There isn’t much Wayne Middaugh hasn’t accomplished on curling ice as a player.
His resume shows 10 Brier appearances, three Canadian men’s championships and three gold medals at world championships.
The 54-year-old native of Brampton, Ont., is still the only Canadian man to win the Brier playing three different positions. He won his first playing second for Russ Howard’s Ontario team in 1993, skipped his own team to the title in 1998 and completed the trifecta as second for Glenn Howard in 2012.
Middaugh also knows how it feels to celebrate a world title at home. The rink he skipped in 1998 won world bragging rights while representing Canada in Kamloops.
A year after he announced his retirement from competitive men’s curling due to ongoing knee issues, Middaugh is in Prince George this week trying to win another world title on home soil, this time as coach for Anna Hasselborg’s Swedish team at the BTK Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship.
Middaugh is in his fourth year coaching Sweden, having joined the team after they won Olympic gold in 2018, and a month ago he helped them defeat Switzerland 9-7 in the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics.
“It’s a ton of fun, I coach a fantastic team of ladies on and off the ice and I enjoy every minute with them,” said Middaugh. “It’s cool to be part of a team that never gives up and just keeps grinding. We had a tough loss in that semifinal (they lost 11-10 to Great Britain) and I’ve never seen so much heart as what they had in that bronze-medal game, I was in awe of them.”
The Swedes (8-3) are playing Norway this afternoon and are currently tied for second with Canada and South Korea, having already clinched a playoff spot. The Swedes are vying for a spot in Sunday’s 4 p.m. gold-medal final at CN Centre.
Most of what Middaugh does to help his team win happens in practices, long before the events.
“There’s a million little things and as a coach your job is to prepare them as best you can because once they’re on the ice we get very little interaction with them,” he said. “You just try to make sure they’re prepared for any situation the best they can be. The more different scenarios they see and the more eyes that look at it within the six or seven of us on the team, the better the chance of them making the right decision at the right time.
“Once you get to the event, it’s just make shots.”
This is Middaugh’s second visit to Prince George, having played in the Olympic pre-trials event in 2009 He’s enjoyed his week in the city and says the hospitality he’s encountered in his travels with the team has been off the charts.
“We had a great dinner at The Keg the other night that was fantastic and the fans of Prince George have been super-nice,” said Middaugh. “Everywhere we go we’ve got people coming up to us, and I would say the highlight for me is the people of Prince George.”
Middaugh went head-to-head Thursday night with another Canadian curling legend, Cathy Overton-Clapham of Winnipeg, who coaches Team USA. The U.S. beat Sweden 5-4 with a last shot hit from skip Corey Christensen. Combined with their default win Friday morning over Scotland, the Americans will take a 7-4 record onto the ice tonight at 7 in their final round-robin game against Denmark.
“That game was pretty difficult to watch, it’s hard when you have no control but the girls are playing great and Cory’s a great last-rock thrower, so for her to make the last one it was great to watch,” said Overton-Clapham.
Like Middaugh, Overton-Clapham is one of Canada’s most decorated curlers. In 13 appearances at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts she won five of them and was a three-time world women’s medalist.
Her run of success at the Scotties started in 1995 when she played third for Connie Laliberte’s Manitoba rink and Overton-Clapham came close to another women’s national title in 2000 at CN Centre when she lost in the semifinal with Laliberte to Kelley Law of B.C., the eventual champion.
From 2005-2010 Overton-Clapham played third for Jennifer Jones and won the Scotties title in 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 2017, she played third for Chelsea Carey’s Alberta team at the Olympic trials in Ottawa and was the runner-up to Rachel Homan for the right to compete in PyongChang in 2018.
Overton-Clapham, 52, started coaching the American women in 2019. The team is based in Minnesota, close to her home in Winnipeg.
“Obviously I’m Canadian but I’m here with the girls and I’m plugging along for every win we can get,” said Overton-Clapham. “I’m just happy to be here to enjoy the crowd and enjoy the moment that we’re up here.
“It is hard sitting back there and watching, just because you’ve been out there, you’ve done it before, and you’re just hoping everyone can do there job and do what they can to get the job done out there.”
As a Manitoban, she’s quietly rooting for Kerri Einarson’s Canadian team from Gimli, Man., and hopes to meet them in a Canada-U.S. final.
“You’re always cheering for good shots and hopefully teams are doing what they need to do to win games,” she said. “It’s fun to be part of it. The crowd here has been fantastic. It’s loud, and it’s great to be here as part of the event and great to be here with the girls.”
