It’s official: the current Team Koe lineup will play its final tournament together next week at the Players’ Championship in Summerside Prince Edward Island.
Kevin Koe will form a new team with Team Martin’s Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert while lead Nolan Thiessen, third Pat Simmons and second Carter Rycroft will continue to curl together and are on the lookout for a new skip.
Thiessen made the announcement in a blog post on the team’s website Tuesday, confirming that the reigning Canadian champions are moving on at the end of the season and explaining their decision.
“We spend so much time together throughout a curling season that after a long time together some changes need to be made in order to re-stoke the fire, not necessarily remade due to inner drama,” Thiessen wrote. “Teams have an expiry date and at the end of eight years Team Koe in its current form ran its course.”
Those eight years saw the team win two Briers (2010 and 2014), a world championship in 2010 and two Grand Slam of Curling titles, capturing the Masters in 2012 and the Canadian Open in 2013.
“We have had an outstanding run and we hope we have entertained you as fans,” Thiessen added. “We may not have been on many curling fans’ radar in 2006 when this team was formed but we now have a strong following of fans who consider Team Koe their favourite team. We have tried to treat the game with respect and I hope that shows through the TV screen when you watch us or when you meet us in public. We will end this team as better friends than we were before we started it, no hard feelings, nothing left on the table … not many teams can say that when they are finished.”
Rycroft intended to take a sabbatical from the sport but will play a modified schedule so they can compete in the Canada Cup, the Continental Cup and become the first team to return to the Brier as Team Canada.
Thiessen hopes the best for his former skip, until they meet each other on the ice, of course.
He wrote, “I know personally I have had an outstanding run with Kevin and wish him the best of luck in the future … other than when he plays Team Canada in the 2015 Brier!”