Stoughton expecting eventual performance slip

Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton is heading to his 10^th Brier and, he fully admits, that time is not on his side. The 48-year-old toldthe Edmonton Journal’s Curtis Stock (who was obviously paid off by Stoughton for the “10 years younger” line) he figures that by the time he hits 58, he’ll start to notice a slip in his performance. 

Um, Jeff, they have pills for that now you know? Oh, his curling performance.

“I’m 49 and in the twilight of my career,” said Stoughton, who looks 10 years younger.“I’m not going to be playing at this level for another 10 years. I know that,” said the Manitoba skip, who is trying to join Ernie Richardson, Randy Ferbey and Kevin Martin as four-time Brier winners as the Canadian men’s curling championship descends on Edmonton’s Rexall Place March 2-10.“I think that’s probably why the 2011 Brier was so special,” he said of his 8-6 victory over Ontario’s Glenn Howard — Stoughton’s first Brier win in a dozen years.The Winnipeg native, who curls out of that city’s Charleswood Curling Club, won his first two Briers in 1996 at Kamloops, B.C. — where he defeated Alberta’s Kevin Martin in the final — and again in 1999 at Edmonton.

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Guess you wouldn’t call these guys kissing cousins (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but a nice story by Murray McCormick on cousins Ben Hebert and DJ Kidby, who are playing lead for Alberta and  Saskatchewan respectively at the Brier.

Together the duo is responsible for half the ticket sales in Edmonton, just with extended family picking up seats.

"We have a big family and we both have a ton of people coming from Regina,'' said Hebert, who shared in Saskatchewan men's titles in 2005 and 2006 with Pat Simmons before moving to Martin's team in 2007. "They don't want to show any favouritism. I'm sure that DJ's brothers and sisters are cheering for him, the same as mine are cheering for me. I'm sure that both sides will be cheering for both of us to do well.''

And I’m afraid to think of what the family will do in the Patch. Crash helmets, people. 

Hebert also said that he won’t hold back on his Cus when the two meet up.

"There is no rivalry because I've curled with my cousins for most of my life,'' said Hebert, 29. "When we play their team, it will be just like playing any other team. We're going to try to kick their butts like we do with any other team. It won't change what we're like off the ice either. We're still super-good buddies.''