Marc Kennedy
Canadian curler and Olympic gold medallist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marc Kennedy (born February 5, 1982) is a Canadian curler, and Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic gold medallist from St. Albert, Alberta. He currently plays third on Team Brad Jacobs.
In 2019, Kennedy was named the greatest Canadian male second in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers.[2]
Career
Summarize
Perspective
Juniors
Kennedy was born in St. Albert, Alberta, the son of Don and Connie. He started curling at age six.[3] He is a Canadian Winter Games champion[4] and three-time provincial junior champion. He won his first provincial men's championship with Kevin Martin in 2007. As a junior, he played second for Carter Rycroft at the 1998 Canadian Junior Curling Championships and played third for Jeff Erickson at the 1999 and 2001 Canadian Juniors. In 2003 Kennedy was an alternate for the 2003 Winter Universiade gold medal-winning team from Brandon University skipped by Mike McEwen.
Mens
After 2-time World Junior Champion John Morris moved to Alberta in 2003, Kennedy joined his team at second position. In 2004, they lost the Canada Cup final to Randy Ferbey. In 2006, both Morris and Kennedy joined 2-time Brier champion Kevin Martin on his new team.
In 2008, Kennedy won the Brier and the World Championships as a member of the team. They repeated their Brier win in 2009, going undefeated for a second straight year and setting a record for consecutive Brier games won (26) previously held by the Ferbey foursome. In 2010, Kennedy won an Olympic Gold Medal in Vancouver with Kevin Martin, John Morris and Ben Hebert as Team Canada defeated Thomas Ulsrud of Norway 6-3 in the Gold Medal Game.
After a win at the Alberta provincials, Kennedy headed with Team Martin to the 2011 Tim Hortons Brier. They went through the round robin with a 9-2 win–loss record and lost the page 3 vs. 4 playoff game to Ontario and the bronze medal game to Newfoundland/Labrador. Kennedy left the Brier before the bronze medal game because he and his wife were expecting a new child.
In 2013, Kennedy and Team Martin won the Alberta provincials with a close win over Kevin Koe to earn a berth in the 2013 Tim Hortons Brier in their hometown Edmonton. On the first day, Kennedy won the Ford Hot Shots skills and shot-making competition that preceded the start of round-robin play.[5] The team played in the 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, finishing third.
Following Kevin Martin's retirement from curling in 2014, Kennedy joined Team Kevin Koe at third. They played in their first Brier together in 2015, finishing with a 6-5 record, missing the playoffs. In December 2015, Kennedy, along with his teammates, claimed the first berth in the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials with their Canada Cup victory in Grande Prairie, AB. The team continued their winning ways that season by winning the 2016 Tim Hortons Brier and a gold medal at the 2016 World Men's Curling Championship. Representing Team Canada as defending champions, the team lost in the final of the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier.
The team would go on to win the 2017 Olympic Trials and represented Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics, finishing fourth.
Following the 2017-18 season, Kennedy announced he would take a break from competitive curling to heal injuries and focus on family.[6] He subsequently took a position as national team program performance consultant with Curling Canada.[7] He was invited to play third for team Brad Jacobs at the 2018 Canada Cup, to fill in for Ryan Fry, who took a couple of events off, following unsportsmanlike behaviour from an event he played in.[8] Kennedy's addition to the team worked out, and they would win the event.[9] Kennedy announced in March 2019 that he would join Team Jacobs to replace Ryan Fry for the next three curling seasons. [10] In their first event, the 2019 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic, the team went undefeated up until the final where they would lose to Team Epping. Team Jacobs won three straight Grand Slam events at the Tour Challenge, National and the Canadian Open. They would unsurprisingly win the 2020 Northern Ontario Men's Provincial Curling Championship, going in as the number one seed. At the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier, they battled through two tiebreakers before losing to Newfoundland and Labrador's Brad Gushue in the 3 vs. 4 game, all within the same day. It would be the team's last event of the season as both the Players' Championship and the Champions Cup Grand Slam events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[11]
Team Jacobs played in two tour events during the 2020–21 season, winning the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard and losing in the qualification game of the Ashley HomeStore Curling Classic. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, the 2021 provincial championship was cancelled. As the reigning provincial champions, Team Jacobs was chosen to represent Northern Ontario at the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier.[12] At the Brier, they finished with a 7–5 record.[13] Also during the 2020–21 season, Kennedy served as the alternate for the Brendan Bottcher rink at the 2021 World Men's Curling Championship. He was added to the team as a backup plan in case Bottcher's third Darren Moulding's back injury that he sustained during the 2021 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship re-emerged as an issue.[14] Kennedy, however, did not have to play in any games for the team as Moulding's back held up for the tournament.
