Friday, February 22, 2002
Burtnyk: Martin good as gold
By JIM BENDER -- Winnipeg Sun
When Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk watches Olympic curling, he can't help day-dreaming about being there instead of Alberta's Kevin Martin.
"No doubt, that certainly crosses your mind," Burtnyk, who lost the Olympic trials final to Martin, admitted yesterday. "It would have been a dream-come-true to be there.
"But we're cheering them on because it would be great for Canada to win the gold."
Martin plays Norway's Pal Trulsen in the gold-medal final today at 3 p.m.
"Everybody's proud to be a Canadian and cheer on fellow Canadians no matter what the sport," Burtnyk said. "That's one of the most exciting things about the Olympics and one of the reasons why it would be incredible to be there."
And Burtnyk has no doubt that Martin can capture the gold.
"It looks like he's really been coming on and is gaining momentum towards the end of the week," he said. "He's peaking at the right time and he's in good shape to win the gold."
Defeating arch-nemesis Peter Lindholm of Sweden in the semifinal will also help his cause, Burtnyk added.
"That was a pressure-packed game against a team that had good success against him so, it was good to get that monkey off his back," he said.
Burtnyk has also been impressed with American interest in the game, thanks to TV's great coverage at the Olympics.
"There's a real groundswell of interest in the U.S. and I think the sport will grow in popularity on TV," said Burtnyk, who has been reading various U.S. newspaper curling reports on the Internet. "It has a chance to become a real mainstream sport because it is so good for TV."
ROB FOR ROB:
Brandon's Rob Fowler will replace Rob Meakin at second for Burtnyk next season.
"We felt that Rob could add youth and enthusiasm to our team," said Burtnyk, who will wrap up his season at the Grand Slam's Players' Championship in Strathroy, Ont., next week.
"He'll have big shoes to fill but obviously, he's a great curler and has had a lot of success at third for Allan Lyburn the last couple of years.
"And he can also throw the high hard-one that has become so important in the game today."
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2002 Games Curling Coverage
