Driving his daughter to the Okotoks Curling Club has helped make a four-time Brier champion $9,000 richer.
“I come here a bit, my daughter (Ava) curls out of here with the juniors and sometimes I will drive her down and make sure I get some practice in,” said Kevin Koe, after defeating the Ross Whyte rink from Scotland 6-1 in the ATB Curling Classic final Sept. 26. “It’s great ice to practice on…
“We were well prepared, had practiced here before and knew what to expect.”
Practice on perfect ice makes perfect. Koe, a two-time world champion, and his veteran rink did not ever trail in the final.
After blanking the first end, Koe took a 2-0 lead on a precision final shot in the second. He was able to move Whyte’s shot rock out of the house. Koe’s shooter hung around and he scored two as another of his rocks was in the back of the house.
“He (Whyte) made a good shot to get in there and we made that big shot,” Koe said. “That was a big momentum swinger to get up two early especially on a good shot like that.”
He wasn’t done yet. After forcing Whyte to one in the third to make it 2-1 Koe took two in the fourth when his final rock just squeaked by a guard tapped out Whyte’s rock and scored two.
“That shot was probably a little harder,” Koe said. “When we made that I thought it took the wind out of their sails and we kept applying pressure after that.”
He stole a point in the fifth and after taking one in the sixth, the two rinks shook hands.
The 23-year-old Whyte said he was facing an uphill battle after Koe made his big shot in the second.
“There aren’t many people who can make that, it was a great shot,” Whyte said. “(In the fourth) that shot almost wasn’t there – another great shot.”
He said Koe’s steal of one in the fifth was a result of his trying to make a difficult shot to score one.
“We had to go for it and unfortunately we gave up the steal,” Whyte said. “Even if we scored we knew we were still struggling at that point. We thought we would give it a shot and unfortunately we didn’t make it.”
The Koe rink, consisting of Koe, skip, John Morris, third, BJ Neufeld, second and Ben Hebert, lead, advanced to the finals by downing 2021 Brier champion Brendan Bottcher in the semifinals. It was a repeat of the 2021 Brier final.
Koe won the Okotoks showdown 6-4 when he scored two in the final end, when Bottcher’s last shot went just long. Koe didn’t have to throw his last rock.
“Both teams from Alberta and we have played lots of big games against them,” Koe said. “It was a good game, tied up coming home. It’s usually close coming down to the last rock.
“They are a great team, obviously Canadian champs. It was good for us to play a couple of good teams and win this year. A great way to start the year."
The start of the game had both teams putting up more blanks than a gunfight in a western flick. The first three ends were blanks before Koe took two in the fourth.
No points, but far from boring.
“It wasn’t like we were just hitting up and down there were rocks in play and we were being aggressive,” Koe said. “A double and triple here and there and suddenly the blank is back in play.
“They are a good defensive team.”
Koe and Bottcher both will be in Saskatoon in November for the Olympic trials for the opportunity to represent Canada in Beijing in 2022.
“To win this (Okotoks) spiel, it’s going to give us confidence going forward, we have to keep it going,” Koe said, who went to the Olympics in 2018. “I think the Canadian trials is the hardest event to win.”
Mike Libbus, Okotoks curling club manager and head ice-maker, was also an announcer on the livestream for the event that went around the world.
“We were up around 1,200 to 1,500 viewers this morning for Koe versus Bottcher,” Libbus said. “There was Costa Rica, California up there we were happy with it.”
He was happy with the four-day event.
“The ice ran well, great quality teams and the play was unbelievable,” Libbus said. "The teams are asking us to do it again next year."
The club will host the Alberta Mixed Provincial championships Sept. 29-Oct. 3.
