Darren Molding has noticed signs of rift in Team Bottcher ahead of this week’s defending men’s national champion.
A group text about the funding request led to an in-person team meeting at team leader Karrick Martin’s Edmonton home on Friday night. Molding joined Martin’s sit-down, bypassing Brendan Bottcher and Brad Thiessen second.
“When I showed up, I walked in the door and they basically just told me I was cut,” Molding said.
The Bottcher team released a statement Friday night later confirming Molding’s departure. The release added that he will be “taking time away from the game for personal reasons,” which Molding has described on Twitter as a “complete BS statement.”
For a team that ranks sixth in the world and will soon wear the Maple Leaf at the Tim Hortons Brier, the mid-season move – even after a disappointing performance at the Canadian Olympic trials – was a huge surprise. .
The team says they plan to name a new teammate at a later date. Bottcher said he would have no further comment until media coverage on Monday, then rescheduled for Sunday afternoon via Curling Canada conference call.
Molding, approached by The Canadian Press at his home in Lacombe, Alta., said the ripples in the team started to rise to higher levels when coach Don Bartlett joined them at Brier for the first time. in 2020.
Molding, who faced a significant back injury during a bubble roll last season, came last season. It was there, he said, that he challenged Bottcher on issues that he felt were important to him and his teammates.
“I really stuck with them,” says Molding. “Starting from there, he basically didn’t want to make it right and do what needed to be done to fix the problem and I wasn’t going to back down. So he just decided he had enough with it. I.”
Molding said he wanted a better business structure within the group and basically “got the bullet” for trying to achieve some transparency.
“That went by like a balloon of lead,” he said. “Brendan doesn’t like that. If he can’t control everything all the time, then he’s going to need to find someone for him to do. It will be interesting to see who can handle that. “
There is no specific information on the group’s revenue and the split from the prize payouts.
“If I’m part of the team, I want it to be divided equally,” Molding said. “That means not just in terms of money, but having a say in how we do things and being able to see how we do things and have transparency. So that’s definitely an issue. business topic.
“I never pointed out that it was a performance issue. At the tests it was clear that Brendan struggled there. Everyone watched the games on TV. They knew what happened. .”
Bottcher, who won the world youth championship in 2012, won 3-5 to take fifth place in a one-round round-robin match at SaskTel Center, shortly after the playoffs.
Molding said he called the team meeting after Bottcher was “a bit upset with me” in a reply to his group message. He describes the skipper as someone who is usually “very defensive” who can be “irritable and emotional.”
“He would attack me for no reason and without making much sense,” said Molding. “The other two just sat there. They didn’t say anything. They’ve had a crush on him for a long time and I think they know that if they say something, they’re afraid of being cut, which is sad because they’re both. really good players.
“They don’t deserve it. I wish they could find a bit of courage and try for themselves a little bit but they don’t get to be like me.”
Initially, Molding hopes to figure out why skipping is bothering you. Instead, the meeting focused on why he was absent.
“I asked why and Brendan just said that I said hurtful things about Don and him, which I disagreed (with), but I was only telling the truth about a few things that I had seen happen in the past. team that I don’t like,” he said.
“I have to follow my ethics and values and I won’t let him get stuck. Sometimes telling the truth gets you in trouble, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
Molding later updated his Twitter profile bio to read: “Proud of the father, freelance agent Curler.”
An attached photo of Team Bottcher members has been changed to a sunset over the lake.
“I can assure you that I am healthy, happy and I will play anytime,” Molding said. “I don’t have any personal reason to stop me from curling my hair. So (statement) it’s unfair because it could affect my curling career. They’re allowed to cut me. Really bad, bad timing. They might say, ‘We want a new player, you’re done.’
“It’s not exactly good but when I’m wrong about my condition after five years of basically giving everything I can to the team, I just feel like I deserve a little more than that. But everyone does things their way. surname.”
The Bottcher quartet reached three of Brier’s finals before breaking through last season. The team will defend its title this March in Lethbridge, Alta.
Molding said the team provided some more “fairly small” reasons for him to make the switch.
One is that he had a “irritable” moment in the bubble. Another thing is that they don’t like the fact that he called a professional official in the match against the Netherlands at the world championship, Molding said.
“They put Marc Kennedy in for a fifth play but they didn’t tell me about it,” he said. “I found out the same way I found out about being cut – to my surprise. So that’s a problem.
“But in that situation (in the bubble), being injured, I would really appreciate a little bit of support.”
The four players have spent four full seasons together and appear to be a strong unit with solid ice chemistry.
“I mean what you see out there is real,” says Molding. “We’ve been really close. I can say that since Don came along, we’ve really gotten worse that way. But that only facilitates Brendan. I think that’s the thing. important.”
Bottcher was the only member of the team scheduled to appear on the conference call on Sunday.
Requests for interviews for Bartlett, Thiessen and Martin were made through the federation on Saturday but it was not clear if they were immediately made available.
After a chance to absorb the news overnight and into Saturday, Molding said he was pleased with the way he had handled things and would change nothing.
While sad that he will not be able to defend his Brier title, Molding said he is excited about the future and hopes that he will soon compete at a high level.
“The first three years together, it was amazing,” says Molding. “It went in the right direction. But I will think of it again as a positive time in my life.”
This Canadian Press report was first published on December 4, 2021.
