Kevin Martin will try to make history this week in his hometown.
If Martin and his Edmonton-based curling team of third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert capture the 2013 Tim Hortons Brier title at Rexall Place in Edmonton, it'll make Martin the first to win the championship five times. It won't be an easy feat for the Martin team to reach in men's field deep in talent and sprinkled with former Canadian, world and Olympic champions.
Martin has won four Brier titles in 1991, 1997, and, with his current team in 2008 and 2009. Randy Ferby and Ernie Richardson have also won the Brier four times each.
This week will be the first time Martin will slide into the hack for the Brier in his hometown when competition begins Saturday. But it won't be a completely new experience for the Martin team as they earned the right to represent Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where they won the gold medal.
Martin said the Brier experience will be more fun then the Olympic trials in 2009.
"At the trials it's so tense, the crowd, the people, the players, it's just different," said Martin. "A Brier is more like a fun atmosphere, kind of like a Grey Cup. I'm really looking forward to that part. The crowd will be loose. They'll be having fun. They'll go to the patch between games and have a couple of drinks and come back and cheer on their team whichever province it is. It's going to be a very loud crowd. I'm really looking forward to it."
It'll be the sixth time Edmonton has hosted the Canadian men's curling championship - the last time was in 2005 when the city set the all-time attendance record of 281,985 fans taking in action from the week-long event.
Fans won't have to wait long to see the heavy hitters face off as Martin will meet Manitoba's Jeff Stoughton, the 2011 brier and world champion, in his first game, Saturday at 5:30 p.m. (PST). It doesn't get easier in the second game for Martin's crew, as they'll face Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard, the 2006 brier champion Sunday in the morning draw (7:30). Martin will play Brier rookie Andrew Bilesky of British Columbia, out of New Westminster, Sunday evening (5:30), before playing Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario on Monday.
"If we can somehow sneak a 3-1 record in the first four that'll bode well to make the playoffs," said Martin.
Other teams Martin will have to get past to win his fifth Brier title include 2006-Olympic gold medalist Brad Gushue and his Newfoundland/Labrador team, Saskatchewan's Brock Virtue, Nova Scotia's Paul Flemming, New Brunswick's James Grattan, Prince Edward Island's Eddie MacKenzie, the Northwest Territories/Yukon's Jamie Koe and defending Brier champion Glenn Howard of Ontario.
Martin and Howard have had some epic battles through the years, including in the 2009 Olympic trials final and Martin expects another classic game when the two teams face off in the final draw of the round-robin, March 8.
"Hopefully both Howard's team and our team will be in the playoff hunt because it wouldn't be as much fun if one of us isn't," said Martin. "If we're both in the hunt that will be a great game to finish the week off."
The Brier champion will represent Canada at the 2013 Ford World Men's Curling Championship in Victoria, March 30 to April 7. Also on the line in Edmonton is a chance to represent Canada at the 2014 World Financial Group Continental Cup in Las Vegas and spot in either the Capital One Road to the Roar pretrials in Kitchener, Ont., or the Trials in Winnipeg where the men's and women's Canadian teams will be determined for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Martin, Howard and Stoughton have already earned their spots in Winnipeg, Dec. 1-8.
TSN (Cable 22) has all-week coverage of the Brier including the March 10th final at 5:30 p.m.
