Canada hopes 11th time is a charm in mixed doubles curling
Laura Crocker, Kirk Muyres trying to snap country's decade-long world title drought
Fresh off winning the Canadian mixed doubles curling title earlier this month, Laura Crocker and Kirk Muyres are now donning the red and white in Sweden as they prepare to take on the world.
The 11th edition of the mixed doubles world championship starts Saturday in Östersund with 40 countries competing for this year's title, including Israel, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan and Estonia.
There are five pools of eight teams. Crocker and Walker are in Group E, where they'll play Austria, Brazil, Czech Republic, Germany, Guyana, Ireland and Korea in the round robin.
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Canada enters the championship as the top-ranked country in the world in the discipline, based on world championship and Olympic results.
"You always have the expectation to do well when you're wearing a maple leaf at a curling event, there's no denying that," Crocker said.
Perhaps surprisingly, though, Canada has never won the mixed doubles world championship in the 10 times it's been held. Last year, Joanne Courtney and Reid Carruthers made it all the way to the gold-medal game only to lose in heartbreaking fashion by giving up four points in the final end against Switzerland.
The fact that Canada had never won an international mixed doubles curling event lingered over Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris heading into this year's Olympics, where the event made its debut on the sport's biggest stage.
Lawes and Morris found mixed magic in Pyeongchang, capturing the first-ever Olympic gold medal in the event. Now it's up to Crocker and Muyres to do the same at worlds.
"As Team Canada, you are expected to perform well, win and hold yourself in high esteem," Muyres said. "So you do think about those things, but ultimately we need to go in here, play hard, compete and enjoy the pressure."
Instant chemistry
What became abundantly clear throughout the Olympic trials, the Olympics and even this year's national championship is that mixed doubles teams who were able to communicate clearly in high-pressure situations excelled.
Lawes and Morris have talked extensively about their ability to be vulnerable on the ice with one another and also be somewhat ruthless with feedback. The two had only spent a few hours together before teaming up and going on their improbable golden run.
In some ways, the journey taken by Crocker and Muyres reflects that of Lawes and Morris.
The two (Muyres is from Saskatoon, Crocker was born in Toronto and now lives in Edmonton) decided to team up just weeks before the national championship. In fact, it was over a few beverages at the Brier Patch in Regina in March that they agreed to partner up.
Crocker normally plays with her fiancé, Geoff Walker. But he was tied up with skip Brad Gushue's team, which was preparing to compete in the men's world championship. So Crocker asked Muyres to play with her at the nationals in Leduc, Alta. He agreed and they clicked immediately.
"We respect one another and the expertise we bring to the team and we put a heavy weight on the importance of high communication to get success," Muyres said.
Crocker agrees, saying their ability to talk through things on the ice has benefited them greatly.
"We don't let much phase us. We talk about it, figure out what's going on out there, move on and do it better next time. It's hard enough to figure things out with four people, let alone two. We work together really well to get the most out of every shot."
Catching on
Prior to the Olympics, many people — curling traditionalists, mostly — were sceptical of mixed doubles.
A lot has changed in a few short months.
The game is fast, there are a lot of rocks in play and every shot matters. Elite curlers have said it makes them better shot-makers. They also talk about how no lead is ever safe because scoring three or four points can happen in a hurry.
"It's more appealing to a younger crowd and also easier in countries with fewer curlers to field a competitive team," Crocker said. "A 10-end game takes quite the attention span. Mixed doubles is always interesting."
Crocker and Muyres say they're ready to carry the torch from Lawes and Morris in helping grow the new discipline. Winning the first-ever world championship for Canada in mixed doubles would go a long way in doing that.
"We want to win, be world champions and be the first Canadian team to do it in mixed doubles," Muyres said.
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