Briane Meilleur

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Briane Meilleur
Curler
Born (1992-03-11) March 11, 1992 (age 29)
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Team
Curling club,
Gimli, MB
[1]
Petersfield, MB
SkipKerri Einarson
ThirdVal Sweeting
SecondShannon Birchard
LeadBriane Meilleur
AlternateKrysten Karwacki
Mixed doubles
partner		Mark Nichols
Career
Member Association Manitoba
Hearts appearances5 (2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022)
World Championship
appearances		1 (2021)
Top CTRS ranking1st (2019–20)
Grand Slam victories2 (2019 Players', 2021 Players')
Medal record
Women's Curling
Representing  Canada
Scotties Tournament of Hearts
Gold medal – first place 2021 Calgary
Gold medal – first place 2022 Thunder Bay
Representing  Manitoba
Scotties Tournament of Hearts
Gold medal – first place 2020 Moose Jaw

Briane Meilleur (born March 11, 1992) is a Canadian curler from Petersfield, Manitoba.[2] She currently plays lead for Team Kerri Einarson who have won back to back Scotties Tournament of Hearts, in 2020 and 2021.

Career[]

Meilleur had a fairly successful junior career playing third for Breanne Knapp, winning the Manitoba junior title in 2010 and 2011 and competing in the 2010 and 2011 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. She won the bronze medal in 2011.[3]

She began her senior career as a skip in the 2011–12 season, and played in her first Grand Slam, the 2011 Manitoba Lotteries Women's Curling Classic.

After playing for several different teams, she began to skip her own rink again in the 2016–17 and 2017–18 season.[4] She competed in the 2017 Road to the Roar Canadian Olympic Curling Pre-Trials with Breanne Knapp, , and , but the team missed out on a chance to qualify for the trials following losses to Julie Tippin and Krista McCarville.[5]

For the 2018–19 season, Meilleur joined Kerri Einarson's new team as the lead. The team gained some attention for being made up entirely of former skips.[6] They began the season by winning three straight World Curling Tour events in three weeks: the 2018 Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, the inaugural and then the Mother Club Fall Curling Classic[7] with a fourth win at the Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Classic in October.[8] In December, the team lost in the finals of the 2018 Canada Cup and 2018 National. Their strong play during the early part of the season earned them enough points to put team Einarson in the Wild Card game at the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. However the team lost to the lower ranked Casey Scheidegger rink. The team would rebound to have a strong finish at the end of the season, winning the 2019 Players' Championship and losing in the final of the 2019 Champions Cup.

Team Einarson had two playoff finishes at the first two Slams of the 2019–20 season, losing to Anna Hasselborg in the quarterfinal of the Masters and once again to Hasselborg in the final of the Tour Challenge. The team did not have the same success at the Canada Cup as they did in 2018, finishing with a 2–4 record. However, at the 2020 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts, her team succeeded. They finished the round robin and championship round with a 7–1 record which qualified them for the final. In the final, they defeated Jennifer Jones. It was Meilleur's first Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts provincial title. Team Einarson represented Manitoba at the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, where they continued their success. They finished first in the round robin with a 9–2 record and then won the 1 vs. 2 page playoff game, qualifying them for the final. Meilleur would win her first Canadian Championship when they defeated Rachel Homan 8–7 in and extra end.[9] The team was set to represent Canada at the 2020 World Women's Curling Championship before the event got cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[10][11] The Scotties would be their last event of the season as both the Players' Championship and the Champions Cup Grand Slam events were also cancelled due to the pandemic.[12]

