Politics tarnish Brier appearance

Local curler Jon Solberg's trip to the Brier this March should be reason for Whitehorse to celebrate, but a spat between the Yukon Curling Association and its sister organization in the N.W.T. is putting a chill on festivities.

Local curler Jon Solberg’s trip to the Brier this March should be reason for Whitehorse to celebrate, but a spat between the Yukon Curling Association and its sister organization in the N.W.T. is putting a chill on festivities.

Solberg, who will compete in his third Brier championship this month, is throwing third for Jamie Koe’s rink; the NWT/Yukon entry in the fabled national championship.

Two weeks ago, Koe and company secured their berth by beating all challengers at a bi-territorial play down in Yellowknife.

But the Yukon Curling Association (YCA) has protested Solberg’s eligibility to play for the Northwest Territories-based rink and lodged a complaint with the NWT Curling Association (NWTCA).

While the YCA insists its curlers must reside in the Yukon in order to represent the territory, last fall the NWTCA loosened its residency requirements allowing for Yukon curlers to play for its teams.

“I think it’s sour grapes,” said Solberg of YCA’s reaction. “It’s a real shame and it’s really tarnished going to the Brier for me because it’s become personal.”

Solberg’s stature in the national curling ranks earned him the managerial position with the Whitehorse Curling Club in 2007

Solberg said while his travel to practice and compete with Koe’s team periodically took him away from the club, he balks at suggestions of neglecting his responsibilities.

“There are allegations coming out of the Yukon Curling Association questioning my abilities to perform my duties at the club,” said Solberg who maintains much of his job, including various paperwork, can be completed offsite.

“There are certain processes in place, coverage for time I’m gone and my actual job functions are complete.”

Attempts to contact Gordon Zealand, YCA president, were unsuccessful, however, YCA vice-president Dave Kalles had this to say.

“I think the Northwest Territories is wrong in taking a player from outside of their jurisdiction, but at the same time I think the Yukon Curling Association has overblown it a bit because we are being represented by (Koe’s) team too,” Kalles told the Star this morning from his home in Watson Lake. “Yukon/NWT is the name of the team ... but that is entirely a personal opinion and not the opinion of the association.”

But at this year’s Brier in Calgary Mar. 7 to 15, Koe’s rink will wear sweaters that read NWT/Yukon, symbolic of NWT’s triumph over Yukon to qualify.

When Chad Cowan’s Yukon rink went to last year’s championship, its sweaters were emblazoned Yukon/NWT.

And the fact Team Koe defeated Cowan’s team in the recent play downs is not lost on Koe while he contemplates the controversy recruiting Solberg has caused.

“They’re just not too happy because John’s a great player and you need four solid players to compete at this level,” said Koe. “The reality for any sport in the North is we don’t have a large population to draw talent from.”

After Koe’s winning combination that saw Brier action in 2006 and 2007 lost some players, the Yellowknife skip began scouting new talent.

“It was actually kind of a fluke (getting together with Solberg), we were looking at lining up a team and a bunch of NWT guys moved away or had family obligations,” Koe explained. “Then Solberg joined me for four spiels in Western Canada and (with the NWTCA policy change) we suddenly decided that we could go for it.”

Back at the Whitehorse Curling Club, Solberg expresses disappointment that his achievement has ruffled so many feathers and worries about the fallout for the club.

“After this my competitive curling career is over. Obviously there’s other life plans for myself and my wife but number two, I don’t particularly want to curl for a governing body that’s made slanderous remarks about me,” he said. “I would hate for this story to detract from what we’re trying to do ... we’ve done a great job of attracting more people to the game and marketing the club.”