My wife and I are big curling fans, attending events all across Canada from Halifax to Victoria over the years.
In 2007 , We travelled to Edmonton to take in the 2007 Ford World Men’s Championship, with Glenn Howard as Canada’s representative. We stayed in the Hotel designated as ‘curling headquarters’ , along with all the teams, officials, etc. Glenn and his team dominated the week , and qualified for the Sunday final. On the Saturday night prior to the Sunday final, the weather in Edmonton was -50C with the windchill. With nothing else to do , my wife and I ventured out to a British pub across the street to enjoy a couple of drinks and stay warm. Inside the pub a little while later some of the curling teams started dropping in, to unwind and enjoy a few drinks amongst fellow curling fans.
As luck would have it , we were fortunate to be standing close to Glenn and his team. Of course, curling was the hot topic of the night , as Glenn and his mates prepped to face Andy Kapp in Sunday’s final. After some chatting amongst us, I got the impression that Glenn was not confident in the teams ability to pull out the victory the next day. In an effort to settle Glenn’s nerves and instill confidence in his team’s ability, I straight out proclaimed that the game would not be a concern, and he responded , inquiring how I could be so confident that they would prevail victorious !!! I patted Glenn on his shoulder and said ” You have nothing to worry about Glenn”, to which he replied asking why I was so confident in the outcome? I responded with “Glenn…You have this in the bag…..You will win tomorrow 8-3 “! Of course Glenn laughed and said ” If we win 8-3 , I will be very happy “!
The next day in Sunday’s final game against Team Andy Kapp, Team Howard dominated from start to finish, so much so, that I left an end early to get my wife and I a table in the Patch to celebrate the upcoming victory. As I watched the final end of the game in which Howard scored 3 to go up 8-3 in the 6th end enroute to his convincing 8-3 victory , which I had predicted in the British pub the night before.
While attending the closing ceremony dinner that evening, we were fortunate to have been seated at a table where all the teams would be piped into the hall. As the 2007 Men’s World Curling Champions were piped into the hall at the very end of all the teams introduced, Glenn spotted my wife and I , and left the parade to come over and give me a huge hug , for my prediction of the final score the previous evening. Needless to say we celebrated their victory after the dinner with the team and it made for an absolute incredible memory from that years event. To this day I still cherish our Cool Curling curling game scoreboard that I had with us, that Glenn marked the score as 8-3 and signed by all his team!!!
Back in the hotel , in the -50C temperature , we had to climb 21 flights of stairs, due to the fact that the elevators shutdown due to the outside temperatures. As well, we had to call the front desk to deliver additional covers for our room, to keep us warm, on top of the winter parka’s we also had to wear to bed to stay comfy warm. It was truly a trip to remember, and also the last curling event we have attended as the temps that week were enough to make my wife enact that any and all future winter vacations would be held at our timeshare resort in Cancun, Mexico.
However…while my wife spent time in the pool with new friends, I was sitting poolside watching the Canadian Men’s Curling Championships on my laptop, so as not to miss any curling action at all!!!!!
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