Team Einarson returned to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in 2021 as Team Canada. They went 7–1 in the round robin, with their only loss coming against Ontario's Rachel Homan. This qualified them for the championship round. There, they won three games and lost one to Manitoba's Jennifer Jones.[13] They advanced to the playoffs as the second seed, defeating Alberta's Laura Walker 9–3 in the semifinal. In the final, they defeated Homan to win their second consecutive Scotties gold.[14] A month later, Meilleur was back in the Calgary bubble to compete with Mark Nichols at the 2021 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. The pair failed to qualify for the playoffs, posting a 3–3 round robin record. Meilleur returned to the bubble for a third time in April 2021, along with her women's team to play in the two only Grand Slam events of the abbreviated season. The team made it to the semifinals of the 2021 Champions Cup where they lost to Team Homan, but got their revenge at the 2021 Players' Championship a week later, where they beat Homan in the final.[15] The following week, Team Einarson represented Canada at the 2021 World Women's Curling Championship. The team had a slow start to the event, falling to 1–5 after their first six games.[16] They turned things around, however, winning six of their seven remaining round robin games to qualifying for the playoffs.[17] They then faced Sweden's Anna Hasselborg in the qualification game, which they lost 8–3.[18]

Personal life[]

Meilleur currently works as a CAD Technician for EuroCraft Office Furnishings.[2]

Teams[]

Season Skip Third Second Lead
2011–12[19] Briane Meilleur Krysten Karwacki
2012–13 Selena Kaatz Briane Meilleur Kristin MacCuish
2013–14 Breanne Knapp Katherine Doersken Briane Meilleur Krysten Karwacki
2014–15 Jill Thurston Briane Meilleur Krysten Karwacki
2015–16 Cathy Overton-Clapham Briane Meilleur Katherine Doersken Krysten Karwacki
2016–17 Briane Meilleur Rhonda Varnes
2017–18 Briane Meilleur Breanne Knapp Janelle Vachon Sarah Neufeld
2018–19 Kerri Einarson Val Sweeting Shannon Birchard Briane Meilleur
2019–20 Kerri Einarson Val Sweeting Shannon Birchard Briane Meilleur
2020–21 Kerri Einarson Val Sweeting Shannon Birchard Briane Meilleur
2021–22 Kerri Einarson Val Sweeting Shannon Birchard Briane Meilleur

References[]

  1. ^ "2021 Home Hardware Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Media Guide" (PDF). Curling Canada. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Media Guide" (PDF). Curling Canada. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  3. ^ "Team | TEAM KERRI EINARSON". teamkerrieinarson.com. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  4. ^ Bender, Jim (October 5, 2016). "Curler home, despite tears". Winnipeg Sun. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
  5. ^ Bell, Jason (2017-11-12). "Manitoba curlers shut out at pre-trials". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  6. ^ Brazeau, Jonathan (February 16, 2018). "Kerri Einarson's new team committed to embracing different roles". Sportsnet. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  7. ^ "WCT Recap: Team Einarson keeps rolling with third win of season - TSN.ca". TSN. 2018-09-24. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
  8. ^ Spencer, Donna (9 October 2018). "Canadian women's rink proving 4 skips as good — or better — than 1". CBC Sports. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  9. ^ Donna Spencer (February 23, 2020). "Kerri Einarson wins Canadian women's curling championship". CBC Sports. The Canadian Press.
  10. ^ The Canadian Press (March 12, 2020). "World Women's Curling Championship Cancelled". The Sports Network. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  11. ^ "World Women's Curling Championship 2020 cancelled in Prince George, Canada". World Curling Federation. March 12, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  12. ^ "GSOC cancels remaining events of 2019–20 season". Grand Slam of Curling. Grand Slam of Curling. March 13, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  13. ^ "2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts: Teams: Canada (Einarson)". Curling Canada. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  14. ^ Spencer, Donna (February 28, 2021). "Kerri Einarson wins back-to-back Scotties titles". CBC Sports. The Canadian Press. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  15. ^ Jonathan Brazeau (April 25, 2021). "Einarson tops Homan to defend Players' Championship women's title". Grand Slam of Curling. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  16. ^ "Canada falls to Germany". Curling Canada. May 3, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  17. ^ "Onto the playoffs!". Curling Canada. May 7, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  18. ^ Steve Seixeiro (May 8, 2021). "Sweden and United States progress to LGT World Women's semi-finals". World Curling Federation. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  19. ^ "Briane Meilleur Past Teams". Curlingzone. Retrieved August 21, 2019.

External links[]

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