For a small town Humboldt produces some talented curlers.
Fresh off a provincial championship and a Canadian bronze medal, Humboldt native Dustin Kalthoff traveled to Karlstad, Sweden for the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, where Kalthoff and his partner Marliese Kasner finished fifth.
Kalthoff says he was disappointed by the end result, given that he felt that they might have been the best team in the tournament.
“We smashed every team we played in all nine wins we had and we only had one close game that came down to last rock and unfortunately that one went the wrong direction for us so it’s heartbreaking for sure.”
The tournament got off to a great start for Kalthoff and Kasner as they ripped through the round robin winning all six games beating France, Ireland, Italy, Serbia, China and Australia by a combined score of 65-14.
Through the first six contests their closest game came against Italy who they beat 9-5 and featured none of their six contests going past the seventh end in the eight end bonspiel.
Their next game came just before the quarterfinals against New Zealand. Holding true to the form they displayed through the first six games Kalthoff and Kasner blasted their New Zealand opponents 12-2 in seven ends.
In the quarterfinals the pair faced off against Scotland. The Scottish team came out playing very well and forced the Canadian pair on their heels.
Heading to the eighth and final end the score was tied at five and Scotland had the hammer. It took to the final stone but a Scottish double take out gave the Scots the final point of the game winning 6-5 to eliminate the Canadians from medal contention.
With valuable Olympic mixed doubles curling points on the line the Canadians returned to action to take on Finland looking to secure a spot in the fifth place game. The Canadians came out slowly giving up two points in the first end before romping to an easy 10-5 win that ended after the seventh end.
In the fifth place game the Canadians continued their dominating ways beating Estonia 8-2 in six ends to secure a fifth place finish.
The Canadians finished the bonspiel with a 9-1 record that included outscoring the opposition by a whopping 71 points, 100-29.
Despite the disappointing result Kalthoff says looking back on the week as a whole he is happy with how the pair played.
“Our level of play taken as a whole was awesome and we’re very proud of that and very proud of the opportunity to represent Canada so it was still an awesome experience.”
The finish gave Canada eight points towards the Mixed Doubles Olympic Curling qualification, with the top seven teams earning the seven berths (there are eight but the host South Koreans get one.)
Kalthoff says Curling Canada gave the duo some added incentive to make sure they received as many points as they could and as a result they are guaranteed a spot in the Canadian Olympic Trials, should Canada earn enough spots next year to qualify.
Moving forward Kalthoff thinks the pair are going to continue working together and says he is very proud of how far they have come as a team given they only started working together a month ago, when Kalthoff’s original doubles partner Sherry Anderson had to back out after having another bonspiel to attend.
“To achieve a bronze medal at a national championship and then to go and put together a performance like we did at the world championships it’s unheard of for any curling team that’s only played together for a month and we feel a very high degree of pride for that.”
Kalthoff says the experience as a whole was an awesome one and says he is going to use the tough finish as motivation for the next two years.
“We’re proud to have had the opportunity to represent Canada. It’s an awesome experience I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. I wish that the outcome would have been what we wanted but that’s life and that’s sport and we respect that and it will motivate me to work very hard over the next year and two years to do everything I can to get the result that I want.”
