Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 19, 2014, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE C4 But more than anything else, the one theme Edwards, 34, returned to again and again in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday was this - he retired after a nine- year CFL career because he could do so with his head held high and entirely on his own terms. " For me personally, I definitely still think I can play. I still think I can be very productive and be a 1,000- yard receiver. But I'm walking away on my own terms and a lot of players don't get that opportunity," Edwards said from his off- season home in Atlanta. Edwards will retire fourth in receiving yards on the Bombers' all- time list and coming off an injury- interrupted season in 2013 that still saw him haul down 47 catches for 547 yards and one TD despite missing five games. While Edwards will retire having never won a Grey Cup and having endured a brutal run that's seen the Bombers miss the playoffs in four of the last five seasons, he says he will hang up his cleats without any regrets. " I'm happy with the Winnipeg teams that I've been on. Of course, I'd have liked to have won more games and to win the two Grey Cups that we did play in ( in 2007 and 2011). But at the end of the day, my career is what it is and I'm happy about that and I'm always going to be a Blue Bomber." Edwards leaves just a week after the Bombers signed pricey free agent receiver Nick Moore away from the B. C. Lions, leading to speculation about the timing of Edwards' announcement - particularly since Edwards signed a two- year contract extension with the Bombers just last year. But Edwards remained adamant Tuesday's decision to retire was his and his alone. " Like I said, I went out on my own terms. The team didn't call me and say they were going to release me." Edwards did, however, cryptically volunteer that there were some problems that developed within the Bombers locker- room during a miserable 3- 15 season in 2013 that led in part to his decision to retire. " I just felt that a lot of things that went on last year inside the lockerroom - and a lot of the things I saw inside the locker- room - I just thought it was time. I think the organization is moving in the right direction," said Edwards. Asked to elaborate on what he meant, Edwards retreated. " I'm not really going to discuss what happened last year... It's a new season - I don't want to hang anything over the organization. There were changes made, so apparently things weren't going the way we wanted them to go." Edwards was asked how he'd like to be remembered now that his career is over. " I want people to remember that I gave it my all. I was a leader in the locker- room - I learned from Milt ( Stegall). I carried myself as a professional, on and off the field. I didn't get in any trouble... I'm proud of that." Edwards retirement also came on the same day TSN reported former Bombers receiver Chris Matthews - who became a free agent last week - had signed with the Seattle Seahawks. Matthews was the 2012 CFL rookie of the year, but battled injury throughout the 2013 season. Matthews had made no secret of his desire to play in the NFL and his signing in Seattle Tuesday was not unexpected. paul. wiecek@ freepress. mb. ca Twitter: @ Paul Wiecek C 4 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2014 SPORTS winnipegfreepress. com S TEVE Gould will forever best be known as the " Tick- man." But Gould revealed Tuesday it's actually Jeff Stoughton who deserves the credit for pioneering the quirky " tick' shot with which the longtime Winnipeg lead will forever be synonymous. " I can sit here and lie to you and say I developed that," Gould told reporters Tuesday as Curl Manitoba announced the six- time Manitoba men's curling champion is among three individuals and two teams that are the latest inductees into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame. " But Jeff was actually the guy who invented it and made it." Gould recalled how it was during a team practice at the Charleswood Curling Club that Stoughton first suggested the best way to play a ' tick' shot - in which a guard is moved to the side of the sheet but remains in play to stay within the rules of the freeguard zone - would be to play the shot across the face. " And then, of course, Jeff makes it," Gould laughed. " So from then on, we did the tick across the face." But while Stoughton might have came up with the idea, it was Gould who perfected a shot that is now played throughout the sport by teams nursing a lead and looking to mitigate the effect of the free guard zone - a fact former Curl Manitoba president Resby Coutts emphasized on Tuesday in announcing Gould's induction. " Not only was he a spectacular player on the ice," Coutts said of Gould, " he was an innovator in how the sport is played." Gould said he was humbled by the induction. " I've got two words," Gould told the crowd, " grateful and thankful." Also being inducted into the Hall of Fame this year are longtime volunteer Mitch Tarapasky, icemaker