‘Pretty special’: Sask. father and son curl together at Kelowna Brier

Team Kleiter third Josh Mattern and his father John got to live out an unlikely dream at the Brier in Kelowna on Monday.

With the Saskatchewan rink out of the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon holding the hammer and up big in the ninth end against the Northwest Territories, the team decided it was time to get their fifth some time on the ice on one of the curling world’s biggest stages.

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The fifth player on the team’s roster happened to be John Mattern, Josh’s dad.

For John said he never thought he’d have the opportunity to throw rocks at the Brier.

“I’ve never been more nervous. I’m a Thursday night beer-league curler with Team Skinner,” John laughed. “I’ve curled for about six to seven years. I’ve been close to curling itself, but haven’t played in any competitive level at all.”

Team Kleiter/Saskatchewan third Josh Mattern curls with the team’s fifth, his father John, on Monday night against the Northwest Territories at the 2025 Brier in Kelowna. (Curling Canada/Submitted)

“We kind of joked about it throughout the weeks leading up to it. Then the opportunity presented itself. We were up in control of hammer, and they convinced me to get up,” John added.

John said he quickly started stretching and getting his body ready to make his unlikely Brier debut.

“The Saskatchewan fans started cheering,” John said. “I said ‘Oh, somebody must have made a shot!’ But they were cheering for me, which is something I’m not used to.”

Once he got on the ice, John did a couple of warm-up slides and didn’t fall over, which he said was a plus. From that point on, he said he was able to just soak it all in.

“Mark Kennedy from Alberta congratulates me, then Ben Hebert from Alberta congratulates me, and then I’m realizing ‘Holy cow, this is pretty special.’ I threw that rock, I got to the hog line and there’s Josh. It was truly special,” John explained.

Although John has curled for less than a decade, he’s helped run the Kleiter rink since its inception.

“John has done so much for this team over the past 12 to 15 years – ever since we started,” Josh explained.

“He’s actually our team manager and he works with Dean Kleiter, our coach, a lot on kind of the team logistics and things like that.”

After the Kleiter rink won the provincial championship in January, the race was on to find a fifth who could join them at the Brier just in case somebody got sick or injured.

“We threw around some names and then the boys talked about it for about a week. Then they invited me, and I was truly grateful to take that opportunity,” John said. “I had about a month to get more nervous about the whole thing, but it all turned out really well.

“Our team didn’t really think we needed another thrower,” John said. “We had John in at the fifth to help Dean on the bench with a lot of the coaching and stats while the game is going on.”

After John made the debut, he said his phone quickly started going crazy with messages from family and friends wanting to talk to him.

Josh said his team was just trying to have some fun, and didn’t realize the move would be so well received.

“I didn’t really realize how cool that really was until we were kind of in that moment,” Josh said. “When he’s throwing those rocks, coming down and talking about the ice after the shots and stuff, it was really special. It was awesome; a moment I will never forget.”

For now, John will go back to the sidelines and cheer on his son, who will be hoping to bring a Brier title back to Saskatchewan for the first time in 45 years.

Team Kleiter’s Saskatchewan rink is heading into the final day of the Brier with a record of 3-3.

The team is within reach of a playoff spot, and will face the Yukon team Thursday at 10:30 a.m., followed by a game against Quebec at 7:30 p.m.