Jones’ surprise demise a red flag to Martin

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This article was published 01/04/2009 (6358 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON — Sure, two-time defending Canadian champ Kevin Martin is the clear-cut favourite when the world men’s curling championship begins Saturday in Moncton, N.B. There is little to dispute that.

But Martin, and his rink of third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert, aren’t about to take anything for granted. Just ask Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones, who finished out of the medals at the women’s worlds last weekend in South Korea.

“It happens easy,” said Kennedy, of the startling recent Canadian loss. “You just have to look at Jennifer to see how good these (international) teams are.

“It was a wake-up call for me just following her linescores. Even to this day you expect Canada to walk through the worlds. I don’t know why it is. You do, though. That’s what you expect.

“But I was watching and it’s a reminder of how good these teams are… We have our work cut out for us,” added Kennedy, of the expectations.

The Edmonton-based rink will be looking for its second-straight world title. The last Canadian team to pull off that feat was none other than Edmonton’s Randy Ferbey foursome in 2002 and 2003.

Prior to that, it had been 31 years between repeat world champs as Don Duguid pulled it off in 1970 and ’71. It came shortly after Ron Northcott’s double in 1968 and ’69 and Ernie Richardson’s double-double in 1962 and ’63, and 1959 and ’60, which was split up by Hec Gervais’s victory in 1961.

On the opposite end of the scale, Mark Dacey’s rink was the last Canadian team not to advance to a worlds final as the Nova Scotia crew settled for bronze in 2004.

Martin finished second to Scotland’s David Smith in 1991. Last year the Martin team ran up a 10-1 round-robin record, with its only blemish — a 6-5 loss — against China’s Fenchung Wang. Canada also lost the 1-2 Page playoff game 7-6 to Scotland’s David Murdoch before defeating Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud 5-4 in the semifinal, then doubling Murdoch 6-3 in the final.

Those three rinks are back again this year, plus you can throw in the names of Germany’s Andy Kapp, Switzerland’s Ralph Stoeckli and American John Shuster as the frontrunners. There are wild-cards, as well.

“Japan is definitely a strong team, from lead to skip, and the skip (Yusuke Morozumi) is very strong,” offered Martin, who draws Japan in Draw 1 on Saturday.

Yes, Martin witnessed what happened to Jones as well, but the skip — whose team went undefeated at the Brier — knows not to let his guard down.

“They lost that last round-robin game to Denmark. That hurt them at the end of the week and that put them into the 3-4 game, and boy, now you’re in trouble,” said Martin, of Jones’ run. “You’re in trouble because now you have to win a bunch of games without hammer.”

So there is little talk of turning in another undefeated string at the world championships, although it’s a feat that has never been recorded — going perfect through the Brier and worlds in the same year.

“Things like undefeated records and stuff are nice after the fact,” said Morris. “You have to keep that goal in mind, to make the (Page) 1-2 game.”

— Canwest News Service