St. John's wins right to host Tim Hortons Brier in 2017

Curling Canada officially announced Monday that the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier will be held in Newfoundland and Labrador for the first time in over four decades.

The Canadian men's curling championship will be held at Mile One Centre in downtown St. John's on March 4-12.

Olympic gold medallist Brad Gushue, who was the face of the campaign to bring the Brier to St. John's, said the news was hard to keep to himself for the last two weeks.

"I suggest everybody get their tickets soon, because it's going to sell out real fast," said Gushue, at the official announcement at Mile One Centre on Monday.

"Thanks so much for making it happens, and it's going to be a good Brier." 

Gushue, who lost the Grand Slam of Curling at Mile One on Sunday night after a close final match against Alberta's Kevin Koe, said he has hopes to win a championship that has so far eluded him. 

"We really want to play here. And me personally, I want to play in front of a hometown crowd at a Brier so bad," Gushue said. 

Gushue played a key role in the Brier bid, all the way back to a single post on social media. 

"It started three years ago with a tweet," said Gushue. "Once I heard [that] the Brier was going to Kamloops, I figured why not St. John's?  I sent that out, it got some traction, then started with a meeting with me and [St. John's councillor] Danny Breen and grew from there."

Local curling fans put deposits down on nearly 2,200 event passes, in an attempt to beat out other regions that were vying to host the Brier in two years.

The former Memorial Stadium in St. John's hosted the 1972 Macdonald Brier. The championship was won by Manitoba's Orest Meleschuk, according to Curling Canada.