HALIFAX — Linda and Fred Koe of Yellowknife brought their polar bear flag to the opening draw of the Brier here Saturday.
Sitting in Section 21 behind Sheet C where son Kevin was skipping Alberta and Sheet D where son Jamie was skipping the Territories, it seemed like a bit of favouritism for one son over the other.
But Linda, a nurse from Saskatchewan who heard the call of the North and met her husband in Inuvik in the late ’60s, said the polar bear flag is most appropriate for the occasion.
“People in the Territories have two teams to cheer for this year,” she said.
“Everybody in the Territories will be watching the games this year,” said Fred.
“The trouble is our parents have to come to every draw,” said Jamie. “There isn’t a draw when one or the other of us isn’t playing.”
When Kevin and Jamie play against each other Thursday morning, it’ll only be the third time in all of Brier history — yet the second year in a row — when brothers have faced each other as skips.
In 1942 Donald Campbell represented B.C. and Gord Campbell skipped Ontario at a Quebec City Brier.
Last year Russ and Glenn Howard went against each other representing New Brunswick and Ontario, respectively, at the Calgary Brier.
But that’s just trivia, said Linda.
Two boys at the Brier who grew up curling in the Territories and are now skipping teams is special stuff north of the treeline.
It’s a good thing Koe versus Koe was not scheduled for Tuesday evening.
“I have to take the evening draw off,” said Jamie. “I have to write my exam for Certified General Accountant. I can’t miss that. I have to go to St. Mary’s University to write it.”
Dad Fred took accounting courses in Edmonton for a couple of years early in their marriage when Kevin was a New Year’s baby in 1975. Then they moved back north where Jamie was born two years later.
Fred was the president of the Inuvik Curling Club.
“Also the head ice-maker,” he laughed of the duties involved in keeping the three-sheeter going.
“Kevin started spending a lot of time at the rink when he was eight or nine. All our kids were my ice-makers,” he added, including daughter Kerry, Jamie’s twin, who has represented the Territories three times at the Scotties.
“When Kevin was little he wanted to throw the rocks but first he had to scrape, shave and pebble the ice with me,” remembers Fred who said he has a photo in his head of the three Koe kids that he sees when he closes his eyes.
“We were in Inuvik flooding ice. We were all holding the hose flooding the ice. It was minus 40 outside and minus 45 inside. Natural ice. We were sort of lined up tallest to shortest,” he said.
The Koe boys suggest their parents, as Jamie puts it, “are the most conflicted fans at this Brier.”
But Jamie, while he went away and came home a couple times, knew he was going to live his life in the North where he’s the senior financial management board analyst for the Government of the N.W.T.
And Kevin knew he was going to live his in Alberta. He’s lived in Calgary (playing three years at third for John Morris), Edmonton and has recently moved to Grande Prairie where he’s a surface landman for Talisman Energy.
In 1994, with his brother at third, Kevin became the first skip to lead a team from the Yukon/NWT to a national final at any level, losing a highly controversial final to Edmonton’s Colin Davison involving a burnt rock.
The two also curled together in Alberta for three years, making it to a provincials in Stettler where they are best remembered for playing the piano with their heads with their pants pulled down around their knees exposing their boxer shorts after the closing banquet.
“Talk to him about that. It was his idea,” said Kevin.
“Maybe it’s good we’re not still curling together,” laughed Jamie. “It was a take off with the Muppets guy who played the piano with his head. We had way too much fun together those three years.”
terry.jones@sunmedia.ca
