Laing bids farewell to Team Howard following Players’ Championship exit
SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — Glenn Howard’s season came to an end at the Players’ Championship on Friday afternoon, one that also sees second Brent Laing’s time with the team finish as well.
The Penetanguishene, Ont., club fell 8-6 to Kevin Koe’s Calgary’s crew during Draw 11 at the Grand Slam of Curling finale.
Laing now heads west to join, by coincidence, Koe’s new team in the fall and third Wayne Middaugh will also not return as he plans to step back from the sport. Howard announced his new roster Sunday reuniting with Richard Hart at third, adding Jon Mead at second and retaining Craig Savill at lead.
“It’s a weird feeling, for sure not the way we had planned it (to end),” Laing said. “We wanted to come in here, play well and see what happens. It’s a difficult field and tough to win but we’ve had success at these events for a few years.”
Laing joined Team Howard in 2004 winning the Brier and world championships in 2007 and 2012 plus a dozen Grand Slam titles.
“It’s always fun to perform well at Grand Slams against the best teams from around the world on the best ice and on Sportsnet,” Laing said. “We gear our season around these and they’re the best events for us and the most fun to play in.”
Team Howard captured the Masters and Syncrude National this season and counting the Players’ Championship they’ve won six of the past 12 Slams overall.
“We’ve had a great run at Slams over 10 years, especially over the last three years we’ve won half of them, which is crazy but it’s been a ton of fun and a lot of that has to do with the four of us, especially with Glenn,” Laing said. “He’s consistently great and same with Wayne. He’s managed to find ways to win and that’s a testament to how great this team was. It’s pretty cool how many of them that we’ve won and down the road when we look back as the Grand Slams continue to grow it’ll be more and more special but it’s been a crazy run.”
Koe scored a deuce in the seventh to pull ahead by one and held on the eighth stealing one when Howard misfired his last shot.
“A terrible way to end it and it doesn’t feel good that way but everything else is probably going to sink in now that it’s over and it sucks,” Laing said.
Koe’s new team will feature Laing alongside Team Martin’s Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert. Laing said he’s looking forward to playing with his new teammates.
“For three other guys who I respect as much or more than anyone on tour, I’m super excited to see, as they are, what we can do together and the challenge of building a new team,” Laing said. “Giving the Olympics, for me, one more 125 percent effort, see where the chips fall and after that I’m not sure what will happen but I’m super excited to play with Kevin, Marc and Ben.”
