Red Deer’s Kerr Drummond will compete in his first-ever Brier next month, a remarkable chapter in the local curler’s unique journey.
Drummond and Team Aaron Sluchinski earned the provincial title at the Alberta Men’s Curling Provincial Championship last weekend in Hinton, knocking off the eight-time Alberta champion Team Koe.
On its own, downing the four-time Brier champ is special. Team Sluchinski got their revenge on Koe after losing to them in the provincial semi-finals in 2023 — beating them not once but twice last week to prevent Koe from winning their third straight provincial title.
All this, for Drummond, is uncharted territory, considering he wasn’t even eligible to compete for Alberta before this year.
Drummond, who’s thrown second stones for Team Sluchinski for seven years, competed in his first-ever provincial championship since becoming a Canadian citizen.
Despite living in Canada for 10 years, six of them in Red Deer, he was ineligible to compete for provincial or national titles until he became a citizen. Drummond grew up in Scotland but moved to Canada a decade ago.
“It was a very successful week for us and we’re pretty pumped to wear the Alberta jackets to represent Alberta in the Brier next month,” said Drummond who works as a sales consultant.
At the 2024 Alberta Boston Pizza Cup, Sluchinski and Koe met in the first round of the playoffs after Sluchinski finished with a 4-1 record in tournament play.
They beat Koe 6-2, knocking them down to the semi-final round. With the win, Sluchinski earned a berth to the championship final.
Koe then took down Team Karsten Sturmay to reach the final to challenge Sluchinski once again. However, Sluchinski was well prepared, beating Koe 6-3 in a match that came down to the last rock.
Drummond said that beating Koe, who’s ranked the eighth-best team in the world, is a challenge in itself.
“We battled hard all week, we only lost one game and came out victorious in the end,” he told The Advocate.
“He’s one of the best curlers of all time. Just beating him once in a season is pretty good but when you can beat him twice in a weekend you’re doing something right.”
Team Sluchinski gained control early in the match and carried a 5-1 lead into the final two ends. However, Koe applied some pressure notching two points in the ninth end to bring them within two.
Despite that, Team Sluchinski held on for the victory adding one point in the final end to capture their first-ever provincial title.
“Kevin doesn’t go away so he made us throw our lost rock of the game,” Drummond added.
The team is led by Skip Aaron Sluchinski followed by Drummond, third Jeremy Harty, and lead Dylan Webster. Currently, they’re ranked 14th in the world among men’s teams.
With the win, Sluchinski will now represent the province in the 2024 Montana’s Brier in Regina, Sask. from March 1-10.
The Brier features the top 18 men’s teams from across the country who will compete for the national championship. The winner will represent Canada at the World Men’s Curling Championship in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
“We feel very confident,” he said.
“We’ve beaten quite a lot of these teams that are going to be in the Brier throughout different events that we’ve played in this season. We know we can beat them — it’s just a matter of bringing our A-game for the entire week.
“It’s going to be a battle because you are coming up against some of the best curlers of all time… We’re in the conversation though.”