Pressure's on Canuck men
Ferbey foursome last hope for gold
By PAUL FRIESEN -- Winnipeg Sun
Dave Nedohin, it's up to you. Randy Ferbey, Scott Pfeifer and Marcel Rocque, too.
The legacy of these worlds, likely the last major sports event the old rink will see before it meets the wrecking ball, is in your hands.
When Colleen Jones lost the women's gold medal to the U.S. yesterday -- and a loss is exactly what it was, not a silver-medal win -- the spotlight on you was cranked up a few thousand watts.
For Canada to be shut out, on home soil, is unacceptable.
Not that we want to add any pressure. That's just the way it is.
"Maybe a little bit," Ferbey agreed, chewing on the American upset while having a drink at the Extra End Pub late yesterday afternoon. "We'd like to finish this out on a high note. If both teams were to lose, people would be a little disappointed right across the country."
You want disappointment, check out the face of Jones, who went undefeated all week, only to crash and burn when it mattered most.
While her teammates were talking about the accomplishment of winning silver, Jones was obviously shocked she wasn't going home to Halifax with a gold.
"Hard to describe it, actually," she began. "Really empty. We played all year to have the opportunity to get to the final and then win the final. There's no joy in second place.
"Maybe not a complete failure. But it's close."
You see, in curling, as in hockey, it's gold or bust for Canadians.
Jones may as well have finished out of the medals, like she did in Bismarck last year, Saint John in '99 and Geneva back in '82.
This was to be the worlds that erased those memories. A crowning achievement that, coupled with the gold from 2001, would leave no doubt as to Jones's place in the game.
Instead, she'll forever be remembered as the great skip from Canada, holder of a record five national championships, who usually came up short against the rest of the world.
A legacy with a bit of tarnish, you have to admit.
"It's a tough legacy -- and it's the one I'm wearing," she said, perhaps trying it on for the first time. "I can't undo the past. I can't undo today. I do know that every time I play, I play as hard as I can. I never give up.
"If our legacy is failure at the worlds, that's my cross I've got to bear. It's just a miserable one to be stuck with."
By this time, Jones's eyes were treading water. They never spilled over, as least not in public.
Talking to longtime third Kim Kelly, though, left the impression it may have been Niagara Falls back in the hotel room.
"She feels terrible," Kelly said. "She really, really wanted this gold. Coming from Canada, you think that's the only medal to have."
Coming from the U.S., it's the stuff of dreams and made-for-TV movies, coming soon (next Sunday, to be exact) to NBC.
"We just made history," American skip Debbie McCormick gushed. "I can't believe it."
Jones, simply, was history.
Perhaps the most curious part of it all is that after playing like gang-busters all week, Jones went into a defensive shell yesterday, almost as if afraid to lose.
"I wanted to make sure we didn't allow a steal," she explained. "So I was cautious about how we were going about our opportunity for deuces."
Only problem is, that played right into McCormick's hands.
"She did beat us at our own game," Jones said.
They'll be second-guessing that decision for years in curling clubs across this country. But there was no second-guessing on Team Canada.
"We always go with Colleen's gut," Kelly said.
That gut will be aching for a while.
