World Men’s Curling Sociables

MOOSE JAW, SASK. — Opening weekend at the world men’s curling championship felt like a day of socializing at its finest.

Accreditation

I received my media pass for the week, and things went relatively smoothly at the accreditation booth. The kind woman suggested that “Scholz sounds German.” I have the beginnings of a cold, so maybe my Saskatchewan accent sounded German. 

They seemed disappointed I drove only 45 minutes from my Regina home. I fibbed a bit and said one of my long-lost cousins was the previous Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz. It is a rare spelling.

The Patch

Before the first draw, my sidekick and I went over to the Patch for a quick bite before the first draw. I asked my server if she was from Moose Jaw, as she was wearing a volunteer jacket. She said she drives in from Weyburn, just down the road. Then she said “actually, Yellow Grass” (population 483) but hardly anyone’s ever heard of it.

I said I had a fun fact for her—and it threw her for a loop. Saskatchewan’s first ever Brier team was from her hometown. She was a curler but didn’t know that one. In 1927, Ozzie Barkwell skipped his team to a tie-breaking third-place finish at the first Brier in Toronto. She was impressed.

Team USA 

One could feel the anticipation for draw one and the team introductions. The sold-out crowd was into the LSD (Last Shot Draws) before the official opening. Brad Jacobs drew the button and Ben Hebert drew the pin. The crowd went nuts. Saskys do know their curling.

Then the introductions. I overheard a handful of people who wondered … how will the Americans be greeted? Polite applause or boos? We are from the Elbows Up province with that inspiration coming from Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe.

Our Canadians got a huge ovation. Every other country got a decent ovation. But Team USA—skip Korey Dropkin, Thomas Howell, Andrew Stopera and Mark Fenner—easily received the second loudest cheer. Maybe it was the few North Dakotans in the crowd, but it felt sincere.

It was later reported that not a boo could be heard during draw three’s introductions, when Team USA were honoured with the American anthem.

Sasky In The House

The Temple Gardens Centre really felt like a prairie family reunion or a Labour Day Classic versus those Blue Bombers at Mosaic Stadium. I swear I met over half my curling friends from the Callie and Highland Curling Clubs in Regina, plus a curling family from Saskatoon who have always taken the time to visit and socialize.

It was nice to be stopped a handful of times or more walking the concourse, but I finally made it to one of the media areas. And even there, a colleague of mine and fellow curler—who drove in from two and a half hours away—popped over.

I think I missed three ends of draw no. 2 but it was great to catch up. And I had to remind this fellow that the only eight-ender of my life was scored against his team, about five years ago.

Hammy Senior

Near the end of a draw I was sitting by myself in the media area when this Scotsman poked his head in. He was charming. As one of the parents of the Scottish team’s players, he downplayed any curling he had ever done, but he was there to write reports back for his hometown paper as well as cheer his son on. So finally, we got down to introductions.

Hamilton, as in Hammy, McMillan Sr.

I hadn’t recognized this 1999 world champion skip, who I had seen curl more than a few times at various cashspiels around western Canada. Of course, he has only competed at five world championships—medalling four times—and was a three-time Olympian. Pretty good resume, I’d say.

We chatted for a good half hour, talking about the state of curling in Scotland and Europe. We talked about how happy he is for his son Hammy Jr.—who plays lead for the Bruce Mouat team—and their successes.

He also talked about all the North American bonspiels and the players he has befriended over the years. One of his favourites is Paul Gowsell. It seemed like the stories of his escapades rivalled Hammy’s own.

Hammy Sr. promotes our sport as much as he can, and he talked about sending curling rocks to New Zealand to get their dedicated facility going. He took a seven-year sabbatical from the game, whereupon he threw a team together and won the 2024 Scottish senior men’s title—but this year bombed out. He downplayed everything.

The games

Our Canadians are off to a great start, winning all three games over the opening weekend. Brad Jacobs was lights out, beating Japan’s Riku Yanagisawa, the Euro champs from Germany (Marc Muskatewitz) and finally Korea’s Kim Hyojun.

I don’t think Jacobs threw one zero until they were up four up playing the ninth end against Germany. Not that it was a huge miss, but a scorecard miss nonetheless, and Muskatewitz made a beautiful spilt for three to put a scare into Canada coming home. 

But that took me to my conversation with Hammy Sr. a couple of hours earlier.

He was warning his son not to take the Austrians lightly in the upcoming draw, because one missed shot can always turn a game around. He also told a war story (that we’ve probably all experienced) and been told over the years: “Never, ever take anyone lightly. We’ve all seen it, four players get hot and it can be out of your control.”

A couple of hours later, the linescore of Scotland versus Austria reveals the 2023 world champions scored two five-enders to win the game in six ends. Good Scottish wisdom.

Canada, the Scots and China are 3-0 heading into Monday’s games, with Czechia, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and USA all at 2-1.

Italy’s Joël Retornaz is 1-2 with losses to USA and China thus far; they face the Czechs and Norwegians today.

Germany, Japan and Austria are 0-3 while Korea is 0-4.