As much as the look was different, the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier was certainly something to see.
It was filled with interesting storylines and the curling was what many expected.
As the tournament wrapped up Sunday night with Team Alberta, skipped by Brendan Bottcher, beating Kevin Koe’s wild card team in the final, there were many great storylines from the 10-day event.
For Bottcher, the win came after reaching the tournament final the past three years and finishing second.
One of the feel-good stories from the tournament was that of Team Glenn Howard.
Skip Glenn Howard was injured prior to the tournament in a snowmobiling accident and joined the team for the tournament but served as an alternate.
Cue Wayne Middaugh.
Middaugh, who has spent time as a coach in recent years, joined the team in early February and wound up skipping the Howard rink to an impressive run at the tournament.
What was more was that a broken leg had essentially ended competitive curling for Middaugh in January 2016.
This year, Middaugh nearly skipped the Howard rink into the playoff round of the tournament.
It was certainly an impressive return.
Speaking of impressive, the Brier field is something that is seemingly talked about every year and this year was no different.
What made it a little more of a storyline in 2021 was the additional teams.
With provinces not having traditional playdowns this year due to COVID-19, Curling Canada expanded the field by a pair of teams.
As part of the 18-team field were three wild card teams, one of which was the Howard rink.
The field for the tournament shows just how deep curling in Canada is.
Consider the fact that some quality teams didn’t make it out of the round robin and into the Championship Pool.
The likes of Mike McEwen, Steve Laycock, and James Grattan were among those who were eliminated prior to the Championship Pool.
Asked prior to the tournament about the quality of the field this year, Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs, skip of Team Northern Ontario, said this year could be the best seen at the event.
“Every year we seem to say, ‘This is the best Brier field ever,’” Jacobs said. “I would say that this year tops all of them.”
“There’s very stiff competition,” Jacobs added. “You’ve got basically almost all of your best teams in the world with the exception of a few of the regular guys that are from other countries. And you only have three playoff spots, so there’s going to be several great teams that don’t make the playoffs. It’s a star-studded field. It’s going to be tough and there’s no opportunity to take a game off. You have to be sharp every single game.”
“There’s just no opportunity to take a game off,” Jacobs also said. “You need to be sharp every single game. With only three teams making the playoffs and one team going straight to the final, that makes each game extremely important.”
During the event, Team Canada skip Brad Gushue was asked about the field and said it was deep enough that playing the tournament again could see different results.
“It shows the quality in the country and how good the teams are,” Gushue said in a Curling Canada media availability on Saturday during Championship Pool action. “Look at the teams that are out. They’re teams that, if we played this again next week, could win the thing. We’ve got eight or nine teams in the country that are pretty darn good.”
And pretty darn good it was watching some of the best in the world, battle it out for 10 days in Calgary.