Martin Ready To Go Again

15/04/2009 17:29

Skip upbeat as others continue to dissect defeat

After suffering a catastrophic end to the world men's curling championship, Kevin Martin was anxious to get back on the ice to try and pick up the pieces.

Having lost an opportunity at a second straight world title in Moncton, N.B., on Sunday night, the Edmonton curler and his rink made their way to Grande Prairie for the Grey Power Players' Championship.

A somewhat controversial shot call by the veteran skip was still the talk of the town in Edmonton on Monday and in this northern Alberta city on Tuesday.

Yup, curling actually outweighed hockey in print, on TV and the airwaves, and Martin and Co. weren't moping about it. In fact, it was totally the opposite as they took the collective high road.

"You have to be able to regroup, suck it up and go again," said Martin, prior to demolishing Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons with a six-point first end en route to a 9-3 victory in the late opening men's draw of the Capital One Grand Slam event at the Crystal Centre in Grande Prairie.

Just two days after allowing Scotland's David Murdoch a shocking steal of two in the 10th end to lose the world title 8-6, Martin and his rink of third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert were anxious to get going again.

With hammer against Murdoch, Martin threw away his first stone of the 10th and then watched his competitor raise his own rock to set up a critical last shot. Martin threw big weight in an attempt to remove the counting Scottish stone -- to no avail and a steal of two.

Then the querying began.

"I don't look at that," said Martin of the second-guessing. "It doesn't matter. The back-seat driving? I do it all the time. Look at the Masters. How can you lay up? How can you not go for it? How can Phil (Mickelson) put it in the water? That's sport.

"That's great," said Martin, putting on his bravest face despite the painful loss. "If everybody questions and talks, that's great for us."

His teammates took the same direct tact. After two days of seeing the shot repeated over and over again on stations across the country, the Martin rink will press on.

"I think some of it is good," Kennedy said of getting back on the ice. "One of our mottos over the last couple of years has been, 'On to the next one.'

"In this sport, with the importance of these events, you just have to get it done. Jump to the next one, forget about the last one and keep going.

"It is hard, a little bit" admitted Kennedy. "But we've put a lot of emphasis on this event (the Players' Championship) and the (Olympic) Trials for December. It stings for a couple of days, but I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal.

"We stick behind our skipper the whole way. It was a team decision and it's over and done. ... A little controversy never hurt. Our team is fine with it and I'm sure we'll come out hard."

More from the Edmonton Journal.

Martin back on prowl at Players’ Championship.

SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:

Anybody want to bet against Team Martin this week at the Players’ Championship?