4 April 2023
Brothers in Arms… again
It’s not uncommon for curling teams to feature family members on the same team. Even the venerable quartet who delivered the first stone during Saturday’s opening ceremony of the BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championship on Saturday, saw brothers Russ and Glenn Howard back on the ice together.
But Brad Gushue’s Canadian team has put an unusual twist on this trend by featuring two brothers who most recently competed against each other in one of the biggest games of their lives – the Tim Horton’s Brier final just weeks ago.
Team Gushue second player E.J. Harnden entered that game, knowing one brother would have their dreams comes true, and one brother would have their dreams crushed.
Following the final, in which Team Gushue won against brother Ryan Harnden’s team, skipped by Matt Dunstone, a heartwarming moment was shared across social media.
A picture says a thousand words. 💛 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/nKH2p9jSb6
— Curling Canada Lover (@curling_canada) March 14, 2023
But then, world’s collided and the Gushue rink asked Ryan to join their team in Ottawa, as the team’s alternate at the BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championship 2023.
Way back
Earlier in their careers, the brothers played as one of the world’s top front ends, including winning Olympic gold in 2014. But more recently, the two have followed separate curling pathways.
As Gushue explained at the inaugural Pan Continental Championships, held in Calgary in November, his team do not customarily involve a fifth player. But for that event – the last time they needed a fifth player – they brought in 19-year-old Nathan Young as their alternate.
Gushue said then, “We brought in Nathan as our fifth player because we thought this would be an opportunity to bring in a good young player on an international level with us”.
Since then, Young has gone on to skip his own team at this year’s Brier, and is currently competing in the national Canadian Junior event, meaning regardless of Team Gushue’s wishes, he would have been unavailable.
Now, Team Gushue have recruited the younger Harnden brother as their alternate, and Gushue explains his team’s thinking this time round. “You want someone who has the ability to fill in, and to give our guys the best chance to be successful if someone does go down. You also want someone who can match rocks at the end of the night, and the third is you want someone you’re comfortable with. With Ryan being E.J.’s brother, and us knowing him for so long – he fits the bill.”
Both E.J. and Ryan agree that the last few weeks have been a roller-coaster, but before thinking about the experience of being together again representing Canada, they recalled their Brier experiences.
“We‘ve played 14 years together,” says E.J. “We ‘re brothers but we’re best friends as well. The Brier was quite emotional… I wanted to win but I knew if I’d win, my brother wouldn’t. It was hard and a little more difficult than I thought it would be.” He adds, “We didn’t realise how hard it would be for our parents. There were so many different elements to it that made it such a unique experience.”
Meanwhile, newcomer Ryan said, “Being asked to come here is an honour, and I’m very grateful. Being asked to join these guys that we’ve battled against all these years, I’ve had a tremendous amount of respect for these guys.”
“The last time we played together for Canada, in Canada was in Victoria in 2013.” That year saw the duo lose to Niklas Edin of Sweden in the final.
This time round, they are clearly hoping to go one better.
Engage with the World Curling Federation in the lead up to the BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championship 2023 on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Weibo and be searching the hashtags #curling #WMCC2023
