Bryan Cochrane was going to retire from curling. Then a new rule changed everything

Bryan Cochrane was planning to go out on top.

In 2019, the Russell, Ont., curler and his eastern Ontario foursome won the world senior men's curling championships in Stavenger, Norway. 

The big victory had Cochrane — in his 60s and nearly two decades removed from his only appearance at the Brier, Canada's national men's championship — thinking about hanging up the broom.

Then, the Canadian Curling Association switched up the Brier's qualification rules. A year later, Cochrane now finds himself skipping Team Prince Edward Island this week on the Leon's Centre ice in Kingston, Ont.

"You can play out of the province that you live in [or now] the province that you were born in. And that was the change," Cochrane told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning last week, before the tournament got underway.

'A little bit different'

Two of the players from his senior team, Ian MacAulay and Morgan Currie, both hail from P.E.I., so they were suddenly eligible.

The team then found another homegrown curler, Mark O'Rourke, and with the 62-year-old Cochrane as the lone out-of-province player — each team is allowed one of those — they swept through the province's qualification tournament without losing a single game.

Cochrane told Ottawa Morning that while he's excited to be back at the Brier, it does feel a tad strange not having his home province's colours on his back.

"It does feel a little bit different, because it was an honour to represent Ontario in 2003. I've always lived right here and curled in the Ottawa area, and curled out of the Russell Curling Club. So there's a little bit of a different feeling to it," he said.

"But Ian and Morgan are proud islanders. I've known those guys for a long time, and I'm proud to represent P.E.I. as well."

While Cochrane's elder statesman status — no other skip at the Brier is even in their 50s — will give him a degree of distinction, so too will how he calls the game.

Due to a chronic vocal chord condition, Cochrane uses a whistle to communicate with his teammates. He's been doing it for years, but needed an exemption from the CCA to use it in tournaments like the Brier.

"I've had 41 surgeries on my vocal chords [in my lifetime]," he said. "Curling is a pretty loud game ... I tried the whistle, and it worked."

Competition 'extremely tough'

Cochrane knows they'll be an underdog in the 2020 tournament, but his years of experience mean he won't be intimidated.

They've already started strong, beating Nunavut in their opening game Saturday night.

"The competition at the Brier is going to be extremely tough. Being competitive you always want to play well and be right there in every game. And I hope that's the case," he said.

"It's going to be tough. I just want to get it started, and I think we'll be fine once we throw the first couple of rocks down the ice."