In the frost-kissed city of Regina, a landscape seasoned with the chill of Canadian winter, an air of disbelief permeated the hallowed halls of the 2024 Canadian men’s curling championship. Amidst the pebbled ice, the clinking stones, and the murmur of anticipation, four-time champion Kevin Koe and his team found themselves in an unfamiliar slump, an unexpected twist in what was touted as a fierce contest of strategy and precision.
As the Brier unfolded, upheaval became the theme when four underdog teams toppled their higher-seeded rivals, sending a ripple of surprise through the rink. The clamor reached a crescendo on Tuesday when Canada’s third-ranked men’s team, led by Koe, veered off the path to playoff glory, succumbing to their fifth defeat.
Crushing the stone with his broom, Koe faced the reckoning with a raw honesty that echoed off the walls of the venue. “This is about rock bottom,” he confessed after their 11-5 loss to Nova Scotia’s very own Matthew Manuel. “I’ve visited the valley of Briers many a time, but never have I treaded in these murky waters. It’s a foreign sting, and by the saints, it’s wretched.”
The foursome, ruling the ice from the heart of the Glencoe Club in Calgary, had set their sights beyond mere victory – they were a band of athletes with an eye cast on the prize of the 2025 Olympic trials. The recent amalgamation of the team, featuring Koe at the helm, third Tyler Tardi, lead Karrick Martin, and the fresh face of Jacques Gauthier as second, were navigating their second season as compatriots, still tasting the bitterness left by Brad Thiessen’s parting footsteps.
Despite opening the Brier with the harsh pang of a 1-5 record, and even suffering the indignity of losing out to Kevin’s sibling Jamie, who found his elder’s stumbling run “really shocking,” the idea of reimagining their lineup was the farthest thought from Koe’s steadfast heart. His resolve remained unbroken; they were a team united, throwing stones with more grace than the early days of the year had seen, and their collective gaze was affixed on triumph at April’s Players Championship in Toronto.
Clambering into the Brier as the highest-ranked, yet not directly qualified entry was a testament to their prowess. However, the journey through Regina was marred by defeats at the hands of Aaron Sluchinski in Alberta’s men’s final, which reverberated into losses against teams led by Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen, Quebec’s Julien Tremblay, and the defending champion Brad Gushue.
“Our draw weight as a team was abysmal,” lamented Koe, whose self-reflection spared no one, least of all himself. “A chorus of wayward stones, and amongst that tune, my own errors, the likes of which I’ve never seen spill from my hands.”
The celebrated skip, gripped by his 49th winter, bore the wisdom of his years like a cloak. With four Canadian and two world titles under his belt, helming different crews to the pinnacle of this stoic sport, Koe was no stranger to the roar of a Brier final – eight times he’d danced that dance, missing the playoffs a single occasion in a litany of eleven.
And yet, within the confines of Regina’s icy theatre, the skill of his teammates – the youthful prowess of 25-year-olds Tardi and Gauthier with their laurels of world junior titles, and the steady hand of Martin, basking in the glow of his 2021 Brier triumph with Brendan Bottcher – the expected execution had vanished into thin air, leaving opponent and onlooker alike to marvel at this unexpected turn.
Saskatchewan skip Mike McEwen observed with a blend of respect and disbelief, “This is uncharted territory for Kevin Koe. I am at a loss for words.”
The remainder of Koe’s Brier campaign, with two idle games ahead and little but pride at stake, was an appetizingly bland prospect for a competitor of his caliber, who so cherished the cutthroat chase for playoff positioning.
But resilience is the mark of the professional, and Koe was ever the consummate pro. “I’ll be forthright – the ember of motivation is dim, yet we shall stoke it anew,” he declared with a muted fire. “Our labor was not in a vain pursuit. I believed us to be bound for the playoff stage, and so shall we play on – as professionals do, striving for victory today, and then again as tomorrow dawns.”
In an unusual twist that fate often relishes in delivering, his younger brother Jamie had ascended beyond Kevin’s team in the standings, an anomaly in the annals of the Brier. With the Northwest Territories ushering forth a 4-1 opening, Kevin watched as roles reversed, finding solace in his support for Jamie’s winning stride. “For this Brier, our parts in this play have swapped,” Kevin reflected. “I shall champion his cause and cheer him on with all the vigor I possess.”
In Regina’s cold embrace, Kevin Koe and his team faced the music of their own discordant Brier symphony, yet even amid their unforeseen eclipse, they clung to the promise of redemption in the throws still left to cast upon the ice.
