Curling

Kevin Martin and Glenn Howard. Ask any curling fan his top choice to represent Canada in men's curling at the 2010 Olympic Games and one of these names will likely be on the list.

That's not surprising since these two rinks - Martin's from Edmonton and Howard's from Coldwater, Ont. - have dominated the roaring game since the last Olympics in 2006.

They are curling's version of the Yankees and the Red Sox, the Lakers and the Celtics, Federer and Nadal. Two teams so evenly matched and at the top of their games that the outcomes of their matches against each other are often decided by one crucial shot. Together the two have won the past three Tim Hortons Briers, the past three World Curling Tour money lists, and 10 of the past 12 Capital One Grand Slam events. Not surprisingly, they were the first two teams to qualify for the Canadian Curling Trials, slated to begin Dec. 6 in Edmonton.

Now many believe the two are on a collision course that will end one way or the other, at the Trials. Both teams were created with the goal of making it to Vancouver and have spared nothing in that quest. Their years have been mapped out in fine detail. They have spent hours on the ice, in the gym, working with nutritionists, psychologists and therapists, hoping to peak at just the right time.

So will Canada's Olympic curling team come down to a matchup between these two rock stars?

"I hope that's true, because that means we'll be in the final," laughed Martin.

Martin, along with Howard and the Olympic representatives of nine other nations, is competing at this week's Grey Power World Cup of Curling in Mississauga. "But in reality that's not the way it is."

"The track record of the two teams over the last three years has been pretty good and I guess we've sort of been jockeying for first and second all the way along," Howard added. "But all the other competitive teams out there have just as much a chance as us."

Despite playing down their status, both teams know the road to Vancouver will go right through the other squad and that won't be easy.

"They're just very, very consistent," Howard said of Martin's foursome, which includes John Morris, Ben Hebert and Marc Kennedy. "You rarely get a bad game out of Kevin or any of them. When they guys are playing solid all the time, you've got to stand on your head to beat them."

Martin is equally impressed with the Howard four of Richard Hart, Brent Laing and Craig Savill.

"They gamble a lot like us so it usually comes down to straight percentage shooting - that's it," said Martin, who has a silver medal from the 2002 Olympics. "You need to outshoot them. They hardly ever miss."

If there's one thing these two rinks know well, however, it's that the history has not been kind to the favourites when it comes to the Trials.

In 1997, Wayne Middaugh, Jeff Stoughton and Martin headed in as the rinks to beat but unheralded Mike Harris of Ontario emerged as the winner.

In 2001, Martin grabbed the laurels in the one event that ran true to the betting sheet.

And in 2005, Brad Gushue won when Martin and Randy Ferbey, the pre-event picks, came out flat.

"They are the best two teams in the world right now," conceded Gushue, "but the question is will they be the best teams the first week of December?"

Gushue is one of 12 teams that will battle it out in Prince George, B.C., starting Nov. 10 in the Pre-Trials, a qualification event that will determine the final four spots in the Trials.

"Fans remember what happened over the last few years so you can understand what they're thinking," Ferbey added. "But that doesn't have any bearing on what happens this year.

"Something tells me there's going to be at least one team that will fall flat that week at the Trials. There's just so much pressure."

Hart, who plays third for Howard, knows a thing or two about that. He was on the Harris rink that represented Canada at the Olympics in Nagano, Japan, after curling's reinstatement as a full medal sport in 1998. When the team made it into the final of the 1997 Trials, he said even he wasn't convinced his rink could win.

"We had confidence in ourselves and our ability," said Hart, whose team ended up with silver medals at the Games, "but of all the people in Canada the four of us were the only ones who gave us any chance of winning. Even at that, it was probably only 70-30."

Hart, a keen observer of the game and all its nuances, has been around long enough to see how important the Olympics have become to the players and how it affects them when they get to the Trials.

"I don't know if teams go over the top doing strange things or maybe it's the pressure. The Brier is an amazing thing but it happens every year so you only have to wait 12 months. Waiting four years is a lot different. It's a huge commitment. When people get to that event I think something happens and the pressure builds and they short-circuit."

To some surprise, neither Howard nor Martin has a win this year on the World Curling Tour although both have played relatively light schedules, pacing themselves ahead of the gruelling Trials. The hottest team in the land has been Kelowna, B.C.'s Bob Ursel with two wins including last week's Westcoast Curling Classic, where he defeated Martin in the semi-final. It's fair to say that a year ago, most fans wouldn't have even known Ursel was an Olympic contender. He'll be at next month's Pre-Trials trying to change that.

It's clear that despite heading into the Trials as the favourites, anything can happen and usually does. The real winner, Howard believes, just may be the curling fan.

"I think this is going to be the best event ever in curling history," said the three-time world champion. "You're going to have eight of the best teams in Canada and as long as the ice conditions are what we hope for, it's going to be amazing."

Special to The Globe and Mail