When the 2019 Tim Hortons Brier was scheduled to take place in Brandon, MB, my best friend and I were working as guest service agents at the front desk of the Canad Inns, where the curlers would be staying. Both of us are huge curling fans & I told my boss that she had to schedule me during check-in day for the curlers or I’d quit! I was so excited for check-ins and couldn’t wait to get the opportunity to chat with some of my favourite curlers (especially Brad Gushue!).

During check-ins, Team Yukon arrived & I couldn’t find the reservation for the extra room they booked. I felt terrible but they were all extremely polite and decided to go to their media session while I figured everything out. I eventually found the reservation & apologized profusely when they returned and I gave them the keys. They were so kind and weren’t upset at all by my mistake. I told them I would cheer them on & keep in touch during their stay!

At the time, my friend and I were both broke 21 & 22 year-olds who definitely could not afford tickets to any Brier games. We were ecstatic to be able to go to the free wild card game and were happy to watch the rest of the tournament from our living room couches. Amazingly, we were given free tickets a couple of times from our management and family members to be able to go see some games. We had an amazing time and had way too much fun in the Patch. We decided that we were going to make a sign for Team Yukon to cheer them on when we got to go to another game because they were some of the nicest guests we had ever had in the hotel.

I returned to work midway through the week and caught a couple of the players from Team Yukon as they were returning to their room after their draw that day. I told them about our plans for a sign and they told me that they unfortunately had been eliminated from the tournament that day! I decided we would still make them a sign even though they weren’t playing – I’ve attached a picture to our story. We were lucky enough to be given tickets for the Thursday evening draw & took our sign to show off. During the game, Team Yukon came and found us in the crowd because they had seen our sign! We were so happy they had seen us and THEY asked for a picture with US, which made us feel pretty great.

The next day at work, one of the players from Team Yukon came to the desk & asked what I was doing that weekend. I was working a bit at a different job, but other than that I would be glued to TSN watching curling at home. He then told me he wanted me and my friend to have his two championship weekend passes because we had been such great supporters and had helped them during their stay. I was speechless and so thankful for the gift! I immediately ran to the back and messaged my friend (almost crying) to tell her that we would be going to all of the championship weekend draws!

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but our crazy story doesn’t end there. We visited the bar in the hotel on Saturday night and ended up seated beside the family members of Team Alberta. My best friend is Ben Hebert’s biggest fan and we had spent time earlier that day making a sign for him to take to the final game on Sunday. I recognized Ben’s dad from check-in and told my friend to show him the sign we had made. They all loved it and even asked for a picture with her to send to Ben! She was so excited and they even gave us Team Koe toques to wear to the championship game.

That night we spent way too much money at the Patch and so thankful to meet a lot of the curlers and so many amazing fans of the game. I even got to meet Brad Gushue, and I embarrassingly told him that I’ve had a crush on him since I was probably five years old.

We obviously cheered our hearts out for Team Koe on Sunday and when they won, Ben Hebert’s dad saw us in the crowd and took us down to the ice-level to celebrate with them! Ben signed my friend’s poster and she still has it hanging in her apartment. We had one of the most amazing weeks of our lives together because of the Brier, and especially because of the generosity and kindness of Team Yukon. We can’t wait to go to another Brier!