A Manitoba legend joined Team Harris
Briane Harris has been through the wringer.
The lead for Team Kerri Einarson credits loved ones—and a Manitoba curling legend—with helping her get through her suspension from the sport of high-performance curling.
One week ago, Harris received official word that the appeal of her provisional suspension due to a doping offence was over.
She celebrated, and went to Peterfield Curling Club to throw her first practice stones in almost a year.
Now, she’s thankful for those who backed her.
“I tried to look at the bright side of things, like ‘now I have more time with my son,’” Harris recalled. “That was the main thing I focused on, and it helped.”
Hayes was born just seven months before Harris was informed of her positive test result, shortly before the start of the 2024 Canadian women’s curling championship.
More support came out of the blue when a Manitoba curling legend came calling.
Bryan Wood won three Brier championships for Manitoba in the 1970s, the first two from that decade with skip Don Duguid and the 1979 Tankard with skip Barry “The Snake” Fry.
“He reached out and was really supportive, and I’d never met him before,” Harris said.
“He was super generous.”
Wood was more than generous with his words. The first Manitoban to win five purple hearts stepped up with his wallet, too.
“He actually contributed some money to my family to help, since we were financially struggling … with me not having a job and having to wait,” said Harris.
“He was awesome. He didn’t have to do that, and I thank him so much for that.”
Wood, who is the subject of the next episode of the Curling Legends podcast, said he was happy to help.
“I just thought it was so unfair,” Wood said from Florida. “So much of this was unknown to her, it was no fault of her own.
“She’s a fellow lead, and I played lead on most of my teams.”
“He’s a really great person,” Harris said. “That says a lot about someone, to reach out when they’re in their worst time when you don’t even know them, and offer some support.
“He was beyond generous in so many ways.”
More support came from Harris’ husband.
It was Tory Harris’ use of the banned substance Ligandrol—via the supplement product Crossfit Stack—that launched his wife’s odyssey.
Harris said her husband was devastated.
“He was not doing well, especially at the beginning,” she said. “I’ve never seen him like that. And I get it, I felt so bad for him. It was almost a distraction for me at the beginning, worrying about him.
“He’s been awesome though, he never made it about himself,” continued an emotional Harris. “He barely ever talked about how he felt, I tried to get him to talk and he just wouldn’t. He was always just worried about me.
“And I know some people think (to) blame him and I don’t want them to, because I don’t. Like I’ve said before, this could happen to anybody. He would never do this to me intentionally.
“If he knew what we know now, he would have never taken anything. It’s just knowledge.”
Team Einarson is expected to meet this week to discuss their full five-player lineup for the Tournament of Hearts, which runs Feb. 14-23 in Thunder Bay, Ont.
The Manitoba women’s fours provincial is now underway in Pilot Mound, Man. with last year’s national third-place finisher, Kate Cameron, as the top seed.
Cameron eliminated Team Einarson from last year’s Scotties event in Calgary.