Thursday, February 21, 2002
Martin rink assured a medal
By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun
OGDEN, Utah -- While Don Bartlett was banging his broom on the ice and the walkway in over-the-moon ecstasy, Carter Rycroft was quietly looking up into the stands to find his family.
Kevin Martin had just made his final shot by a whisker to end the Edmonton rink's Stockholm Syndrome. And, as a group, the emotions were all over the map about not losing to Peter Lindholm for a sixth straight time that it took time to realize that they'd won more than a curling game.
"I didn't think about what had happened,'' said Rycroft, at 24, the youngest member of Martin's rink.
"Don Bartlett asked me five minutes after the game what it felt like to be an Olympic medallist.
"Until he asked me that, I hadn't thought about it. I'm an Olympic medallist! I'm going to have an Olympic medal hanging on my wall back home!"
LAW'S CONTRIBUTION
With two gold and one silver, there aren't many Canadians coming home from here with the colour of metal, one way or the other, that these two are now guaranteed to be bringing back.
There's no gold, for instance, in the women's event this time with Kelley Law of Vancouver gagging on her game in the other semifinal.
In a way, though, Law's loss contributed to Martin's win.
For one thing they didn't take the conservative approach Law did. Martin's men were aggressive and went for the jugular on the first end, scored three, and were in control all the way even if it felt, right down to the last rock of the 6-4 win, like they weren't so secure.
Just watching the gold be gone for a Canadian team was a sobering experience.
"We were getting updates back at our room and we were sick,'' said Walchuk.
"That's harder than playing.''
Martin said they'd bonded with the Canadian women.
"We'd become close. They've become good friends. It was hard on us.''
Law was, perhaps, in denial about how it's going to be when she gets back home without a gold.
"It'll be tough,'' said Mike Harris, who went home to a less-than-warm reception (a rude reception in some places) when he won a silver in Nagano.
These guys don't want it to happen to them.
"I don't think we're going to be happy with silver,'' said Don Walchuk of going against Paul Trulsen's Norway rink, a team they defeated 9-4 in the regulation round, for the gold here today.
"Bringing home any medal to Canada is good. But we came here for the gold,'' said Walchuk.
Martin isn't trying to pretend there isn't pressure here.
"This is so much bigger than anything else,'' he said of the Olympics. "It means so much more. There's a bigger picture here. We have a lot of pressure on us to make darn sure we help Canada.''
The pressure doubled when Law lost.
Bartlett, who blew a tire, threw a shoe, but didn't burn the rock on Martin's last shot, said the events of the day prior to the rink taking the ice to play didn't end at what happened to Law.
"You know you can lose. You can be the best team all week and lose. Look at the hockey.''
Sometimes it's a good thing you're not playing the boys from Belarus. Sometimes it's a bonus to come to the rink and know you're going to be in a game.
"They were the one team in the world we couldn't beat,'' said Martin.
Nobody wanted this one more than Walchuk. The guy who more often than not is voted all-star third in events, shot a pathetic 55 per cent against the Swedes in Canada's only loss in the round robin.
"I wanted them big-time,'' said Walchuk of hoping Canada would get the Swedes in the medal round.
"It's all I thought about for days was beating these guys. We've been beating guys we owed all year long. These were the last guys we owed. I think we've settled on it being five times in a row that they've beat us.''
SHOCK THE MONKEY
But it wasn't just the Swedes. It's the monkey, too. Kevin Martin and his rink have been legitimate greats of the game in Canada. And big busts internationally.
These guys know. That's why they'd thought more about having beat the Swedes than the idea that they'd won a medal, gold if they beat Norway today, silver if they lose. They've twice lost the world championships. And while it was only a demonstration sport 10 years ago in Albertville and the conditions were laughable, they lost this game and the bronze medal game and came home with nothing.
"This rink has been around so long and proved so much. It would be nice to see this rink get what it deserves,'' said Walchuk.
"This rink has that monkey. No doubt about it. We've got to get the gold to get rid of that.''
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2002 Games Curling Coverage
