OTTAWA, Ont. — Morgan Currie will curl for Prince Edward Island tonight at the Tim Hortons Brier for the first time ever.
“It’s really a surreal experience,” the Ottawa resident said earlier this week while preparing for the men’s national curling championship in Kingston, Ont.
Curling Canada implemented a new birthright status rule in the spring for this year’s Brier and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. It allowed athletes to choose playing in the province they live in or where they were born.
Currie, a 55-year-old Summerside native, and 55-year-old Souris native Ian MacAulay won a world senior men’s championship in 2019 in Norway and decided after hearing about the national rule change to come back to P.E.I. to play in the Tankard.
The duo, who live in Ontario now, teamed with import skip Bryan Cochrane from their world championship squad and Cumberland’s Mark O’Rourke to go undefeated at Island championship, earning the right to represent P.E.I. at the nationals.
“It’s something that neither I, nor my friend Ian, would have thought possibility before the rule change,” Currie said.
“Ian and Morgan were just over the top when they won,” O’Rourke said. “They always had this dream that they could represent P.E.I. They live in Ottawa, but they’re Islanders.”
There’s a lot of events attached to the Brier, but Currie knew what he was looking forward to the most.
“Ian and I agreed that the big moment for us will be when we get those Prince Edward Island jackets – those uniforms – and we put them on,” he said. “We both left for job opportunities or school earlier in life, but we’re true Islanders at heart. It's a great honour to be able to wear those colours at the Brier.”
P.E.I. opens play against Nunavut at 8 p.m. Atlantic and the team members know the importance of a strong start.
“Some of the toughest teams in the world are here,” Currie said. “We’ll certainly have to play well, but if things roll the right way, we might be able to make that championship round.”
The 16-team field is divided into two eight-team pools. Teams play each team in their pool in the preliminary round with the top four teams from each pool advancing to the championship round.
“I really feel that this team has a chance to at least get to the championship round, if we play to our potential and play like we did in Montague,” O’Rourke said. “And that’s all you can hope for. Then you take record and move forward.”
O’Rourke, who hasn’t been at the Brier since 2010, said it was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down when his new teammates reached out to him in the fall.
“I thought I could come back and contribute,” said the veteran of 11 previous Briers.
And the trio aren’t the only Islanders in the field this week.
Brett Gallant is back playing second for Brad Gushue’s Newfoundland and Labrador squad for his eighth Brier while Adam Casey is competing in his seventh Brier with Manitoba’s Jason Gunnlauhson-skipped rink. Casey is playing second and is the vice-skip. He previously played at the men’s nationals for Newfoundland and Labrador, P.E.I. and Saskatchewan.
O’Rourke went to eight Brier’s with Gallant’s father Peter.
“It’ll great to see (them),” O’Rourke said. “They’re just fabulous players and we’re always cheering them on when we watch at home.”
