The Gushue Gush-Fest Brier

Ah, the Brier.

After what was a wild and crazy Olympics with accusations of cheating, profanity and a veritable curling meme-a-thon, I welcome the soothing and old-timey feel of the Brier, the Canadian curling love-fest this year held in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

After the Olympics, the Brier inevitably feels a bit like a second-tier event this year, which is a shame. The Brier, despite its folksy and seemingly antiquated provincial representation, has been the premier event in the sport. 

The in-person crowds are bigger, louder and more appreciative. The history and legacy of the event add to the magic. The television coverage is what has shaped and defined the modern game. The Brier (and the Scotties) are still why many Canadian curling fans care about curling.

The Olympics have helped grow the game in places like the U.S. and throughout Asia. But the Brier has managed to hold a place in the hearts and minds of most Canadian curlers and fans. Ask Matt Dunstone or Mike McEwen what it would mean for them to win a Brier. Or just follow some of the stories of teams this week that are living a dream just by being there.  

The theme of this year’s Brier will undoubtedly be a Gushue gush-fest, with deserved tributes a-plenty for one of the absolute GOATs of the game who announced his retirement from competitive curling. The people of Newfoundland and curling fans elsewhere will clap and cheer, and send Brad off into retirement surely with no shortage of tears. 

The question is; will it be a perfect send-off with him emerging as champion, or will someone else steal the show and rain on the parade?

While the crowd is surely on Brad’s side, they are clearly not the odds-on favourites. Gushue has had a very mediocre season by his standards, and since bringing “the Bottch” on board has had relatively little success to show for it. But emotion will carry Brad and longtime third Mark Nichols a long way this week.

The other storyline will be, of course, the newly-crowned Olympic champions, who likely walk into every room looking like Connor MacGregor walking into the ring. 

Jacobs’ alpha-bro energy is at peak level. They are like a walking, talking, protein-shake-testosterone-supplement-Globo-Gym-ad disguised as a curling team. 

To say they have momentum and confidence coming into this Brier would be an understatement. The challenge for them will be keeping their focus after what must have been an exhausting past few weeks. If they can do that, they will win. They are the best team in St. John’s.

The other three likely contenders are skipped by McEwen, Dunstone and another legend, Kevin Koe.

Mike has been on the doorstep for a few years now. They will need to find a way to get to the next level to win this week. 

Dunstone must surely be reeling from having lost the Olympic Trials final series and is surely already in the process of re-tooling his squad, given that E.J. Harnden has also announced his retirement. It is difficult to see them coming together to win. 

And Kevin Koe’s team has been a bit of an inconsistent mess. They are capable of brilliance, and we will surely see some Koe magic this week, but the Brier is a long grind.

Team Ontario will be a compelling story this week. Jayden King is the first-ever black skip at the Brier. This is a big deal. 

Curling, by its nature of being more popular in small towns and traditional communities, has fallen behind the rest of the country in terms of inclusion and integration. But the face of curling has changed. I see it every day curling in downtown Toronto, and now the national TV audience gets to see it on the game’s biggest stage. 

By the way, Jaden’s team is really, really good. I would not be surprised to see them in the playoffs.

Finally, my old friends from Quebec will be riding an emotional roller-coaster this week as well, with three-quarters of the team announcing their retirement and Felix Asselin going off to join a new team in Quebec next year. Jean-Michel Menard, Martin Crete and JF Trepanier will all deservedly take one final bow on the national stage, and will surely try to bag some wins along the way. I will miss them.

I will especially miss Trepanier, who was a key piece to my first Brier appearance in 2018. JF is one of the best leads in the game, but more importantly one of the most entertaining and fun teammates I have ever had. 

I still laugh at the thought of him walking up to Jamie Koe in the Brier Patch in 2018, looking him in the eye and saying “I am going to win the Patch!” He then proceeded to drink a tequila shot and instead of sucking on the lemon, squirted it into his own eyes. Brilliant. 

He won the Patch (at least that night). 

JF was, for me, the perfect reminder that we are competitors who will practice and train and fight and grind to be the best, but also that we had to have fun along the way and never take ourselves too seriously. JF will not get a Gushue-like send off as he walks off the ice for the last time this week, but be sure that I will be standing and clapping.

And if anyone so much as breathes an accusation of double-touching a rock this week, I am going to lose my freakin’ mind.