Howard hoping for curling magic with son in twilight of career

It was the type of opportunity Glenn Howard couldn’t afford to let get away.

The 53-year-old Canadian curler is in the twilight of his career with few competitive seasons left in the tank. So it was basically now or never for Howard to do what he’s wanted to do for a while – play elite level curling with his son, Scott.

“This is as good as it gets in curling. We’re playing at the highest level and I get a chance to play with my son,” Howard told TSN.ca over the phone from his home in Penetanguishene, ON. “I feel like I’m Gordie Howe.”

The opportunity for the father and son to join forces came after the implosion of another rink.

Scott Howard, 25, was a member of Mark Kean’s team last season, a young foursome who surprised many by winning the Ontario Tankard and representing the province at the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary. The rink put together a solid week, going 5-6, and looked as though they’d be together for the long run.

That was until third Mathew Camm went to play with Toronto’s John Epping and second David Mathers teamed up with PEI's Adam Casey, leaving Kean and Howard, the lead, as the last two members remaining from the squad. With the rink cut down the middle, Howard made the tough decision to leave too, and join his father. 

“It was definitely a big surprise and I would say a disappointment to be leaving Team Kean and reigning Ontario Champions,” Scott Howard told TSN.ca. “It was definitely tough, but having said that, I got an opportunity to curl with my Dad and world class curlers like Richard Hart and Wayne Middaugh.

“I’m pretty excited to be moving forward and curling on this really successful, and hopefully one of the best, teams in Canada and the world.”

Papa Howard says he probably has another two to three years left of competitive curling left in him and this was the perfect time to make it happen.

“I still wanted to do it while I had game. You don’t want to just do it for the sake of doing it. I want to do it and be competitive. I thought that was a perfect opportunity,” he said.

Scott, who was a spare for his Dad’s 2012 Brier and world championship team, didn’t have to think twice when the offer was put on the table.

“It has always been in the back of my mind to curl with my Dad. It’s one of those no-brainer answers and I had to say ‘yes’ with a big smile on my face,” said the younger Howard who lives at home with his parents and works full-time as a surveyor.

For this family reunion to come to fruition, Howard was faced with one of the most difficult conversations of his life.

He had to cut Craig Savill.

“Worst day of my life,” said Howard of the phone call he made to his long-time buddy and teammate.  

Savill was Howard’s lead for over a decade and simply could no longer be a part of the rink since Scott played the same position.

“I hated every minute of it [the phone conversation] because Craig is a really good friend of mine, one of my best friends. We played 11 years together, two world championships, so many great times. It was a horrible phone call. I called him and I didn’t feel good about it because I hate that part of the game, but I felt it made sense for me and me moving forward, but I hated it,” explained Howard.

Howard says the 36-year-old Savill was surprised, but understood the circumstances.

“I got to give Craig credit. He was a class act through the whole thing. I think he was a little surprised. I don’t think he saw it coming. It wasn’t on my radar,” said Howard. “It just sort of happened at the end of the year when my son’s team all broke up and I thought that this is where I want to go and unfortunately Craig didn’t fit into that mold at the time.”

Richard Hart, the rink’s vice a season ago, was bumped down to second while Wayne Middaugh rejoined Team Howard, after taking a year off, to complete the lineup for the 2015-16 season.

Don’t get the wrong idea with the Howards coming together. This is not meant to be a nice, heartwarming end to Glenn’s illustrious career which includes four national and world championships. They want to win now and that means having a lead that can get the job done.

“He’s seen a lot his in his young 25 years,” said Howard of his son who’s played on the World Curling Tour since 2007. “He’s no slouch. The truth be known, even though I want to play with my son, if he wasn’t worthy of playing the position confidently, I wouldn’t have brought him on. I believe it.”

Howard hasn’t played in a Brier since 2013 and didn’t even qualify for the Ontario Tankard last year for the first time since 2003. With the new-look lineup, the Beer Store manager hopes change is coming and that he’ll be able to cross off the final and most prestigious goal of his 30-year curling career – representing Canada at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

 “The long term goal is to get to the ’17 Trials. Then it’s a matter of having the week of your life and trying to get to the Olympics,” said Howard, who lost to Kevin Martin, 7-3, in the final of the 2009 Canadian Olympic Trials. “There are a lot of short term goals before that. It’s as simple as a game at a time and trying to win as many games as we can, get as much experience as we can. As a team, you need games under your belt to feel comfortable with each other.”

Team Howard has already found a little success on the WCT this season. They finished with a respectable 3-2 record in the inaugural Grand Slam Tour Challenge in Paradise, NL before falling to home-province favourite Brad Gushue in the quarters. Then at the Shorty Jenkins Classic in Cornwall, ON, the foursome cruised to the finals with a perfect record, beating the likes of reigning world champion Niklas Edin of Sweden (twice), Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard and the new-look Team Kean of Stoney Creek, ON. Gushue was Howard’s nemesis again in the finals, as the native of St. John’s, NL beat Howard 5-4 in an extra end to take the title and continue his hot start to the season. 

“It’s just a great, great feeling for a father to be able to play with his son and the key is that it’s at this level,” said Glenn.

Howard also played with his daughter, Carly, at the Canadian mixed doubles trials in March and regularly curls with his wife, Judy.

“It’s kind of hard to not to talk about curling in this family. We talk about curling almost every day.” said Scott. “You have to love the game to talk about it.”