“They’re an interesting team to coach”
Win or lose, Eun-Ji Gim’s appearance in today’s National Grand Slam women’s final shines a light on one team’s steady climb toward the top of the sport.
And the squad’s Canadian coach might yet put them over the top.
This is Guy Hemmings’ second go-round as Team Gim coach.
“I was with them when they qualified for the world championship that didn’t happen,” Hemmings said, referring to the 2020 Covid-cancelled event.
The two-time Brier finalist and mad hiker has since returned to the squad that now includes former rival skip Min-ji Kim at third stone. In only their second major event together, Kim and Gim made it to the final of the 2022 Champions Cup Slam before losing to Kerri Einarson.
In their first full (2022-23) season together, Team Gim qualified for the playoffs in 14 of 15 events.
This season, they’ve been on a roll and have scored gold on tour (Calgary’s Autumn Gold), at their national championship, and at the World Curling Federation’s recent Pan-Continental Championship.
Heading into today’s Slam final they own a 50-11 won/loss record on the season and are ranked second on the WCF’s World Team Rankings list.
“They’re an interesting team to coach,” said Hemmings. They are very talented and anxious to improve.”
The Koreans defeated the No. 1 ranked squad, Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni, in yesterday’s semifinal at Pictou, N.S.
The RSD colour commentator acknowledges communication as the biggest challenge with his charges.
“It is, but didn’t we all learn to talk curling with the salt and pepper shakers, on a table behind the curling club glass?” Hemmings asked.
“We use a translator on some occasions. It sure helps a lot as we can expand our conversations a bit more.”
At the moment, Hemmings’ squad has surpassed the Olympic silver heroines from 2018 who still count Peter Gallant—another Canadian—as their coach. Team Eun-jung Kim has won two Tour events recently, including the Tier 2 Grand Slam in Niagara Falls, but more strong results are needed to regain a foothold in what is fast becoming a strong Korean curling rivalry.
Yet another Canadian coach, Toronto’s Ryan Fry, was with Italy’s Joel Retornaz as they won their second Slam title of the season with a 6-5 victory over Sweden’s Niklas Edin in Pictou.
Gim and co. battle Ottawa’s Rachel Homan in the women’s final at 2:30 p.m. ET (Sportsnet).
So, Guy … how is your Korean coming along?
“I will simply say that I have a huge accent,” Hemmings laughed.