Wettig played through pain at Brier

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This article was published 08/03/2025 (194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brier week has come to a “disappointing” end for Sheldon Wettig, but he’s staying positive through the pain, and being rewarded for his perseverance.

The Brandon product and third for Team Nunavut suffered a setback prior to starting a week ago but played in every game for the territory, in what was his fourth Brier appearance.

In just his ninth warm-up slide, Wettig injured his knee, setting him up for a challenging competition ahead.

His kneecap popped out of place in a practice session. As he heard a pop, the knee gave out and Wettig fell to the ice, bringing the last time he was able to throw via his normal delivery for the rest of the week.

That led to not only the stress of knowing he wouldn’t be his best, but also physiotherapy appointments, icing the knee as often as possible and riding the stationary bike to keep the swelling at bay. In the end, the injury severely changed his delivery and “hindered his performance” at the national event.

Nothing like having to re-invent the most critical part of your game, just hours before beginning on the biggest stage.

“I had about three hours before our first game where I went to the Kelowna Curling Club and tried to teach myself how to slide flat foot,” said Wettig.

“I tried different brooms and sliding devices, but anytime I tried to throw anything more than hack weight, there was a lot of pain.”

Despite the setback, Wettig soldiered on, attempting to play through the discomfort as best he could, but it became immediately apparent he wasn’t his best.

So Wettig relied on his teammates to help him through it, as he offered to sit and have an alternate play in his place, but they encouraged him to stay in the fight.

He was doubtful that he could even make a shot, never mind competing against the best thirds in the country.

“I have an amazing team and they wanted me on the ice whether I was my normal self or not,” said Wettig.

“Without them, I probably would’ve struggled even more because they just kept reminding me that I was there for a reason and I was trying to power through it.

“They knew I was disappointed, but they also knew it was out of my control.”

Wettig and his team took little consolation in the fact they almost didn’t make it to the Brier this year.

After advancing last year as the only team to represent Nunavut, they had to play a territorial qualifier in order to represent the territory this year, which meant flying to Iqualit for a best-of-five series they won 3-0.

Travel disruptions nearly kept the qualifier from happening, as Wettig only made it with hours to spare but his curling gear never arrived in Iqualit.

That set the stage for his team’s performance, winning handily to advance to this year’s Brier, before their luck seemingly ran out.

Wettig is now proving that his perseverance is paying off, and has led to recognition from his peers, as he was named the Brier’s most sportsmanlike player in the 18-team field.

“It just shows that they recognized I could’ve been and should’ve been better and they appreciated that I tried to fight through it and stay on the ice,” said Wettig.

“When you play for Nunavut you’re fighting the impression that you don’t really belong because given our situation of not living in the same area and not being able to compete together in advance.”

“The scores are pretty lopsided because my rocks weren’t usable. It makes fighting that perception hard. We really wanted to continue building on what previous Nunavut teams have done and that we belong at this stage.”

So now he’ll take the rest of the weekend to enjoy the playoff round as a spectator before beginning the journey home to Brandon.

Then, and not long after, he’ll start planning and preparing for next year.

“Hopefully the knee will heal well enough to slide right again. At that point, it’s just a matter of practising as an individual because we can’t as a team, so keep working at year-long communication to keep training and just building on what we accomplished as a first-year team,” said Wettig.

“That was a big disappointment, but you continue to learn every time you go out on that ice so next year I hope to just come back and be even better.”

» mpackwood@brandonsun.com