By Gordon J. Holder, Postmedia Network
David Mathers was just 10 the last time the Canadian men’s curling championship was in Ottawa.
Team P.E.I’s David Mathers. (Michael Burns, Curling Canada)
His father, Shawn, and his mother, Michele, were recreational curlers, so he thinks they probably watched some of the action, but Mathers was an atom hockey player and wasn’t in the stands at the Ottawa Civic Centre, where Randy Ferbey’s Edmonton foursome won the 2001 final. Thus Mathers is suitably excited about competing in the Tim Hortons Brier at what is now called TD Place arena.
How he got there is a bit of a winding tale.
After capping his junior curling career with an appearance in the national final with Mat Camm’s Ottawa Curling Club entry, Mathers became the lead for a rink skipped by Toronto’s John Epping for three seasons.
Then came a one-season stint as the second for skip Mark Kean of Fenelon Falls, Ont. With Camm at third and lead Scott Howard of Tiny, Ont., that team won the Ontario men’s title to qualify for the 2015 Brier at Calgary, where they finished tied for seventh with a 5-6 record.
Another end-of-season breakup followed, so Mathers moved all the way to Charlottetown to join Adam Casey, Anson Carmody and Robbie Doherty. In early February, they completed a sweep of another Charlottetown rink led by Jamie Newson in all three sections of the modified triple-knockout Prince Edward Island playdowns to earn their trip to the national capital for this year’s Brier.
“I don’t really know the full extent of what it’s going to be like, playing in a Brier in my home town, but I’m sure it will be awesome,” Mathers said.