Local curler draws for spot in Brier

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

Strathmore has as good a shot as ever to be represented at the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier following the Garnett rink’s performance at the recent playdowns.
Scott Garnett led his team to a perfect 4-0 record at the Southern Alberta Curling Association Southern Playdowns that wrapped up Jan. 8 at the Airdrie Curling Club.
The win was significant, as Garnett returns to provincials, but for the first time with his new crew, all with the automatic bid into the Brier up for grabs.
“Winning provincials would be amazing and a dream come true,” said Garnett, who is the only local on his four-man crew.
Third Tyler Lautner (21), second Craig Bourgonje (26) and lead Matt McDonald (29) are Calgarians and train at the Calgary Curling Club.
Garnett, who sits on the board and trains at the Strathmore Curling Club, left his former Calgary team following last season, scratching the itch of wanting to skip his own team again.
He had been a skip for most of his life and attended the Canadian Junior Nationals in 2010, when he ran through the Nova Scotia provincials while he was attending Acadia University. His rink went 8-4 and narrowly missed out on the playoffs.
Returning to Alberta, Garnett was part of a team that reached provincials two years ago, but struggled in playdowns last season.
“I played on the front end with those teams, but I just felt like I wanted to skip again. So I made some calls to a couple good curlers I knew and we put a team together,” said Garnett.
If there ever was an optimal year to make a run at the Brier, it’s this year.
The Calgary-based rink of Kevin Koe was a finalist during last year’s Brier and will not be competing this year because they will be representing Canada during the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics.
Last year’s provincial champion, Brendan Bottcher’s rink, will be in the mix once again, but Garnett is hoping he can dial up previous experience to knock off the returning champ.
“We beat Bottcher during the Junior Nationals back in 2010, so I’m hoping we can do the same here,” said Garnett, 28. “We have played all of these teams before and beat most of them. We don’t suffer from the grand disillusions and expectations. The goal is to make the playoff rounds, but ultimately our dream is to make the Brier.”
This year’s provincials run Jan. 30 to Feb. 4 at Grant Fuhr Arena. The semifinals and finals will be televised on Sportsnet.
Provincials will be made up of teams from three regions. Three teams will each come from the north and south region, a pair will come from the Peace region and the defending champion gets an automatic bid, which leaves three wild card spots awarded to teams based on Canadian Team Ranking System standings.
“With the big name in Koe not being there, the province is really up for grabs, said Garnett. “There might be some medium names that go and make a run at it.”
Garnett has been curling as long as he can remember. He first was drawn to the sport when his mother Lorelei Garnett was a third on Jody Busche’s rink from B.C. that went 6-5 in the 1996 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
“I remember watching every shot of hers and thinking how cool it was. I have always hoped to get to that level one day,” said Scott.
If Garnett can bring the best out of his crew later this month, he just might follow in his mother’s footsteps and appear in front of a national audience 22 years later.