1999 Brier
SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Curling
1999 BRIER
ON THE ROCKS
INTERACTIVE
ALSO ON SLAM!
Hannah will cheer from stands
Especially when the team you've been with goes to the Show the year after you left.
Brad Hannah knows the feeling.
In an especially cruel moment, he decided it was time to step away. He was sitting alone in his Brandon, Man., hotel room after his Olympics dream had been grabbed away from him.
He'd invested a lot of time with the Brent MacDonald rink.
The team was 4-3 going into the last day of round-robin play at the Trials. Playing eventual winner Mike Harris, a hair caught a rock in the first end, giving Harris a three-ender he needed to pave the way to Nagano, Japan.
HE STEPPED ASIDE
When this season started last fall, Hannah stepped aside in favour of Ken Hunka. The rest is history.
And nobody could be happier for them than Hannah.
"Man, I feel nothing but good for these guys,'' said Hannah.
"We had an end-of-the-year party. We played for two-and-a-half years together and we had just a great time. Just like Kenny, I could have been a father to most of them. They took to me and I took to them and we had a heck of a time.''
It was a farewell that was not easy for Hannah. He'd invested two-and-a-half years of his life with a team he knew had great potential.
"I made a decision for me and my family that I just could not do it any more,'' said Hannah. "Knowing what I knew about the team, there was no doubt it was on the verge of something, but, jeez, a young family man's got to make a decision.
'`Every family man in the world had to make a decision about those things and my time was then.''
This was a team that lost the 1997 provincial semifinal in an extra end to eventual Brier champ Kevin Martin. Hannah knew at the Olympic Trials that this was a team of destiny.
"We competed with all those teams there,'' said Hannah. "But for a hair in game eight, I would suspect and give you a strong suspicion and a real belief that our team had every amount of shots to beat all the best teams that ever was.
'`That, to me, was the best assembly of teams that ever was. I suspect that we could have done it.''
It was a good combination of two brothers (Brent and second Blake MacDonald) and two buddies (Blake and lead Wade Johnston). The latter had won a provincial junior championship together and have taken the right route in serving a front-end apprenticeship.
Hannah is proud of his role in imparting some of his curling knowledge.
"They learned a lot of skills, those two, over the last two-and-a-half years,'' said Hannah. "A ton of skills. It takes a long time for a young competitive player to do all the things you have to do to be a champion. As amplified by Randy Ferbey's success, these young players and the training and coaching that goes on, all the things that add up to a championship team don't happen overnight.''
Hannah points out Ferbey's front end is about as young as the kids he took under his wing at the start of their careers.
"Scotty Pfeifer and Carter (Rycroft) are two years younger,'' said Hannah. "Two years ago, I embarked on a career with Johnston and MacDonald at front end. And, therein lies the difference. These (Hunka) kids already have the knowledge.
AGAINST THE BEST
'`They've been at the Olympic Trials, they've been in arenas. They've played many, many games against all the best teams in the world.
"Perhaps they were able to draw from that and get to the point of where they are. I'm just so proud to be part of that. I feel real good about that.''
Sure, Hannah wishes he could have taken the team to its final step. But, he'll be at Skyreach all week proudly cheering on the guys that he spent so much of his curling life with.