Muyres (Right) sits with Laura Walker (Left) as they discuss their next shot at the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championships. (Twitter/@CurlSask)

By Mat Barrett

Curling Bubble

Muyres returns to Saskatchewan after mixed doubles championship in Calgary bubble

Mar 26, 2021 | 2:00 PM

Kirk Muyres is back in Saskatchewan after about a month in the Curling Canada bubble in Calgary.

It began with the Brier for the St. Gregor, Sask. native as he joined Team Dunstone as they represented Saskatchewan at the national championship. They finished third that week and while the rest of Team Saskatchewan went home, Muyres stuck around in the bubble as he awaited the start of the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championships that ran from March 18 to March 25. Muyres and playing partner Laura Walker finished fourth.

Walker had recently also participated in the Scotties just a few weeks prior and the duo has played the mixed doubles discipline together for a few years now and have had plenty of success, including a win at the event in 2018.

With the mixed doubles discipline being a much quicker game, Muyres said being able to make quick decisions is key, and it’s a transferable skill.

“It’s a lesson almost in life, and in four person curling [as well],” he said. “Just go with what you think is right, don’t overthink it, just go with your gut, and usually it’s the right call, and we’ve had success with that.”

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At this year’s tournament, the Walker/Muyres duo started on fire, and it looked like nobody was going to be able to stop them as they finished pool play 9-0, good enough for first place in the qualifying round, and a bye into the round of eight.

“We were getting a little luck, we were picking up for each other, playing well, and just rolling along,” Muyres told northeastNOW. “Having fun too.”

Muyres made his mark at the tournament and on TSN as he made a fantastic shot in the final day of pool play, an important shot that would ultimately lead them to their 9-0 finish.

The shot made its rounds on social media and Muyres was the ‘Challenger’ in TSN’s 1v1 which pits the best play from each day in sports against each other. Muyres has had his shot be the champion for a few days now, and he said it’s pretty cool to be up against professional athletes from other sports and being shown on national TV like that.

“It’s really cool,” he said. “It’ll be interesting to see how long it goes for, but I’m going to enjoy it. It’s one of those things that it’s going to probably mean more in ten years when I look back on it. When you’re kind of in the moment you’re kind of still disappointed you didn’t win the nationals, and you’re like ‘I would’ve given that away a million times if I could’ve just won the nationals.”

The Walker/Muyres duo would win their round of eight game to punch their ticket to the page playoff, cementing their place in the top four of the tournament, something that Muyres said was important to them as they wanted to continue to be recognized as one of the elite pairs of the sport.

However, a loss in the seeding game dropped the pair to the 3/4 Page Playoff where they met Brad Gushue and Kerri Einarson, both skips in the four person game and both national champions there as well. Walker and Muyres fell in that game ending their run at the tournament.

“Honestly, I think we just kind of ran out of steam,” Muyres said. “We ran into some buzz saws, played some teams that were playing really good and that’s going to happen.”

All in all, Muyres said his time in the bubble was lots of fun and said he’s grateful that it was done very safely, with no positive tests from any of the events that took place.

“We were really lucky to be able to do it,” he said. “Do it safely, and then just enjoy every moment that we get to go and throw rocks.”

Muyres is back at his home in Regina and is getting prepared for another stint in the bubble with Team Dunstone as they get set for back-to-back Grand Slam of Curling events.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6