For most Canadians, representing Canada on the world stage is a dream, and winning a world championship is more like a pipe dream.
For St. Gregor’s Kirk Muyres, both of those dreams became reality when the 27-old-year teamed up with Laura Crocker to capture the bronze medal at the 2018 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Östersund, Sweden.
“It’s something you kind of dream about as you grow up. You always want to be able to represent Canada at a world championship but to be able to do it… and come away with a little bit of hardware – it feels pretty nice to be able to say I’m a bronze medalist at a world championship,” says Muyres.
Muyres and Crocker captured the bronze medal after knocking off Korea 8-3 in the bronze medal final on April 28.
The bronze-medal win was revenge of sorts for the Canadian pair, who suffered their only loss to the Koreans in the round robin, losing 8-5.
The Canadians rolled through the early portion of the tournament winning six straight contests, as they knocked off Ireland, Austria, Brazil, Guyana, Czech Repbulic, and Germany before suffering the loss to Korea.
Despite the loss, the Canadian pair qualified for the playoffs, where they opened against the Czech Republic.
After beating the Czechs 9-3 in the round robin, the Canadians had a much more difficult time in the playoffs. The Czechs hung around right to the end, but a three-point lead in the final end was too much for the Czechs to overcome, and Canada won 8-6 to move into the quarter-finals against Turkey.
Muyres and Crocker pulled ahead of the Turkish side early, scoring two in the first and third ends to lead 4-1 after three.
Turkey pulled to within 6-4 in the final end, but Canada tacked on one more in end eight to win 7-4.
This moved the Canadians in the semifinals where they took on defending champion Switzerland.
Despite being a different Swiss pair at this year’s championships, the European side came out firing, scoring two in the second and two more in the third en route to a 7-5 win.
Muyres said the loss was disappointing, but was quick to give the Swiss team credit.
“They played great. We played pretty good but just didn’t quite have enough to kind of get passed them.”
With the loss, the Canadians were relegated to the bronze medal round against the Koreans. They spent their time between matches refocusing.
“It was about an hour after we kind of said to ourselves, ‘At the beginning of the year, if we were playing for a bronze medal at a world championship, would we be excited about it?’ And obviously we would be.”
The contest got off to a slow start, with the Koreans leading just 2-1 through three ends.
A pair for Canada in fourth and a steal of one in five turned the match, forcing Korea to go for their shots. Korea gave up four in the seventh as Canada cruised to an 8-3 win.
“When you are wearing that red and white you kind of have a responsibility and a duty to leave it all out there, and that’s what we did. We said we were going to go leave it all out on the table and play our hearts out. We did that and it worked out for us,” noted Muyres.
When the final rock settled, Muyres knew he was world bronze medalist. He said it was a feeling he will never forget.
“Being able to hug Laura, your teammate and just kind of be excited for each other; that moment is going to be one of the moments you look back on and you really cherish,” he said.
The pair ended the championship with a 9-2 record.
“It was a great week but looking back we obviously wish we could get that semi-final one back. But to be able to regroup and play good in the bronze medal a few hours later and win the bronze medal for Canada is pretty huge,” said Muyres.
The trip also provided some down time for Muyres, who says his highlight away from the rink was touring Stockholm.
Looking ahead, Muyres says mixed doubles are in his future.
“I love mixed doubles. It’s a nice break from the regular curling so I think when I go back to the regular curling I’ll be excited about it and when I come to the mixed doubles I’ll be excited about it.”
As for a partner, Muyres says the partnership with Crocker will go on, despite the pair only forming after Crocker’s fiancé Geoff Walker had to pull out of the Canadian championships as he was busy playing with Team Gushue at the worlds in Las Vegas.
A good rapport and good communication between the two makes Muyres excited to play with Crocker again, he said.
