Curling is more than just a game... - Curling Day In Canada

This story begins with three brothers, junior curlers from Quebec, who have big dreams of competing in the Tim Hortons Brier one day. They discovered curling early in their lives,

each starting at the age of 5. Introduced to the sport by their grandfather, they took to it immediately. The passion for the sport has only grown from there. The twins, Zachary and Nicolas (12), were the first ones to hit the ice and their younger brother Charlie (9) soon followed in their footsteps.

With the Tim Hortons Brier being in Kingston in 2020, we immediately bought tickets for a day in order to give them the opportunity to witness their idols in person. The atmosphere was incredible as were all of the curlers. This experience has only fueled their desire to continue down their path to a possible Brier of their own. They were shown not only how to compete at an elite level, but also how to be an awesome human being. It was hard for them to pick a

favourite team, but meeting Team McEwen was definitely a highlight. Mike McEwen noticed Nicolas’ sign and immediately came over after the game to sign it. He got the rest of the team to sign the “I want to be like Mike” sign and Colin Hodgson even gave Charlie his broom-head cover that was signed by the team. We met many other curlers that day and have too many stories to tell…

Our time at the Tim Hortons Brier only lasted one day because our team needed to head out of town for a U15 Provincial event (InterJeux 2020). We qualified to represent our region and we knew going into this spiel that we had the toughest draw. Somehow our band of 11 & 12 year olds managed to go into the playoff round ranked first! After losing the semi-finals, we were off to the bronze medal with the hopes of walking away with a medal. Sadly, that was not in the cards for us, but we walked away with something far more meaningful… As the game was nearing its end and the win was out of our reach, a very Canadian curling moment happened. Zachary, the skip of the team, decided to give up his last two shots of the tournament to his younger brother Charlie. Due to one of our teammates being unavailable for the event, Charlie attended as our fifth and had yet to throw a rock during an actual game. Knowing how supportive Charlie had been all weekend, Zachary wanted to give him a moment to shine! Charlie threw two beautiful draws and ended up scoring the last point of the game. This moment proved exactly what curling is about… a fun, competitive sport that is full of heart and wonderful people! I could not pick a better sport for my crew!

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