Photo of Team Njegovan, which former Kamloops-based Team Brown Third Erin Pincott (top right) has joined as its new Third/via Team Njegoven on Facebook
The end of the curling quadrennial has sent a number of Kamloops-based curlers flying on to other teams as the professional curling world slammed on the breaks of the “curling carousel” as the professional ranks reassess and shift their priorities and goals as the next uphill battle for Olympic gold will start anew this coming fall.
The off-season shuffle, where teams disband, new alliances are formed and the entire landscape of the sport can change in a matter of weeks is underway.
Once considered an afront to your team and curling club to shift allegiances, after curling was finally made part of the official Winter Olympic program for the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, high-level curlers have chartered their career goals based on a four year cycle to try to reach the Games and earn Olympic gold.
This year, with the Olympics taking place in Italy and the Men’s and Women’s World Championships now over, Kamloops has fallen right into the heart of the action, with some of the city’s most prominent players making significant moves.
Among them, the personnel diaspora following the previously-announced dissolution of the Kamloops-based Team Brown squad.
Team Brown, including Skip Corryn Brown (L), Third Erin Pincott (2nd L), Second Sarah Koltun (middle), Lead Samantha Fisher (2nd R) and coach Jim Cotter (L)
Long time Team Brown Third Erin Pincott has decided to take her talents to the current epicenter of Women’s curling in Canada — Manitoba.
Pincott — who had curled with long-time friend Corryn Brown since they were 6-years old — will be relocating to Winnipeg to join Team Njegovan, which is billing itself as the next generation of Team Lawes.
The team skipped by Kaitlyn Lawes, with Njegovan as its 3rd, would announce its disbandment in late March after falling to a fellow Manitoba rink — Kerri Einarson’s Team Canada — in the 2026 Scotties final in Scarborough, Ontario.
With Team Brown having missed out on the national tournament after going down in to the Taylor Reese-Hansen rink out of Victoria in the BC provincial final, Pincott would join Team Lawes as their 5th for the Scotties, though she would not see any action.
“Selena is someone I’ve known for years… someone I’ve always kind of looked up to,” said Pincott in conversation with Radio NL Sports. “She’s been at the top of the Canadian curling women’s game for a number of years now.”
“I happened to get a ton of “front row seat” to that at the Scotties this year as they picked me up as their alternate,” added Pincott.
Due to Curling Canada rules which only allow one out-of-province player to be on a team represented at the Scotties, Pincott has made the decision to relocate to Winnipeg, as Team Njegovan’s new Second, Margot Flemming, will maintain her residency as Yellowknife, NT to be the squad’s lone import.
“Obviously, [Kamloops] will always be home,” said Pincott, who — while born in Richmond, was raised in Kamloops and grew up curling with fellow Kamloopsian Corryn Brown.
Kamloops-based skipper Matt Dunstone at the World Men’s Curling Championship in Ogden, Utah/via Curling Canada
But with her long-time relationship with Canadian men’s curling champion Matt Dunstone, who is originally from Winnipeg, the transition seemed to make sense.
“We kind of already have a built-in community there with his family,” noted Pincott, which she says should make the relocation a little less daunting.
While Pincott is making the plunge into the heart of the prairies, the front-end of Team Brown is sticking together, but has also landed on the other side of the Rockies.
Sarah Koltun and Sam Fisher are heading to Alberta to join Team Skrlik out of Calgary, creating a formidable new lineup for that squad.
As for Corryn Brown, she’s decided to stay local.
With a young child at home, Brown has decided to take the coming season off from competitive women’s curling, choosing instead to dip her toe into the world of mixed doubles with her husband, Matt Whiteford, for the time being.
As the skipper prepares to pack up and leave Kamloops for the season, Team Dunstone is also going in a new direction — but sticking with experience — in replacing now-retired Second E.J. Harnden.
Long time Brad Gushue 3rd Mark Nichols – who is joining Team Dunstone in the forthcoming 2026/27 season — throwing a stone during a World Series of Curling competition/via WSOC
Team Dunstone has announced that veteran Mark Nichols will take up the role of second this coming season.
The long-time third for Brad Gushue’s Newfoundland squad, the 46-year old Nichols — like E.J. Hardenen before him — is an Olympic champion with years of experience on the competitive World Series of Curling tour as well.
Meanwhile, fresh off his latest taste of Brier competition, Kamloops curler Jared Kolomaya has decided to leave Cody Tanaka’s Team BC squad for a curling opportunity closer to home.
Kolomaya, who was the third on the Tanaka Rink which represented BC at this year’s Brier (won by Team Dunstone) is joining a new squad skipped by a very familiar face in Kamloops curling circles, Jim Cotter.
Cotter is putting together a Men’s rink out of Vernon, with a goal of getting himself and his team back to the Brier after taking some time out to try his hand at mixed doubles.
Cotter — originally from Kamloops — would take his doubles acumen all the way to the Canadian Olympic mixed doubles trials with his daughter and playing partner Jaelyn last year as qualifiers for the tournament.
Cotter was also the long-time coach for Team Brown.
