He's a Canadian champion, world champion and Olympic gold medalist.
And he's coming to Prince George.
Kevin Martin -- and rinkmates John Morris, Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert -- will be on the sheets at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club on the afternoon of Feb. 22 for what is being called a "sponsor event." Local curling fans and curlers will get the chance to be part of the day.
"Kevin Martin is going to be out there and will be inviting a bunch of corporate people to come out and take part," said Tracey Jones, curling coordinator at the PGGCC. "They said to us that we can bring people into the viewing area to watch. And, depending on [the number of people on the ice] they may be able to bring some of our curlers out. They're going to do an hour-and-a-half on ice, kind of a fun thing and Kevin Martin's team is going to lead it. Then they'll go upstairs to do their sponsor stuff and we're going to kind of tag in on that."
The connection between Team Martin and the PGGCC is a company called Focus, an oil and gas engineering firm with offices across Canada, including one in Prince George. Focus is a Martin sponsor and also supports the PGGCC through on-ice advertising.
"Focus approached us and said, 'We want to do something,'" Jones said. "So they're flying Kevin and his team up for that afternoon. They're leaving that night so it's going to be a tight timeline."
The precise schedule must still be confirmed.
This past weekend in Leduc, Martin won his 12th Alberta provincial championship and fifth with his current lineup, which has been together since 2006. In the final, Team Martin beat the Kevin Koe rink 5-4.
Martin, from Edmonton, will now throw stones at the Tim Hortons Brier, March 2-10 in his hometown. If he sweeps to national gold, it will be for a record fifth time. His previous titles came in 1991, 1997, 2008 and 2009 and those four championships have him tied for most-ever with fellow Albertan Randy Ferbey and Saskatchewan's Ernie Richardson.
Martin claimed the 2008 and 2009 Briers with Morris, Kennedy and Hebert as his supporting cast. In 2008, the foursome also rolled to gold at worlds in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Two years later, at the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, they were golden again.
Jones was first contacted by Martin's representative at Focus in December.
"I was very excited about it, for sure," she said. "He's an Olympic gold-medalist so it's big news."
