Defending champ Muyres craves pressure of Tankard
SASKATOON Picture 64 curlers sitting beside a tree, ripping paper and opening boxes, and that’s how Kirk Muyres views the Sasktel Tankard.
The Saskatoon Nutana skip — who enters this week’s Tankard as the defending champion — likes playing there, a lot.
“This, for me, is the best event of the year. This is like Christmas for me,” Muyres said Tuesday.
“Every time you get to go to the Tankard, it’s so much fun. It’s all or nothing. You either get to go to the Brier, or you don’t. There’s no second-place money. The season’s over for virtually everyone once it’s over. The pressure, the excitement, the intensity is what we play for, and that’s what makes it really fun. The Tankard is the best thing ever.”
Curling Santa has delivered 10 Tankard appearances to Muyres — the veteran curler did a quick count Tuesday when asked for a tally — and he’s netted five Brier appearances. Last year, he got there for the first time as a skip.
His squad, which includes Kevin Marsh, Daniel Marsh and Dallan Muyres, faces a 16-team field, each shooting for its own Brier berth.
Regina Highland’s Matt Dunstone, who won the Grand Slam of Curling earlier in the season, enters as the No. 1 seed, followed by Muyres, Langenburg’s Kody Hartung and Saskatoon Nutana’s Shaun Meachem.
“Curling in general seems to get harder every year, and the Tankard seems to be getting better every year,” Muyres said.
“Dunstone’s one of the best teams in the world, and you have teams like Hartung and Meachem, who had a great season. And there are six or seven other teams I haven’t mentioned who are going to play you hard, and are going there for the same reason — everyone playing here wants to wear the green jacket, and believes they can do it.
“It’s always the toughest event of the year to win. You need to dig deep.”
The event, to be held in Melville, begins Wednesday with draws at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The championship final will be played Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Muyres talked Tuesday about the dynamics of playing at a 10th Tankard. He remembers starting out, sharing the ice with players he had looked up as a youngster, and now he’s playing against a crop of newer talent with fresher faces.
That’s not universal, of course. Kerrobert’s Brad Heidt, who made his first Brier appearance in 1982, is also in this year’s field.
And from Wednesday to Sunday, they’ll all see how far they can get.
“The old guys have mostly moved on — the ones I watched, and was just so proud to be on the ice with,” Muyres says. “They’ve all kind of retired, and now this new crop of younger guys is coming up.”