LISTEN: Kelly Knapp set to return to Brier after winning SaskTel Tankard

The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

THE GREEN ZONE: What’s it like to get back to the Brier?

KELLY KNAPP: It’s pretty surreal. It’s still sinking in. It’s not even 72 hours post, and we’ve already been bombarded with a lot of stuff to deal with, plus work and family and all that. So it’s slowly sinking in here, but yeah, it honestly feels even better this time

When you look back at 2023, which is the last time you were there, what did you learn that’s going to help you in this next one?

KNAPP: That was my first time as a playing competitor. I had been at a trials and a Brier before as an alternate, so those were helpful, just with getting used to how the week runs and the environment. As a player, that’s when the nerves are there and you learn how to control them. You’re learning about the ice and how the environment is different. There’s lots of details about the big arena setting with a lot of people and those high-calibre teams that just make it a very different week. Representing the green and white, there’s always that pressure there, but I love that. I think I play better under that pressure and I have a lot of confidence in my guys that they’re going to do the same.

How did you reflect on the 4-4 record from your first go-around that you would like to improve on? And how do you get there?

KNAPP: We had higher hopes than that, to be honest. I was fairly confident, even though it was my first Brier, that we could go in and make the playoff round. We kind of ended up performing right to where our seeding was. So it wasn’t a great week, it wasn’t a bad week. This year we certainly have higher hopes. The playoffs are a must in our mind, and anything less than that is just not going to cut it. We feel like we’re playing well enough that we can give any of those top teams a really good game. You always need a few breaks in curling, too, so if we can play our game and have a few of those inches or millimetres go our way, then I think that Saskatchewan is going to be pretty happy.

You made a couple of changes to the squad. You add Dustin Kidby and Mat Ring. What did they bring to the team this season?

KNAPP: It’s never easy cutting guys. No, I’m just kidding. We did not cut any guys. Trent and Mike (Armstrong), they were great teammates, and when they decided to step back after last year, Brennen and I were honestly like, “Uh-oh, what are we going to do? Those guys are valuable. How are we going to replace them?” But fortunately, our first call was to Dustin Kidby, who has much experience. He played with Matt Dunstone, great curler, and he was a pretty quick “yes.” I’m happy that we didn’t have to find out what it would be like if he said no. We really would have to go to the drawing board there, so this was great to get Dustin on board, and then we just had to figure out our final team member. Mat was the guy that we were hoping for, and it’s awesome that he was able to join the team, and he’s been such an asset. Trent, for him to be able to come this whole week – and Melville is a long, gruelling week now, it’s a full week, a lot of games – just to have the normalcy with him there and keeping things light and his knowledge, plus coach Brian McCusker, it was just a great fit this week and we did about as well as we could have.

You had the Canadian Open in Saskatoon, and you qualified for that. Then you made the quarter-final. I believe you took on one, if not two, Olympians in that one, including the Norwegian team. How important was that qualifying process, getting through it, qualifying and then to have a little bit of success at that Canadian Open?

KNAPP: That was honestly the best thing that could have happened to us this year, the location of that Canadian Open. We play the Sask. tour events. They fit our schedule the best. We were fortunate enough to win our first one, which was a direct qualifier into that event. We were one of the lower seeds in the event, which means that we were going to play all of the highest seeds. So we came across the Chinese Olympic team, which finished fourth at worlds last year, and we beat them. We beat Jordon McDonald out of Manitoba, who was at the Olympic trials a couple of times. Then we had a really great game against Magnus Ramsfjell from Norway, who’s also an Olympic team in the quarter-final. We lost to them on the last shot, but to go in there and qualify to finish in the top eight teams and really feel like we belong, if things could have gone a little differently in the quarters against Ramsfjell, it wouldn’t have taken much. Then we even could have been standing on the top of that tier-two slam podium. That was only two weeks before our provincial championship, and what timing for that and what better way to gain a lot of confidence as we go into our provincial.

Do you feel like a team like yours can surprise some guys just because they don’t see you as often as McEwen?

KELLY KNAPP: I absolutely do, but I do think that our team does have a lot of respect from the players out there, and even some of the bigger teams as well. I think that they know they have to play well to beat us, and we know that if we play well we’re going to be right in it with some of those big dogs, too. So I don’t think we’re as under the radar this year as we were in 2023, but we’re just going to play our game and do our thing. We’re not really worried about that. It doesn’t matter if we’re going in and playing the lowest-ranked team or the highest-ranked team. The bottom line is that we want to make each and every shot, and you can’t let your guard down for a second against the weaker teams. You certainly have to play to the best of your ability against the Jacobs and the Gushues and the McEwens. We’re just looking forward to lots of great games in what’s going to be an incredible environment in St John’s. This has the potential to be one of the greatest Briers of all time, and what an amazing opportunity for us to be a part of it.

Both qualified rinks (to the Brier and Scotties) represent the Highland. Jolene Campbell, yourself, is it the Paddy Wagon power? It is the restaurant that’s in the rink.

KELLY KNAPP: That has to be part of it. I have to give some credit to the staff there, too. What an incredible job that Brad Hebert is doing around there. The high-performance curling academy that is being run there, there’s just a lot of pride in the Highland Curling Club right now. It’s amazing to see a lot of good, young curlers up and coming here. The club seems to be doing really well. Just very proud to be a part of the Highland and big congrats to Jolene Campbell’s team. She’s a good friend of mine. The first thing I did before our tankard final was go up and give her team a big hug and a big congratulations. That motivated us even more. To be presented the tankard trophy by Bernadette McIntyre there, who’s been a longtime member of the Highland, that was really cool. She was very pumped to give us those honours.

I think everyone is feeling pride. I have to give a shout-out to the Caledonian Curling Club, too. That’s where I grew up as well. I’ve been a member of the Highland for a while and I’m a proud Highland member, but the Callie Curling Club has been so great to my brother and I, too, and we grew up playing there. Just a lot of pride for both of the clubs in Regina.

Any expectations leading up to the Brier and what you guys are going to be up against?

KNAPP: I think it is going to be all eyes on Brad Gushue there in terms of the crowd. We know that there’s two pools, and if we are in Gushue’s pool, you know that every shot, every end, it’s all going to be pretty electric in there. It’s going to be a great Brier anyways, no matter what pool you’re in. He’s certainly one of the teams, but there are a few others that are going to be really tough. You got the Jacobs and the Dunstones and the McEwens, and it really feels like it’s probably anyone’s Brier. I think that we’re hopefully one of the teams on the outside looking in. We’re going to be ranked fairly high there, but I think a lot of people are going to have their eyes on one of those teams to win, so we’ve got to go in and play spoiler.