When Canada's wheelchair curling team takes to the ice in Sochi, Russia, for the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, Joe Rea will be there, lending tactical support as the rink aims for this country's third consecutive gold medal.
Rea, a 55-year-old Prince George resident, is back in his position as Team Canada's coach. He was present for golden achievements in Torino, Italy, in 2006 and in Vancouver in 2010. And, given the quality of the current team, he has every reason to believe Canada will contend for top spot on the Paralympic podium once again.
"I couldn't be happier," Rea said of the Canadian lineup, which features Jim Armstrong at skip, Dennis Thiessen at third, Ina Forrest at second, Sonja Gaudet at lead and Mark Ideson in the alternate position. "We're very versatile, this team right now, and different from other years. Although Bruno [Yizek] was a great alternate [at the 2010 Paralympics] and he's a great player, I don't think we were as diverse as we are now. Our alternate now, if something were to happen to Jim, Mark would be the guy stepping in to skip. He spent a ton of time with Jim, learning the strategy of the game, and he's done really well."
Armstrong is a former Richmond resident who now lives in Cambridge, Ont. Thiessen is from Winnipeg, while Forrest and Gaudet reside in Armstrong and Vernon respectively. Ideson makes his home in London, Ont.
Armstrong, Forrest and Gaudet are holdovers from the 2010 Paralympics -- which saw Canada edge South Korea 8-7 in the championship game -- while Thiessen has replaced former third Darryl Neighbour. The team was unveiled last Friday by the Canadian Curling Association and the Canadian Paralympic Committee.
At the 2013 world championships, held last February in Sochi, the same foursome (along with Ideson as the alternate) claimed the title after a 4-3 final-game victory against Sweden. With that win, Canada ensured it would go into the Paralympics as the top-ranked team.
Even though Armstrong, Thiessen, Forrest, Gaudet and Ideson represented Canada so successfully at the 2013 worlds, they had to earn their spots on the 2014 Paralympic team. They were selected from a pool of 28 players, a group that included Frank LaBounty of Prince George. LaBounty has multiple provincial and national titles to his credit.
"Frank is a really good player and he's shown that on the Canadian stage," Rea said. "He's done some big things and he's very close [for Paralympic team consideration] but not quite there. He's a great friend of mine. I think the world of him and you couldn't ask for a better teammate than that guy. He's absolutely fantastic but he didn't quite make the list. It's hard to make this team now -- really hard."
At the Paralympics, March 7-16, Canada's toughest competition is likely to come from Sweden but Rea pointed out that wheelchair curling at the international level is developing more parity with each passing year.
"Sweden gave us all we could handle [at worlds] last year," he said. "[Skip Jalle Jungnell] played really well and his whole team did. We need to watch out for them. We played Korea two weeks ago in Ottawa [at the Cathy Kerr International Bonspiel] and had a pretty good game with them. We ended up winning that game and we played Scotland in the final over there and beat them. It was a good game -- they're all good games. The level of play is coming up so much."
Rea, who played competitively for more than 20 years, broke into the coaching ranks in the late 1980s. In 1993, he led Team B.C. to a bronze medal at junior nationals. Ten years after that, he got his start as a coach in the wheelchair game here in Prince George. Rea later worked at the provincial level and joined the national team program in 2005. As a national team coach, he is highly-decorated: along with his Paralympic championships and the gold medal at the 2013 worlds, he guided Canada to victory at the 2009 and 2011 world tournaments.
Rea did have to adjust his thinking to coach wheelchair curling because, unlike the traditional game, there are no sweepers to influence the weight and line of a rock. Instead, players throw their stones using delivery sticks and then wait to see whether or not their shots end up on target. Also, games are eight ends instead of 10.
Rea, a project coordinator at Canfor's Northwood Pulp, is already getting excited about wearing Team Canada colours at the Sochi Paralympics.
"Any time you get to put the maple leaf on your back, it's the greatest feeling ever," he said. "It's a real honour to represent your country and to be involved with a team like I'm involved with right now. They're a great group of people -- very hardworking -- and well-deserved to be going to this event."
