After all, he’s accomplished almost everything there is for a curler to accomplish. He won two world titles for Canada with his Ontario team and added an Olympic gold medal to his trophy case at the 2006 Winter Games in Italy.
But Howard is now having serious second thoughts about retiring from competitive curling. The idea of representing Canada at the 2009 world men’s championship in his hometown is just too tempting to resist.
“I think I will,” Howard responded, when asked if he intends to compete for the right to represent Canada in 2009. “I was possibly thinking retirement this year, but I’m curling with my son and it keeps me young. This (championship event in Moncton) is one more reason to keep on going.”
Howard said curling is not a sport that makes athletes rich. The joy comes from representing his community, whether that be Moncton, New Brunswick or Canada.
“It’s a real pride thing in curling,” he said, moments after Tuesday’s announcement at the Coliseum that the 2009 championship will be held in Moncton. “Curling is not like other professional sports because there’s not a lot of money in it. You’re proud to compete for your province or your country.”
To compete in the 2009 world championship, Howard would have to win the New Brunswick championship, followed by the Canadian championship.
Howard and many other curling legends and officials were at the Coliseum Tuesday for the official announcement of the championship coming to Moncton. It’s news that has been unofficially known for weeks.
Twelve teams from around the world will participate in the competition, which will be held from April 4-12 in 2009. The Coliseum will feature four lanes of ice and the entire championship will be held there.
Canada hosts the world men’s and women’s championships on a rotating basis each year. The men’s was held in Edmonton this year and the women’s will be in Vernon, B.C., next year.
World Curling Federation president Les Harrison, who’s from Moncton, said after Tuesday’s announcement that the men’s event was going to be held in eastern Canada in 2009. As a Moncton native, he began talking with the Canadian Curling Association in 2003 about bringing the championship to Moncton.
“It had been many years since Moncton had a curling event of this magnitude,” said Harrison. “I said, `Moncton’s due something, we need an event there and they’ll do a good job, so let’s take the worlds there.”‘
The City of Moncton was approached with the plan and was receptive. Harrison said they didn’t invite other Canadian cities to bid for the championship.
The Moncton Coliseum also hosted the men’s world championship in 1980, when it was known as the Air Canada Silver Broom, and the 1985 Labatt Brier.<
Moncton is a natural for hosting a curling event. Besides Harrison’s position with the world federation, local curler Al Forsythe is president of the Canadian Curling Association. Moncton Mayor Lorne Mitton, an avid curler who still plays four or five games a year despite his busy schedule, is a past-president of the Canadian association.
Add to that the fact there are three curling clubs in the city, along with the reigning Olympic gold medal winner, and Moncton is a curling powerhouse.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it,” said Howard, of Moncton’s curling connections. “We have the market cornered.”
Howard said curling thrives outside the major Canadian centres, noting the sport makes small waves in Toronto, yet is huge in Saskatchewan.
“That’s curling in Canada: Small town grass roots,” said Howard.
Speaking from experience, Howard said fans can expect the highest level of competition in 2009, which will be the 50th anniversary of the world championship.
“You’ve got the best teams in the world competing,” he said.
Howard said Canada is usually favoured to win every curling championship, but times have changed. European curlers are taking the sport more seriously, bringing in Canadian coaches and new training methods. Canada is no longer an automatic to win world titles.
“The rest of the world is getting better and better and better,” said Howard. “It reminds me of hockey in the 1980s.”
The competition will be taken to an even higher level at this event because it will be the last qualifying event leading into the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. Teams earn points to try to qualify for the Olympics and this will be the last chance to do so.
Mitton said the calibre of play will be enjoyed by local curling fans and the spotlight on Moncton will be invaluable.
“We’re going to have 10 or 11 full days of live TV, morning, afternoon and night,” said the mayor.
The mayor said a lot of work and money has been put into the Coliseum over the last few years, so the building’s ready for this big event. Harrison also had praise for the facility.
“I think it stacks up really good,” he said. “It’s in a good location, near the downtown core and we won’t know what to expect with April weather, so having it all under one roof is a big advantage.”
Jim Lockyer, chairman of the organizing committee for the event, said the committee’s budget for the event will be $3 million and $10-15 million is expected in economic spin-offs. The local committee can’t lose money on the event because the costs are underwritten by the Canadian association and world federation.
Tickets are expected to go on sale in February of 2008. World Curling Federation executive and general meetings will also be held in Moncton during the championship.<
(Moncton Times & Transcript)