Losing the 2012 World Financial Group Continental Cup hasn’t been forgotten by Brent Laing.
The second for Glenn Howard’s rink said the challenge this year is getting the Continental Cup back where it belongs.
“Team World is very strong again this year but at the end of the day, Canada is still where curling lives and we want to bring that cup back here,” wrote Laing in an email.
Asked how the Continental Cup compares to the other big events they have competed in, Laing said the event Penticton will host Jan. 10 to 13 is different.
“We are counted on by other teams and we rely on other teams to win,” said Laing. “Being part of a larger team is what make this event so unique.”
What he looks forward to while in Penticton is the camaraderie among Team North America.
“We become teammates with guys who we have fought tooth and nail for years,” he said. “It’s nice to have Team Martin on our side for a change. And we are also teamed up with women’s teams who we don’t see very often on tour, and who we may not know very well so it is always fun to get to know them and cheer for them too.”
Howard’s rink enters the Continental Cup having won the 2012 Tim Horton’s Brier in Saskatoon, then claiming gold at the World Men’s Curling Championship in Basel, Switzerland.
Howard’s rink, which also includes Wayne Middaugh and Craig Savill, are third in the Canadian team ranking system behind Alberta’s Kevin Koe and Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton. They won the Canadian Open of Curling and the Mount Lawn Gord Carroll Classic. They were second in the Capital One Canada Cup of Curling and earned two third-place results in the Cactus Pheasant Classic and Canad Inns Prairie Classic.
In a competitive curling career dating back to the mid-1980’s, Howard has appeared at the Brier 14 times, playing in more games than any other curler in its history. Since taking over the skip position, (in the first seven Briers he threw third stones for brother Russ), he has represented Ontario at the Brier every year since 2006.
A four-time winner of the Brier Tankard, twice each in the third and skip positions, Howard has also advanced to the championship final seven times. And, four trips to the World Men’s Curling Championship have produced pure gold. In 2010 Howard became the first non-Albertan to skip a team to the men’s championship in Canada Cup competition.
In the 2009 trials held in Edmonton, Howard lost to Kevin Martin who went on to win the gold medal in the Vancouver Olympics.
