Mixed doubles Olympic trials not Carruthers’ first choice

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This article was published 03/05/2017 (3384 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — Reid Carruthers played a major role in ensuring Canada will send a mixed doubles curling team to the 2018 Winter Olympics.

He’s even punched his ticket to the Canadian mixed doubles Olympic curling trials — formally awarded Tuesday to Portage la Prairie — with teammate Joanne Courtney. The duo captured a silver medal at the recent world mixed doubles championship in Lethbridge, Alta.

But if things go according to plan, he won’t be tossing stones at Stride Place, home of the Portage Terriers, the first week of January.

Carruthers’ great hope is that his Winnipeg men’s team shoots the lights out in Ottawa at the Canadian Curling Trials in early December. A win there and the Carruthers quartet is headed to Pyeongchang, South Korea for the Winter Games, Feb. 9 to 25.

Curlers who qualify for the Olympics in either the men’s or women’s events cannot represent Canada in mixed doubles. 

But with a field of titans knocking heads in the nation’s capital, including reigning world champion Brad Gushue and 2014 Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs, there’s simply no guarantee of success.

So, knowing he’s got another crack at the Olympics, if need be, is pretty sweet, he said.

“It’s a second opportunity, as I like to say,” Carruthers said. “We’re definitely motivated big time about the mixed doubles… it’s a second opportunity to go and represent Canada at the Olympics, not just medal but go for a gold medal.”

The first 18-team mixed doubles trials are slated for Jan. 3 to 7 in Portage, located about 85 kilometres west of Winnipeg.

Carruthers and Courtney, an Edmonton resident who plays second for Rachel Homan’s world-championship quartet from Ottawa, nailed down a spot for Canada.

The duo needed a top-five finish out of 39 teams at last week’s world championship and got the job done, eventually claiming a silver after a tough 6-5 loss to Switzerland in the final.

Carruthers was in Portage for Curling Canada’s announcement and had the medal in tow.

“It was a tough process over the past week but we had a great support team and managed to get the job done. I’m just very excited to get the opportunity to come back here in January and maybe get another chance to don the maple leaf in Korea,” he said.

A year ago, the Saskatoon tandem of Marliese Kasner and Dustin Kalthoff represented Canada at the world mixed doubles in Karlstad, Sweden and finished fifth. With just seven nations joining host South Korea at the Games, the pressure was squarely on Carruthers and Courtney to perform.

The Canadian duo finished 5-2 in round-robin play in their pool to make the 16-team playoffs, downed Scotland in the opening round and then beat Latvia late Friday to advance to the semifinals at the worlds and claim an Olympic berth.

Carruthers and Courtney then downed a Chinese team in the semifinals Saturday but lost to the Swiss in the world final.

Canada joins host South Korea, Switzerland, the United States, Finland, Norway, China and Russia when mixed doubles debuts at the Olympics in a little more than nine months.

Legendary Winnipeg curler Jeff Stoughton, Canada’s mixed doubles coach and the driving force behind the development of the game here, has been through enough nail-biters as a player over the years but admitted watching from the wings was agonizing.

“Actually, I phoned home to my wife and apologized for what I’ve put her through the last 20 years or so,” he said. “It’s a real different experience when you have no control out there. I felt every made shot, every missed shot, this team did.”

He said he was overwhelmed by the duo’s composure with so much riding on its performance in Lethbridge.

“The team came off (after defeating Latvia), they were almost in tears because we knew they had secured this Olympic spot. After that, it was all gravy.

“You can’t imagine the pressure.

“It was a thrill for my curling career as well, just to see that accomplishment for this team and for Curling Canada and Canada. It’s fantastic.”

The second-place finish by Carruthers and Courtney combined with the fifth from Kasner and Kalthoff a year ago has vaulted Canada into the top spot in mixed doubles world rankings.

“I think that’s a testament to how great and how deep our program can be,” Stoughton said.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca  Twitter: @WFPJasonBell