Former St. Albert curler Scott Pfeifer in Beijing as coach

Canada’s mixed doubles curlers fell just short of the semifinals this week at the Olympics, but their St. Albert-trained coach says he’s proud of them all the same.

Canada’s Rachel Homan and John Morris lost 8-7 to Italy Feb. 6 by a matter of millimetres during the during the mixed doubles competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The loss means Canada will not advance to the semifinals and will not have a shot at a medal.

Speaking to media afterwards, Canada’s Olympic mixed doubles coach Scott Pfeifer said he was “super proud” of the effort Morris and Homan put in.

“We had a great opportunity to qualify and I’m sure we’re going to be stewing on that one for a little bit, but all I can say is when they look back on it, they left everything out on the ice, without a doubt.”

Olympic coach

Pfeifer, 45, grew up and learned to curl in St. Albert and has played competitively since he was 11. He was part of the legendary “Ferbey Four” team that won four national curling titles in the early 2000s, and also placed fourth for Canada during the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.

In an interview Feb. 5, Pfeifer said he enjoys working behind the scenes with other players at PyeongChang and asked Curling Canada if they wanted him to stay on as a coach. He was named Canada’s mixed doubles coach in June 2020.

Pfeifer said Morris and Homan were one of the 16 teams scheduled to compete in December to play at the Olympics. After that contest was cancelled due to COVID, officials judged Morris and Homan to be the best among the 16 and drafted them for Team Canada.

Morris is the first man to win two Olympic golds in curling and won the first Olympic mixed doubles tournament in 2018, reports the Canadian Olympic Committee. Homan placed 6th in women’s curling at the 2018 Olympics and took gold at the 2017 World Curling Championships.

Pfeifer said the three of them isolated for two weeks in January to talk tactics and get in some intensive training at the Canmore Golf & Curling Club to prepare for the Olympics.

Pfeifer touched down in China on Jan. 29 and arrived in Beijing on Jan. 30. The mixed doubles tournament started Feb. 3 at the National Aquatics Centre, which has been dubbed the Ice Cube now that its swimming lanes have been converted into a curling rink.

“It’s by far the nicest facility I’ve ever seen used for the Olympics in curling,” Pfeifer said, as it’s huge and all lit up at night.

While he isn’t sure if any lucky Loonies had been placed under the ice, Pfeifer said there was plenty of Tim Hortons coffee on site for Canadian athletes.

Canada has faced stiff competition at the Olympics from Sweden, Great Britain and Italy, the latter of which went undefeated in the opening round-robin. Pfeifer said his job as coach was to give tactical advice to his players and debrief them after every game.

“The good part with John and Rachel is they’ve both been here, done that, before” in terms of being at the Olympics, Pfeifer said, so he didn’t have to prepare them for the pressures of the world stage.

Pfeifer said there wasn’t a lot of downtime for his team, as they were playing two games a day. Nor was there much to do with that downtime: due to the pandemic, athletes have been restricted to their venues and the Olympic village. His team didn’t march in the opening ceremonies as they were in the midst of competing at the time.

“Honestly, we were watching a lot of the Scotties” and playing cards between matches, Pfeifer said, referring to a major Canadian curling championship that ran Jan. 28 to Feb. 6.

Pfeifer said he is happy to represent the St. Albert Curling Club in Beijing, adding that the club has been a great supporter of him and fellow St. Albert Olympian Marc Kennedy over the years. He encouraged curlers with Olympic dreams to keep on sweeping.

“A lot of the people I see here [in Beijing] were the same ones who had Olympic dreams 10 to 15 years ago, and they all achieved it, so just keep playing away and give it your absolute best.”