Benjamin "Ben" Hebert (born March 16, 1983) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

list, 2008 World Champion and four time Brier Champion from

Chestermere, Alberta Chestermere, originally named Chestermere Lake, is a city in the Canadian province of Alberta, within Rocky View County. It is largely a commuter town of Calgary and is a member municipality of the Calgary Metropolitan Region, Calgary Region. Th ...

. In 2019, Hebert was named the greatest Canadian male

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers.

Career

Hebert, originally from Regina, Saskatchewan, began curling during his school years. In 1998, he lead his high school team to compete in the finals for the city of Regina, ultimately losing to the group from Campbell Collegiate. He played lead for Pat Simmons from 2003 to 2006, where he played in two Briers for Saskatchewan (2005 & 2006). The team finished 6-5 and 5-6 respectively. Hebert was also the 5th player on Team Canada, skipped by

Steve Laycock Stephen "Steve" Laycock (born October 29, 1982 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian curler from Saskatoon. He currently skips his own team out of Saskatoon. Career In 2003, Laycock skipped Team Saskatchewan to a Canadian Junior Curling Ch ...

, which won the World Junior Curling Championships in 2003. Hebert moved to Alberta, and joined up briefly with the John Morris team. He then went with Morris later on in the year to play for Kevin Martin. With his new team, he won the

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world ...

in 2007 and finished fourth place at the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier. In 2008, Hebert was a part of the Alberta team that won the 2008 Tim Hortons Brier, and a member of Team Canada that won the 2008 World Men's Curling Championship. In 2009, Hebert was again the Lead for Team Alberta that repeated as 2009 Tim Hortons Brier Champions as they went 13-0 for the second consecutive Brier, and in the process set a new Brier record with most consecutive wins at 26. Scandal broke out in their final round robin game at the

2009 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials The 2009 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials were held December 6–13, 2009 at Rexall Place in Edmonton. The event is also known and advertised as ''Roar of the Rings''. The winner of the men's and women's events represented Canada at the 2010 Winter ...

against the

Glenn Howard Glenn William Howard (born July 17, 1962) is a Canadian curler who is one of the most decorated curlers of all time. He has won four world championships, four Briers and 17 Ontario provincial championships, including a record eight straight ...

rink. Howard's third, Richard Hart, accused Hebert of an illegal brushing move in the 9th end. Replays show Hebert illegally lifting his broom off the ice in a vertical direction, instead of lifting it off to the side. This tactic is sometimes made to slow down a rock by dropping debris in front of the rock. Indeed, the rock he was sweeping was heavy, and Hebert's tactic may have caused the rock to veer off course slightly. Whether or not the act was intentional was left undiscovered. Hebert and the rest of Team Martin went on to defeat Glenn Howard in the Final of the 2009 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials. Team Martin went on to represent Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, winning the gold medal after their 6-3 defeat of

Thomas Ulsrud Thomas Ulsrud (21 October 1971 – 24 May 2022) was a Norwegian curler from Oslo. He won a silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, one World Curling Championship, two European Curling Championships, and fourteen Norwegian titles (Norwegian Men ...

in the finals. Team Martin then capped an amazing 2009/2010 season by winning

The Players Championship The Players Championship (commonly known as simply The Players, stylized by the PGA Tour as The PLAYERS Championship) is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour. Originally known as the Tournament Players Championship, it began in 1974. The P ...

with an 8-7 extra end victory over

Brad Gushue Bradley Raymond Gushue, ONL ( ; born June 16, 1980) is a Canadian curler from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Gushue, along with teammates Russ Howard, Mark Nichols, Jamie Korab and Mike Adam, represented Canada in curling at the 2006 W ...

. Martin's team finished 2010 at the top of the WCT Money List with $139,750 and at the top of the WCT Order of Merit. Martin and co. capped the season with a 32-game winning streak. Hebert and Team Martin won The National in December 2010. In January 2011, Team Martin won the TSN Skins Game defeating Scotland's David Murdoch in the Final and earning $57,000 in the process. They later defeated Kevin Koe in the Alberta Provincial Final and went on to finish 4th at the 2011 Tim Horton's Brier where Hebert was named a First Team All Star at Lead. They capped the season with a win at the Players Championship. With the win, Hebert and his team won the $25,000 first-place prize, plus took home a $50,000 bonus for winning the season-long Capital One Cup points race. The rink finished the season with $125,500 in prize money, second only to Winnipeg's Mike McEwen, who collected $127,490.

Personal life

Hebert is married and has two children. He is a Business Development Manager with Caltech Surveys Ltd, primarily an oil and gas land surveying company servicing Western Canada (BC, AB, SK, and MB). His cousins DJ and

Dustin Kidby Dustin "Deuce" Kidby (born May 26, 1985) is a Canadian curler from Regina, Saskatchewan. He most recently threw lead rocks for Team Matt Dunstone. Career Juniors Kidby represented Saskatchewan at two Canadian Junior Curling Championships. The f ...

are also curlers, as is his uncle Brad Hebert.

Teams

References

External links

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"Regina-born curler Ben Hebert ready to make Olympic memories of his own"
''Leader-Post'', Rob Vanstone, February 10, 2010
"Interesting take on sweeping from Ben Hebert; and stop flopping, Andy Kapp!"
''Calgary Herald'', Al Cameron, April 6, 2009
"A Day in the Life with Canadian Olympian – Ben Hebert"
Riley Moynes – Living Sky Media plus {{DEFAULTSORT:Hebert, Ben Curlers from Alberta Curlers from Regina, Saskatchewan 1983 births Living people World curling champions Brier champions Curlers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic curlers for Canada Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in curling Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics People from Rocky View County Canadian male curlers Continental Cup of Curling participants Curlers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Canada Cup (curling) participants