‘This is why we play the game’: Saskatchewan ready for showdown with Team Canada

Team Saskatchewan will be trying to throw the right weight to take out the defending champions.

Matt Dunstone’s rink will take on Team Canada and Brad Gushue at the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary on Monday evening. The game, which is set for 7:30 p.m., features teams sporting 2-1 records.

“It’s exciting. You wake up today and it’s a little bit of a different feeling than just a regular game. You can kind of feel that excitement and a little bit of jitters and you just know it’s going to be a big game tonight,” Saskatchewan third Braeden Moskowy told the Green Zone.

“This is why we play the game, for games like this at the Brier. This is how you test yourself and this is where you see where you’re at.”

He said even preparations feel different, but admitted at the end of the day, it’s only one win or one loss.

“We’re still fighting if we lose and if we win, it puts us in a great spot in the pool,” Moskowy said.

It was a unique road to the Brier for all the curlers in the Brier after COVID-19 forced the closure of curling rinks in some provinces or areas.

Moskowy said it felt different not having any games to play this season before heading to the Brier.

“There’s just some rust, if you want to call it that. You’re just not quite as sharp as you usually are at this time of the year. And (it’s) not just our team; you’re seeing it across the board,” Moskowy said.

But he admitted the curling is starting to get better as the week goes on.

“Everyone seems to be getting a little bit sharper and that’s what our focus is,” Moskowy said. “You don’t lose the Brier on Day 2 or 3.”

Dunstone’s rink has earned wins over Nunavut and Newfoundland and Labrador but lost 6-3 to Ontario in a game in which Saskatchewan didn’t score in any of the final four frames.

“It was frustrating. We were all really frustrated. We pride ourselves on being able to close out games and over our course of three years together we’ve done a really good job of that, including last year’s Brier,” Moskowy said.

“When you break it down and take a step back and just step away from the win and the loss, we controlled the entire game and that’s a top-three team in the world we did that to.”

Gushue’s rink defeated Ontario and Quebec but lost to Kevin Koe’s Wild Card 2 rink.