Nunavut skip Wade Kingdon leads his territory to the Brier for first time

Wade Kingdon and his Nunavut teammates were getting shelled at the Tim Hortons Brier and they weren't the least bit upset about it.

Yukon's Bob Smallwood put up three points in the first end, a deuce in the second and a four-ender in the third on Friday morning.

Smallwood took a 13-1 lead into the mid-game break. The blowout was on but the members of Team Nunavut looked happier than anyone in the building.

They had hit the big time. They were playing on top-flight arena ice in a 10,000-seat venue.

They were playing in the men's national curling championship. They were proud to be sporting territorial colours in Nunavut's first appearance at this event.

Happy to be here

Kingdon and his crew had arrived and the scoreline didn't seem to bother them at all. They gave it their best effort even scoring a pair in the sixth end in a 14-4 loss.

"It doesn't get any bigger than this," Kingdon said upon arrival at TD Place. "For us, we've already won. We've already accomplished coming here and representing Nunavut for the first time on this kind of scale.

"So we're happy no matter what."

It was a scoreline similar to the night before for Kingdon and his crew from the Iqaluit Curling Club. They opened the competition by dropping a 13-2 decision to Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories.

Kingdon closed out round-robin play Friday evening with a 16-2 loss to Nova Scotia's Jamie Murphy. All three of Nunavut's games ended once the eight-end minimum was reached.

"We knew coming out here it was going to be an uphill battle," Kingdon said. "We're the underdogs. We don't have any expectations on ourselves.

"We already have the expectation of being here and representing Nunavut and that's good enough for us."

Big crowds by Nunavut standards

There were a couple hundred spectators on hand for the opening draw, which is a couple hundred more than Kingdon is used to.

A few dozen fans took in the morning game. Kingdon and his crew put in a valiant effort and were quite simply overmatched.

Nunavut declined an invitation to play last year in the first year of the qualification format. Kingdon's team was more prepared to give it a go this year, even though the 35-year-old skip only plays the occasional tournament.

"We just don't have the opportunity to hop in a car because we're on an island," he said. "We have to fly everywhere and it gets quite costly. We don't have the advantage of playing teams or going to bonspiels and stuff.

"We pretty much have to recycle the same people that we play every Tuesday, every Wednesday and every Thursday. For us to get out there and get the experience and stuff, we just don't have that opportunity."

His team includes lead Bruce Morgan who took up the sport just two years ago along with third Dennis Masson and second Aaron Fraser. The current lineup has been together since last fall.

"The experience is awesome on so many levels," Kingdon said. "We're playing against the best competitors in the world. Coming from a small town and a small rink ... for us it's always going to be special no matter what, no matter what the standings are."

No bells and whistles

Kingdon will stay in the nation's capital for the next week. He has taken time off from his job as an airline cargo manager to watch the rest of the tournament.

Koe, meanwhile, won both his games Friday to improve to 3-0 and wona qualifier Saturday to move on to the main tournament.

The usual bells and whistles were quiet for the qualification round.

There were no team introductions and no emcee to warm up the crowd. The main scoreboard remained off and on-ice conversations could be heard from the other end of the sheet.

Vendor booths were closed and admission was free. The pre-game bagpipes won't come out until the main draw begins.

This was a curling appetizer before the main course. And Kingdon was happy to be at the table.

"We came here with no expectations," Kingdon said. "We came out to have a good time, have fun and throw some rocks."