Brennen Jones is headed to London, Ontario to represent Team Saskatchewan at the 2023 Tim Hortons Brier. The Brier is the men's national curling championship.

Jones grew up in Weyburn and plays Third for Team Knapp out of the Highland Curling Club in Regina. 

He explained that his team recently won the 2023 SaskTel Tankard that took place in Estevan.

"We were the second ranked team leading into the Tankard, we got a bye in the Tankard for our first game. You compete until you're the last man standing in the Tankard. If you win the final in the Tankard, you go straight to the Brier and represent Team Saskatchewan, and we were undefeated and fortunate enough to only have to play five games." 

They practiced three times a week and worked hard, he shared, leading up to the Tankard and the Brier specifically.

He said that he saw a lot of familiar faces from Weyburn at the Tankard. "It was really nice to see some Weyburn support behind us," he noted.

This is Jones' second time going to the Brier, having also competed at the Brier in 2011. He explained what he's looking forward to this time around.

"I'm really enthused about representing Team Saskatchewan. I'm super excited this go-around mainly because it's the group of guys that I'm going with, we're just really good buddies, we all get along. We all have the same passion, and they're just a great group of guys to be around and the morale is extremely high, and it's just all around fun." 

He commented that, "A lot of people compete all their lives and they don't get this opportunity. It's always a treat and a pleasure to see your fans and the equipment on yourself."

There will be a variety of experienced and inexperienced teams at the Brier, which Jones noted, "is going to be really fun to jockey yourself around the leader board." He expressed that every team's difficult, there's not a single easy team that's at the Brier.

Jones added that they have their send off tonight, which will be the icing on the cake. They leave tomorrow morning at 4:00 a.m. for the Brier, which takes place March 3rd to 12th. 

"We don't have expectations going in, we're gonna play each game as it comes, enjoy the experience and absorb it all. The last thing you want to do is focus on too many things and then you've lost out on the whole week. Win or lose, we're there. We made it there, so nobody can take that from us, it's pretty exciting once you're there."

The winning team from the Brier will represent Canada at the World Men's curling championship in Ottawa, Ontario this April.

Curling