Canada’s curling controversy is the talk of the Winter Olympics, and St. Albert’s Marc Kennedy is at the centre of it.
It was just another round-robin draw for the Canadian men’s curling team on Friday until an incident involving Kennedy late in their game against Sweden.
That’s when Sweden claimed the 44-year-old, who curls third on skip Brad Jacobs’s squad, gave his rock an extra, illegal push as he released it.
At least one video replay out there appears to show Kennedy poking the granite portion of the rock.
His alleged poke and subsequent swear-riddled outburst is a touchy subject at his home rink, the St. Albert Curling Club, which declined comment on Monday and politely asked CTV News Edmonton to leave the premises.
The Kennedy poke has sparked chatter not only in curling circles but in general around the Olympics.
Alberta curling legend Randy Ferbey says the showdown between Kennedy and Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson, and the accusation that started it, is all anyone in his circles is talking about.
“It’s so far from cheating that it’s ridiculous, but it is an infraction, but that infraction is almost impossible to call,” Ferbey, a six-time Canadian champion and four-time world title-holder, told CTV News Edmonton.
He said he believes the contact would not have had an impact on the shot, and that it’s Kennedy’s profanity-laced defence that has captured curiosity beyond curling fans.
“We Canadians are pretty proud, and we think we do no wrong a lot of times, and we do,” Ferbey said. “It was the emotions that got to Marc a little bit. He blew up, and I know he regrets it.”
Kennedy has expressed regret over his outburst, and the Canadians got a verbal warning from World Curling, the sport’s global governing organization, about the language.
In its statement, World Curling also clarified that “during forward motion, touching the granite of the stone is not allowed. This will result in the stone being removed from play.”
No infractions were observed for the rest of that game, but several other rocks have been removed from play in other matches in the days since.
Video review is not currently allowed in curling. Ferbey says players typically umpire themselves, even at the highest levels.
“I don’t know what the answer is, but obviously they’ve got to address this, because it could get ugly in time,” Ferbey said. “People are not going to forget this.”
The Canadian men’s team of Jacobs, Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert is expected to play for a medal later this week.
