Wednesday, February 6, 2002
Last minute tuneup
Winnipeg last stop before Salt Lake for Oly curlers
By GREG Di CRESCE -- Winnipeg Sun
Winnipeg is being rocked by Olympic-bound curlers.
Norwegian skip Dordi Nordby and her team have been touring the 'Peg, stopping last night at the St. Vital Curling Club to challenge Lisa Fargey's rink.
Meanwhile, Denmark's Ulrik Schmidt team clashed yesterday with a team skipped by John Bubbs of the Granite Curling Club.
Both teams are visiting "the curling capital of Canada" to tune up before heading south to the Olympics in Salt Lake City.
However, the Danes also had another motive to visit the River City -- pick up their coach Bill Carey, a Winnipegger and former Canadian curling champion.
"It's more mentoring than coaching," said a modest Carey, who has been working with the team since 1991.
"I first met them as their driver when they were competing here in 1991. I gave them a few tips and it seemed to help improve their game," he said.
The Danish squad was so impressed with Carey's insight that they called on the Winnipegger from time to time for help.
In 1997, Carey coached the Danes at the world championships in Berne, Switzerland.
And in 1999, the Danish team convinced Carey to see them through the 2002 Olympics.
"He's a great coach and good friend," Schmidt said after losing to Bubbs 7-5 last night. "(Carey's) also too modest. He means a lot to this team. He gives us that extra 2 or 3% we couldn't find anywhere else in the world and at this level that's very big."
Schmidt had nothing but praise for the quality of curling he's confronted at the club level in Winnipeg.
"I've come here often and I can think of no better place in the world to warm up before heading to the Games," he said.
St. Vital skip Fargey said she's pretty sure Nordby shares that opinion.
"From what I've heard she hasn't won a game since she's been here," Fargey said prior to the tilt yesterday. "So the pressure's on me to keep it that way."
But Nordby returned to form and downed the St. Vital skip 8-5.
2002 Games Curling Coverage
