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Kirk Muyres feels like a kid in a candy store.

Although Muyres has represented Saskatchewan at the Brier before, the fourth time around is the sweetest as he gets the opportunity to play as the home province.

The Canadian men’s curling championship starts Saturday in Regina and Muyres is doing his best to remain patient until the moment he puts on the green jacket and walks out onto the sheet at the Brandt Centre with his family, friends and fans in attendance.

“It’s going to be pretty wild in that building to control our emotions with the highs and lows throughout the week,” said Muyres, who throws second stones for skip Steve Laycock. “I can’t wait and every day we’re getting closer, I get a little bit more excited.”

It’s a good thing Team Laycock will represent Saskatchewan considering they’ve been featured in promotional material all season leading up to the event. Or maybe it was a good omen?

“That’s always the funny thing about the Brier,” Muyres said during a phone interview Tuesday. “Other than Team Canada you never know for sure if you’re going to be in it. That’s curling in general. We did a lot of those promos and Steve got his face out there to try and promote the Brier in Regina. From Curling Canada’s perspective it’s probably nice we ended up getting in there so people know they can watch us.”

Team Laycock was on the verge of early elimination during provincial playdowns last month falling to the C brackets of the triple knockout stage. Fortunately for them, that’s where they found their C legs. Laycock rattled off four consecutive victories including a 9-7 win over former teammate Colton Flasch in the final to capture the SaskTel Tankard.

“I think everyone notices at provincials in Saskatchewan there’s so much good talent and anybody can come play on any day, so even the two games we lost we played pretty good,” Muyres said. “We just didn’t get the win, so really all we said to ourselves was, ‘Boys, this is going to be part of the story and it’s going to be a hell of a story, so let’s grind this one out and win it.’

“Now looking back to think we did drop two early, won four in a row and now get to play in a hometown Brier, it is a pretty good story and hopefully we can keep writing chapters to that as the week goes on.”

It was after losing the provincial final a year ago when Flasch departed the team to form his own squad. Matt Dunstone, who had skipped his own team in Winnipeg, entered the mix at second until Team Laycock switched up the order earlier this season. Dunstone moved up to fourth stones with Laycock still calling the game and throwing third. Kirk slid over to second while his brother, Dallan Muyres, remained at lead.

While Kirk Muyres had already been down this road, he said seeing the 22-year-old Dunstone earn his first ticket to the Brier was the coolest thing ever.

“He broke down crying after the game,” Muyres said. “It’s obviously really special anytime you win but I think watching and being a part of Matty’s first time probably made it about 10 times more special for the rest of us. We know what that feels like, we know what it means to get to your first Brier, it’s such a huge thing in curling. Then when we won and Matty is sitting in the middle of the ice, he’s broken down and can’t control his emotions, it was one of the neatest moments I’ve been a part of within my teams over my curling career.

“It’s so cool to see Matty’s emotions like that and talking with him now as we’re getting prepared to go he’s just absolutely tickled pink at the opportunity to play in his first Brier and play in a hometown Brier for him too.”

The Brier is the first big curling tournament following the Winter Olympics and although Muyres isn’t quite sure what the successful formula is to ensure new fans stick around, he’s hoping by putting on a stellar performance they’ll remain hooked.

“I think it’s important for curling and us curlers to really go into this and show everyone who’s now excited about curling what curling is all about and show them the atmosphere in the building that we can create and the excitement that games outside the Olympics can create,” Muyres said. “I think it’s important to bring that energy that curling fans and curlers always bring to the rink and really show that for all the other people that are interested in the game. Hopefully we can keep riding the popularity and increase that exposure for the game and get more people out to the rinks next season.”