to play them again, but they asked if we should play a mixed game instead. We agreed – it sounded like fun, plus it would be a nice way to get to know each other a bit more. So I skipped Jan Betker, Collin and Marcia Gudereit, and Sandra skipped Rich, Joan McCusker and George Karrys.

We were in no better shape physically, and continued to make nothing. The game was obviously closer because the ladies managed to carry our four injured butts to a near tie…and we didn’t think too much about it afterwards. It was a fun afternoon.

I only found out years later, from Joan, that they were so worried they would crush us again, they thought a mixed game would be best! They didn’t know about our wrist injuries, but they did see how awful were playing. They really didn’t want to kick our butts badly again, so we would go into the Olympic Games completely discouraged. True story, and hilarious now!  

Luckily we had a few more days to heal up, and were ready to go when the actual competition started a few days later.

A couple of other highlights:

• We managed to smuggle a case of Canadian Club whiskey into the athlete’s village, and had to bribe the security guards with a bottle each on the way through to our rooms. We gave a bottle to each opponent we played against, as a gift. There may have been some leftovers… I can’t quite remember!

• Try Googling “Paul Savage” (our alternate) with “butt tattoo” and “front cover Toronto Sun.” Suffice to say that Canadian curlers definitely made a splash in their 1998 debut appearance.

As we wrapped up our lunch, we had a toast to Sandra, of course… and we also toasted our good friend Colleen Jones. They are both very much missed by so many.

For more behind-the-scenes curling stories from Nagano, check out George’s 25th anniversary columns from Jan-Feb 2023, such as this one.

This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the Sandra Schmirler Foundation. The SSF has done so much to help local NICU units across the country, and the goal this weekend is to raise over $1,000,000.

If you can find it in your heart and wallet to donate, please click here to add to the total.