Pal Trulsen was supposed to be a
ski jumper. It was the sport of his father. Admittedly,
Pal was a little too husky and grew tired of walking to the top of
the hill for each run. At 14 he and three friends
(Flemming Davanger, Stig-Arne
Gunnestad and Kjell Berg) discovered a four sheet
curling club and took to the sport, eventually reaching the
Uniroyal World Junior Championships in 1980. They
returned in 1981 and then again in 1983, where they won a Silver
medal, losing to Canada's John Base in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
Pal would return to the World stage as fifth man for his
junior teammates at the 1992 Olympics and the Worlds in 1993.
Pal finally appeared at the Worlds as a skip in 1997 and
again from 1999 to 2004, taking home a Silver and two Bronze medals
during that run, while also winning Gold for Norway at the 2002
Olympics in Salt Lake City. Pal shares his early experiences,
reflects on his temperament, recalls playing the great teams
of his era and being invited to the TSN Skins game. After we
wrap, Pal adds a short story about that 2003 Skins event (held in
Gimli, Manitoba) and what happened when Shorty Jenkins was brought
in to make ice at Hans Wuthrich's hometown.
This episode includes longer ramblings from me than usual.
If you don't want to hear my thoughts on how to handle burnt
stones, the longer version of what happened to the curling ice at
the Albertville Olympics, or why Japanese coaches are called
Wallys, you can skip ahead to 14:45 to hear my conversation with
Pal. You can also watch
clips fromPal's 2002
Olympic Gold medal victory onYouTube and atOlympic.org.