(Kenn Oliver, The Telegram)
Jamie Danbrook admits he was a little nervous before his first match as part of Brad Gushue’s rink at the 2011 Labatt Tankard provincial men’s curling championship, being played this week at the Re/Max Centre in St. John’s.
But the 22-year-old likens it to his experience curling lead for Prince Edward Island’s Brett Gallant at the 2009 Canadian junior curling championships. Gallant, the favourite to claim the crown after having made the finals at the 2007 event and finishing third in 2008, won the title in his fifth trip to nationals. (The team would go on to finish second at the world championships.)
“Last year, we went in with the expectation that we wanted to win, but you know playing Brad and the guys that it’s not going to be easy,” Danbrook said of his first Tankard in 2010, when he threw lead stones for Matt Blanford’s rink.
“Playing with Brad, anything but winning (the) provincials is a complete failure.”
The Blandford unit was the only foursome to collect a victory from Gushue, who went on to claim a fourth straight provincial title and seventh overall. Danbrook feels his play at the Tankard played a part in his being added to a lineup that, to this point, has mostly included Mark Nichols, Ryan?Fry and Alberta’s Randy?Ferbey, who joined the team for the World Curling Tour season.
“I knew that would have put me on their radar,” said Danbrook.
And he was right — his play hadn’t gone unnoticed by Gushue.
“We had a really in-depth search and a bit of tryout for a few guys. We took our time with it,”?Gushue explained.
“We had played against Jamie in the provincials and he played very well and during the tryout, he impressed us again.”
Danbrook hails from?Vernon,?B.C., but moved to St. John’s to study marketing at Memorial?University and be closer to his girlfriend, Julie Devereaux. The two met when she represented the province at the junior nationals in 2007 and 2008 when he was still curling with B.C.’s junior men’s team. (Devereaux is the sister of Stacie Devereaux, provincial Scotties champ).