The John Morris – Kevin Martin split: Team second Marc Kennedy gives the inside story

Even though the seeds of the Kevin Martin/John Morris split were in the wind for the last couple of years, team second Marc Kennedy was still hopeful a resolution could be reached and that the squad would remain intact for next season. In a candid interview this morning, Kennedy painted a portrait of a rink in various degrees of disintegration over the last two years or so, but one that was still hopeful of working through the obstacles that had been presented by a dissolving relationship between the skip and the third.

“The season had just finished so we were kind of looking for some time to think about things and debrief and then he kind of shocked us a bit yesterday," Kennedy said of Morris' announcement that he was leaving the team he'd played vice on for the last seven seasons, winning Olympic gold, two Briers and a world championship.

“We were still kind of waiting for them to work things out and get it going," Kennedy said of Martin and Morris.

Instead, according to Kennedy, Morris decided to take his leave and was not turfed by a vote by the front end, comprised of Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert. There were rumours floating on Wednesday that the two had been asked to choose between the skip and the third, that it was their decision to make as the team reorganized and got set to make a run at next December's Canadian Olympic Curling Trials.

"Before Ben and I could even have anymore conversations after the Players’ Championship, John pulled the plug. So, it never did come down to ‘we’re picking you or you,’ it never did come down to that. They knew that Ben and I had been quite upset and John’s the one that made a move first, I guess you could say.”

Kennedy expanded on his statement that He and Hebert had been "quite upset" over the spiralling play of the team over the course of the last 24 months.

“To be honest, Ben and I were a little bit disappointed over how our back end had been playing the last couple of years. I think a big reason for their lack of performance was the relationship between the two of them. They did not bring the best out of each other anymore. They really didn’t. Ben and I felt we were doing our jobs and that our fate was in the hands of two guys who couldn’t play their best with each other anymore.”

It was a scenario, he says, that played itself out over and over again, reprising itself just before the season ending Players' Championship in Toronto.

“The conversation had come up a few times. You know, ‘you guys need to get your stuff together.’ That conversation happened even up to a couple of weeks ago," said Kennedy.

An up and down season for the team was punctuated too much with failure, it seems. When Martin returned from mid season hernia surgery, the foursome went on a bit of a roll and was impressive at the Alberta Championships, besting Kevin Koe in an incredibly hard fought final. However, that was followed up by a loud thud at The Brier, with the team failing to make the playoffs.

A disappointing showing at The Players' (losing a tie-breaker to John Epping) meant some soul searching was in order again. Kennedy says no one on the team was prepared to let things fester through the off season and into an attempt to represent Canada at the Sochi Olympics.

“I think we were all either anxious to make a change or sit down and hopefully figure it out. We put some effort into trying to fix things and it just didn’t seem to be working out," Kennedy lamented.

Still, he says, he held out a glimmer of hope that there could be a resolution to the situation that would allow the four to press on.

“I was hoping so. I’ve had a pretty good chance to reflect here over the last day and I was hoping so. Maybe not for the right reasons. I just wanted to se us go out and finish this as a team whether we won or lost. There was a part of me that just wanted to see us be able to finish off the year next year, win or lose at the trials, give each other a good handshake and say ‘thanks for the great eight years’ and , you know, go down with a team that was maybe the best of all time. And we weren’t able to do that. So it was a sad day. To see it come to an end like that because we couldn’t gel anymore was very disappointing and very sad.”

“On the other hand, I respect John. I’ve got nothing but respect for him. Maybe this is what he needs to get his game going and maybe it’s what we need. Might be best for everyone.”

Kennedy expects the team will probably have an announcement on Morris' replacement "within, at the latest, two weeks." They could have had an announcement already had their first choice said 'yes.' Kennedy confirms that they reached out to Dave Nedohin to see if he'd be interested. “That was our first phone call. Beyond that we haven’t talked to anyone else yet.”

Nedohin, however, is committed to taking the first part of next year off to look after his children while wife, Heather, chases her own Olympic dreams at the trials.

"He did recommit to his schedule with Heather and his kids and says he’s not in a position to jump into that right away. We totally respect his decision," said Kennedy.

As to who the team is turning to now? No hints. “We’ve thrown a few names around," Kennedy explained, declining to identify what those names are. "We’ll be making a couple of phone calls here in the next few days."