A big deal in bear country
Hinton tourney starts with a bang: Ferbey vs. Martin at 9:45 a.m.
By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun
HINTON -- At 9:45 a.m. when Randy Ferbey and Kevin Martin start throwing granite in the direction of the Rocky Mountains, there will be a lot of expressions exchanged.
Many will have a look as if to say, "Wow, this is happening here!"
Many more will say, "Whoa, what's this better-than-a-Brier deal doing way out here in bear country?"
It's a nice enough place, this town of 9,405 just 15 minutes outside of Jasper National Park. And it's not like smaller centres ought not occasionally end up with a big event, especially a spot as interesting as Hinton. I mean, how many other places do you know that changed location, if only by 12 km one way or the other, 10 times in the history of this thriving two-part, one up, one down kinda town separated by the most up-to-date and profitable pulp mill in Canada?
CACHE PICOTE
So don't be putting down Hinton, even if it began its existence called Cache Picote, which translates to Small Pox Camp.
The 820-seat Bill Thompson Arena was half full last night with fans applauding practices. There is every expectation that this will be a wonderful week here as long as the locals don't get their noses out of joint about any of the "Why In The World Are We Watching Randy Ferbey vs. Kevin Martin Curl At 9:45 Wednesday Morning In Hinton?" editorializing at the git-go.
Ferbey and Martin don't agree on much, but they do agree on one thing.
"We're opening with one of the biggest games, in people's minds at least, and it's at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday," said Ferbey. "Somebody should have used a little common sense and changed it. It should be at 7 p.m. on Friday night. Somebody really should have changed the damn thing."
Martin rolled his eyes.
"Oh, yeah," he said. "If a marketing company was running this, no way would you have the top two teams playing each other at 9:45 a.m. on the first game. The top two should be scheduled for centre sheet at 7 p.m. Friday night."
All over the province there's envy about the hosts with the most as Hinton becomes something of a sports media mecca.
"There are 28 accredited media members for this," said Brent MacDonald, third for Ken Hunka at the 1999 "Last Shootout of the Century" Brier in Edmonton. "I'd say seven of the eight teams would have been in the top eight in the '99 Brier. I'm sure this year's Brier would like to have at least three of these rinks in it."
Ferbey has won three. Martin has won two, plus an Olympic silver medal. Both Ferbey and Martin's third, Don Walchuk, won two Briers with Pat Ryan. John Morris of Calgary won two World Juniors and made it to the final of the Brier two years ago.
"It really is a mini-Brier to get to the Brier," said Ferbey's last-rock thrower Dave Nedohin.
"What's unique about this is you have three teams who probably rank in the top five in Canada," said Ferbey.
But first and foremost it's Ferbey vs. Martin. And what we're dealing with here is a match-up with enough hair on it to come down from the mountains as some sort of Abominable Showman wearing a kilt, playing bagpipes and carrying a sign reading "Asterisk?"
There's so much built into Ferbey vs. Martin for the marbles that some people figured they should have pebbled a strip of ice beside the rink at the Heritage Classic and had them battle it out in front of 60,000 between the MegaStars Game and the first ever outdoor NHL regular-season game.
But there's more to the landscape than the battle between the Ferbey rink that became the first in history to win three straight Briers, and the Martin rink which suggests they ought to have an asterisk because the previous two-time Brier champs and Olympic silver medal winners haven't been around to validate their last two trips to the big show.
BIG-TIME BUILDINGS NEEDED
It's also about the Brier going big time into NHL buildings and the Alberta Curling Federation failing to follow their lead into the 21st century - even managing to go backwards, this year losing the Safeway sponsorship.
So, it's the "Your Name Here" Provincial Curling Championship way out here in bear country, with the winner proceeding to the Brier Patch.
And it really is one part "wow" and one part "whoa."
"It's great for Hinton and they've been great to us so far," said Martin. "We've had volunteers meeting us at the hotel and the rink and you can tell there's a real buzz about this being here. But ..."
But it's time for this event to be filling 5,000-plus-seat arenas in places like Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Grande Prairie ...
"I'd rather be here than in a curling club in Edmonton or Calgary," said Nedohin. "But ..."
It's time for this event to take a step to another level like the Brier itself did.
In the meantime, the only time that matters is 9:45 a.m.
