Mike Armstrong, second from right, will play second for the Team Saskatchewan rink of Kelly Knapp at this year’s Brier. Armstrong also represented Saskatchewan in the 2012 Brier on the Scott Manners rink from Lloydminster. Supplied Photo
Lloydminster and area curling will have a high profile during this year’s Brier with three homegrown players in the 18-team curling championship.
Mike Armstrong with Team Saskatchewan, Glenn Venance with Team Wild Card No. 3 from Alberta and Evan Latos on Team Yukon are over the moon at their shot to hoist the Tim Hortons Tankard in London Ont. March 3-12.

The local guys will be cheered on by a large loud and proud cheering section of fans from the region in the wake of their Brier qualification.
“It’s definitely exciting,” said Latos, who curled for Yukon at last year’s national championship.
“If you asked me three years ago if I’d be curling in the Brier, let alone two, I would have called you crazy.”
Latos works as a civil engineer for a company in Saskatoon and hooked up with the Thomas Scoffin rink in Whitehorse last year while working there. This year, he’s an import lead based in Saskatoon.
His mom Olesia in Lloyd is already packing her bags for London.
“We’re very happy for him and to have this experience on the big stage and competing with some of the best curlers in the world,” she said.
Win or lose, Latos plans to come back to Lloyd to curl in the 54th Lloydminster Oil and Gas Open Bonspiel March 16-19 with his dad Jeff.
The 28-year-old grew up in Lloydminster and went through the junior curling program.
“We won the Alberta high school provincials in 2012. That’s what set my path forward in curling,” he said.
Lloydminster will also be on the mind of 33-year-old Mike Armstrong at the Brier with his Team Knapp rink from Regina.
“I’m always so proud to represent Lloydminster and put them on the map. It was a great place to grow up and a great curling community,” said Armstrong.
“When I think about Lloyd and my start in curling, my parents definitely come to mind. They were the ones who got me started.”
Armstrong also gives a shout-out to a former coach, Ralph Cormack in Lloyd.
“He was integral in the Lloyd curling community for a long time,” he said.
Today, Armstrong works as a vice-principal at Indian Head High School and helps teach a curling program to students.
“I love being able to give back to a sport that has given me so much,” he said.
This will also be Armstrong’s second Brier having played for Saskatchewan on the rink of Scott Manners from Lloydminster in 2012.
“I am pretty fortunate to be able to go back again, We’re pumped,” he said.
“We are going there with the mindset that we’d love to win the Brier, but we’re just approaching it day by day and game by game and shot by shot. We’re not looking too far ahead.”
His dad Mike in Manitou Beach says, “it’s super” for Lloydminster curlers that three players from the Lloyd are in the Brier.
Mike and his wife watched their son who plays second on Team Knapp, win the provincials in Estevan this month and they plan to take some family members with them to London.
Deb Venance is also taking a huge entourage to London to cheer on her son Glenn who started curling at the age of four at the three-sheet Kitscoty Curling Club.

The 26-year-old lead is still pinching himself, having just received an email from Curling Canada saying they are the third wild card team in the Brier based on their results from the World Curling Tour.
“It’s pretty surreal, to be honest with you,” said Venance who curls with the Team Karsten Sturmay rink in St. Albert.
“It’s definitely been a dream of mine for a long time. It’s been a long road and a lot of hours to get here.”
His Wild Card Team is one of the three Alberta teams in the Brier with Brendan Bottcher’s rink from Calgary as Wild Card Team No. 1 and Kevin Koe’s Team Alberta rink in a potential Battle of Alberta.
“To have three from the same province just goes to show how hard our province is to get out of,” said Venance.
He also thinks it’s also cool to have three curlers from the Lloydminster region in the Brier.
“I think it’s pretty cool for everyone around Lloyd. I am obviously super proud to be from Kitscoty and represent that part of the world,” said Venance.
Kitscoty Curling Club put up a note on Facebook to spread the word.
“Congratulations Glenn Venance and team Sturmay for making it into the 2023 Tim Hortons Brier as a Wildcard!!! Good luck and put Kitscoty on the map,” it read.
Venance is an assistant superintendent at Quarry Golf Course in Edmonton and says there are so many people to thank for his success, starting with his wife Jessica who he calls a rock star.
Next he thanks his parents.
“They got me into the game. They taught me at a very young age how important a good work ethic was” he said.
“After that countless coaches and volunteers and everybody that’s kind of chipped in.”