Hans Wuthrich and the 1978 Cathy Pidzarko and 1979 Barry Fry teams. Tarapasky is being inducted in the builder category on the strength of his volunteerism in the sport in Manitoba, which included most recently being the chairman of the 2013 Roar of the Rings at the MTS Centre that propelled Jennifer Jones and Brad Jacobs to Sochi. With Jones and Jacobs both advancing this week to the playoff round in Sochi, Tarapasky was asked if it was satisfying to know the event he chaired accomplished its objective - to send to Sochi two curling teams that would represent Canada well. " Absolutely. I think the two teams that did get there are the best of the best in the country," Tarapasky said. " They're doing so well over there and we did send our best teams there for sure." Wuthrich is widely considered the premier icemaker in the sport and has been responsible for making ice at 37 assorted provincial events over the years, not to mention 18 Canadian events, 19 world championships and the last two Winter Olympics, including Sochi. The Pidzarko team, which included third Chris Pidzarko, second Iris Armstrong and lead Patti Vande, went 12- 3 in 1978 in winning the Manitoba and Canadian women's curling championships. There was no women's worlds in 1978. Chris Scalena ( n�e Pidzarko) recalled Tuesday how the Canadian women's title was decided in those days on the basis of a team's roundrobin record at the Canadian Lassie - and her team had drawn a bye on the final round- robin draw. That meant her team had to sit and wait until the final draw was over - and the three other teams that could have caught her Manitoba squad had all lost - before being declared the national champions. " We won the Canadian championship sitting in the stands," laughed Scalena, noting the episode led to a playoff system being implemented at the women's nationals the following year. The Fry team, which included third Bill Carey, second Gord Sparkes and lead Bryan Wood, went 17- 2 in 1979 in winning the Manitoba men's title and the Brier. The team went on to finish third at the worlds that year. None of the team's players was at Tuesday's news conference. paul. wiecek@ freepress. mb. ca Curlers, volunteers, champion teams CURL Manitoba announced the latest inductees into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame. This year's induction dinner will take place May 4 at Canad Inns Polo Park. This year's inductees: CURLER Steve Gould . Three- time winner MCA Bonspiel . Six- time winner Safeway Select . Two- time winner Brier ( 1996, 2011) . Two- time winner men's worlds ( 1996, 2011) BUILDER Mitch Tarapasky . MCA president . CCA board of directors . Chairmanships at 1991, 2003 Worlds, 1998 Brier . Vice- president of 2008 Brier . Chairman of 2013 Roar of the Rings Hans Wuthrich . Icemaker at 37 Manitoba championships from 1994- 2013 . Icemaker at 18 Canadian championships . Head icemaker at 19 world curling championships . Icemaker at four Canadian Curling Trials . Head icemaker at 2010, 2014 Winter Olympics TEAMS 1978 Cathy Pidzarko team . Skip Cathy Pidzarko, third Chris Pidzarko, second Iris Armstrong, lead Patti Vande . Manitoba Lassie champions - 5- 0 . Canadian Lassie champions - 7- 3 1979 Barry Fry team . Skip Barry Fry, third Bill Carey, second Gord Sparkes, lead Bryan Wood . British Consols champions - 7- 1 . Brier champions - 10- 1 . World bronze medallists ' Tick- man' Gould humble at Hall induction Claims skip Stoughton created now- common, innovative move By Paul Wiecek ' Not only was he a spectacular player on the ice, he was an innovator in how the sport is played' - Curl Manitoba president Resby Coutts, on Steve Gould JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Jeff Stoughton and Steve Gould celebrate their 2011 men's world title in Regina. JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Terrence Edwards played nine years in the CFL, the last seven with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. ' I'm always going to be a Blue Bomber' Edwards calls it a career; says it's simply time to go Here's a statistical look at back at Terrence Edwards' career: CFL SEASONS: 9 SEASONS IN WINNIPEG: 7 1,000- YARD SEASONS IN WINNIPEG: 5 NUMBER OF 100- YARD GAMES IN WINNIPEG: 24 ( second to Milt Stegall) FRANCHISE RANK IN RECEIVING YARDS: fourth DIVISION ALL- STAR: three LEAGUE ALL- STAR: two FAST FACT: Edwards wore the same shoulder pads he wore at the University of Georgia through his entire CFL career. Impressive numbers for Blue veteran T ERRENCE Edwards offered a lot of reasons for announcing his retirement from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Tuesday. The seven- year veteran Bombers slotback said his body is tired and starting to break down. He wants to spend more time with his sons. There were some things he saw in the Bombers lockerroom last season he didn't like. By Paul Wiecek ' I want people to remember that I gave it my all. I was a leader in the locker- room - I learned from Milt ( Stegall)' - Terrence Edwards C_ 04_ Feb- 19- 14_ FP_ 01. indd C4 2/ 18/ 14 6: 14: 36 PM ;