Team Canada comeback!

Team Canada’s 2015 Tim Hortons Brier victory featured by TSN

Nothing came easily for the first Team Canada ever to take part in the Tim Hortons Brier.

The 2014 Tim Hortons Brier champs from Calgary had to find a replacement for skip Kevin Koe, who’d departed to form a new team, and faced the additional pressure of being not only the first Team Canada entry in a new-look Tim Hortons Brier format, but also was the hometown hopeful in the 2015 event at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

After a miserable opening weekend, new skip John Morris and the remainder of the 2014 squad — vice-skip Pat Simmons, second Carter Rycroft and lead Nolan Thiessen — were facing an uphill climb just to get to the playoffs, much less have a chance to defend their title. But their fortunes would change with a mid-week lineup change that saw Simmons and Morris swap positions.

Team Canada’s journey to its memorable 2015 victory in Calgary will be featured in this week’s edition of Curling Encores on TSN, scheduled for Sunday on TSN1.

Check out Curling Canada’s Twitter feed for information on game participants live-tweeting during the broadcasts.

Here’s a look at the schedule:

(All times Eastern)

  • 4 p.m. — 2015 Tim Hortons Brier, Page 3-4 playoff, Team Simmons (Canada) vs. Team Laycock (Saskatchewan)
  • 7 p.m. — 2015 Tim Hortons Brier semifinal, Team Simmons (Canada) vs. Team Gushue (Newfoundland/Labrador)
  • 10 p.m. — 2015 Tim Hortons Brier gold-medal game, Team Simmons (Canada) vs. Team Jacobs (Northern Ontario)

If you have suggestions for themes for future editions of Curling Encores on TSN, send them to [email protected].

Curling Canada