BOW VALLEY – Checking in a carry-on bag at the airport full of essentials is something U.S. curler Korey Dropkin won’t ever be doing again.
On his way to compete at the Rocky Mountain Mixed Doubles Classic at Banff and Canmore curling clubs between Jan. 4-7, the mixed doubles world champion had a cold.
Although being congested and sickly wouldn’t stop Dropkin and teammate Cory Thiesse from winning the 2024 edition of the local event, it certainly tested him out on the sheets.
A foggy-headed Dropkin wanted his trip from Seattle to Calgary to be as comfortable as possible, so he checked his duffel bag, which had his contacts, glasses, and curling shoes in it.
The duffel bag didn’t arrive in Calgary when Dropkin did.
“I haven’t checked my curling shoes in a long time and I did it that one time on Wednesday (Jan. 3) and I paid for it,” said Dropkin.
“Never again,” Thiesse added.
When Team Cory and Korey arrived in the Bow Valley to play Thursday, Dropkin borrowed shoes that had a gripper foot that didn’t quite grip and his eyes ached from wearing daily contacts for two days.
He wasn’t quite himself.
When asked if being without his curling shoes threw him off his game, Thiesse quickly answered for Dropkin.
“It threw him off,” she said, with a laugh.
Dropkin added, “I almost absolutely ate crap in the first end of that [first] game.”
Early Friday morning, Dropkin’s duffel bag arrived in Calgary. Finally able to focus on the task at hand, despite still being under the weather, Dropkin and Thiesse would go undefeated at the 30-team classic and $8,000 grand prize.
Team Korey and Cory (Korey Dropkin/Cory Thiesse) won the 5th annual Rocky Mountain Mixed Doubles Classic in #Banff #Canmore. The world champs won 6-1 in six ends over Edmonton’s Evan van Amsterdam/Paige Papley on Jan. 7. It’s Dropkin’s second time winning the event. #curling pic.twitter.com/ZFiTWP0D2k
— Jordan Small (@jordiesmall) January 8, 2024
In the finals, the duo from Duluth, Minnesota, defeated Edmonton’s Evan van Amsterdam and Paige Papley, 6-1, after six ends at the Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre.
The runners-up team won $6,000.
Cory and Korey, the 2023 mixed doubles world champs, chipped away on the scoreboard and held off the Albertans after going up 3-0 in the first end.
“We were really driving with the ice,” said Thiesse. “We just felt like we knew the ice so well, it was just a little straighter than when we played on the sheet earlier today so it took a little bit of adjusting and I think overall we were really patient. We had a couple ends we were in a little bit of trouble but we made some big shots and just eked away at it.”
Dropkin is a regular at the fifth annual event and has won twice (once with Sarah Anderson) and he has been to the finals three times.
The secret to getting to the finals is pretty straight forward.
“Have a good partner, enjoy yourself and just have your draw weight,” said Dropkin.
Thiesse, who started playing doubles last year with Dropkin, said the annual trip to Banff is “on the schedule every year.”
“It is big to win a tournament, but especially in Canada with such a great field up here so we were really happy with the week that we had,” she said.
Steven Young, president of the Rocky Mountain Curling Association, said if anyone is going to learn the sport, watch how Cory and Korey play.
“They don’t need to score the big ends, they just continually stay ahead and they play such a confident game, they throw it so well and they know the game well and are coached extremely well,” said Young.
The Rocky Mountain Mixed Doubles Classic, formerly the Qualico Mixed Doubles Classic, sees a strong mix of local, Albertan, Canadian and international curlers.
Some notable duos at this year’s event were John Morris and Shannon Birchard, Brent Laing and Jennifer Jones, Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill, Rachel Germain (Homan) and Tyler Tardi, and Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman, among others.
Local teams playing included Karen Dreaver and Roger Dougall, Kristie Langs and Brock Virtue, Dennis Graham and Adele Sanford, Scott Moncur and Becky Moncur, Desmond Young and Catherine Clifford, Richard Krell and Kirsten Krell, and Jennifer Sachkiw and Ryan Jacques.
Young said the classic was designed to help develop the game from a grassroots level, with a big part of it being the local aspect.
“When we built this event, we wanted that local contingent. We wanted players from Alberta as well as top teams, we wanted top Canadians and we wanted top internationals, so we really wanted to layer each pool,” said Young.
This year, Team Sachkiw and Jacques marked the first time a local had advanced to the played rounds (except for Morris).
The pair lost to the runners-up Papley and van Amsterdam.
Two-time winner Morris and his partner Birchard were knocked out in the first round, too, as was Morris’ former partner Germain and her teammate Tardi by the Australian national team duo of Gill and Hewitt.
The team of Gallant and Peterman, who have been to the classic’s finals three times, lost in the semifinals to van Amsterdam/Papley. Jim Cotter and Jaelyn Cotter, the other semifinal team, lost 9-1 to the champions.
For more information and results, visit www.mountaincurling.ca.
