Darren Moulding had seen signs of fracture within Team Bottcher well before things came to a head for the reigning national men’s champions this week.
A group text about a sponsorship request led to an in-person team meeting at the Edmonton home of lead Karrick Martin on Friday evening. Moulding was joined at the sitdown by Martin, skip Brendan Bottcher and second Brad Thiessen.
“When I showed up, I walked in the door and they basically just told me I was cut,” Moulding said.
Team Bottcher issued a statement later Friday night confirming Moulding’s departure. The release added he’d be “taking time away from the game for personal reasons,” something Moulding described on Twitter as a “complete BS statement.”
This is a complete bs statement… I’m very disappointed that the team didn’t put out an accurate statement on my status. I am not taking time away from the game… I’m ready, willing and able to play. I was planning to defend my title as team Canada in Lethbridge. <a href=”https://t.co/zYEuOMDueL”>https://t.co/zYEuOMDueL</a>
For a team that’s ranked sixth in the world and will soon wear the Maple Leaf at the Tim Hortons Brier, the mid-season move — even after a disappointing showing at Canada’s Olympic trials — came as a major surprise.
The team said it planned to name a new teammate at a later date. Bottcher said he’d have no further comment until a media availability Monday, which was later rescheduled for Sunday afternoon via a Curling Canada conference call.
Moulding, reached by The Canadian Press at his home in Lacombe, Alta., said ripples within the team started to reach a higher level when coach Don Bartlett joined them at the Brier for the first time in 2020.
Further division came last season in Calgary, said Moulding, who battled a significant back injury in the curling bubble. It was there, he said, that he challenged Bottcher on issues that he felt were important to him and his teammates.
“I kind of stuck up for them,” Moulding said. “Starting there, basically he was unwilling to make it right and do what needed to be done to fix the problem and I wouldn’t back down. So he just decided he’d had enough of me.”
Moulding said he wanted a better business structure within the team and basically “took the bullet” for trying to get some transparency.
“That went over like a lead balloon,” he said. “Brendan doesn’t like that. If he can’t control everything all the time, then he’s going to need to find somebody that just lets him do it. It’ll be interesting to see who can handle that.”
Specifics on team revenue and split percentages from prize payouts were not available.
‘If I’m part of the team I want it to be equal share’
“If I’m part of the team I want it to be equal share,” Moulding said. “That means not just monetarily but also in having a say in how we do things and being able to see how we do things and having transparency. So it’s definitely a business issue.
“It was never indicated to me that it was a performance issue. At the trials, obviously Brendan struggled there. Everybody saw the games on TV. They know what happened.”
Bottcher, who won a world junior title in 2012, was 3-5 to settle for a fifth-place tie in round-robin play at SaskTel Centre, coming well short of the playoff cut.
Moulding said he called the team meeting after Bottcher “kind of freaked out on me” in a reply to his group text. He described the skip as someone who was typically “very defensive,” who could get “upset and emotional.”
“He’d be lashing out at me for no reason and not making very much sense,” Moulding said. “The other two guys just sit there. They don’t say anything. They’ve been curling with him for a long time and I think they know that if they say something, they’re afraid to get cut, which is sad because they’re both really good players.
“They don’t deserve that. I wish that they could find a little bit of courage and stick up for themselves a little bit but they aren’t made the same way I am.”
Moulding was initially hoping to find out why the skip was upset. Instead the meeting focused on reasons why he was out.
“I asked why and Brendan just said that I’ve said hurtful things about Don and him, which I disagree [with], but I just told the truth about a couple things that I saw happening in the team that I didn’t like,” he said.
“I had to stick to my morals and my values and I wouldn’t let him off the hook. Sometimes telling the truth gets you in trouble, but it doesn’t mean that it’s the wrong thing to do.”
Moulding later updated his Twitter profile bio to read: “Proud Dad, Free Agent Curler.”
An accompanying picture of the members of Team Bottcher was changed to a sunset over a lake.
‘I’m healthy, happy and I’ll play any time’
“I can assure you that I’m healthy, happy and I’ll play any time,” Moulding said. “I don’t have any personal reasons that prevent me from curling. So that [statement] was unfair because that can affect my curling career. They’re allowed to cut me. It sucks, the timing sucks. They could have just said, ‘We want a new player, you’re done.’
“It’s not exactly nice but to misrepresent my status after five years of basically giving everything I could to the team, I just felt I deserved a little bit better than that. But people do things in their own way.”
The Bottcher foursome reached three Brier finals before finally breaking through last season. The team will defend its title this March in Lethbridge, Alta.
Moulding said the team provided some additional “fairly petty” reasons to him for making the switch.
One was that he was “cranky” at times in the bubble. Another was that they didn’t like that he called for a hog-line official in a game against the Netherlands at the world championship, Moulding said.
