Curling's Team Canada is ready ugg classic short sparkles boots black multi to take on the world
Curling fans will be hurrying hard to Victoria this week as the 2013 Ford World Men's Curling Championship takes over Save On Foods Memorial Centre beginning Saturday and continuing through to April 7.
Twelve of the best men's teams from across the globe including Canada, which will be represented by Northern Ontario's Brad Jacobs will settle in this week for preparation.
It will be the second stop on the Island for the men's worlds as the 2005 event rolled through Victoria when Alberta's Randy Ferbey rink claimed the title, much to the delight of the home crowd.
Canada has won the last three world championships and five of the last six. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden are looking forward to making it a four peat.
But there's much more to the nine day event than just the curling. The Victoria Curling Centre has been transformed into party central as the licensed Original 16 Patch will feature refreshments, food, live music, informal discussions with competing teams and, of course, Island hospitality.
Organizers are hoping to sweep fans off their feet.
Jacobs and his rink aren't sure if they can ever duplicate the euphoria of winning the 2013 Brier, but they are definitely more than willing to try.
Just donning the Maple Leaf brings sheer excitement for the team, who are anticipating a warm, welcoming stay.
"It's going to feel crazy wearing the Maple Leaf," Jacobs, a 27 year old accounts manager with RBC, said of the opportunity to represent Canada in Victoria.
"You hear people say, 'You're Team Canada now, how does that feel?' I honestly don't know what that UGGS Clearance Sale Outlet will feel like and we probably won't know until we get there," he told the Times Colonist.
"It's really going to hit us once we get there. We'll have a lot of attention on us. Having that gear on, walking around the rink and city as Team Canada is when it will hit us.
"The support is going to be phenomenal," Jacobs added. "We expect it to be amazing. They are going to care for their home country and that's going to be out of this world."
That's what the four are hoping for as they will undoubtedly become fan favourites, much in the same way Randy Ferbey's Alberta foursome which included Dave Nedohin, Scott Pfeifer and Marcel Rocque did when it represented the nation back in 2005. The Ferbey Four, as they were known, ventured to Vancouver Island to win a world title in the very same facility Jacobs will be playing in.
"We're ready," said Fry. "We had all been dreaming about it for a long time and now we're ready to roll with it Brier champs.
"I'm stoked. I've been trying this for a long time," added the 34 year old full time curler and part time contractor who had competed in five previous Briers (Canadian championships), his first with Manitoba's Jeff Stoughton back in 2007, then four straight with Brad Gushue of Newfoundland from 2009 to 2012.
Canadian rink aims for the button
Fry finished third in 2007 with Stoughton ironically, the team Northern Ontario beat in the Brier final in Edmonton and third again with Gushue in 2011. Fry had joined the Newfoundland skip the year after Gushue had won an Olympic gold medal in Torino, Italy, in 2006.
Fry then made the move to Northern Ontario following the 2012 curling season. Now he's looking ahead to finishing off this season with a world crown.
"We've played all these teams that are in the worlds and we've had success against them. For us it will be cool being on that world stage," Fry said of the upcoming challenge. "It's even better that this world championship is on home soil and we get to compete in front of all our friends and family.
"All the people ugg boots classic tall sand for women in the stands will be cheering for us and all the people watching on TSN will be rooting for us as well. capital.
But the Jacobs ugg men's classic short 5800 black boots team realizes representing this curling crazed nation will bring with it plenty of pressure.
"Sure it will," admitted Jacobs. "Canada is expected to do well at worlds, whether it's men or women, but at the same time we expect that of ourselves every time we step on the ice, be it at the Brier final or a men's league game.
"We want to go out there and perform at a high level and that's what we're going to try and do each and every game. As much as it is a clich to take one game at a time, you have to do it that way or you're not going to succeed," said the skip.
Especially against a talented field that features numerous teams capable of winning like Norway's Thomas Ulsrud, Scotland's cheap ugg short classic 5825 black boots Tom Brewster and Sweden's Niklas Edin.
"We have to wear that Maple Leaf proud, fight hard and want to win it for ourselves and our country and we'll see where we stand at the end of the week," said Jacobs.
The team earned the right to advance to Victoria after defeating Stoughton 11 4 in the Brier final, wreaking havoc on the Canadian field in Edmonton, especially in the playoffs in which they never maintained last rock advantage. Jacobs dumped Gushue 6 5 in an extra end in the Page Playoff 3 vs. 4 game and then toppled Ontario's Glenn Howard 9 7 in the semi final.
The Jacobs rink, as a team, curled 91, 92 and 95 per cent in the three playoff games, respectively, to earn the title as Canadian champs and become favourites to win the worlds. Canada has claimed the last three titles and five of the last six.