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Yellowknife connection cheers on Kevin Koe at 2018 Winter Olympics

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Jamie Koe, centre, is in PyeongChang, South Korea watching his older brother, Kevin Koe, in action at the 2018 Winter Olympics. He managed to run into the TSN duo of Jay Onrait, left, and Dan O'Toole while at Canada House on Feb. 17. photo courtesy of Jamie Koe

If you can't be on the ice, you might as get as close as you can to the action.

For Jamie Koe, that's in the stands watching big brother take on the world at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Jamie has been in South Korea for a week now and it's a family affair as his sister, Kerry Galusha, mom Lynda and father Fred are all in the bleachers watching every game involving Kevin Koe and his rink of Marc Kennedy, Brent Laing and Ben Hebert. After a strong start to the men's curling competition with four straight wins, Kevin and company had dropped their next three.

Jamie Koe, centre, is in PyeongChang, South Korea watching his older brother, Kevin Koe, in action at the 2018 Winter Olympics. He managed to run into the TSN duo of Jay Onrait, left, and Dan O'Toole while at Canada House on Feb. 17.
photo courtesy of Jamie Koe

Yellowknifer spoke with Jamie before Kevin took to the ice against Japan on Monday evening – Tuesday morning in PyeongChang – to get a sense of what's going on with his older brother.

Jamie said even after losing three straight, his brother was still as relaxed as he could be.

“They had a family function for the team after that game (against the United States on Sunday),” he said. “They've had a tough go of it but they're all relaxed and I think you'll see a new team come out (on Monday) and they'll get it back on track.”

Curling is a game of momentum, he said, and teams go through both good and bad spells but every team his older brother has faced has come at him with their A-game.

“All of the other teams have been playing really well against him, like I'm sure he expected, but the game against Japan (was) a statement game,” he said. “It's like Rachel Homan (skip of the Canadian women's team) when she lost her first three games and hasn't lost since. The boys will get their confidence back.”

For the record, Homan ended up losing against China yesterday, 8-6, while Koe cranked it up against Japan, beating them 8-4.

In between curling, the family has had the chance to take in some of the other events happening around the area. Jamie got to watch the Canadian women's hockey team beat the Olympic Athletes from Russia in the semifinal and also got to see the men's hockey team play against South Korea.

Jamie said that was an atmosphere he's never experienced before.

“When Korea plays, it's amazing and it's the same with curling,” he said. “We're just trying to take in as many sports as we can and soak it all up.”

When it comes to Lynda Koe, this is her first trip overseas ever and she's enjoying every minute of it.

“It's all good but I had no idea what to expect,” she said. “The time change is hard but the Korean people are wonderful.”

That was a sentiment echoed by Jamie.

“I've never travelled internationally before so I was nervous at first but it's been super-easy,” he said. “The Korean culture is really nice and everyone's been trying to help out whenever they can. It's been a lot easier than I expected.”

Something else Jamie found out about Korean culture is when it comes to tipping.

“You try to tip the cab driver for the ride and they won't take it,” he said. “They don't do that over here.”

Getting used to being in a place 16 hours ahead of Yellowknife is something which took some getting used to for Lynda.

“It's fine now but (it was) hard to figure out the time at home and here,” she said. “You can't text people at night here as they are sleeping but it's nice to get messages when we get up.”