John Morris (curler)

John Morris
Curler
Born	(1978-12-16) December 16, 1978 Winnipeg, Manitoba
Team
Curling club	Chestermere CC, Chestermere[1]
Skip	John Morris
Fourth	Jim Cotter
Second	Tyrel Griffith
Lead	Rick Sawatsky
Career
Brier appearances	9 (2002, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
World Championship appearances	3 (2008, 2009, 2015)
Top CTRS ranking	1st (2006–07, 2007–08, 2009-10, 2010-11)
Grand Slam victories	10: The National (Mar 2007, Dec 2007, Dec. 2010); Players (2004, 2007, 2010, 2011); Canadian Open (Jan 2007, Dec 2007, 2010)
Medal record Curling Representing  Canada Olympic Games 2010 Vancouver Men's World Curling Championships 2008 Grand Forks Men's 2009 Moncton Men's 2015 Halifax Men's World Junior Curling Championships 1998 Thunder Bay Men's 1999 Östersund Men's Representing  Ontario Nokia Brier 2002 Calgary Men's Representing  Alberta Canadian Olympic Curling Trials 2005 Halifax Men's 2009 Edmonton Men's Tim Hortons Brier 2008 Winnipeg Men's 2009 Calgary Men's 2015 Calgary Men's Representing  British Columbia Canadian Olympic Curling Trials 2013 Winnipeg Men's Tim Hortons Brier 2014 Kamloops Men's

John Morris (born December 16, 1978 in Winnipeg, Manitoba; nicknamed "Johnny Mo") is a Canadian curler, and Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic gold medalist from Canmore, Alberta. Morris played third for the Kevin Martin^[2] team until 24 April 2013. Morris, author of the book Fit to Curl,^[3] is the son of Maureen and Earle Morris, inventor of the "Stabilizer" curling broom. Morris grew up in Ottawa and at the age of five began curling at the Navy Curling Club.

Career

Early career

After finishing second at the Canadian Junior Championships, Morris, who at the time curled out of the Ottawa Curling Club, went on to win the next two national championships in 1998 and 1999, setting records for most wins by a skip along the way. In both those same years, Morris would win world junior championships; in 1998 against Garry MacKay of Scotland and in 1999 against Christian Haller of Switzerland.^[4]

After living in Ottawa, Morris moved to Southwestern Ontario to attend Wilfrid Laurier University, and curled out of the Stayner Granite Club in Stayner, Ontario.^[5] During the 2001 Olympic trials Morris garnered national attention after a difficult loss to Russ Howard. While in Stayner, Morris won the 2002 Ontario provincial championships, qualifying him for the 2002 Nokia Brier. At the Brier, Morris would lose to Alberta's Randy Ferbey in the final. By 2004, Morris had moved to Calgary, where he played out of the Calgary Winter Club.

2006–2013

In 2006, the formerly dubbed bad-boy of curling joined forces with veteran skip Kevin Martin^[6] on a four-year plan aimed at winning a gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics.^[7] On February 27, 2007 just four days before the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier Morris was hit by a car. He was knocked unconscious, but went on to compete at the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier, where Alberta placed fourth after a loss to Jeff Stoughton in the 3-4 page playoff.^[8] Morris later recovered by winning all-star third in the tournament.

Morris and the Kevin Martin (Alberta) rink returned to the 2008 Brier in Winnipeg. Roughly a week before the Brier, Morris broke his right hand and subsequently had to wear a special brace while sweeping.^[9] The Martin team went 11-0 in the round robin, and won their 1-2 playoff game to make the finals. In a game marred by tricky ice and missed opportunities, Alberta won by a score of 5-4. Morris was named MVP of the finals after curling 90%. At the following 2008 World Men's Curling Championship, Morris led all players with a round robin percentage of 90%, and helped team Canada to a World Championship crown; the first for any player on the team.

At the 2009 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, Morris and Team Martin won the tournament and the chance to represent Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. On February 27 at the Vancouver Olympics, Team Martin won the gold medal with a score of 6-3 in the final against Thomas Ulsrud of Norway.^[10]

Morris represented Alberta at the 2011 Tim Hortons Brier with Team Martin after winning the provincials. They finished with a 9–2 win-loss record, but dropped their page playoff game against Ontario's Glenn Howard and lost the bronze medal game against Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador.

