The 2016 Brier, sponsored by Tim Hortons, is underway at TD Place in Lansdowne Park, here in Ottawa. For those of you not familiar with the sport, the Brier is the men’s Canadian curling championship, where all provinces and territories are represented. Last year’s winning team also qualifies to play as Team Canada. Opening ceremonies were yesterday afternoon, March 5th. My seat in an upper row allowed for a great shot of all the teams lined up on the ice during the singing of our national anthem…
Unfortunately, from this seat, I wasn’t able to get any good closeup shots of the curling matchups within the first draw of the event at 230pm. I did get a decent shot of Ontario’s team skipped by Glen Howard chatting with the crowd after their victory over Kevin Koe’s team from Alberta…
Our tickets for the evening draw (draw 2) at 730 last night were closer to the ice, allowing for some better shots of the three concurrent games.
In these pictures, the two teams on sheet A (top of the picture) are Northern Ontario skipped by Brad Jacobs and Saskatchewan skipped by Steve Laycock. Center ice had BC skipped by Jim Cotter playing PEI skipped by Adam Casey. The third sheet (bottom of pictures) pitted North West Territories skipped by Jamie Koe against New Brunswick skipped by Mike Kennedy…
The former cattle castle, currently known as the Aberdeen Pavillion, houses the “Brier Patch” the entertainment center of the Brier. Fans, players and volunteers congregate and mingle here between and after draws. We dropped by Friday evening, just in time to see and hear all of the teams being introduced to their appreciative fans. After their introductions, the team members wandered through the crowd, stopping for autographs and posing for photos.
Opening day at the 2016 Brier was a great time. The recently renovated TD Place and Landsdowne Park area in Ottawa is a beautiful venue for an event like this. Plenty of parking, free bus service to and from the games, and a wide variety of shops and restaurants all within walking distance make it enjoyable for everyone. We even got to chat with Jim Cotter, skip of the BC team, while out for lunch at Whole Foods Market. The weather was perfect too for strolling around the area.
The caliber of the curling competition is outstanding this year at the Brier, with no team favoured to win easily. We plan to go back later in the week as the competition heats up, with playoffs on the weekend leading into the final game on Sunday, March 13.
