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Patience has been a virtue for Saskatchewan’s Bruce Korte rink.
Four and a half months after being crowned Canadian senior men’s curling champions in Ottawa, the group from the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon has finally landed in Europe for a chance to chase a world title.
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“It seemed like forever because we won in December and it wasn’t until April until we got to go,” Korte said. “It seemed like a year away, but it’s real now.”
Team Korte is ready to represent Canada at the 2026 World Senior Curling Championships, which gets underway this weekend in Geneva, Switzerland.
It’s an opportunity which has been a long time coming for the Korte rink, which also claimed the 2019 Canadian senior men’s championships and had been gearing up to represent the country the following spring.
That chance never came, as the 2020 World Senior Curling Championships was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Just so thankful for the group we’ve had,” Korte said.
“The adversity we’ve gone through, to get a second chance we’ve waited a long time. We’re going to do everything we can to grab every moment of this week and do our best for Team Canada.”
Team Korte defeated Ontario’s Mike Harris rink 8-4 in the gold medal game to claim their second national senior men’s championship in December.
In the months since, the group of Korte at skip, third and vice-skip Darrell McKee, second Kory Kohuch, lead Rory Golanowski and alternate Arlen Hall have been practicing and preparing for a trip of a lifetime to Switzerland.
“We’ve never curled this late into end of April and early May,” Korte said.
“We’re very grateful for the Nutana Curling Club for keeping the rink open for us. We’ve had as much opportunity as we’ve needed to practice.”
The road to a gold medal at world championships will have to go through a record amount of other countries with 34 teams, including Canada, ready to hit the ice in Geneva.
Due to how the tournament has been scheduled, Korte and his team will have little time to get a feel for the ice.
“We’re one of the pools that has one less team,” Korte said.
“That just means, unfortunately for us, we get one less game before the playoffs. It’s only a four-game round-robin for us, we play four teams and then playoffs. So we’ll have to learn as much as we can each game.”
Team Korte will aim to replicate recent success for Canada on the world stage, capturing six consecutive gold medals in senior men’s competition, including Regina’s Randy Bryden rink winning in all in Fredericton, N.B. last year.
That string of successes hasn’t fazed the Team Canada skip however, as he heads into the biggest event of his career.
“There’s always going to be pressure playing I think, obviously being one of the favourites,” Korte said. “It gives us confidence because we’ve played all these other teams that have won before. It gives us success knowing we can do what they’ve done.”
Korte has represented his province at many events in the past, from Canadian senior championships to a trio of Brier appearances in the 2000s.
Sporting a Maple Leaf is a new challenge for Korte and his team though, as he added it’s humbling to have a country of curling supporters behind him over the next week.
“You realize it’s a bigger picture than what it was just wearing the green and representing Saskatchewan,” Korte said.
“We’re going to do Canada proud and just do our best. We’re going to play as well as we can. Whatever happens out there, it will be what happens. We know we’ll give 110 per cent.”
Team Korte’s first game in Switzerland will be played early Sunday morning, as they’ll battle Nigeria at 12 a.m.
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