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It’s shaping up to be a loud week in Moose Jaw as the World Men’s Curling Championship hits the ice at the Temple Gardens Centre.
Team Brad Jacobs of Alberta won the Brier, and will represent Canada at the tournament.
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Jacobs said there are many things the team can carry over from the Brier into this tournament, including “the great mentality that we all had, especially as we went into the larger games, of being able to convince ourselves to stay loose and trust our instincts; trust one another.”
Jacobs said having the home crowd on his side is something he’s looking forward to.
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but in Canada,” he said.
“Any time you can have the crowd behind you can definitely create an advantage, and I’m just looking forward to throwing on the maple leaf at home in front of our Canadian fans.”
Regina’s Ben Hebert will don the maple leaf in the province he grew up in. He said he can’t wait to see the Saskatchewan fans cheering from the stands.
“I’ve said this my whole life… I still think the best sports fans in the country are in Saskatchewan,” Hebert said. “Not just curling fans (but) sports in general.”
Hebert previously won the World Curling Championship in 2016, but he said a lot has happened in the sport since then.
“The world teams have really improved a lot since then. We’ve improved a lot since then, too,” explained Hebert.
“We’re confident because we’ve played these teams a lot, We’ve had a great record in the slams this year playing high competition… We’re battle tested.”
Marc Kennedy and Hebert have been teammates for around 15 years. Kennedy said there’s no better teammate than Hebert, who also has a new nickname.
“Nobody wants to win more than Ben Hebert, and he makes the people around him better,” said Kennedy.
“We’ve been calling him ‘the Premier of Saskatchewan’ over the last couple weeks, with the amount of people we know are going to come support him, and he’s going to have all of Saskatchewan behind our team.”
Kennedy said there’s no better feeling than playing in front of Canadian fans.
“You feel at home. You feel supported. You know people are going to cheer loud when you’re making shots,” he said.
“It almost makes you want to make the shot even more, knowing that you’re going to get a great reaction from the crowd.”
Canada is seeking its 37th world title at the tournament, and its first since 2017.
Team Canada’s first game at the tournament will be played against Japan at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