Kennedy was named to a third Olympic team as the alternate for the Brad Gushue rink for the Beijing 2022 Olympics.[15] Kennedy's team, skipped by Brad Gushue, qualified as the Canadian representatives by winning the 2021 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, defeating Brad Jacobs 4–3 in the final.[16][17] The team would go onto win the bronze medal with an 8-5 win over the United States.[18][19][20]
Kennedy would later announce that he would be joining a team skipped by Brendan Bottcher, alongside former teammate Hebert as lead, and teammate from Gushue's Olympic team, Brett Gallant as second. The Bottcher rink began their first season together by winning the 2022 ATB Okotoks Classic. A week later, they played in the inaugural PointsBet Invitational, making it to the semifinals before losing to Matt Dunstone. A few weeks later, the team played in their first Slam together at the 2022 National. After going 3–1 in pool play, they lost in the quarterfinals to Korey Dropkin. Then, they played in the 2022 Tour Challenge where they lost all of their games. They rebounded at the 2022 Masters winning all four of their pool games, and then made it as far as the semifinals where they lost to Joël Retornaz of Italy in a low scoring 3–1 affair. The team began the 2023 calendar year at the 2023 Canadian Open where they won all of their games to win their first Grand Slam title as a foursome. The following month, they played in the 2023 Boston Pizza Cup provincial championship. There, they won all of their games until the final, where they lost to their provincial rivals Kevin Koe who had inherited Bottcher's former front end of Martin and Thiessen. Due to their performance on the tour that season, they still qualified for the 2023 Tim Hortons Brier as the Wild Card #1 entry. At the Brier, Bottcher led the team to a 7–1 record in pool play. The team then made it into the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game after losing to Manitoba (Matt Dunstone) in the qualification final. In the 3 vs. 4 game, they beat Ontario (Mike McEwen), but then lost in the semifinal when they faced off against Dunstone again, settling for third place. At the final two slams of the year, the team missed the playoffs at the 2023 Players' Championship after going 2–3, but rebounded to go undefeated and win the 2023 Champions Cup. In a change in the qualification format, the Bottcher rink automatically pre-qualified for the 2024 Montana's Brier field based on their 2022–23 Canadian Team Ranking Standings, which meant they bypassed the provincial qualifiers.[21] At the 2024 Brier, the team went 6–2 in their pool, then in the playoffs lost to Gushue in the 1v2 game, and finished 3rd after losing to McEwen in the semifinal. On April 16, 2024, Bottcher's teammates made an announcement that they would be "going in a new direction" at skip, resulting in Bottcher's departure after two seasons.[22] Kennedy, Gallant, and Hebert later announced they would be adding Brad Jacobs as their new skip for the 2024–25 season.[23]
In their first season together, the Jacobs team enjoyed plenty of success, finishing second at the 2024 National and the 2025 Masters grand slam events. Like the previous season, the Jacobs team pre-qualified for the 2025 Brier based on their CTRS ranking, which meant they bypassed the provincial qualifiers.[24]
Personal life
Kennedy is married to his wife, Nicole Kennedy (née MacDonald), and they have two daughters. His brother Glen is also a curler.[3]
Kennedy has a marketing degree from the University of Alberta. He was a franchise owner for M&M Meat Shops until he sold his business in 2012 to focus more on curling. He also worked as a real estate agent for Sarasota Realty.[25]
Kennedy is a Hec Gervais Scholarship winner, as well as a Can Fund recipient[26] He is also currently an MBA Student at the University of Alberta.[27]
