Carey coach apologizes for “shut up” to ump at Tournament of Hearts

MOOSE JAW, Sask. — Chelsea Carey’s coach and father apologized to an official for telling her to “shut up” at the Canadian women’s curling championship.

An exchange between Dan Carey and an umpire Monday became tense after Carey was told he was running out of time to speak to his team during a timeout.

“I just got here. There’s no way. Then let me talk. Shut up,” he was heard to say on the television broadcast.

Curling Canada said Tuesday he apologized to the official.

“Curling Canada’s policy remains to not publicly announce punishments or fines to participants in events,” the organization said in a statement.

“We do not condone the actions of the coach in this incident. We can confirm that the matter has been dealt with, and that the coach apologized in person to the official, and that the apology was accepted.”

Carey, who won a Canadian men’s championship playing third for Vic Peters in 1992, was on the coach’s bench Tuesday morning for his daughter’s game against Alberta.

Chelsea Carey, the defending champion, had called a timeout in the ninth end of a 6-5 extra-end loss to Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson on Monday.

Each team is allowed to call two 90-second timeouts per game.

Dan walked to the away end of the ice to discuss strategy with the Calgary foursome.

“She told me I had 10 seconds left. I just got there,” Dan Carey said Monday following that game. “They start the clock as soon as they said time out.

“I said ‘that can’t be.’ She said ‘five seconds’ and then started talking to me.

“I’m trying to talk the team and she’s still talking at me. If I’ve got five seconds left, let me talk.

“I probably shouldn’t have said shut up, but I did.”

The 65-year-old said he didn’t know how long it took for him to walk from the coach’s bench at the home end of the ice to the away end.

“They tell you not to run,” Dan Carey said Monday. “I’ll tell you this. The next time the timeout is at the far end, I’m running.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2020.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press