Thiessen, Rycroft taking step back from competitive curling

Pat Simmons’ run with his current team is coming to a close at the end of the year.

Lead Nolan Thiessen announced on the team’s website Wednesday both he and second Carter Rycroft will be taking a step back from competitive curling next season.

I promise this doesn't mean I am going to go try Minor League Baseball and hit .202 like @Jumpman23 did https://t.co/3V1NW4iafh

— Nolan Thiessen (@nolancurling34) March 30, 2016

Simmons, Rycroft and Thiessen won the Tim Hortons Brier with skip Kevin Koe in 2014. After finishing fourth at the worlds, Koe parted ways with the trio and the Calgary-based group added John Morris as skip. They became the first men’s team to return to the Brier the following year as Team Canada.

After struggling out of the gate at the 2015 Brier, the team shook up their lineup switching Morris to third and Simmons to skip. The change did them good as they went on a roll capturing the Brier title again with Simmons scoring the winning draw shot against Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs in the extra end of the final.

They finished fifth at the Brier this year just missing the playoffs with a 6-5 round-robin record.

Thiessen and Rycroft also won the Brier and world titles with Koe and Blake MacDonald in 2010.

Rycroft previously played with Kevin Martin and won the silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Thiessen has captured two Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling titles in his career while Rycroft has earned eight.

Team Simmons have one more event on their schedule for this season — the Humpty’s Champions Cup running April 26 to May 1 in Sherwood Park, Alta.