In the 2011–12 curling season, Morris and the rest of the team won the Canada Cup of Curling over Glenn Howard, giving them a berth into the 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials. They participated in the 2012 Alberta provincials, but struggled against Kevin Koe and Brock Virtue, eventually losing the semifinal to Virtue.

Team Martin was unable to defend their Canada Cup title in 2012, finishing outside of the playoffs. Morris subbed in as skip for an injured Martin at the Canadian Open of Curling, and played with former teammate Joe Frans, finishing with a 2–3 win-loss record. After Martin recovered, the team went to the 2013 provincials, where a close win over Kevin Koe in the final gave them the right to represent the home team Alberta at the 2013 Tim Hortons Brier. The team went to the Players' Championship, where they finished with a 2–2 win-loss record, and they advanced to a tiebreaker, where they lost to John Epping. A few days after the conclusion of the Players' Championship, on 24 April 2013, Morris announced that he and Martin were parting ways.^[11] One week later, it was announced that Morris would join Jim Cotter and his team for the 2013–14 season.^[12]

http://www.calgarysun.com/2015/03/06/team-canadas-mid-brier-switch-provides-spark

2013–present

Morris would find immediate success with the Cotter rink, skipping the team out of the Kelowna Curling Club, and throwing third rocks. The team qualified for the 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials through the pre-trials event, only to lose in the final to the Brad Jacobs team that would go on to win the Olympic gold medal. Following that the team won the British Columbia provincial championship and the right to represent the province at the 2014 Tim Hortons Brier. This makes Morris one of only three curlers to have played for three different provinces at the Brier, joining his father Earle and Ryan Fry.^[13] Morris' B.C. rink lost the 2014 Kamloops Brier final 10-5 to Alberta's Kevin Koe.^[14]

Rule changes implemented for the 2015 Tim Hortons Brier mean that for the first time defending Brier champions will be afforded an automatic entry in the following year's Brier. For the 2015 Brier this entry would normally have gone to Koe, however, in the 2014 off-season Koe announced he was leaving his team to form a new team. Under CCA rules, this left Koe's former teammates with the automatic entry for the 2015 Brier. Koe's former teammates subsequently recruited Morris to skip them, thus ensuring that Morris, despite being the 2014 Brier runner-up, would skip the first-ever Team Canada entry in a Brier.

After Team Canada started off 2-3 Morris approached third Pat Simmons with an idea that Simmons skip and Morris move to vice.^[15] The move paid off as the rink went on to win the Canadian championship; they won the bronze (third place) medal at the 2015 world championships in Halifax.

Personal life

Morris, a certified personal trainer, currently serves as a full-time firefighter for Chestermere Fire Service.^[16] Drawing on his degree in Kinesiology from Wilfrid Laurier University,^[2] in 2009 Morris co-authored the book Fit to Curl, a sport-specific training manual.^[17]

In 2010, Morris was featured by ET Canada in a Valentines special as one of Canada's most eligible bachelors.^[18]

Morris has been a big brother with Calgary and area BBBS since 2011.^[19]

Currently Morris, who also has a passion for cooking, is a Certified Holistic Nutritionist and volunteers at the Ronald MacDonald House to cook nutritious meals for families who are staying at the house and are going through difficult times.

Morris is the third generation of his family to compete in the Brier. As well as his father Earle, his great-grandfather Cliff McLachlan skipped Saskatchewan in the 1933 Canadian championships.^[13]

Teams

From left: Kevin Martin, Morris, Marc Kennedy, Ben Hebert

Awards

• Canadian Junior Men First Team All-star skip: 1998
• Canadian Junior Men First Team All-star skip: 1999
• WJCC All-star skip: 1999
• Canadian Citizenship Award: 1999
• Canadian Men's Curling Championship First Team All-star Third: 2007
• Canadian Men's Curling Championship First Team All-star Third: 2008
• MVP-Canadian Men's Curling Championship Final

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Morris (curler).

• John Morris on the World Curling Federation database
• John Morris on the World Curling Tour database