Harris pivots to seek mixed results

BRIANE Harris was hopeful she’d land with a contender on the women’s circuit this off-season.

The four-time Scotties champion — who most recently played third for Kate Cameron — explored her options, but the ideal situation didn’t present itself.

Thankfully for the 34-year-old, she had an offer on the table from Kyle Doering to make the switch to mixed doubles. The pair of Manitobans recently announced they’re joining forces.

“I didn’t think I had any good (four-person) fits in the works, so I was like ‘You know what, let’s go with Kyle,’” Harris said Thursday.

“I texted him back and he was super excited and it got me even more fired up. My gut, for some reason, was always saying to go with Kyle so it’s really awesome that it ended up working out. I’m really excited to see what we can do.”

It’s hard to believe skips across the country weren’t looking for ways to find room in their lineup for an accomplished talent like Harris.

“I don’t know what everyone’s thinking about me since all that stuff happened,” she said, alluding to her provisional suspension in early 2024. She was eligible to return to competition in January 2025 after proving she wasn’t at fault for an anti-doping violation.

“It’s kind of confusing to me, but at the same time, I can’t really control what happens. I’m just hoping that I can grow with Kyle here and see what we can do together.

“And, if in the future, a four-person team happens to come up that I am excited about, I’ll have to look at that at the time. It depends how well Kyle and I are doing at the same time. If we’re doing really great, it would be hard to step away from that. But yeah, I hope that I can play four-person again one day because I really do love it.”

After six seasons at lead for Kerri Einarson, followed by a year out of action, Harris signed on to join Cameron at a position she hadn’t played in a decade. With it being the final year of the quadrennial, the new-look Cameron squad didn’t have time to reach its full potential. They struggled at the Canadian Curling Trials and failed to reach the provincial final, leading to the group announcing in February that they were going their separate ways.

“I was also coming off of having my second son, so there was also the postpartum stuff to throw in as well, and then the mental stuff of dealing with what I had to deal with for that whole case. So it was a lot for me, and I thought I could persevere over all of it and still have a really good season and we did, but we didn’t hit those milestones that we were hoping to,” said Harris.

“It is what it is. It still was a really great learning experience, and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything because I feel like I’m a better player now because of playing with them.”

It’s been five years since she’s dabbled in the two-player game. Her lone experience with the discipline came with Mark Nichols at the 2021 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship where they missed out on the playoffs after going 3-3.

Doering, the 30-year-old manager of the Granite Curling Club, was an alternate for Brad Gushue at the 2024 world championship in Switzerland and spared for Reid Carruthers at the 2025 Brier. He played mixed doubles nationals with Ashley Groff in 2018 and 2019, going 2-5 on both occasions.

“We both know that we want to play a good amount to be competitive. Our big goal is making mixed doubles nationals so we’re going to do whatever it takes to put ourselves in that position,” said Harris.

Going the mixed route will be an adjustment, but Harris has gotten used to change in recent years. When her on-ice career was turned upside down, she went back to school to start a bookkeeping business to make up for her lost curling income. She hasn’t let any challenge slow her down, and she believes this one won’t be any different.

“I feel like I’ve been wearing a lot of hats lately, but it’s gonna be good,” she said. “I’m excited for the future, and I hope I can just grow in all ways to be the best mom, the best business owner and best curler that I can be.”

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