The BKT World Men’s Curling Championship is a homecoming of sorts for Team Canada lead Ben Hebert.
Although his team curls out of Alberta, Hebert originally hails from Regina, and in his younger days, you wouldn’t have been surprised to see his face in Moose Jaw curling clubs.
Hebert is a wily veteran on the curling circuit now. He’s a five-time Brier champion representing Alberta. He’s a two-time world gold medalist with wins in 2008 in Grand Forks and 2016 in Basel, Switzerland. He also won Olympic gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
While his accomplishments are many, there is one thing he hasn’t done. He competed at Briers in Saskatchewan; however, he has never represented Canada at a world championship in his home province.
“I’ve said my whole life, and I’ve been in Alberta 20 years now, and I still think the best sports fans in the country are in Saskatchewan. Not just curling fans, sports fans in general. So, heading back there with so many familiar faces, families, friends, and people I curled against—I said last year at the Brier in Regina, I forgot how many people I knew in the curling world in Regina,” Hebert said during a conference call before the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship.
Hebert is representing Canada alongside skip Brad Jacobs, third Marc Kennedy, and second Brett Gallant.
Kennedy is expecting a large contingent of fans to come to Moose Jaw simply to cheer Hebert on.
“We’ve been calling him the premier of Saskatchewan over the last couple of weeks with the amount of people we know who are going to come and support him. He’s going to have all of Saskatchewan behind our team, which is terrific,” Kennedy said.
The BKT World Men’s Curling Championship opened on Saturday. Canada had a 3-1 record entering Tuesday and will be facing Italy tonight in primetime after this morning's match against Sweden.