Marc and Nicole began a youth bonspiel in 2016 called the Marc Kennedy Junior Classic, held in St. Albert and Edmonton. The Bonspiel saw a spin-off program in 2018 (Over The Pond) introducing international teams selected through the Nordic Jr Curling Tour. Two Canadian teams are also selected and visit the year-end event in Sweden. Unofficially, the MKJC is the largest youth/junior bonspiel in the World hosting almost 70 teams at its peak. [citation needed]
In his youth, Kennedy also played Canadian football and played for the Edmonton Huskies.[3]
Teams
| Season | Skip | Third | Second | Lead | Events |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | Carter Rycroft | Glen Kennedy | Marc Kennedy | Jason Lesmeister | 1998 CJCC |
| 1998–99 | Jeff Erickson | Marc Kennedy | Kevin Skarban | Kevin McNee | 1999 CJCC |
| 1999–00 | Jeff Erickson | Marc Kennedy | Kevin Skarban | Kevin McNee | |
| 2000–01 | Jeff Erickson | Marc Kennedy | Kevin Skarban | Aaron Sarafinchan | 2001 CJCC |
| 2001–02[28] | Marc Kennedy | Chris Schille | Kevin Skarban | Aaron Sarafinchan | |
| 2002–03[29] | Chris Schille | Marc Kennedy | Steven Meadows | Stephen Jensen | |
| 2003–04 | John Morris | Kevin Koe | Marc Kennedy | Paul Moffatt | 2004 Alta., CC |
| 2004–05 | John Morris | Kevin Koe | Marc Kennedy | Paul Moffatt | 2005 Alta., CC |
| 2005–06 | John Morris | Kevin Koe | Marc Kennedy | Paul Moffatt | 2005 COCT, 2006 Alta., CC |
| 2006–07 | Kevin Martin | John Morris | Marc Kennedy | Ben Hebert | 2007 Alta., CC, Brier |
| 2007–08 | Kevin Martin | John Morris | Marc Kennedy | Ben Hebert | 2008 Alta., CC, Brier, WCC |
| 2008–09 | Kevin Martin | John Morris | Marc Kennedy | Ben Hebert | 2009 Alta., CC, Brier, WCC |
| 2009–10 | Kevin Martin | John Morris | Marc Kennedy | Ben Hebert | 2009 COCT, 2010 OG |
| 2010–11 | Kevin Martin | John Morris | Marc Kennedy | Ben Hebert | 2010 CC, 2011 Alta., Brier |
| 2011–12 | Kevin Martin | John Morris | Marc Kennedy | Ben Hebert | 2011 CC, 2012 Alta. |
| 2012–13 | Kevin Martin | John Morris | Marc Kennedy | Ben Hebert | 2012 CC, 2013 Alta., Brier |
| 2013–14 | Kevin Martin | David Nedohin | Marc Kennedy | Ben Hebert | 2013 COCT, 2014 Alta. |
| 2014–15 | Kevin Koe | Marc Kennedy | Brent Laing | Ben Hebert | 2014 CC, 2015 Alta., Brier |
| 2015–16 | Kevin Koe | Marc Kennedy | Brent Laing | Ben Hebert | 2015 CC, 2016 Alta., Brier, WCC |
| 2016–17 | Kevin Koe | Marc Kennedy | Brent Laing | Ben Hebert | 2016 CC, 2017 Brier |
| 2017–18 | Kevin Koe | Marc Kennedy | Brent Laing | Ben Hebert | 2017 COCT, 2018 OG |
| 2018 | Brad Jacobs | Marc Kennedy | E. J. Harnden | Ryan Harnden | 2018 CC (lone event) |
| 2019–20 | Brad Jacobs | Marc Kennedy | E. J. Harnden | Ryan Harnden | 2019 CC, 2020 Northern Ont., 2020 Brier |
| 2020–21[30] | Brad Jacobs | Marc Kennedy | E. J. Harnden | Ryan Harnden | 2021 Brier |
| 2021–22 | Brad Jacobs | Marc Kennedy | E. J. Harnden | Ryan Harnden | 2021 COCT, 2022 Brier |
| Brad Gushue | Mark Nichols | Brett Gallant | Geoff Walker alt.: Marc Kennedy | 2022 OG | |
| 2022–23 | Brendan Bottcher | Marc Kennedy | Brett Gallant | Ben Hebert | 2023 Alta., Brier |
| 2023–24 | Brendan Bottcher | Marc Kennedy | Brett Gallant | Ben Hebert | 2024 Brier |
| 2024–25 | Brad Jacobs | Marc Kennedy | Brett Gallant | Ben Hebert | 2025 Brier, WCC |
Awards & recognitions
- Canadian Curling Championship First Team All Star (Second) 2007
- Canadian Curling Championship First Team All Star (Second) 2008
- World Curling Tour MVP 2008
- Canadian Curling Championship First Team All Star (Second) 2009
- University Of Alberta Award of Excellence 2010
- Canadian Curling Championship First Team All Star (Second) 2011
- Canadian Curling Championship Second Team All Star (Second) 2013
- Canadian Curling Championship Second Team All Star (Third) 2015
- TSN Top Male Second Of All Time 2019
- TSN #8 Top Male Player Of All Time 2019
- Canadian Curling Championship
Second Team All Star (Third) 2020
- Canadian Curling Championship
First Team All Star (Third) 2022
- Canadian Curling Championship
First Team All Star (Third) 2024
See also
References
External links
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