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A local curler will be taking part in this year's national men's curling championship, the Tim Hortons Brier.
Hosted in London, Ontario, the nine-day event features the best curlers from around the country, including Sherwood Park's own Brendan Bottcher.
Bottcher has been in the game a long time, winning the World Junior Curling Championships in 2012. He skips for one of the wild card teams in the Brier.
Bottcher had actually formed a new team in 2022 consisting of former Olympians Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant, and Ben Hebert.
"I've known most of these guys for quite some time. I've played against them as competitors for years," Bottcher said. "We've already played fifty games together, and it's going great."
Bottcher and his team just finished provincials and came home with silver.
"We were undefeated through to the final and lost a one-point game. You know, it's always hard to lose that last game, but in our case, we're headed to the Brier anyways."
Bottcher says that he's excited to compete in the Brier once more.
"The Briers a long hard week, all the top Canadian teams are there, it's historically a tough event to win," Bottcher said. "So we're going to have to buckle down, be ready for a few really hard games, and hopefully land on the better side of the equation more often than not."
Bottcher has been at every Brier for the last five years, coming home with three silvers, one bronze, and even one gold.