Benjamin Hebert2017 Brier Media Guide: Previous Rosters (born March 16, 1983) is a Canadian curler, 2010 Winter Olympics and 2026 Winter Olympics gold medallist, 2008 and 2016 World Champion, and Five time Brier Champion from Chestermere, Alberta. He currently plays lead on Team Brad Jacobs.
In 2019, Hebert was named the greatest Canadian male lead in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers.
Career Juniors Hebert, from Regina, Saskatchewan, began curling during his school years. In 1998, he led his high school team to compete in the finals for the city of Regina, ultimately losing to the group from Campbell Collegiate. Hebert was also the 5th player on Team Canada, skipped by Steve Laycock, which won the 2003 World Junior Curling Championships.
Mens Team Simmons (2003–2006) Hebert started his men's career in his home province of Saskatchewan, where he played lead for Pat Simmons. They would notably win 2 SaskTel Tankard titles and represented Saskatchewan in two Briers (2005 & 2006). The team finished 6–5 and 5–6 respectively.
Team Martin (2006–2014) 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 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 against the Glenn Howard 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, winning the gold medal after their 6-3 defeat of Thomas Ulsrud in the finals. Team Martin then capped an amazing 2009/2010 season by winning The Players Championship with an 8-7 extra end victory over Brad Gushue. 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.Curlin season
The Martin rink's first event of the 2011–12 World Curling Tour was the Point Optical Curling Classic, where they finished as a runner-up to Mike McEwen. The rink rebounded and won their first event of the season, the Westcoast Curling Classic, against McEwen. At the World Cup of Curling, the Martin rink finished the round robin with a 4–1 win–loss record, but missed a chance to win another Grand Slam title after he was edged past by John Epping, 3–4. He failed to make it into the playoffs at his next event, the Sun Life Classic. He and his team then competed in the Canada Cup of Curling, securing close wins over Glenn Howard and Jeff Stoughton in the round robin and finishing the round robin undefeated. He then played Howard in the final, and managed to defeat him with a score of 7–4. He and his team also earned berths into the 2012 Canada Cup, Continental Cup, and, most importantly, the 2013 Olympic Trials.
The Martin rink began their 2012–13 season at the Canada Cup of Curling, where they disappointingly finished the event with a 1–5 record, out of the playoffs. They then participated in the 2013 Continental Cup, where he assisted in leading Team North America to a fifth win over Team World. The team then competed in the Alberta provincials, where he clinched the first seed in the playoffs after edging provincial rival Kevin Koe. He defeated Aaron Sluchinski in the page playoff, and edged Koe in an extra end in the final to claim another provincial title. At the 2013 Brier, Martin and team began the round-robin with one win and four losses, including losses to Jeff Stoughton, Jean-Michel Ménard, and eventual champion Brad Jacobs, before winning their final six matches. Despite a 7–4 win–loss record, they did not qualify for the playoffs, placing fifth and becoming the first Alberta team since Kevin Martin's squad in 2000 to miss the playoffs. At the Players' Championship, Martin and team 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, Martin's longtime third, John Morris, announced that he and Martin were parting ways.
A few weeks after Morris announced his departure from the team, Martin announced that David Nedohin, the fourth player on his former provincial rival Randy Ferbey's team, would join Martin's team. Martin and team won their first event of the season at the Shoot-Out. They made the semifinals in their next event at the Point Optical Curling Classic, but Martin injured his back during the semifinal game. Jeff Sharp subbed in at lead, and Martin's team finished the event as runners-up to Jeff Stoughton. After winning the final of the Direct Horizontal Drilling Fall Classic over Brock Virtue and posting a semifinals finish at the Cactus Pheasant Classic, Martin played in the Masters Grand Slam, finishing the round robin with a 3–1 win–loss record. He proceeded to win his games over Kevin Koe and Liu Rui before reaching the final, where he played a close game with Glenn Howard until Howard pulled away with the win.
Martin attempted to qualify for his fourth Olympics appearance through the 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials. In the round robin, he and his team played consistently and posted a 6–1 win–loss record, with their only loss coming to eventual champion Brad Jacobs. Their record qualified for the semifinal, where they lost a close game to John Morris's team.
After starting off the Canadian Open of Curling with a 4–1 win–loss record, Martin dropped his quarterfinals game against Brad Gushue in the final end of the game. Martin also posted a strong start at the next Grand Slam, The National, but lost to Glenn Howard in the quarterfinals. On April 18, 2014 Martin announced his retirement from curling following the conclusion of the 2014 Players' Championship. At their last tournament together, Martin posted a 3–2 win–loss record in the round robin, and advanced to the playoffs. He edged John Epping and Mike McEwen en route to the final, where he recorded a 4–3 win over Brad Jacobs. At the end of the season, Marc Kennedy and Hebert announced that they would be joining provincial rival Kevin Koe in the next season.
Team Koe (2014–2022) Hebert joined Koe as lead alongside Kennedy at third, and second Brent Laing from Ontario who had left the Glenn Howard rink. With his new team, Koe successfully repeated as Albertan champion in the 2015 Boston Pizza Cup, which qualified them to represent Alberta at the 2015 Tim Hortons Brier. There, they finished with a 6–5 record, missing the playoffs. On the tour, his new team won the Direct Horizontal Drilling Fall Classic and the Karuizawa International Curling Championship.
The Koe rink found more success in the 2015–16 season. The team began the season by winning the inaugural GSOC Tour Challenge Grand Slam event. They would also win the 2015 Canada Cup of Curling and would go on to win the 2016 Boston Pizza Cup, sending their team to that year's Brier. After going 8–3 at the 2016 Tim Hortons Brier, Koe and his foursome railed off three straight victories in the playoffs (again having to come out of the 3 vs. 4 game), defeating Newfoundland and Labrador's Brad Gushue in the final. The team would represent Canada at the 2016 World Men's Curling Championship, losing just one game en route to winning the gold medal. Koe led Canada to a 5–3 win over Denmark, skipped by Rasmus Stjerne, in the final. On the tour, the team won the Direct Horizontal Drilling Fall Classic again and the Mercure Perth Masters. They would finish the season in first place on the World Curling Tour Order of Merit rankings and in the CTRS standings. Koe's win at the 2016 Brier qualified the team to represent Team Canada at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier. Koe again led his team to an 8–3 round robin record, and again had to fight through the 3 vs. 4 game and the semifinals in the playoffs to make it to the final, where he faced Brad Gushue in a re-match of the 2016 Brier. However, Gushue and his Newfoundland rink would win the re-match in front of a partisan home crowd. Earlier in the year, Koe would win the 2017 Pinty's All-Star Curling Skins Game, winning $71,000 for his team. On the tour, the team would win the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic and the Red Deer Curling Classic.
Later in the year, Team Koe played in the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, leading his team to a 7–1 round robin record, which put him in the final against Mike McEwen. Koe would get the better of McEwen, qualifying his rink to represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics. At the Olympics, the team started off strong, winning their first four matches. However, in the seminfinal match, Koe's team lost to John Shuster of the United States, the first time a Canadian team had failed to make the finals at the Olympics. The team then lost again in the bronze medal match versus Switzerland, to place fourth overall. Koe was the first skip to fail to medal at the Olympics in Canadian history. The team was devastated by the upset loss, with their head coach John Dunn telling CBC News a year later that "The Olympics will scar all of us who went through that forever."On April 15, 2018, Koe won the Player's Championship Grand Slam of Curling event with a 6–2 victory over Niklas Edin of Sweden. After the season, Kennedy and Laing left the team and were replaced with B. J. Neufeld and Colton Flasch.