Around these parts, Kevin Kalthoff is a big name, but it seems his athletic prowess has spread province-wide. The 2009 Eugene Hritzuk Senior Men’s Curling Team was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame this past Saturday for their international win in 2009.
“I can’t say enough how much fun we had together on and off the ice,” said Kalthoff. “We treated it as just a game. We wanted to win, but we knew it was a game and we should have the odd laugh.”
According to Kalthoff, the team was put together in 2007 when Hritzuk called Kalthoff and asked him to join the team. Hritzuk was skip, Verne Anderson was second, Kalthoff was third, and Dave Folk was lead. They were all “pretty good curlers,” so Kalthoff figured they had a good chance to win the provincial title.
They started by playing some of the bigger bonspiels for curlers 50 and over and won two of the three they entered. During a couple of those competitions, they ended up beating the defending provincial champion.
They then entered provincials in 2008, which involved going through a progressive play down. The top eight teams played in the finals and Kalthoff’s team went through undefeated, save for one game.
“We were almost one brain, we thought so much alike,” said Kalthoff. “I know (Hritzuk) appreciated the fact that he didn’t have to think much about shots or the ice because I already had the broom down. We always seemed to know what the other was thinking.”
They had only thought they’d make it as far as provincials, so their easy sweep through finals was unexpected and yet bolstering. The next phase of competitions proved to be almost as effortless with eight straight wins. Their first loss was handed to them by Nova Scotia and the second by British Columbia, which landed them in a three-way tie for first. Even then, their losses could have been seen as simple bad luck since they beat both Nova Scotia and British Columbia in a replay.
“Russ Howard was the skip for the New Brunswick team and he’s won the (Men’s World Curling Championship) as a skip,” said Kalthoff. “We ended up beating him so that was kind of satisfactory. So we won the Canadian title.”
After securing a national victory, the Saskatchewan men had to hunker down and wait until April 2009 for the international curling championship, which was to be held in New Zealand. Because of the difference in the seasons, they had to postpone the championship until it was cool enough, but that caused a problem for the Canadian team. By that time, it was spring, which meant finding ice to practice on was getting harder and harder.
Fortunately, they managed to find a place to practice three days before they left the country. One would think that lack of practice might have crippled them, but instead it seemed to have the opposite effect. Kalthoff and his team went on to hammer out seven consecutive wins and zero losses. They beat Switzerland in the semi-final and dominated over the United States in the finals for a gold medal finish.
“Walking down the ice, I turned to Verne and said, ‘There’s nobody else to play. We’ve won the world championship. We beat everybody.’ I still get goosebumps thinking of that particular moment because it’s an incredible feeling to say we are the best at something. We are the world champions,” said Kalthoff. “I’m no singer by any means, but they were playing the national anthem and I was singing it like I sang it everyday.”
It was because of that moment, that unforgettable win, that Kalthoff believes the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame wants to recognize them.
Kalthoff and the rest of his teammates ended up curling for another two years together following their historic win, but couldn’t manage to repeat the same results.
Since then, Kalthoff has retired from competitive curling and only does it recreationally now. He incurred a knee injury in 2011 and now has arthritis in his knees.
“(The arthritis) finally told me that maybe I should step away from the game. It just became almost too much of a job to do it,” he said. “I’m kind of torn. I really miss it, but on the other hand, I enjoy what I’m doing now, curling recreationally. We’ve got a good group of people I’m around.”
Kalthoff has been curling, competing, and winning since he was a teenager. His high school team even made it all the way to nationals and took third place in Moncton, N.B. It seems almost as if he came out on top in any sport he turned his hand to (he played baseball as well).
When asked how, he said, “Some of it is talent. Some of it is getting along with teammates. I always make sure everyone stays upbeat and positive. That helps on any team; it doesn’t matter what sport you’re playing. That might be why we did so well.”
Despite his humble demeanor, Kalthoff was quick to shower praise on his wife for her constant support: “I couldn’t have done it without my supportive wife. She’s been my crutch all these years. When I’ve had bad moments losing, she was there. When I won, she was there. She’s been my cheerleader, my everything. I owe her everything. I love her to death and so happy she’s been part of this too.”
Now his oldest son has taken up the same sport, which is where Kalthoff has been focusing his attention. Kalthoff also still manages the Humboldt Curling Club.
For anyone who wants to curl or has a dream, Kalthoff has only one bit of advice:
“Keep trying. Don’t pack it in if you have a poor year or things don’t go quite right. Don’t quit,” he said. “If your dream is to do something, go after it no matter what it takes.”
