Tough C-side road in PEI

Ottawa-born Craig Savill has won it all—world junior titles with John Morris, Brier and world titles with Glenn Howard. Nine purple hearts and 13 Grand Slam crowns.

Then came life-changing battles against cancer, the first in late 2015, a move to Prince Edward Island and a coaching stint with the Czech Republic’s national men’s team.

Now, the 44-year-old Savill is back in the hunt for another Brier representing P.E.I. He’s playing third for former Jason Gunnlaugson and Brad Gushue teammate Adam Casey, with Steve Burgess and Robbie Doherty on the front end.

The going has been tough. Team Casey is currently 3-2 at the men’s Tankard in Crapaud, and needs to win the C-event to keep their hopes alive.

Savill’s first tilt with lymphoma resulted in an emotional appearance at his hometown 2016 Ottawa Brier. While undergoing chemotherapy treatments, he was an honourary alternate for both Ontario’s Glenn Howard and Team Canada’s Pat Simmons during their evening round-robin draw. All manner of competition rules were broken as Savill hit the ice in the eighth end to throw two lead stones for Ontario.

No on-ice official or Curling Canada redcoat was going to stop that. In fact, they endorsed it.

“I’m such a huge curling fan and all these guys are buddies of mine,” Savill said at the time. “It was hard sitting at home, thinking the Brier that I wanted to play in was 20 minutes away.

“I’m just happy I could get out here. I didn’t expect the outpouring of support I got. It’s very flattering.”

Savill eventually moved his family to Prince Edward Island. His first return to curling happened as a coach, as he guided a team of Czech Republic men’s competitors to last year’s world championship, as well as two heartbreaking Olympic qualifying losses in late 2021.

Savill had fought a second battle with cancer over four months in 2021. Later that fall, he spotted Thomas Ulsrud at the European Championships in Lillehammer, who was secretly battling the disease.

Savill and Ulsrud posed for one of the last known public images of the Norwegian legend before his death last year.

Team Casey are battling for their lives in their 2023 Brier chase. They lost the A-qualifier 9-8 to 2022 island Brier representative Tyler Smith of the host club and the B-semi 7-4 to Summerside’s Darren Higgins.

Casey made short work of Summerside’s Steve van Ouwerkerk 10-3 on Saturday morning. Their next must-win game is at 1:00 p.m. Saturday local time.

The concurrent women’s Tournament of Hearts provincial features only four teams. Multiple STOH island rep Suzanne Birt has captured the A and B side finals with little difficulty.