Nunavut Brier Playdowns

The Nunavut Brier Playdowns are the annual tournament held to determine Nunavut's representative at the Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship.

Summary

Nunavut, Canada's newest territory, was granted its own team at the Brier in 2015, but declined the invitation in that year's Brier. The territory held its first Brier playdown in 2016 , when Iqaluit's Wade Kingdon rink beat Rankin Inlet's Arthur Siksik rink 3 games to 1 in a best of 5 series.[1] At the 2016 Tim Hortons Brier, the team played in a pre-qualifying tournament, losing all three games.

In 2017, Jim Nix of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia was asked by a friend to join a club team in Iqaluit and proceeded to win a two-game series to represent Nunavut at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier.[2] At the Brier, the team lost all three games in the pre-qualifying tournament.

2018 had a similar situation, when St. Marys, Ontario resident David St. Louis was asked by friends in Iqaluit, where he used to work to join their team. The team beat the Jake Higgs[3] rink to represent Nunavut at the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier.[4] Curling Canada abolished the pre-qualifying tournament at the 2018 Brier, which was replaced by two pools of eight teams. At the Brier, the team lost all seven pool games, and the 15th place game.

St. Louis defeated Higgs again in the 2019 playdowns.[3] Skipping Nunavut at the 2019 Tim Hortons Brier he led the territory to another 0–7 record.

World Curling Tour veteran Jake Higgs from Strathroy, Ontario won the Brier playdown for 2020 on his third try. He led is team to a 3–0 record in the three-team tournament which also featured St. Louis and Kingdon.[5] Higgs had played for Ontario at the 2009 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship which was held in Iqaluit, where he was acquainted with some local curlers, who suggested he come to town to try and win the playdown.[3] His experience did not help Team Nunavut at the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier however, as the team went 0-7 again.

In 2021, Nunavut was one of the few member associations in Canada to have a playdown due the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced other jurisdictions to cancel their respective championships. The Nunavut playdown was a best-of-five series between Peter Mackey and Wade Kingdon. After going down two games to none, the Mackey rink came back to win three straight, winning the title.[6]

Winners

Year	Team	Club	Brier Record (placement)
2021	Peter Mackey, Jeff Nadeau, Greg Howard, Jeff Chown	Iqaluit	TBD
2020	Jake Higgs, Dale Kohlenberg, Christian Smitheram, Ed MacDonald, Sheldon Wettig	Iqaluit	0–7 (T15th of 16)
2019	Dave St. Louis, Peter Mackey, Jeff Nadeau, Lloyd Kendall	Iqaluit	0–7 (T15th of 16)
2018	Dave St. Louis, Wade Kingdon, Peter Mackey, Jeff Nadeau	Iqaluit	0–8 (16th of 16)
2017	Jim Nix, Ed MacDonald, Greg Howard, Darryl McGrath, Howard Fick	Iqaluit	0–3 (15th of 15)
2016	Wade Kingdon, Dennis Masson, Aaron Fraser, Bruce Morgan, Chris West	Iqaluit	0–3 (15th of 15)

References

1. "Nunavut Brier Playdowns". CurlingZone. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
2. "Nix clears first hurdle on road to 2017 Brier". The Telegram. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
3. "Strathroy man ready for Brier shot – with underdog Nunavut squad". The London Free Press. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
4. "David St. Louis qualifies for 2018 Brier as skip of Team Nunavut". St. Marys Independent. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
5. "Kohlenberg "living the big dream" with Team Nunavut at the Tim Hortons Brier". CFJC Today. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
6. "Team Peter Mackey wins Nunavut curling championship, punches ticket to Brier". CBC. Retrieved 2021-01-11.