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Kirk Muyres is pursuing his first Brier title, but he is already a national champion.
Muyres, who is playing second for Saskatchewan at the 2018 Canadian men’s curling championship, was a member of the Braeden Moskowy-skipped Callie team that captured a 2011 national junior title.
Moskowy — the third with Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers at the Brier — was joined by Muyres (third), Colton Flasch (second) and Matt Lang (lead) on a team that represented Canada at the 2011 world junior men’s championship.
The curlers’ paths have crossed quite often since that magical season.
For example, Muyres and the rest of the Steve Laycock team defeated Flasch to win this year’s Saskatchewan’s men’s championship. Muyres and Moskowy were subsequently on opposing sides Sunday at the Brandt Centre.
“It’s pretty special to go on a run with some great guys, have some great friendships, and then get to see each other every weekend,” the 27-year-old Muyres said Tuesday.
“We’ve had some epic battles. It’s kind of tough playing against your good friends sometimes, but that’s curling. Someone wins, someone loses, and then we go have a beer after.”
There weren’t many losses in 2011, as the Moskowy team went on a roll that eventually took them to Perth, Scotland, for the worlds. The Canadian champions posted a 6-3 round-robin record en route to finishing fourth.
“It was a special group,” Muyres reflected. “It was four guys who had a really, really common goal. We were all big competitors and good athletes who really jelled together, and we had really good personalities that went together.
“It didn’t take us long to jell, and then I think we won 22 games in a row to win the Canadian championship. That really brings a group together, too, because it’s easy when you’re winning, right?”
Despite the team’s success, the four curlers did not remain together as a unit after graduating from the junior ranks — although Muyres and Flasch were cohorts with the Laycock squad that competed at the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Briers.
“It was important for us to kind of part ways a little bit and get some more experience and some knowledge and learn from some older guys,” Muyres said. “We’ve learned from Steve, and Braeden has learned from Reid it’s really important as young guys to get some of those older guys’ knowledge from them, so I think it was the best thing.”
Entering Tuesday night’s draw, Manitoba had a 4-1 record, and Saskatchewan was 3-2 thanks to three consecutive victories.
Laycock, Matt Dunstone and the Muyres brothers (Kirk and Dallan) defeated Northern Ontario 8-4 on Tuesday morning, handing 2014 Olympic champion Brad Jacobs his first loss.
Although Laycock is the skip, he plays third and Dunstone throws fourth stones. Kirk and Dallan Muyres play second and lead, respectively.
Saskatchewan, from Saskatoon’s Nutana Curling Club, was to play winless Nunavut (skipped by David St. Louis) on Tuesday night.
The host province’s final opening-round game is Wednesday, 2 p.m., against Ontario’s John Epping. Wednesday’s draws are set for 9 a.m., 2 p.m., and 7 p.m. The top four teams in both of the eightteam pools advance to the championship round, which begins Thursday.
Page playoff games are set for Saturday at 2 p.m. (3 versus 4) and 7 p.m. (1 versus 2). Sunday’s matches are at 11 a.m. (semifinal) and 6 p.m. (championship game).