By Shane Jones News Staff
No other sporting standouts have done as much to put Sherwood Park on the map as the Ferbey Four.
The curling team of Randy Ferbey, Dave Nedohin, Scott Pfeifer and Marcel Rocque was quite steadfast in informing all those that would listen that they were a Sherwood Park team, not an Edmonton team, as they dominated the sport for most of the early 2000s.
Along with fifth Dan Holowaychuk and coach Brian Moore, the Ferbey Four won the Alberta Championship five times, the Brier Canadian Championship four times and the World Championship three times, in addition to a multitude of other tournament titles and honours.
As a result, the Sherwood sweepers could not have been more deserving of the honour when they were amongst a group of four to go up on the Millennium Place Sports Wall of Recognition earlier this month.
Ferbey, Nedohin and Pfeifer all reside in Sherwood Park and St. Paul native Rocque went to Archbishop Jordan Catholic High School for a year and lived with his aunt so he could curl at a higher level.
The Ferbey Four previously won the county’s highest honour, the Mayor’s Award, during the 2002 Pride of Strathcona Awards, but it was obvious being permanently enshrined on the Wall of Recognition was something even more special.
“I would like to thank Strathcona County for nominating us for this wonderful award,” Ferbey said. “It is an absolute honour to be included on this wall along with these other recipients. As everyone knows, you can’t achieve the goals that we did, or any other athlete in sports does, without the support of your family and friends. I’ve done a few good things in my life, but I’ve always said the two most important were to marry my wife and move to Sherwood Park. The support we got in Sherwood Park resonates and was second to none. It’s a wonderful place to live and to raise a family and I look forward to my kids looking at our picture up on this wall for years to come. Even though they won’t admit that and are probably quite embarrassed by it.”
Pfeifer said he is very familiar with Millennium Place and is looking forward to getting the added boost from seeing his picture prominently displayed in future visits.
“I moved here about 11 years ago when this facility was being opened and we’ve experienced how wonderful a place it is over the years,” he said. “I remember coming here many times and looking up at this wall and seeing all the people that have had a positive contribution on the county. I can’t tell you how honoured I am, and our team is, to be included up here. We still frequent this facility and every time we walk in here it will be neat to look up and be really proud of what we accomplished and think of how much Strathcona County supported us.”
Nedohin credited the strength of competitive curling in the region for driving his team forward to national and international success.
“There is an incredible curling community in Sherwood Park and the Edmonton area,” he said. “I probably should be thanking Randy Ferbey for letting me curl with him and all of our success, but I’m not. I’m actually going to thank Kevin Martin. That might sound weird, but the curling around here is so good that success inspires other people to be successful. It inspires you to work harder and to commit yourself. Kevin Martin set the bar when this team first came together. We knew he was the team we had to beat and we set our minds to doing everything possible to do that. We were able to do that. We had an incredible run of success and I know that has inspired other teams from the area as well. There are fantastic curlers from Sherwood Park like Olympic medalist Carter Rycroft and world champions like Don Walchuk. The list goes on, and on the women’s side as well. Having these pictures on the wall is just going to inspire more people to try and have similar success in their sports.”
It was only the second time new names have gone up since the initial 11 inductees in 2001.
Four additional names were added in 2007.
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By Sandra Johnson – Yahoo! Contributor Network
Those in charge of USA Curling’s Sport Education program are taking strides to help novice and elite curlers alike improve curling techniques.
The book is designed to help coaches and athletes gain “world-class knowledge and expertise,” according to a press release from USA Curling. The book, which addresses the technical aspect of the sport, is the first in a series of books that will present five core components that are essential for curling success.
“The Five Elements manual from USA Curling Sport Education is the most comprehensive technical manual on the curling delivery ever put together,” 2010 Olympian John Benton told USA Curling. “There is no longer one way to throw a curling stone. The truth is that there have been, and always will be, many ways to slide the granite down the sheet. But (co-author and coach) Roger Schmidt figured out that the best curlers, regardless of their delivery type, all had the same five principles or ‘elements’ in common.
“This manual explains those elements and helps us to understand how to teach and apply them in any situation with any curler. Breaking down the delivery process in this way is a groundbreaking method, which allows for differing ages, genders, and body types to have more immediate success delivering the curling stone. Not to mention that it gives coaches and instructors a common language and method for teaching a delivery to anyone who wants to learn.”
In the future, The Five Elements of Curling Techniques also will be used as part of the USA Curling certification program, according to the press release.
The book will be available on Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Google Books. The second part of the series, which will focus on shot-making, will be available in the fall of 2012, according to the press release.
Those wishing to read a preview of the book can do so by visiting usacurl.org.
Sandra Johnson is a long-time Olympic fan. She had the opportunity to learn about every Olympic sport while working for the United States Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs, Colo.
