Brandon’s 2019 Brier the ‘final jewel in the crown’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/10/2017 (3255 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IN May 2015, Jackie Nichol, then the executive director of Brandon First, and Brandon Mayor Rick Chrest announced the Wheat City was pushing to host a Brier.

Brandon had not put on a Curling Canada event in 13 years and hadn’t hosted a Brier since 1982. On Friday, Chrest, Brandon First and local committee members were all smiles, as their vision became a reality. Curling Canada announced that the 2019 Tim Hortons Brier, the Canadian men’s curling championship, will be played at Westman Place from March 2 to 10.

“It’s extremely gratifying to see it all come together, and I say so primarily on behalf of all those volunteers who have been toughing it out and doing all that work for all these events for all of these years,” said Chrest. “We’ve had all the events. We’ve had the worlds and Scotties and provincial championships and so on and so forth. The Brier, since 1982, continued to evade us, so this is an icing on the cake. It’s the final jewel in the crown.”

The bonspiel features teams representing all provinces and territories as well as Northern Ontario, the defending champion, and a 16th foursome determined by a play-in game.

The Wheat City used to be a go-to destination for major curling competitions, especially in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Brandon hosted the Scotties Tournament of Hearts national women’s championship in 1993 and 2002, the men’s and women’s world championships in 1995, and the first Canadian Olympic curling trials in 1997.

After the Olympic trials, a promise was made by Curling Canada (then the Canadian Curling Association) that it would bring a Brier back to Brandon. Hope faded though, as the competition started going to NHL-sized arenas.

A few years ago, a committee started looking at bringing curling events to Brandon with the hope of landing a Brier, since the national organization was moving back to smaller major junior hockey arenas. Brandon started its process by putting on the provincial men’s championship in 2015 and hosting the Home Hardware Canada Cup of Curling last November.

Brandon broke the total attendance record at the Canada Cup, helping convince Curling Canada to choose Brandon over Moncton, N.B., as host for the 2019 Brier, the 90th edition of the championship.

“It was a tremendous crowd,” said Curling Canada board of governors chairman Resby Coutts, a former Brandonite who never thought he would have a bigger announcement during his four-year term than the Canada Cup coming to Brandon. He was glad to be wrong about that when he stood at the podium to state the Brier was returning.

“Very good numbers in this arena from start to finish for a tremendous curling event, and that’s what tells us there will be even greater numbers for a longer period of time,” he said.

Nichol, Ryan Shields and Nate Andrews will serve as the local vice-chairs. Shields and Andrews were vice-chairs for the Canada Cup, while Nichol was the executive director of Brandon First, which played a huge role in landing both national competitions.

Shields is proud of the work everyone has put in during the last few years and is looking forward to doing more over the next 17 months.

“It’s amazing,” said Shields. “To be able to continue the momentum into 2019 is a combination of a lot of hard work by a lot of people and it’s a great testament to the city and what we can do in Brandon at the national level. “We just hosted those two events that are incredibly successful. It’s just a matter of maintaining momentum. We have the momentum now, we have the volunteer base that’s excited to help us out, the facility is on board with everything.”

More volunteers will be needed than the Canada Cup required. A call will go out in the next few months.

Tickets for the 2019 Brier will go on sale early next year.

cjaster@brandonsun.com