A group of Red Deer curlers are national silver medallists.

Fred Armstrong (skip), Keith Glover (third), Bob More (second) and Rick More (lead) represented Alberta at the 2017 Canadian Masters Curling Championships last month in Guelph, Ontario.

It is quite the journey to get to the championships, especially in Alberta. First, the Red Deer team had to win the district league, followed by southerns and then provincials before making it to the Canadian Masters. And the men did just that.

Lowell Peterman, whose daughter is Jocelyn Peterman, was the original skip on the team. Jocelyn was part of Team Canada in this year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts and Lowell went to watch her in action, leaving the opportunity for Rick to join the team just before the provincials match-up.

“When we played in the provincials, it was the first time as that team,” said Rick, whose twin brother Bob was part of the team right from the beginning. “We have all curled lots, but we meshed as a team. You have to want to win as a team too in curling.”

In the provincial and national competitions combined, the team saw 16 wins and four losses.

“Part of one of my dreams was to play with my twin brother and win a provincial crest. We’ve gone to provincials but not together, and this time we went together and won it, so that was really special,” said Rick, adding that wasn’t the only special aspect of winning provincials.

“For us being in Olds (where the provincials was held), it was emotional for my brother and myself. Our whole family was there.

“But Lindsey (Rick’s late daughter), she had won her provincial crest there. When we won it, obviously there is emotion, but then there is a realism that we won provincials.”

Rick said the team was excited to move on to the national competition.

“When you go to any nationals in curling, Alberta is always one of the recognized top teams because it’s so hard to get out of province,” said Rick. “We just wanted to do well. We were wearing the colours and we met some great people. We got hot at the right time.”

The team lost their first game to Ontario and won their second game against the Northwest Territories. The team then lost again to Quebec before winning their next seven games in a row.

“We knew the tough teams like Northern Ontario and Saskatchewan were our last games, and we ended up in first place there. We ended up in the gold final and we played Northern Ontario. We were tied up coming home in the eighth end and then Al (Hackner) made his shot for gold.”

Rick said earning a silver medal was the icing on the cake.

“I think it’s gravy to win it but it’s the experience of being around all the different people from the provinces who you sit down with after at the events – it’s pretty cool.”

Rick said the experience was especially meaningful for him and his twin brother Bob.

“It was neat. We savoured the moment and we always wanted to do that, it was a dream of ours,” said Rick.

Meanwhile, Rick began curling when he was in Grade 7. He plays Wednesday and Fridays in Red Deer in a men’s and senior league. “When you get into this serious stuff, all those years of important shots – you do get better in different circumstances. I love competition like that.”