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EDMONTON — The past keeps coming into play.
For Glenn Howard and Jeff Stoughton Saturday afternoon's Roar of the Rings men's semi-final is a rematch of last year's Brier semi-final.
For Stoughton it's a chance to get back to the final game of these Olympic curling trials after giving Brad Gushue “no chance” to win it, and then missing on his last rock shot which sent the Newfoundland team to the Olympics.
For Kevin Martin, who is waiting in the wings to play the winner Sunday afternoon, the past is Salt Lake 2002 and a chance to make up for that last rock which was heavy and cost Canada a gold medal.
For Richard Hart it goes all the way back to 1998.
Lets start there.
Like Martin, Hart has been to the Olympics before. Like Martin, he won a silver medal. Like Martin, he wants a do- over for gold and a chance to become the first Canadian Olympian to medal twice in curling.
Hart isn't one of those guys who tries to pretend there's not an elephant in the room.
“I think about it all the time,” he admits. “I'd love to have an opportunity to win a gold medal. We had an amazing run to get to those Olympics and to that gold medal game,” he said of playing with Mike Harris, who came down sick before the last game and curled only 25% in the Canadian loss.
There are those who would think the fact they chose to take Paul Savage as a fifth man who wasn't really a viable option as a gold medal game substitute, might have left years of regret for Hart and the rest of that team.
“Not as much as you'd think,” he said. “The sport has changed so much since then. And it was the gold medal game. You'd have to have a broken leg to keep you out of that. I don't blame Mike for playing or anybody for the situation we were in. Mike got us there.”
To go into Saturday two wins away from having his Olympic dream come true again is something he finds fascinating, because the truth is he didn't have an Olympic dream the first time.
“It was almost like we didn't know what we were playing for,” he said. “But now it's what keeps me going.
“I'd already been to the Olympics before I had the Olympic dream in me for years and years trying to get back. My dream was always the Brier and world championships growing up. All we knew was the Brier. I hadn't been to the Brier until 2005. Now I've been to four straight. I won a world championship in this building. I've done that. But now it's about the Olympics. I want to get back and get that gold.”
But there's also the more recent motivation from last year's Brier in Calgary when Howard, who lost two in a row to Martin, in the final round robin game and then the 1-2 game, lost the semi to Stoughton.
“We had to two mentally tough ones with Kevin and we just didn't plan the next day well,” said Howard. “I didn't feel myself. I don't know how the other guys felt.
“This time we're going to be ready. And that won't be an excuse if we lose. I want to get to Vancouver.”
Stoughton is a study in a while different direction going into this game, hyping himself and his team which includes Edmonton's Kevin Park, who went to the 1992 Albertville Olympics with Martin when it was a demonstration sport, as the underdogs.
He said all the talk he hears is about Howard-Martin in the final.
“What's wrong with Stoughton-Martin?” he asks.
“No one is expecting it. Except us.
“No one gives us much of a chance because everyone wants a Howard-Martin final,” says the Winnipeg skip.
And that's great he says.
“It makes us more relaxed when we're not expected to win. We know we can beat these guys. All the pressure is on them.”
Like it was last year at the Brier in Calgary?
“I think so.”
And like it was in reverse when there was no pressure on Stoughton going against Gushue four years ago in Halifax?
“Gushue was the underdog. Everybody was expecting us to win.”
Stoughton wants that lost shot over.
“Hopefully we have another shot at that,” he said.