Curling out of Ontario, Canada, Russell “Russ” Howard skipped (captained) a rink (team) to victory at the provincial championships eight times (1980, 1986-1987, 1989, 1991-1994) and the Canadian national championships twice (1987, 1993), as well as two gold medals at the 1987 and 1993 World Championships. In the late 1990s he began curling out of New Brunswick and won six additional provincial titles (1999-2000, 2002-2004, 2009) as skip, but the closest he came to capturing a national title was in 2000, when he was runner-up. Perhaps the peak of his career, however, came when he skipped Brad Gushue’s rink at the 2005 Olympic trial, although Gushue continued to throw the fourth stone, typically reserved for the skip, and had Howard throw the second. Their victory at this event earned them right to represent Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where they won the nation’s first gold medal in men’s curling at the tournament. Howard, who turned 50 during the event, became the oldest Canadian and first from New Brunswick to win a gold at the Games. As of 2009, when he is not curling, he works as a motivational speaker across Canada, a real estate agent for RE/MAX, a part-time commentator with The Sports Network (since 2001), and curling coach in Switzerland. In 2006 he was made a member of the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame and in 2007 his autobiography “Hurry Hard: The Russ Howard Story” was released. He is also the developer of the “Moncton Rule”, which eventually involved into the “four-rock” or “free guard zone” rule, a modern staple of international curling tournaments. The latter states that until the first two rocks from each side have been played, rocks in the free guard zone cannot be knocked out of play by an opponent’s stone, or else they are replaced and the rock that hit them is removed from play. Howard’s modified version, which set the threshold at three rocks instead of four, was used in Canada for many years prior to their switch to the Moncton Rule.
Canada