Monday, December 10, 2001
Kid's play got a little more serious
By CON GRIWKOWSKY -- Edmonton Sun
REGINA -- It's a tough spot for a kid to be in.
Playing in the biggest game of his life, second Carter Rycroft had a rough go of it out of the gate.
He's been in big games before, losing the 1998 Canadian junior final to Ontario's John Morris.
The nerves got to him in that game, and the nerves definitely were biting him yesterday.
"I was nervous from the beginning,'' admitted Rycroft. "For the last three days until the game was over. I felt the jitters would go away when the game started, but they hung with me all game.
"I had a tough time out there. I was battling and I was all stressed out.''
The good news is that he had third Don Walchuk behind him to clean up the miscues.
"Him throwing behind me made all the difference in the world,'' said Carter. "That shows you what a world-class player he is by what he did. That's what this game's all about.''
There's no question being a young guy on a more experienced team is somewhat intimidating. Rycroft admitted he does become concerned about holding up his end of the deal.
"Well, yeah, I'm always concerned about that,'' said Rycroft. "These guys have proven they've been there, done that. They've won the Brier and Donnie (Walchuk) has won the worlds. They've been on the tour a long time and they have about 10 years on me.
"If anybody's going to be looking at a weak spot, they'll be looking at me because I just want to go out there and prove everybody wrong. To have somebody like Walchuk behind me, he made it all happen.''
Skip Kevin Martin liked the way Carter hung in there.
"He's actually been put in a lot of high-pressure situations since he joined our team,'' said Martin.
"He was nervous today and I thought he handled himself pretty well. It's tough for a young guy to get in there.
"It's part of being young, there's nothing you can do about that. He'll practice hard and hopefully, throw the same numbers he did this week.
"If we can manage to get in a couple of more nervous games in the next few months, he'll be even better.''
2002 Games Curling Coverage
