Bottcher set to defend Brier title

Bob Weeks

TSN Senior Reporter

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Brendan Bottcher plays in the Tim Hortons Brier the way some club curlers sign up for their local three-day bonspiel. It’s an annual stop on his calendar.

For the fifth consecutive year, he and his team are headed to the national championship, this time playing as Team Canada.

“It's always an honour and a privilege to wear the Maple Leaf, so I'm excited to do that,” said Bottcher, who will defend his title starting Friday evening in Lethbridge, Alta.

The biggest change for Bottcher’s team this time around won’t be what they’re wearing but who is wearing it. After the Canadian Curling Trials in November, third Darren Moulding was cut in a somewhat clumsy parting of the ways. He’s been replaced by the team’s long-time alternate, Pat Janssen.

“Pat's been a great member of that team for three years now,” said Bottcher, whose rink is rounded out by Brad Thiessen and Karrick Martin. “So, not a new face, not a new guy. We've played quite a bit with him even in the last couple years. So, that part was all seamless.”

Moulding became a highly sought-after free agent and signed on with James Grattan’s New Brunswick team. The two squads will face each other on Saturday evening and Bottcher says the game won’t have any extra meaning.

“To me, it's just another game,” he said. “In this sport, you play against all your old teammates. I can’t think of an ex-teammate of mine that I haven't been played against. It's just kind of the way it goes. The pool of athletes is so small and everyone reforms and there you are playing against your old brothers.

“So, I think it'll be an interesting dynamic, but I'm looking forward to it and I'm really happy that Darren’s back on a team and gets to go down to a hometown Brier. I think that's outstanding. So, I definitely wish those guys well this week.”

In addition to new uniforms and a different lineup, Bottcher is looking forward to another alteration to this year’s event with fans being allowed back in the stands.

A year ago, the Brier was held in a curling bubble in Calgary where only players, broadcasters and a few officials were allowed inside. The seats were filled with cardboard stand-ins and instead of cheering fans, it was eerily quiet. Often the only voice that could be heard was that of legendary TSN curling announcer Vic Rauter, counting the stones at the conclusion of an end.

“I'm just so excited that we can finally have real live humans in the stands as opposed to the cardboard cut-outs we had last year,” said Bottcher. “Winning was absolutely amazing. It was pretty special to win in your home province. But you know, tough that all the friends and family and all of that, that would have gone behind winning in your home province, we didn't get to experience that.”

If the team continues its play from the past four years, there should be plenty to cheer about. Bottcher’s rink has compiled a win-loss record of 45-14 and made it to the final each of the last four Briers, finally getting the victory last year.

That’s a remarkable run in an event that is filled with exceptional teams and plenty of bad and lucky breaks that can derail or assist over the course of the competition.

“It took us one go to get feeling comfortable in that environment,” admitted Bottcher, “as is the case for a lot of teams that their first Brier, but I think now we just have that comfort level. It's one of the top events of the season, something we're always striving towards, looking forward to getting out there. And the last couple years, it just felt comfortable being there. And that's a really great feeling. Because I think the first couple times you experienced that situation, there's all the anxiety and stress and pressure and all those other things. So, when you can finally relax and enjoy and have a little bit of fun, I think that's really been where we found a lot of continued success over the last few years.”

The Bottcher team comes to Lethbridge feeling a little rusty and they aren’t alone. Due to the pandemic restrictions, most of the top teams haven’t played a competitive event since the trials.

The players have competed in practice games and trained but stepping onto the ice will be a different experience. Fast starts are almost a necessity. That can be a difficult task with the pool format and, for the second consecutive year, the addition of two additional high-calibre wild-card teams bringing the total to three.

The added teams, selected using the Canadian Team Ranking System, are skipped by Matt Dunstone, Jason Gunnlaugson and Brad Gushue, fresh off a bronze-medal performance at the Olympic Games.

While there are some who feel the addition of extra teams has diminished the traditions of the Brier, others, such as Bottcher believe that better competition is what Canadian curling needs right now, especially with the dominating performance of countries such as Sweden and Scotland in international play.

“There were years where you could argue winning the provincial championship in Alberta when there was (Kevin) Koe, (Kevin) Martin, (Randy) Ferbey and (John) Morris and all those guys competing against each other was harder than the Brier that followed it,” he stated. “So, I definitely like the new format. I'm interested to see how it plays out and hopefully we continue looking at new ways to do things here into the next (Olympic quadrennial) because we have to find a way to get more of our teams to the top or standing on the podium somewhere.”

If he can lead his team to another Brier title, Bottcher will have an opportunity to test his game in international play. The winning team will represent Canada at the world curling championships in April in Las Vegas, Nev., April 2-10.