A curling mercenary no more

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This article was published 18/11/2016 (3488 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Morris — Jason Gunnlaugson’s life policy has been to say yes rather than saying no, a code that’s seen him take the road less travelled in curling.

It wasn’t long ago when the young Manitoban curler was brought to Russia by the Russian Curling Federation as a curler-for-hire — a mercenary of sorts as the Wall Street Journal once aptly put it — to turn the Russians into a medal contender for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.

The plan back in 2010 was to have Gunnlaugson and two others, Justin Richter and Tyler Forrest, lead a team with two Russian players, become Russians citizens themselves and compete for a gold medal on home soil four years later.

The deal, which included a near-$100,000 annual salary, eventually fell through when Gunnlaugson and his fellow Canadians wouldn’t renounce their Canadian citizenship and were promptly fired by the Russian Curling Federation, not long after winning the Russian national title.

“There’s been a lot of interesting endeavours,” Gunnlaugson said Friday afternoon at the $45,000 Dekalb Superspiel in Morris. “Life’s kind of matured a bit. The biggest thing I’ve learned from playing in Russia was the difference between playing for your livelihood and playing as an amateur.

“When you’re playing for your job, you have to be good all of the time. There’s a very different focus, just taking a much more professional approach.”

Six years later, the 32-year-old out of the Granite Curling Club is skipping perhaps the most talent-laden team to date.

Gunnlaugson took over Matt Dunstone’s 2015 Canadian Junior Curling Championship team comprised of third Colton Lott, second Kyle Doering and lead Robbie Gordon prior to this season.

“It’s been very busy and very tiring,” Lott said of his first year on the World Curling Tour. “It’s something to get used to, but (Gunnlaugson) is a veteran, and he’s been through it all. He’s been a real great help for us adjusting from junior to the men’s circuit.”

Gunnlaugson’s professional approach is what he’s instilling in his new stable of über-talented curlers.

“While still trying to be a kid at heart,” Gunnlaugson said with a smile. “These guys are so talented, so good, and have won so much that sometimes things have been a little too easy for them. When you’re playing the very best, you have to be professional or you just won’t beat them.”

That doesn’t mean he spends his days tightening the reins around his squad.

“It’s not like that,” he said. “It’s just when you’re playing better people, when you’re consistently playing them and consistently travelling, the toll on your body and your life is different. But I’m learning just as much from them. They’re such students of the game and know damn near everything there is to know about the game.”

Outside of the Reid Carrutherses and the Mike McEwens, Gunnlaugson sees most teams as amateurs, including his own.

“The biggest challenge for us comes off the ice, honestly,” Gunnlaugson said. “Getting the funding and sponsorships in place because what we do is very expensive. We have a lot of great supporters, but it takes a lot from what we see, especially to crack into the (WCT) Top 10.”

Gunnlaugson’s squad began the year in the 23rd spot in the world rankings. Since then, his rink has moved to No. 19, and the goal they’ve set is to crack the Top 15, where invites for Grand Slams — and bigger paydays — await.

“It’s been good so far, but we really need to make that jump,” Gunnlaugson said. “We probably got ahead of ourselves a little bit, so we’ve set the goal for next Christmas.”

Helping them reach those goals is a slew of coaches, including a sports psychologist who is helping to keep their minds right.

“It’s helping us fill in some of the gaps we had for the team,” Gunnlaugson said. “It’s so important that communication stays open. It can be frustrating when things are working out, even when you’re playing your hardest. So when it might not be working out for one of us, the other guys are saying the right things to each other.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @scottbilleck