On Playing with 3, Team Changes, and Stabilizers

The first mailbag in ages!

As promised, the mailbag has risen from the ashes as I tackle your questions before we head off into a long summer before what will promise to be a very busy curling season with the new Grand Slam satellite events, 5 Grand Slam events before Christmas, and then the first full season of Rock League starting pretty much right when the calendar turns to 2027. You had some great questions and I’m gonna answer as many of them as I can right here! Thanks for continuing to subscribe, I’ll continue to do my best to get a few posts up here and there when I’m not busy making podcasts about curling or writing articles for the Grand Slam website.

This has come up a few times over the years, with Brad Gushue winning the Brier with 3 a few years ago sparking a conversation about whether or not that’s a clear advantage to PEI entering the Brier this year knowing they were going to be playing with 3 players and both them and Curling Canada not seeming to care a whole lot about fixing that situation. Personally, I don’t like it. It’s a 4-person game. Without even venturing into the discussion about whether or not playing with 3 is an advantage, I just don’t like the optics of it, and PEI’s flaunting of the rules made that even more crystal clear to me. I miss the days when an alternate’s ability to play and to mesh with the team was something that had to be considered. It also gave more curlers an opportunity to experience big championships. Lots of teams don’t even bring alternates to big championships anymore, knowing if someone gets sick/hurt, they’ll just play with 3, and that is too bad. I also don’t really love this trend where it’s also led to teams bringing alternates they have no intention of using, whether that’s someone that maybe appears to be a second coach, or a support staff member. It’s at least slightly embarrassing for the sport that the name of Team Jacobs’ chiropractor is on the Brier trophy. I’d personally mandate a rule that you have to play with 4, with the only exception being in the case of illness/injury to 2 players (which we have almost never seen happen).

Weirdly, I think it’s much more related to Team Jacobs—and specifically how much longer Ben Hebert and Marc Kennedy are planning to play—than anything else. I don’t think the “attitude” of any one player is in question here, but all of the players that have been mentioned as a potential fit for that Dunstone team are also players you can imagine fitting in with Brad Jacobs, potentially as soon as in one year’s time. It’s slightly different in Jake Horgan’s case, I think he probably feels like the opportunity with Brendan Bottcher is a really good one (and I would agree—I rate Brendan very highly) and he wanted to keep playing with his brother, which wouldn’t have been possible on Team Dunstone. But for Tyler and Colton F., and Tyler especially given his Team Jacobs history, I’d assume the potential of open spots on the reigning Olympic champion team looms large. How do you want to spend your year before you maybe go there?

I think Tyler felt like he wanted to try going back to skipping to see if he still has the juice there (I’m sure he eventually wants to be a top skip in the men’s game, a Team Jacobs opportunity notwithstanding), and I honestly think Colton values playing with the Marsh Brothers over just about anything else, as they’re his closest friends. He’s made moves before to continue that partnership with them, and this is just another one of those. Now, is it puzzling that the defending Brier champions seemed to have some issues finding a fourth player? Sure. And I can understand how that leads to broader questions about Team Dunstone. But I really think in each case, there’s a justifiable reason why those players chose not to go there.

I appreciate this question because it made me laugh when people saw the bonus numbers handed out to the winners and were quick to be critical of how much the Rock League athletes were making. Yes, all players were given base pay, and then were also given a team bonus on top of that, based on overall finish. That is why the league is considered professional, as the players are making a “salary” to play in the league, and then can make additional bonus money on top of that based on how well they do. I’m not privy to the contracts handed out to each individual player, but considering this was a one-week trial season, I’d have to imagine the players were paid close to the same base. Once Rock League expands and you’re talking 5 weeks vs. 1, there’s more investment in it, etc., could we see players making different amounts of money? Sure. That happens in every other sport, and it makes sense the more marketable players (or simply the more talented ones) would make more money. Connor McDavid makes more money than Kasperi Kapanen and no one blinks an eye, so curling following suit should invoke a similar feeling.

I love answering a good club curling/technical question. I suppose the answer to this question is: do you think you have maxed out your ability to make shots with a stabilizer? Other than simply saying “I want to get lower”, you need to think about the more important thing: making shots. A great curler I know once told me that you can do all the preparation in the world, but curling really comes down to three words: just make shots. So, could it be worthwhile skill to put effort into? Sure, I suppose. If you think that throwing without a stabilizer will give you more ability to make shots, then I say go for it. It’s a change I actually made myself, and for that reason: I went from throwing with a crutch to throwing with my broom flat on the ice. But in my case, it was actually driven by wanting to make a technical change. I found my stabilizer was making my shoulders unsquare (is that a word?), and putting the broom flat on the ice squared me up way better, so it was a good change. I made more shots.

