Curling world loses feisty skip
Northern Ontario's Scott Patterson 'was a heck of a guy' 

Adam Daifallah
National Post

January 27, 2004

When a tragedy hits the curling world, word gets around pretty quickly. Curling is a small, tightly knit community and when something devastating happens, the pain is felt across the country.

Such was the case on the weekend when word emerged that Scott Patterson, an elite curler from North Bay, Ont., had been killed in a horrible car accident. Tributes and notes of condolences have flooded various curling Web sites and chatrooms, with messages appearing from former competitors, personal friends and curling fans and admirers.

According to reports, Patterson, 34, was driving a minivan with his three teammates en route to Sudbury for the Northern Ontario men's challenge round. Patterson tried to avoid colliding with an out-of-control pickup truck rushing at his vehicle, but couldn't get out of the way in time. While all four members of the team were hurt, only Patterson's injuries were fatal. Teammates John McClelland and Gerry Cantin had minor injuries, while Greg Cantin was as of yesterday still in hospital reportedly recovering from a ruptured spleen.

"It's an awful, awful thing," McClelland told the North Bay Nugget. "This is a heck of a guy we lost. He got along with everybody. He was the first one to say, 'Let's go for a beer.'"

While the Nugget reported Patterson's death as happening sometime Saturday morning, it later retracted the story to say he was in critical condition. Patterson was apparently brain dead, but was kept on life support until family arrived to make the final call on whether to continue. He officially died early Sunday morning.

Patterson skipped his way to the Brier twice, the only team from North Bay to do so. He finished with a 7-4 record at the 1994 event, and went 6-5 in 1999, narrowly missing the playoffs both times. Patterson and Phil Loevenmark, his vice in the two Brier appearances, also played front end for Russ and Glenn Howard for one year.

The team competed in the 1997 Olympic curling playdowns, but was forced to split up due to playdown residency requirements (the front end lived in Northern Ontario, while the Howards were in the south.)

Reached last night in Moncton, Howard was still in shock about his former teammate.

"It's so hard to believe. My vice, James [Grattan], phoned me, and the first comment wasn't good, but we didn't think he was going to pass away. Your brain won't let you think that way," Howard said.

Danny Lamoureux, the manager of curling club development at the Canadian Curling Association, grew up in the same town as Patterson -- Pembroke, Ont. -- and they learned how to play at the same curling club.

"It's an awful thing really, to have to remember someone's life at age 34 all the while contemplating how thousands of men and women jump into cars on many winter days to drive long distances to curl in bonspiels or playdowns," Lamoureux said yesterday.

Patterson's success had a big impact on curling in North Bay, he said.

"As a city, North Bay had suffered through decades of watching other Northern Ontario cities cheer their men at curling's holy grail, never to get their chance. Scott gave them that opportunity twice and came close to winning more 'purple' a few other times."

Patterson, who worked for Labatt Breweries, was known as a feisty competitor who always made time for family. He had scaled back his out-of-town bonspieling in recent years to be with his wife Tracy and two young children.

"I always got the sense that Scott had a really good balance in his life," said Jon Mead, the third in the Jeff Stoughton rink. "He balanced his curling with his family and career really well. There is a whole lot more to life than winning and losing curling games."

Indeed there is. The thoughts and prayers of the entire curling world are with Tracy and her children.

© National Post 2004