MY FAVOURITE BRIER

The Tankard Times asked various curlers, media members and Curling Canada officials who have been to multiple Briers to choose their favourite. This is what they had to say, in the first of a series:

ST. JOHN’S, 2017 — It was one of the most amazing weeks in my life. The support from the community, the passion of the crowd and the finish was incredible. It had been 45 years since the City of St. John’s had hosted a Brier and the anticipation in the city was felt for months. The party in the Patch was unmatched and flowed out onto George Street for some late nights. Obviously, I am biased, but the final game and reaction of the crowd was intense. Finally, what other Brier had the Tankard Trophy crowd surf in the patch!

— Brad Gushue, Canadian and World men’s curling champion, Olympic men’s

curling gold medallist MONCTON, 1985 — The Brier is a huge party, but there was no bigger party than the one that raged on, almost non-stop, at the 1985 Moncton Brier. How members of the media got anything done is still amazing. The Beaver Club was party central, the place where we received ‘wings’ for every B-52 we downed. Moncton was also the site of the first Century Club, where you had to drink 100 bottles of beer over the course of the event. Oh, yeah, the event was also notable for the Hackner Double, often considered the greatest shot at the Brier. Al Hackner’s thin double in the 10th end helped Northern Ontario defeat Alberta’s Pat Ryan 6-5 in the final. — Dave Komosky, Tankard Times Editor LONDON, 1974 — It would not be possible to have a more memorable Brier than the one where you were on the winning team. The 1974 Brier was the final of four appearances for my skip, the legendary Hector Gervais of

Alberta. This was still in the days when the winner of the round-robin won the Brier and the final draw had more than its share of suspense. We needed to defeat Quebec’s Jimmy Ursel and for Ontario’s Paul Savage to beat Saskatchewan’s Larry McGrath for us to win outright. And that’s exactly what happened. It was also the last Brier in history where the thrower’s body had to come to a complete stop before touching the hogline after delivering the stone. — Warren Hansen, championship curler, Hall of Famer, former director of event operations for Curling Canada