Muyres and Marsh brothers heading to 2019 Brier

“They put on a great show actually,” Kirk told northeastNOW. “It was really well attended; it’s a small community, and they love their curling. They did a great job in the patch and the crowds were full every draw, and they were exciting and the atmosphere was awesome. It was an awesome week, and obviously when you win something you have fond memories, so it was a cool experience.”

On the ice, the rink that curls out of the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon only lost one game. That came in the one versus two page playoff game on Saturday against Matt Dunstone, but the Muyres rink came back and defeated Dunstone 6-5 in Sundays final. Kirk said it was good to beat, what he calls “one of the best teams in the country all year.”

“You’re not going to necessarily beat them every day,” Kirk said. “So, we went and had a good game on Saturday night in the one two game, didn’t quite pull it off and kind of re-worked what we needed to do in the final and just got the upper hand. Got the last rock in the last end in the final, and was able to make our last shot. If they had hammer in the last end, they would have won it was that close.”

The Muyres brothers were actually teammates of Dunstones last year when they went to the Brier. Kirk said it made it a bit sweeter to beat his good friend.

“You never want to see good friends lose big games like that,” Kirk said. “But at the same time, it’s pretty neat when you have eight guys out there that are so good, and have committed so much to the game. It would be exciting for either team to go, but it’s nice to win that final one. We’re hopefully going to have a few more of those kinds of battles over the years, and I’m sure they’ll get the upper hand once or twice as well.”

This year will be Kirk and Dallan’s fifth trip to the national tournament, but first for Kirk as a skip. He said his previous trips should help this time around.

“It’s just a matter of knowing what to expect,” Kirk said. “You kind of know how long the week is going to be, you know all the functions you need to go to. You kind of know the pressure that’s placed on you when you wear that Saskatchewan jacket. All those things, you know what to expect, and when you have those expectations and you know what is going to be needed of you in that long week, it goes a long ways.”

Kirk and Dallan’s best finish at the Brier was in 2015 when they won bronze with Steve Laycock as their skip. That was in the midst of three straight trips for the brothers as they took trips in 2014 and 2016 as well. The pair was most recently at the Brier in 2018 when Matt Dunstone was their skip.

Muyres said the next couple weeks for his team leading up to the tournament in March will be a bit of a break before getting back to practice, and strategizing for their opponents.

Team Saskatchewan’s Schedule (Pool A):

Draw 1, Saturday, March 2 @ 2 p.m. vs Manitoba

Draw 3, Sunday, March 3 @ 9 a.m. vs Yukon

Draw 5, Sunday, March 3 @ 7 p.m. vs Prince Edward Island

Draw 7, Monday, March 4 @ 2 p.m. vs Quebec

Draw 9, Tuesday, March 5 @ 9 a.m. vs Northern Ontario

Draw 11, Tuesday, March 5 @ 7 p.m. vs Newfoundland and Labrador

The top four teams in each pool move onto the championship pool. After that it will be followed by the page playoff, featuring the top four teams after the championship pool.

The final takes place on Sunday, March 10 at 7 p.m.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6

by Mat Barrett

Muyres and Marsh brothers heading to 2019 Brier

Team Saskatchewan’s Schedule (Pool A):

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