However, if you’re finding it extremely difficult and it’s impeding your ability to make shots, then I don’t know if it’s really worth the time you could just spend practicing and getting better at making shots with the stabilizer. Lots of great curlers throughout history have used a stabilizer—hell, Colleen Jones won multiple Scotties using one and I’m sure you’ve also heard of a guy named Reid Carruthers—so there’s nothing to be ashamed of if it’s helping you be the best curler you can be.

I don’t always feel like “adding a veteran to a lineup” is an automatic success, but I think I’m pretty high on the “McEwen to Kleiter” and “Walker to Gray-Withers” moves. I’m not sure that the public isn’t high on those moves, but I think in both cases, it’s a really good one. SGW is on the precipice and needed a bit of a scale-tipper in my view, which I think Laura is, particularly if they slot her in at third. And I think Rylan stepping down to third is going to be very effective and Mike is at his best when he’s the true leader of a team and feels like he has wisdom to impart to his teammates. Two birds with one stone, there.

And then I guess looking at online criticism, I’m also really high on the Brendan Bottcher rink relative to the public. I already noted that above with regards to Brendan, but I’ve long felt Jake Horgan in particular is an underrated shotmaker, and they’ve got a great sweeping combo in Tanner and Geoff. I don’t know why the public still finds ways to dislike Brendan and his game, but the reality is that the team was ranked 3rd in the world when they moved on to Brad Jacobs. Sure, the last couple years were whatever and second wasn’t a great fit for him, but he now comes off of two years of getting to learn from Brad Gushue, he’s hungry, and he was already one of the best skips in the game. I think people are also missing that adding the Horgans took John Epping up about 30 ranking spots in the World Curling Tour rankings from the year before he added them. It’s a no-brainer to me that’s a very strong team and I don’t see them getting talked about enough.

Alright, last one. In an Olympic year, this comes fairly easy.

3. Matt Dunstone’s season. Canada needed this. Not every promising skip out of juniors is willing to bang their head against the wall for a decade, facing off against the golden generation of skips like Koe, Gushue, and Jacobs, and sticking with it. Matt did, and finally made good on just about everything this season. Made 3 Slam finals in a row, and won one. Finally won the Brier. World silver medal. It’s huge not just for him (and to a slightly lesser extent, his running mate Colton Lott, who also added a World mixed doubles bronze), but it’s also huge for Canadian curling. The sun on the horizon for Jacobs and Koe is getting larger with every passing day. Brad Gushue has already rode off into it. Canada needs stars, it especially needs young ones, and Dunstone just turned 30. I think this next decade might be a very fruitful one.

2. The Paralympic Gold. People watched the Paralympics in record numbers and it wasn’t a moment too soon, as Canada went undefeated and won the gold in thrilling fashion against China’s Haitao Wang, who you could make the case is the best wheelchair curler ever. It wasn’t just the final that was a thrill: they had numerous comebacks throughout the week, finding big ends in the late game to earn some huge victories. Jon Thurston was a revelation at third, Mark Ideson was cool as a cucumber at the tee-head, and Ina Forrest and Collinda Joseph rounded out Canada’s most complete wheelchair lineup in years. Add in the new GSOC Wheelchair Invitational—which now looks to be an annual event—and it won’t be hard in a few years to point back to this moment as one where wheelchair curling really gained footing in this country, both from a spectator and participant perspective.

1. The Olympic Podium. While Peterman/Gallant didn’t have their best week in a very crowded MD field, Canada finding its way to its first 4-person gold since 2014 was big for the country, and to add a bronze on top of that really papered over some of the cracks that have been showing on the world stage for a while now. Winning things at big events is no longer a slam dunk for those wearing the maple leaf, as evidenced by World #1 with a bullet Rachel Homan having to scrape and claw to earn a bronze. But earn it she did, and getting that medal monkey off of her back was a joy to watch. And then for Team Jacobs to emerge from Boopgate with the gold is a testament to team chemistry and knowing how to show up in the biggest moments. Also didn’t hurt that Brad Jacobs became the first men’s skip to win two golds, joining Anette Norberg and Anna Hasselborg as the only 3 skips to have successfully completed the feat. The world is catching up, but a dual medal haul was great news for the game in this country.

Alright, that’s it. Thanks to everyone for your great questions. Enjoy a wonderful summer and I’ll pop back in if something big happens. In the meantime, let’s forget about curling for a bit—but not too long. I’m already getting anxious for September. Thanks for reading and thanks for subscribing. See you soon.