“They brought Marc Kennedy in to play fifth but they didn’t tell me about it,” he said. “I found out much the same way I found out about getting cut — by surprise. So that was a problem.
“But in that situation [in the bubble], being injured, I would have really appreciated a little bit of support.”
The four players spent four full seasons together and appeared to be a strong unit with solid on-ice chemistry.
“I’d say what you saw out there was real,” Moulding said. “We really were that close. I would say that since Don came on, we really got worse that way. But it was just enabling Brendan. I think that’s the major thing.”
Bottcher was the only team member scheduled to appear on Sunday’s conference call.
Interview requests for Bartlett, Thiessen and Martin were made through the federation on Saturday but it wasn’t immediately clear if they would be made available.
After getting a chance to absorb the news overnight and into Saturday, Moulding said he’s happy with how he has handled everything and wouldn’t change a thing.
While sad he won’t get to defend his Brier title, Moulding said he’s excited about the future and is hopeful that he’ll compete at a high level sometime soon.
“For the first three years together, it was wonderful,” Moulding said. “It ran its course. But I would reflect back on it as a positive time in my life.”
The past weekend of football was all about the favourites.
The favoured teams went 13-1 straight up and 10-4 against the spread in the NFL. In college football, the three most teams bet at the BetMGM Sportsbook in terms of number of bets and money all won and covered. All three were favourites.
Trends of the Week
The three most bet college teams that won and covered on Saturday were Ohio State (-3.5) vs. Penn State, Indiana (-7.5) at Michigan State and Oregon (-14.5) at Michigan. Penn State has now lost seven straight home games as underdogs. The Nittany Lions were up 10-0 in the first quarter and were 3.5-point favourites at the time. The Buckeyes won 17-10.
In the NFL, the three most bet teams in terms of number of bets and money were the Washington Commanders (-4) at the New York Giants, the Detroit Lions (-2.5) at the Green Bay Packers and the Buffalo Bills (-6) vs. the Miami Dolphins. All three teams won, but only two of the three covered the spread as Buffalo beat Miami 30-27.
When it came to the players with the most bets to score a touchdown on Sunday, only two of the five reached the end zone — Chase Brown (-125) and Taysom Hill (+185). David Montgomery (-140), Brian Robinson Jr. (+110) and AJ Barner (+500) did not score.
Upsets of the Week
The biggest upset in the NFL was the Carolina Panthers coming from behind to beat the New Orleans Saints 23-22. New Orleans closed as a 7-point favourite and took in 76% of the bets and 79% of the money in against-the-spread betting. The Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen following the loss. They have now lost seven straight games after starting the year 2-0.
Arguably the biggest upset in college football was South Carolina beating No. 10 Texas A&M 44-20 at home. Texas A&M closed as a 2.5-point favourite and took in 59% of the bets and 58% of the money.
NEW YORK – Washington Capitals left-wing Alex Ovechkin, Carolina Hurricanes centre Martin Necas and Pittsburgh Penguins centre Sidney Crosby have been named the NHL’s three stars of the week.
Ovechkin had a league-leading five goals and nine points in four games.
The 39-year-old Capitals captain has 14 points in 11 games this season, and his 860 career goals are just 34 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record.
Necas shared the league lead with nine points (three goals, six assists) in three games.
Crosby factored on seven of the Penguins’ eight total goals scoring four goals and adding three assists in three appearances. The 37-year-old Penguins captain leads his team with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 13 games this season.
Crosby and Ovechkin, longtime rivals since entering the league together in 2005-06, will meet for the 70th time in the regular season and 95th time overall when Pittsburgh visits Washington on Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
TORONTO – Running back Brady Oliveira of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell are the finalists for the CFL’s outstanding player award.
Oliveira led the CFL in rushing this season with 1,353 yards while Mitchell was the league leader in passing yards (5,451) and touchdowns (32).
Oliveira is also the West Division finalist for the CFL’s top Canadian award, the second straight year he’s been nominated for both.
Oliveira was the CFL’s outstanding Canadian in 2023 and the runner-up to Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for outstanding player.
Defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund of the Montreal Alouettes is the East Division’s top Canadian nominee.
Voting for the awards is conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and the nine CFL head coaches.
The other award finalists include: defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal linebacker Tyrice Beverette (outstanding defensive player); Saskatchewan’s Logan Ferland and Toronto’s Ryan Hunter (outstanding lineman); B.C. Lions kicker Sean Whyte and Toronto returner Janarion Grant (special teams); and Edmonton Elks linebacker Nick Anderson and Hamilton receiver Shemar Bridges (outstanding rookie).
The coach of the year finalists are Saskatchewan’s Corey Mace and Montreal’s Jason Maas.
The CFL will honour its top individual performers Nov. 14 in Vancouver.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31.
