Kirk Muyres (middle), was joined by Dan Marsh (left), Kevin Marsh (not pictured), and his brother Dallan (right) at the 2019 Brier. (submitted photo/Curling Canada)

By Mat Barrett

Team Sask at the Brier

‘Just unreal’: Team Saskatchewan Skip reflects on 2019 Brier

Mar 12, 2019 | 4:54 PM

Team Saskatchewan is back home after the Tim Hortons Brier in Brandon, Manitoba.

Kirk Muyres of St. Gregor, Sask. led his rink to a 5-6 record, and a ticket to the championship pool, but they were unable to qualify for the page playoff at the Canadian Men’s Curling Championships that took place from March 1 to 10. Even though his rink didn’t come away with a medal, Muyres said it was a great week.

“We played really good at times, and not so good at other times,” Muyres told northeastNOW. “But, the whole experience is just unreal. For a curler to play in a Brier, it’s second to none, there’s nothing better than it. And to perform pretty well, it was exciting.”

Muyres rink consisted of his brother Dallan, who was named as the lead for the First All-Star Team, and the Marsh twins (Dan and Kevin), who made their debut at the national championships. Kirk went five times prior, but things were a little bit different this time around being the skip.

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“I was the leader now, I was the one making decisions,” Muyres said. “It was all kind of laying on me. I was the one making the last shots, or missing the last shots of an end, or to win a game or lose a game. That was the biggest thing, is all eyes were kind of on me and what I did, and whether we won or lost was kind of on me.”

Muyres curled 79 per cent at the tournament, but he would like to be a bit more consistent next time around.

“I can play kind of with some of the top teams in the world on any given day, but I don’t necessarily do it enough,” he said. “So, that’s really what I’m going to take into the off-season and into next year, is finding ways to increase my consistency personally, and usually when you’re skip is consistent, you’re going to win a lot of games.”

He said for the team as a whole, they want to hold onto the feelings of the big games and what it takes, because Muyres said “hopefully we can get a few more of those and capitalize on them”.

Muyres also talked about the fanfare in Brandon being excellent when it came to people showing up in Saskatchewan colours.

“Next to Manitoba we were second in line for most fans for sure,” Muyres said. “It seemed like the building was all Saskatchewan fans for some of the draws. We were getting crazy cheers and everyone seemed to be on our side. So, it was cool. It kind of felt like a hometown Brier in a sense.”

Next year’s Brier is set to take place in Kingston, Ontario.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6