Marc Kennedy’s curling career has come full circle playing alongside Kevin Koe.
Kennedy made his professional debut back in 2003 throwing second stones for Team John Morris with Koe playing third. The Alberta natives were young and struggling to find their place on the tour that year until the rink broke through at the season-ending Players’ Championship, upsetting Kevin Martin’s team in the final to win their first career Grand Slam of Curling title.
Their roads separated in 2006 when Morris and Kennedy joined Martin while Koe skipped his own team but they’ve crossed paths many times while facing each other at major tournaments. Along the way they’ve both won Brier titles, the world championship, multiple Grand Slams — and in Kennedy’s case, an Olympic gold medal — and it all started the moment they “made it” at the Players’ Championship.
“I think it gave all of us a little sense that we belonged and that we could compete against these big teams,” Kennedy said. “It was a big event for us and it led to us going to the Canadian Olympic Trials and finishing third. We lost the semifinals the year for Torino and Brad Gushue won, but that all started with the big win at the Players’ Championship. That was definitely a stepping-stone for all of us.”
The 32-year-old Kennedy is now right back where he started and ready for a new chapter of his career. After Martin retired at the conclusion of last season, Kennedy rejoined Koe at third. Lead Ben Hebert, who played with Kennedy on Team Martin, tagged along while Brent Laing, formerly of Ontario’s Glenn Howard, jumped onboard at second.
“People always ask me who has had the most influence on your curling career and there’s Kevin Martin and John Morris but I always say Kevin Koe as well because I learned so much from him those first three years,” Kennedy said. “He knows the game so well, he’s so calm and collected, he keeps a very even keel and he’s a very smart guy. To get the opportunity to play with him again and now play back-end with him it’s certainly come full circle for my curling career.”
The all-new Team Koe has set its sights four years ahead to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. It’s a goal Kennedy is all-too familiar with as winning the Olympic gold medal with Team Martin at the 2010 Vancouver Games changed his life forever.
“The entire Olympics was very eye-opening and a dream come true,” Kennedy said. “To do it on home soil with the type of support we had from our family and friends and the pride that was felt for Canada, it was amazing. Here we are almost five years later and it still impacts us on a daily basis. My wife and I were just at the Gold Medal Plates dinner fundraising for Olympians and showing Olympic videos so it’s still a part of my everyday life.”
As much as Kennedy enjoyed the moment of capturing gold, it was also a big relief to win it. The final game against Norway’s Team Ulsrud saw almost 6,000 fans adorned in red and white jammed into the Vancouver Olympic Centre arena. Canada led 6-3 heading into the final end and the feverish crowd jumpstarted the celebrations with an impromptu singing of O Canada. Team Martin hadn’t lost a single match in the tournament up to that point but still, every shot can make a difference in curling and nothing is guaranteed.
“There was a lot of pressure when you go to the Olympics especially in a sport like curling where you’re kind of expected to win,” Kennedy said. “We carried a lot of pressure and a lot of nerves and I know for Kevin Martin it was very, very stressful. When you win there’s this big giant sigh of relief and you can kind of rest easy knowing that you’ve accomplished the biggest thing there is to accomplish in your sport. You never want to take a break but you can rest easy in your mind knowing there’s nothing else you can really accomplish.”
“It was tough but it was just such an amazing experience because you combine all of those feelings: you’re excited, you’re anxious, you’re nervous, you’re stressed and you’re happy,” Kennedy added. “You’re trying to enjoy it because you might never get it back and it’s just an amazing thing so to actually come through and win it was just icing on the cake.”
With the new road to the Olympics already beginning, Team Koe has opened the season to promising results in the three events they’ve played. The rink captured the Direct Horizontal Drilling Fall Classic title in Edmonton and was runner-up at the Canad Inns Men’s Classic in Portage la Prairie, Man., earlier this month. Now on the horizon is the Masters, the first stop of the Grand Slam of Curling series. It’ll be the team’s first “major” test not only for this season but also towards representing Canada in 2018.
“With the little bit of success we’ve had this year I think we’re chomping at the bit to get going and trying to prove ourselves at these bigger events,” Kennedy said. “It’s a different curling season too with some of the changes that have happened on teams. You can see the teams that are really going to make a go at the next four years and the Olympics and you can see the teams that are taking it easy and being patient. It’s a very unique dynamic so we’re looking forward to getting out there.”
Although Kennedy has won 10 titles at the GSOC events, the Masters has eluded him so far from completing a career Grand Slam. On the other hand, his teammate Laing has won the Masters a record six times, including four in a row from 2006-09.
“It was always the first one of the year and some years with our team with Kevin Martin we had a little bit of a slow start and preferred to amp it up and play well after Christmas so maybe that’s one of the reasons why we didn’t win it,” Kennedy said. “Maybe Lainger can give us some tips on how to win this thing.”