(Submitted photo: Bryden Tessier)

By Nolan Kowal

Hurry Hard!

Bellevue native Tessier got his curling start in P.A.

Jan 29, 2024 | 6:00 AM

There’s one strong connection to Prince Albert when you look at the rosters for the upcoming SaskTel Men’s Tankard Provincial Curling Championship in Saskatoon this week.

Bryden Tessier is from Bellevue, Saskatchewan, a tiny community south of Prince Albert. He described how he got started with the sport at the Prince Albert Golf and Curling Club when he was around 11 years old.

“There was a Learn to Curl program and I wanted to try it out so I went out to P.A.,” said Tessier. “They had some bonspiels there so just with some friends that I met through there I started curling. Next thing you know got more and more competitive and that’s basically how I started.”

This week, Tessier will be playing third for Team Bernath at the provincials alongside skip Daymond Bernath, second Brad Moser, and lead Cole Macknak. It will be Tessier’s third appearance at the event.

“This is a brand new team this year,” said the 21-year-old Tessier. “The lead and the second are new this year and I’ve been curling with the skip for three years now. We’ve played in probably close to 12 events [this season] and have had pretty good success.”

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(Submitted photo/Bryden Tessier)

Tessier said there will be a lot of good teams when the event gets going on Wednesday at the Nutana Curling Club.

“It’s tough…there’s a lot of depth in the men’s teams even those who didn’t qualify for provincials,” said Tessier, whose team qualified at the Last Chance Event in Prince Albert earlier this winter. “It was quite tough this year, there was really good games. There’s a good future for men’s curling in Saskatchewan for sure.”

And with the Brier being hosted in Regina in March, that makes the stakes even higher with the winner going on to wear Saskatchewan’s colours at the national championship, Tessier said.

“It’ll be a bigger battle just to get that home crowd advantage at the Brier,” he said. “And then even for provincials at the Nutana…it’s the home rink for seven out of 12 teams, so it’ll kind of give you a taste for it whenever you’re playing provincials, and then going to nationals I’m sure it’ll be even better with the home crowd.”

The Men’s Tankard runs until Sunday, while the Brier begins on March 1.

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nolan.kowal@pattisonmedia.com