Kelly Knapp looking for ‘a bit of redemption’ in second Brier appearance

Kelly Knapp is heading back to the Montana’s Brier – and hoping to end Saskatchewan’s long drought in the process.

The Regina-based curling rink qualified for the Canadian men’s curling championship by winning the SaskTel Tankard with a 9-4 victory over Rylan Kleiter’s rink.

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Knapp’s rink this season out of the Highland Curling Clubs consisted of him at skip, Brennen Jones at third, Dustin Kidby as the second and lead Mat Ring.

While some of the team has changed, this is Knapp’s second time skipping a team at the Brier, first making it in 2023.

“It’s been a few years since we’ve been there last. It’s one of those things where the first time I got there, I was getting up there in age a bit and turning into the veteran presence on the tour and then it happened. It felt awesome. You get there once and you learn a lot of things and you become better. You just really want to get back there again and do better,” Knapp said. “I’m looking forward to a bit of redemption this time. We did OK last time – we were 4-4 but we’d like to make the playoff round this year so we’ve just been doing all the preparing we can do for that.”

The Knapp rink will get their Brier tournament started on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against Brad Jacobs and the Canadian rink, who just won Olympic gold in Italy.

But going up against teams like that is something Knapp and his rink look forward to doing.

“That’s why you play the sport competitively is to test yourself against the best,” Knapp said.

While Knapp and his team didn’t participate in a lot of national tour events due to their schedules, they still feel they can compete with those teams.

“We do a lot of playing on the local tour, which is good competition as well. It’s not playing against those Grand Slam teams so we did have one event this year where we were able to do that in Martensville and we played against a lot of the best teams in the world and we stacked up pretty well,” Knapp said. “When we get to the Brier and we are playing those top teams like the Jacobs and the Gushue’s and all that, we all have that experience playing that calibre of team before so it’s nothing new to us. We just have to be a little sharper in our games – maybe change our strategy and mindset a little bit. Just try to stay in games with them and hopefully get a break or two or a big shot and win some of them.”

Knapp is also looking forward to participating in the Brier in St. John’s, Newfoundland. As an added element to it, Brad Gushue, a product of St. John’s and a six-time Brier winner, has announced this will be the final time he will compete in the tournament.

“To be in this atmosphere in St. Johns, it’s certainly something I’ve never been a part of. Being at the Brier in London, it was a great atmosphere and there were some pretty good crowds but I think what we can expect this week is for every seat to be packed pretty much every draw and the energy out in Newfoundland is very similar to that of Saskatchewan,” Knapp said. “I think those are the two best provinces in the country you can play a Brier in. I don’t want to take that for granted – I feel like there’s going to be a lot of energy. I feel like we’re going to respond positively to it. Soak it in but stay focused and focus shot-by-shot.”

Saskatchewan is looking to end a lengthy drought when it comes to Brier titles. A rink from the province hasn’t won the tournament since Rick Folk in 1980.

Knapp, as well as Mike McEwen‘s rink based out of Saskatoon, is looking to put an end to that.

“I can’t guarantee that (one of us will win) but I can guarantee we will go and give it all we’ve got. We have two teams there – us and McEwen. I feel like when both of our teams are playing well that we will be in the playoff mix. When you get into playoffs, anything can happen. I think that’s the goal for the province – have two teams in that top six initially and see what happens from there,” Knapp said.