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By Nolan Thiessen

The great Brian Flanagan once said in the movie Cocktail, “All things end poorly … otherwise they wouldn’t end” (Yes that quote was from a movie in 1988, so I am dating myself here). Well I can confirm that is flat out wrong in the case of Team Simmons.

The inaugural Humpty’s Champions Cup this week will be the end of the line for our team, going our separate ways. There was a myriad of factors that played into each of our decisions but in no way are the four of us leaving this team in anger or hatred. Carter Rycroft and I both decided it’s time to take a step back and Pat Simmons and John Morris are moving onto other opportunities on the ice.

The last two years were filled with ups and down. Do we wish our results were better as a whole? Every team has games and events they want back, but this game owes us nothing so you won’t hear us complain about getting a raw deal. We were proud to wear the Maple Leaf, we were proud to represent our amazing sponsors and we were proud to represent our families on the sport’s biggest stages.

Granted I might be a little biased, but last year in Calgary during the Brier we created one of our sports all time unthinkable and remarkable moments. Pretty cool to look back and remind yourself that you were a part of something that special.

For me personally, I am in no means completely retired. I might be done forever, but you never know what is around the corner, a Godfather “Make him an offer he can’t refuse” could be out there in a year or two, and if I am in a place in life I could take that on, well, then you never know. But for now I am done, going to see what else there is in life, or if there are other areas of this sport I can be part of.

Personally the only thing that gave me pause when making my decision was my three-year-old son. My older daughters have experienced this crazy curling life, travelling the world and watching me compete in Briers, Grand Slams and world championships. I chased the Olympic dreams and never quite made it. They got to live the ups and downs, but my little guy will never know Dad the curler. I’ll have to rely on dusty trophies on the shelf and YouTube to show him that Dad was once one of the best in his sport. That or I can remind him constantly about my past curling feats like I am Al Bundy telling Bud about his four touchdown game for Polk High Football in the 1966 City Championship.

This week during the final Grand Slam of the season will have a different feel for us. For once there isn’t some curling event in the distance we are working towards. There is no bigger picture concern about CTRS points, no building for the Brier, no drive for the Olympic Trials, or anything else. It will just be us competing in the sport we love. We are going to go out and enjoy curling, enjoy competing with each other one last time, relish curling on arena ice here at home in front of these great Alberta curling fans against the best teams in the world … what could be better than that?