Nunavut curling team making history at Brier debut in Ottawa

Nunavut is making curling history. For the first time ever the territory will have a team in the Tim Horton's Brier.

Wade Kingdon's team from the Iqaluit Curling Club will throw Nunavut's first stone at the Canadian men's curling championships Thursday in Ottawa, where they'll take on Team Northwest Territories in the Brier's pre-qualifying round.

"It's really special," said Kingdon, who was born and raised in Nunavut.

"It means the world to me. To be the first skip to ever represent Nunavut at the Brier, and to be able to step on that ice at the TD Centre is going to be breathtaking."

Kingdon is joined by third Dennis Masson, second Aaron Fraser, lead Bruce Morgan, and alternate Chris West.

Kingdon and Masson have some national experience with a few mixed championships, seniors championships and Travellers Curling Club Championships under their brooms. This will be a first for the rest of the team – one teammate just started curling two years ago.

Nunavut was extended an invitation to last year's Brier, but opted not to send a team because the territory wasn't quite ready.

Of the 100-some members at the Iqaluit Curling Club, there were less than a dozen competitive players from which Kingdon and Masson could pull a team together.

Kingdon admits it was a last minute decision to enter a team in the club and territorial playdowns

While the expectations are modest, Masson says the goal is to make it to the pre-qualifier final. To do that, they'll have to win at least two games in the four-team round robin, against Team N.W.T, Team Yukon and Team Nova Scotia.

"I think the best thing to do is to relax, have fun and play our game," Masson said. "We can't go into it with too high of expectations because we know these guys curl 60, 70, 100 games a year, and we're curling 30 games a year.

"We definitely have an uphill climb, but it's definitely going to be a great experience. We just want to show that we can curl with some of these guys. Win a game. Who knows?"

From fans to competitors

Naturally, the whole team are fans of the game. So even if Nunavut bows out after the pre-qualifier, Kingdon and company are staying for the whole tournament.

But if they move on, they'll be up against some of Canada's curling icons, like Olympic gold medalists Brad Gushue and Brad Jacobs, and four-time Brier and four-time world champion Glen Howard.

Win or lose, it's a chance to learn from the best.

"Hopefully we'll pick up a few pointers on skill and how to play a good challenging game," Masson said, who's been to one other Brier as a spectator.

"It's going to be exciting just to watch them throw rocks. That's going to be the best part of it all. They're the best curlers in the world, so it's going to be awesome just to watch them curl."