Curling

This is it for Canadian curlers who want a shot at the Olympics.

Twenty four of the country's best teams are squaring off this week in the Road to the Roar bonspiel in Prince George, B.C., where the top four men's and women's teams in the field will earn the final berths to next month's Olympic trials.

As 2010 hopeful Raylene Rocque puts it, "the pressure is on."

But what if your husband or wife is striving for the same goal, on the same ice, at the same time?

"It's really tough to manage, because you can't help but think about how your spouse's games are going," says Raylene, a member of Cathy King's team and the wife of Marcel Rocque, who plays lead for Randy Ferbey.

"I'm going to have to dig deep and use our sports psychologist a little bit so I can concentrate on our game and not worry about him. But it won't be easy," she says. "I'm his biggest fan."

Four elite curling couples find themselves in a similar position this week, with either both partners competing in pre-trials, or one in pre-trials, and the other already qualified for next month's Olympic trials.

It's the fourth time the husband and wife duo of Wayne and Sherry Middaugh will be vying for Olympic berths, this year as skips of their respective teams. Both are competing this week at the Road to the Roar.

"It is a very unique situation in the fact that yes, we're there to curl and we're there to concentrate on our own performance, but at the same time, we worry and we're concerned about how our spouse is doing," says Sherry. "The emotions are there, but you don't have any control over the outcome, obviously, so it can be difficult."

Playing in a high stakes game, the couples all agree, is a lot easier than watching your partner play in one.

"As a fan, you sit there and all you can do is pray to the curling gods, pray to everything," says Heather Nedohin, an alternate for Sherry's team and the wife of David Nedohin, who plays for Team Ferbey, which has already qualified for Olympic trials.

"You're living and breathing each shot. You know how much they've put into it and you're just hoping for everything to go their way. And watching them lose, you lose too."

"It's way harder to watch," Wayne says. "I can play, it doesn't phase me at all, but watching Sherry's games, it's tough. I'm more nervous for Sherry, because I really want her to do well.

"I'm not trying to put any more pressure on Sherry," he adds, laughing.

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Mike McEwen and Dawn Askin.

Others

Skip Mike McEwen has been known to yell at the TV while watching girlfriend Dawn Askin, the lead with Jennifer Jones' team. Team Jones - one of the favourites to represent Canada in Vancouver - has already earned a berth to Olympic trials, while McEwen is hoping to qualify with a strong performance this week.

"I can get a little wired sometimes watching them," McEwen says. "Playing is totally fine, but watching is another story. I don't like watching them, because they have a reputation for making it come down to the wire."

Marcel, who will be at home in Edmonton watching the kids while his wife competes in pre-trials this week, has 11 years' experience watching Raylene in big games.

"Over the years I've learned there's not much I can control," he says. "I gave up a long time ago really worrying about it. So I just watch, and hopefully at the end it comes out favourable. It's all you can do."

Like all of Canada's elite curling couples, Marcel and Raylene met through the sport. For Askin and McEwen, the initial meeting happened thanks to her parents. About a decade ago, her family billeted McEwen's team at their Ottawa home during a tournament, and sparks flew.

"I was 19 at the time and I had a crush on Mike, but I never told him," Askin said. Years later, they met again at various curling events, and the rest is history. They've been together four years now.

But while curling got them together, Askin and McEwen tend to avoid curling together.

"We're both very competitive, so we can't practice together too often because it gets pretty ugly," says Askin. "It's my mission in life to try and beat him."

"It's comical in a bad way," McEwen adds. "I guess I don't know how to give constructive criticism properly within the confines of a relationship. Is it even possible?"

They entered a mixed doubles bonspiel recently and played on the same team, which Askin says was "actually pretty fun. Until we started missing shots."

Same goes for the Nedohins.

"Curling together probably wouldn't be great for the relationship," says David. "I love Heather dearly and I like watching her curl, I'm just not sure being out there with her would go so well when we have a disagreement out there.

"It's probably better that we just watch each other from different sides of the glass," he added, laughing.

And while these couples don't stay together or really even see each other during big bonspiels because their focus is on their respective teams, Sherry says the important thing is knowing Wayne is there with her.

"I know my number one fan is going to be in Prince George, and he knows his number one fan is going to be there. I'll be there cheering him on the in the final, and if I'm one sheet over, playing at the same time, great. If not, I'll definitely be in the stands cheering him on."

Both Middaughs are seeded No. 2 for this week's tournament, so if everything goes according to plan, they'll once again be competing at trials, with the dream of going to the Olympics together on the line.

"It's the dream for any athlete," says Wayne, a two-time world and Brier champion.

"I've won everything there is to win in Curling, except an Olympic medal. It would be the peak of my career, and the thought that we could both be there, that would really be a dream for both of us."

The idea of competing at the Olympic Games alongside her husband brings tears to Heather Nedohin's eyes.

"As you ask this question, I tear up," she says. "It's a lifelong dream. I just think it would be such a thrill, and more than anything, for our daughters to be able to see it. They'd be mesmerized.

"If we could both stand on the podium, wow. Words can't express what that would mean."

Raylene says if it ever were to happen that both she and Marcel compete at the Olympic Games, she'd have to keep her emotions in check.

"I always get really emotional when he's playing. When they walk out during the opening ceremony of the Brier, I'm always crying. It's terrible," she says. "I'd have to learn to control that.

"But competing together in Vancouver, it's the unspoken dream. It really would be a dream come true."