Team Bernard calling it quits

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/02/2011 (5571 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY — It may very well be the most amicable and friendly team breakup in curling history.

Sunday night over dinner and wine, Cheryl Bernard’s Olympic silver-medal winning team decided it will part ways at the end of this season.

The team made the announcement official Tuesday morning — Bernard and teammates third Susan O’Connor, second Carolyn Darbyshire, lead Cori Morris and coach Dennis Balderston are heading in different directions after the Grand Slam Players’ Championships in April, following six seasons together.

“Nothing could match it, and that’s kind of why we thought, why ruin it?” said Bernard. “We all realize that things have changed, and we know that what would ruin it would be trying to keep it going forever. I watched Randy Ferbey’s team, and I thought it was kind of sad in the end, because they were such an amazing team, and they all still were amazing players in the end, but I think they tried too long to be that same team, and people just change.”

In fact, signs of just that were there last year, and it was generally accepted within the team that the 2009-10 season would be its last together. Morris and O’Connor each got married in the past couple of years, while Darbyshire had made no secret of her desire to spend more time at home with family.

Then along came the 2009 Olympic Trials, where Bernard’s team won the right to represent Canada in Vancouver and, eight weeks later, they were on the podium having silver medals hung around their necks.

That run of success earned Team Bernard some perks this season, such as the Continental Cup and TSN Skins Game, so they decided to play one more season, and then revisit discussions about the future at a later date. Those discussions took place Sunday night, a week after losing the Scotties Alberta women’s championship semifinal.

And unlike some high-profile breakups in curling, this one was entirely positive.

“You know what? I think that just kind of speaks to who the people on the team are,” said Bernard, who won Alberta championships in 2007 and ’09 with this lineup. “One of the most important things we’ve said through this whole thing is that we did something really special, and to ruin it by not respecting each other when we decide that it’s done would be the worst part of it all.

“We were laughing about it (Sunday) night, and we said that we’re going to get together once every three or four months to autograph stuff, because we’ll still be 2010 Olympic silver-medallists, and have a bottle of wine and reminisce about what we did.”

The team has two events left to play this season — the Victoria Classic from March 31 to April 3, and the Players’ Championships in mid-April in Grande Prairie, Alta., where Team Bernard is defending champion.

— Postmedia News