Randy Ferbey

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Randy Ferbey
Players
(2006, 2009)
Medal record
Men's curling
Representing  Canada
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1989 Milwaukee
Team
Gold medal – first place
2002 Bismarck
Team
Gold medal – first place
2003 Winnipeg
Team
Gold medal – first place
2005 Victoria
Team
Silver medal – second place 1988 Lausanne
Team
Representing  Alberta
Brier
Gold medal – first place 1988 Chicoutimi-Jonquière
Gold medal – first place 1989 Regina
Gold medal – first place 2001 Ottawa
Gold medal – first place 2002 Calgary
Gold medal – first place 2003 Halifax
Gold medal – first place 2005 Edmonton
Silver medal – second place 2004 Saskatoon
Canadian Olympic Trials
Silver medal – second place 1987 Calgary

Randy S. Ferbey

Canadian champion and a four-time World Champion. He recently coached the Rachel Homan women's team.[2]

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Ferbey notably popularized the system of having the skip throw third rocks, when he skipped the team nicknamed "the Ferbey Four", a team that he won four Briers (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005) and narrowly missed winning the 2004 final after giving up a 7–3 lead to Mark Dacey. Others teams in both men's and women's curling have adopted the system of not having the skip throw last stones, such as the Margaretha Sigfridsson rink, who would win an Olympic Silver medal and numerous World silver medals and European gold medals by skipping while throwing lead stones, and Jim Cotter throwing last rocks for John Morris who would together reach the finals of both 2014 Olympic Curling Trials and 2014 Brier. The Ferbey Four also popularized the "numbered zones", when calling out the weight of various draw shots.[3] Many consider the quartet together at its peak from 2002–2006 to be either the best team or very near to the best team in curling history. Nedohin's often near perfect shotmaking (regularly having games in the high 90s), Ferbey's extremely aggressive shot calling, and the stellar brushing and front end stones of Marcel Rocque and Scott Pfeifer (nicknamed Huff and Puff for their tireless work on the broom) made them an incredibly difficult challenge for every opponent.

All together, he has played in eight

TSN Skins Games. In In 2019, Ferbey was named the greatest Canadian male third in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers.[3]
As he threw third stones for most of his career, Ferbey was considered a third rather than a skip as his position.

Career

Early years with Pat Ryan

Ferbey participated in his first

World Curling Federation to implement the 3-rock rule, and later the 4-rock rule to force more offense. At the 1989 Worlds, Ferbey and Team Ryan won their first World Championships, beating Switzerland's Patrick Hürlimann in the finals. In 1990, Ferbey left the team, and was unsuccessful at attempting to make it to the Brier with his new team of Don Walchuk, Pat McCallum, and Greg Muzechka. Although they did make it to the final four teams at the 1990 Alberta Championships, failing to make the 1990 Labatt Brier in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
.

The "Ferbey Four"

After playing his last season with Ryan in 1997 where he played in the British Columbia playdowns, Ferbey teamed up with a young David Nedohin in 1997 with Carter Rycroft and Pat McCallum. After a reasonably successful season, reaching the Semi-Finals of the World Curling Tour Championship, and winning the Edmonton Superleague, Ferbey picked up Scott Pfeifer, bumping Rycroft to lead.

In 1999, Rycroft left the team to play with Ferbey's main rival,

2005 Men's Ford World Curling Championships were marked with struggles, as the team finished the round-robin with three losses – tied for first with five other teams. After having a 4–3 record, Ferbey mounted eight straight wins for the championship over David Murdoch of Scotland
in a convincing 11–4 victory. Additionally, the Ferbey rink was the first team in history to score five on any single end in the world finals – and they managed this feat twice at the 2005 Ford World Curling Championships.

Many attribute Ferbey's success during this time to the boycott that other major teams of the early 2000s had of the Brier, to play in

Grand Slam
events. Ferbey did not boycott the Brier, and as a result, played in very few Grand Slam events. This however could only possibly be applied to his 2002 and 2003 Brier wins, as his first Brier title in 2001 was before the emergence of the official Grand Slam circuit with all top teams involved in provincial playdowns, and his final Brier title in 2005 was after the conflict had been resolved and player's boycott lifted with all now participating in provincial playdowns. After Ferbey's run of 4 Brier wins from 2001–2005, Ferbey rink failed to win another provincial title, as Kevin Martin's rink would win the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 provincial tournaments; from 2007 onwards with a new team with young guns Ben Hebert and Marc Kennedy as his front end, and former rival John Morris as his third. The Ferbey four would still remain one of the top teams in the country however, as they would win three Grand Slam events in their career, but Kevin Martin and Glenn Howard would supplant Team Ferbey as the two dominant teams in the country over this quadrennial. David Nedohin would lose his edge as the games top shooter over this period as well.

One of the big disappoints for the team was their failure to qualify for the Olympics. After winning their first Brier, the team went 5–4 at the 2001 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, missing out on the playoffs or a tiebreaker by just 1 game. In 2005 after winning their final Brier, they finished just 4–5 at the Trials that year. In 2009, the team had another disappointing Olympic Trials, finishing 3–4.

Teaming up with Brad Gushue

In April 2010, Randy Ferbey announced he would be joining

2010 Players' Championships. Ferbey lost to Gushue 8–3. In their first event as a team, the rink lost to Thomas Lips in the final of the 2010 Baden Masters
.

In December 2010, Randy Ferbey and David Nedohin announced they would team up once again in an attempt to play in the 2011 Boston Pizza Cup for a chance to represent Alberta at the 2011 Tim Hortons Brier.[10]

On February 9, 2011, Randy Ferbey announced his time curling with Brad Gushue had come to an end. He stated he knew after the Canadian Open Grand Slam Event, he was done curling with them.

