Brendan Bottcher

Brendan Bottcher
Curler
Born	(1991-12-19) December 19, 1991 Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada
Team
Curling club	Saville SC, Edmonton, AB
Skip	Brendan Bottcher
Third	Pat Simmons
Second	Bradley Thiessen
Lead	Karrick Martin
Career
Brier appearances	0
Top CTRS ranking	9th (2014–15)
Medal record Men's curling Representing  Canada World Junior Curling Championships 2012 Östersund Winter Universiade 2013 Trentino

Brendan Bottcher (born December 19, 1991), nicknamed "The Bottcher Express", is a Canadian curler from Edmonton.

Born in Sherwood Park, Alberta, Bottcher enjoyed a successful junior career winning the 2012 Canadian Junior Curling Championships and the 2012 World Junior Curling Championships.^[1] He was also the 2010 Alberta junior men's champion and the 2007 Alberta juvenile provincial finalist.^[2] Bottcher skips his own team out of the Saville Sports Centre in Edmonton.

Career

Junior career

In the 2009-2010 season, with Brad Thiessen at third, Landon Bucholz at second, Bryce Bucholz at lead, and Bernie Panich as their coach, they had much success winning four junior bonspiels and being a runner-up in another. In the Edmonton Men's Super-League, they posted a .500 record. In a few exhibition games throughout the season prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics, they played Olympic caliber teams such as Kevin Martin and Thomas Ulsrud. The team would then go on to win the Alberta junior provincial curling championships, beating their cross town rival Curtis Bale 6-4 in the final.^[3] This provincial junior title earned him a berth to the 2010 Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec. At Canadian Junior Curling Championships, the team had mixed success, finishing with a 6-6 record.^[4]

Although contenders to return the following Canadian junior curling championships, the team lost the 2011 Alberta junior provincial semi-final to Scott Smith of Calgary.^[5] The end of the 2010-2011 season saw Brad Thiessen age out of junior eligibility. The team then added long time Alberta junior competitor Evan Asmussen to the lineup prior to the 2011-2012 season. After his junior curling season concluded, Bottcher skipped his University of Alberta Golden Bears men's team to a semi-final finish at the CIS curling championships.

The 2011-2012 season saw Bottcher continue his previous success at the 2012 Alberta junior provincials, finishing the round robin with a perfect record and defeating Jordan Steinke of Dawson Creek in the final to win his second provincial junior title. At the 2012 Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Napanee, Ontario the team finished the round robin with an 11-1 record, earning a bye to the Canadian final. Bottcher himself would earn first team all-star skip honors for the highest shooting percentage in the round robin. Bottcher would then defeated Wark of Northern Ontario 9-6 to win the Canadian junior championships. The team would then proceed to the 2012 World Junior Curling Championships in Östersund Sweden, where he finished the round robin with an 8-1 record, only losing to Scotland's Kyle Smith 8-4. A 1-2 page play-off 9-3 victory over Sweden gave Bottcher and his team a direct berth to the final. Sweden would defeat Norway 8-4 in the semi-final game, setting up a re-match in the final. Bottcher would score five points in the seventh end of the final for a 10-4 win and become the 2012 World Junior men's curling champion - the first world junior men's curling championship title for Canada since 2007.

Prior to the World Junior Curling Championships and after the Canadian Junior Curling Championships, Bottcher's University of Alberta Golden Bears team went undefeated at the Canada West Curling Championships, qualifying them for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Curling Championships; CIS nationals. Days after the world juniors, Bottcher returned to Canada to compete at the CIS nationals and led the Golden Bears to the university's first ever curling national championship. Bottcher and his university team of third Mick Lizmore, second Brad Thiessen, lead Karrick Martin and alternate Parker Konschuh had a strong weekend, only losing one game to the UPEI Panthers' Brett Gallant 10-4. The team's strong performance was demonstrated when the front end was awarded 1st team All-Canadian honours while the back end received 2nd team All-Canadian honours. The championship was Bottcher's his third in five weeks.^[6] He represented Canada at the 2013 Winter Universiade.

2012-present

Now aged out of junior, Bottcher continued to curl with his University of Alberta team. The team won their first World Curling Tour (WCT) event at the 2012 Red Deer Curling Classic. The team played in their first men's provincial at the 2013 Boston Pizza Cup. The team won just one game at the event before being eliminated. The following season, the team played in two Grand Slam events. They played at the 2013 Canadian Open, where they finished with a record of 1-4, and they played at the 2014 National, where again they finished with a 1-4 record. They did however win their second WCT event by winning the 2013 Spruce Grove Cashspiel. At the 2014 Boston Pizza Cup, they again won just one game before being eliminated.

Following the 2013-14 season, Lizmore left the team to form his own rink, and was replaced with Albertan veteran curler Tom Appelman. The team found immediate success with their new addition, beginning the 2014-14 season by winning the 2014 HDF Insurance Shoot-Out.

Accomplishments

• 2006 Alberta Winter Games Participant^[7]
• 2007 Alberta Juvenile Provincial Finalist
• 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Alberta Junior Provincial Participant
• 2010 Alberta Junior Provincial Champion
• 2011 CIS Nationals Semifinalist
• 2012 Alberta Junior Provincial Champion
• 2012 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors Champion
• 2012 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors First All-Star Team
• 2012 CIS 2nd Team All-Canadian
• 2012 CIS Champion
• 2012 World Junior Champion
• 2015 Boston Pizza Alberta Men's Provincial Finalist

Grand Slam record

References