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Canadian Drinkers Kicked Out of Bonspiel for Curling Under the Influence

Ryan Fry, a 2014 gold-medal winner at the Sochi Winter Olympics, and three others had to forfeit their final match at the Red Deer Curling Classic after getting too drunk.
Ryan Fry at the Tim Hortons Brier men's curling championship in 2016.
Photo by Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

A group of four men crashed a weekend party, got too drunk, became disruptive, and were asked to leave. No, this wasn't a high school house jam, we're talking about a professional curling tournament in Canada, of course.

Ryan Fry, a 2014 gold-medal winner at the Sochi Winter Olympics, along with three others got kicked out of the Red Deer Curling Classic in Alberta on Sunday for acting like belligerent teenagers—they got too smashed and started breaking stuff, and were eventually shown the door. The foursome, including Jamie Koe, Chris Schille, and DJ Kidby, had to forfeit their final match at the World Curling Tour after the tournament committee received numerous complaints about the group from both opponents and spectators.

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Facility manager Wade Thurber explained it like this to CBC Sports:

"They went out to curl and they were extremely drunk and breaking brooms and swearing and just unacceptable behaviour that nobody wants to watch or hear or listen to and it was just 'enough was enough.'"

"There was some damage in the locker room and other teams complaining about their stuff being kicked around in the locker room. So at the end of the day, it was like 'OK, that's enough of this gong show.' The committee for the bonspiel collectively decided that we needed to remove them from the spiel for this year and what happens down the road, I'm not sure yet."

It's clear these guys are living in the glory era, a time when zero fucks were given and you could light up smokes during a bonspiel (curling slang for tournament), while playing a few pints deep.

The golden days are long gone, but there's still lots to love about the best Olympic sport.

Fry, a member of the Brad Jacobs team—otherwise known as the badasses of curling!—released a statement to CBC Sports apologizing to fans, opponents, and organizers for his unruly behaviour.

"I came to the event to play and enjoy the sport. My actions were truly disrespectful and embarrassing—the committee was right to disqualify us from play."

"I allowed myself to lose control and I offended people with my actions. I wish nothing more than to apologize to everyone individually," he continued.

"I will be taking proper steps to ensure this problem can never happen again and I will strive to become a better version of myself while contributing positively to the sport and curling community that I love so much."

We hope Fry and the rest of the boys didn’t do anything too stupid and are back at another bonspiel in no time.

*Immediately googles best curling spots near me and checks beer menu*