Marc Kennedy reacts after winning the match against the U.S. in Men's Round Robin Session 3.Issei Kato/Reuters
Canada beat reigning gold medalist Sweden 8-6 on Friday night in game that got heated between the two sides in the Olympic men’s curling bonspiel over an accusation of an illegal move on the ice.
Swedish third Oskar Eriksson and Canada’s third Marc Kennedy exchanged heated words in the ninth end after the Swede accused the Canadians of double-touching rocks after releasing beyond the hogline, and said he’d show them video later.
Kennedy could be heard on the video feed cursing and telling the Swede where to go.
“I have a ton of respect for Oskar Eriksson. He’s one of the best players to ever play, and I just told him that I would never do that to you. I would never accuse you of cheating,” said a visibly upset Kennedy, a four-time Olympian, after the game. “I’ve been on tour for 25 years. He pulled a hogline official on us to make sure that we weren’t double touching. A hogline official was there for six ends, never said anything.”
Sweden's Rasmus Wranaa reacts next to Ben Hebert during a men's curling round robin game that turned heated.TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images
Eriksson, also a four-time Olympian, gave his vantage point of the confrontation and what happened right before it. He said Canada’s second and third stone throwers – Brett Gallant and Kennedy – were poking the rock a second time after releasing past the hogline.
“I said what we’d told the umpires because we thought some of them were touching the stone, on or after the hogline, and that’s not allowed,” said Eriksson.
“[Kennedy] asked straight out, ’Who is doing that in our team, then?’ and I pointed out their No. 2 and No. 3 and he got very upset, apparently.”
World Curling issued a statement immediately after the game, saying the issue of second touches of the stone, specifically the granite, during the delivery was brought to the umpires’ attention.
“They spoke with both teams and set game umpires at the hogline to monitor deliveries for three ends, which is the official protocol following this type of complaint,” read the statement. “There were no hogline violations or retouches during the observation by the game umpires.”
The Canadians said they felt it was just gamesmanship by the Swedes. Canada improved to 3-0, while Sweden’s team fell to 0-3.
“They’re frustrated. They’re a very, very good team, a championship-calibre team, have won this event and every event before,” said Canadian lead Ben Hebert. “They were frustrated, so they were just trying to get in our heads a little bit, and it didn’t work.”
The biggest scoring moment of the night came in the eighth end when a double take-out attempt by Swedish skip Niklas Edin was thrown a little thin and left Canada sitting three. Brad Jacobs pounced on the easy draw for a score of four and a three-point lead. Sweden could not rally back.
“I was a little surprised that they got so heated. I don’t think I’ve really ever seen that before,” said Jacobs of the confrontation between Kennedy and Eriksson. Jacobs said he’s seen Eriksson chirp playfully before, but not seriously.
'They were frustrated, so they were just trying to get in our heads a little bit, and it didn’t work," said Hebert of the Swedes.Misper Apawu/The Associated Press
“But if those guys wanted to go have a beer right now, we would 100 per cent go have a beer and bury the hatchet, regardless of what happened out there, now we’re off the ice. It’s over. That’s what men do.”
Video of the altercation, which took off on social media Friday, spurred conversation among curling enthusiasts about whether Canada was second-touching stones, and if so whether it’s inadvertent, and if there is any significant advantage to doing so.
Earlier Friday at the Games, the Canadian men beat the U.S. 6-3.
The Canadian women, skipped by Rachel Homan who teams with Emma Miskew, Sarah Wilkes and Tracy Fleury, lost to the Americans 9-8. It was the first time Canada has ever lost to the U.S in women’s curling at the Olympics.
Team Homan (1-1) continues round-robin action on Saturday, with games against Great Britain and Switzerland.
Team Jacobs also plays Switzerland on Saturday in its one game.
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