The final season and retirement

In the 2011–12 curling season, Ferbey teamed up with longtime teammate David Nedohin, who threw fourth stones. Ferbey skipped at third position, and Ted Appelman and Brendan Melnyk played as second and lead, respectively.[11] They fared rather well on the World Curling tour, winning The Shoot-Out and finishing second at the Cactus Pheasant Classic. However, they failed to qualify for the playoffs at the 2011 World Cup of Curling and the 2011 BDO Canadian Open of Curling.

Ferbey decided to retire from competitive curling after attempting to construct a team that might be able to qualify for the 2013 Olympic Trials,

WCF Hall of Fame in 2014.[14]

In 2023 Ferbey and his Team Ferbey rinkmates (David Nedohin, Scott Pfeifer and Marcel Rocque) were inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.[15]

Personal life

Ferbey is a representative for Everest Funeral Concierge Service. He is married and has three children.[2]

Teams

Season Skip Third Second Lead Events
1986–87 Pat Ryan Randy Ferbey Don Walchuk Roy Hebert 1987 Brier
1987–88 Pat Ryan Randy Ferbey Don Walchuk Don McKenzie 1988 Brier, WCC
1988–89 Pat Ryan Randy Ferbey Don Walchuk Don McKenzie 1989 Brier, WCC
1994–95[16][17] Brad Hannah Randy Ferbey Pat McCallum Rich Vurko
1995[18] Kevin Martin Randy Ferbey Don Walchuk Don Bartlett
1996–97 Pat Ryan Ed Lukowich Randy Ferbey Merv Bodnarchuk
1997–98 David Nedohin (fourth) Randy Ferbey (skip) Carter Rycroft Pat McCallum
1998–99 David Nedohin (fourth) Randy Ferbey (skip) Scott Pfeifer Carter Rycroft
1999–00 David Nedohin (fourth) Randy Ferbey (skip) Scott Pfeifer Marcel Rocque
2000–01 David Nedohin (fourth) Randy Ferbey (skip) Scott Pfeifer Marcel Rocque 2001
WCC
2001–02 David Nedohin (fourth) Randy Ferbey (skip) Scott Pfeifer Marcel Rocque 2002
WCC
2002–03 David Nedohin (fourth) Randy Ferbey (skip) Scott Pfeifer Marcel Rocque 2003
WCC
2003–04 David Nedohin (fourth) Randy Ferbey (skip) Scott Pfeifer Marcel Rocque 2004 Alta., Brier
2004–05 David Nedohin (fourth) Randy Ferbey (skip) Scott Pfeifer Marcel Rocque 2005
WCC
2007–08 David Nedohin (fourth) Randy Ferbey (skip) Scott Pfeifer Marcel Rocque 2008 Alta.
2008–09 David Nedohin (fourth) Randy Ferbey (skip) Scott Pfeifer Marcel Rocque 2009 Alta.
2009–10 David Nedohin (fourth) Randy Ferbey (skip) Scott Pfeifer Marcel Rocque 2009 COCT, 2010 Alta.
2010–11 Brad Gushue (fourth) Randy Ferbey (skip) Mark Nichols Ryan Fry
Randy Ferbey David Nedohin Blayne Iskiw David Harper 2011 Alta.
2011–12 David Nedohin (fourth) Randy Ferbey (skip) Ted Appelman Brendan Melnyk

Grand Slam record

Key
C Champion
F Lost in Final
SF Lost in Semifinal
QF Lost in Quarterfinals
R16 Lost in the round of 16
Q Did not advance to playoffs
T2 Played in Tier 2 event
DNP Did not participate in event
N/A Not a Grand Slam event that season
Event 2003–04 2004–05
2005–06
2006–07
2007–08
2008–09
2009–10
2010–11
2011–12
World Cup/Masters
Q QF C F QF QF Q QF Q
The National
DNP Q SF SF DNP SF F Q DNP
Canadian Open
DNP F SF F
QF
Q QF Q Q
Players'
DNP DNP C SF QF C QF DNP DNP

References

  1. ^ 2017 Brier Media Guide: Previous Rosters
  2. ^ a b "2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Media Guide" (PDF). Curling Canada. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  3. ^ "Canada's Greatest Curlers: Six-time Brier champ Ferbey honoured as greatest third - TSN.ca". March 6, 2019.
  4. ^ "Nedohin locks up Brier berth". Edmonton Journal. February 12, 2001. p. D1. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  5. ^ "Ferbey rink dodges early bullet". Edmonton Journal. February 11, 2002. p. D7. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  6. ^ "Ferbey fire burns brilliantly". Edmonton Journal. February 10, 2003. p. D2. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  7. ^ "Ferbey's going back to the Brier". Edmonton Journal. February 16, 2004. p. D1. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  8. ^ "Ferbey: Lord of the Rings". Edmonton Journal. February 14, 2005. p. D3. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  9. ^ "Ferbey will throw third rocks | Other Sports | Sports | Edmonton Sun". Archived from the original on April 10, 2010.
  10. ^ [1][usurped]
  11. ^ [2][usurped]
  12. ^ "Canadian Ferbey retires from competitive curling". CBC Sports. March 20, 2012.
  13. TSN Curling
    . March 20, 2012.
  14. ^ "Ferbey retires from curling". Calgary Herald. March 21, 2012.
  15. ^ "Virtue and Moir lead star-studded group of inductees into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame". CBC Sports. October 19, 2023. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  16. ^ "Hannah".
  17. ^ "Hannah".
  18. ^ "Broda goes from chump to champ". Edmonton Journal. February 19, 1996. p. D3. Retrieved July 24, 2020.

External links