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By Warren Henderson – Kelowna Capital News
January
• Kelowna junior curlers Justin Nillson and Jenn Gerow both place third at the B.C. Junior Curling Championships held in North Vancouver.
• Kelowna curler Bob Ursel is sidelined due to injury after a knee ailment keeps him from being able to curl. Jim Cotter replaces Ursel as skip at the B.C. Championships.
• Kelly Scott captures her fourth B.C. Curling Championship since 2005, winning the B.C. Scotties Championships in Cloverdale.
February
April
• The Garry Gelowitz rink wins the 2011 Canadian Masters Men’s Curling title with a 6-3 win over Manitoba in Winnipeg.
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Jeremy Freeborn – Olympics Examiner
Edmonton’s Kevin Martin and Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones are the first two skips to qualify for the 2013 Canadian Curling Trials in Winnipeg.
The winner of the trials represents Canada at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Martin, the 2010 Olympic Champion, defeated Glenn Howard 7-4 on Sunday at the Canada Cup of Curling in Cranbrook, British Columbia. While, Jones defeated Chelsea Carey of Winnipeg 9-4.
For Jones, she will have home ice advantage at Winnipeg’s MTS Centre. Martin, meanwhile went a perfect 7-0 in the event.
The 2011 Canada Cup is one of three events that are used exclusively to determine who will qualify for the Canadian Curling Trials. The other two events are the 2012 Canada Cup in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and the 2013 Pre-Olympic Trials event at a location still to be determined.
The other five teams are decided based on a ranking system from 2011-2013.
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After an upset at the hands of Sweden’s Niklas Edin, Edmonton’s Kevin Martin made quick work of Brad Jacobs on Friday and powered his way into the playoff round of the Grey Power World Cup of Curling in Windsor, Ont.
The 2010 Olympic champion scored three points in the second end and added a steal in the fifth for a 5-1 lead en route to a 5-3 win over Jacobs, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
Jacobs scored two in the sixth frame but couldn’t get any closer.
In other matches, four-time defending champion Glenn Howard of Coldwater, Ont., bounced back from two straight losses to post a 6-4 win over Edmonton’s Ted Appelman (0-5) and Rob Fowler of Brandon, Man., downed Olympic silver medallist Thomas Ulsrud of Norway 7-2.
Curling on CBC
CBC and CBCSports.ca will air the World Cup of Curling quarter-finals live on Nov. 6 starting at 3 p.m. ET.
The semifinals will be on CBCSports.ca and CBC Bold starting at 7 p.m. ET.
On Nov. 7, the final will be live on CBC and CBCSports.ca at 1 p.m. ET.
One sheet over, Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton finished at 5-0 with a 4-3 win over city rival and ex-teammate Kevin Park (2-3) while a battle of Ontario Curling Tour squads saw Harriston’s Jake Higgs bounce winless Dale Matchett of Bradford 9-2.
By the time the final round-robin draw started there were tiebreakers in the picture. A total of three matches will be required on Saturday morning to finalize the playoff picture.
World champion Kevin Koe of Edmonton will battle Toronto’s Wayne Middaugh; Pat Simmons of Davidson, Sask., will meet Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., and Ulsrud will challenge Mike McEwen of Winnipeg. All eight teams finished tied with 3-2 records.
Joining Stoughton in the quarter-finals is Martin and Fowler (both 4-1). Edin and Glenn Howard both finished in the pack at 3-2 but qualified directly for the playoffs thanks to their shootout records.
In the mid-afternoon Friday draw, Martin missed a tricky double-runback for two points and the win on the final shot of his match against Edin and took a 7-4 loss.
“This was our first win, even the first close game, against Martin, in about three or four games,” said Edin, who lost the Olympic semifinal to Martin and then the bronze-medal match to Switzerland in Vancouver last February.
“To be honest we tried something very different this time, just to keep things really, really simple. The last few times we’ve tried to play their game and it hasn’t worked. We tried to figure something out to get a close game, and get it to the finish line this time, and it worked.”
Martin, nicknamed the “Old Bear” years ago by now-current teammate John Morris, stomped off the ice after the match and left his protege to deal with the media.
“We were struggling with the ice there a little bit,” said Morris. “It wasn’t our best game, that’s for sure. Kevin must have played about 70 per cent… and 70 is not going to win you many wins, unless you’re playing in the Friday night mixed league.”
Ulsrud reacted with a smile when reminded that Edin’s team was only formed 18 months before the Vancouver Olympics, and was originally targetting the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games to make an impact.
“I picked those guys second behind Canada (Martin) going into Vancouver as the teams to watch out for,” Ulsrud said.
“They’re also the defending European champions, so as a European team it’s always great to see them doing well here in Canada.”
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