Geoff Walker (left) and his teammates competing at the 2020 Brier in Kingston, Ontario. Photo from the Team Gushue Facebook page

By Curtis Galbraith

Curling

Possible long stay coming inside the Calgary bubble for a local curler and his family

Jan 29, 2021 | 6:00 AM

A family of curlers from Beaverlodge is looking at possibly spending more than two months in the Calgary bubble.

Geoff Walker will be playing with Brad Gushue’s rink at the Brier as it will be there as Team Canada.

Before that, though, comes Dad duty while wife Laura Walker skips the Alberta rink at the Scotties.

“I’m going to be entering early because we have a new, young son and no one can go in and out of the bubble. I’m going to be the caregiver. That’s going to be different too, obviously, going in and basically not being able to leave the hotel while that is going on and looking after our boy while she competes.”

The couple’s son Liam is just over four months old.

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The Scotties goes February 19 to 28 and the Brier March 5 to 14. If Team Gushue wins, it would advance to the World Men’s Curling Championship April 2 to 11, also in the bubble. Laura Walker is also competing in the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. It will be played in the bubble from March 18 to 25.

Geoff adds there is a protocol to follow before going into the bubble.

“We have to do our own quarantine before we enter because we need to have a negative test within 72 hours before we can enter the bubble and then as soon as we get to the bubble, we have to get another test and then we have to get a third test within three days of that first entry test.”

Once inside, people cannot leave unless they want to go through the same protocol again.

Walker adds it will be different to have the biggest event of the year also be the first event of the year.

“For myself, my last competitive game, my last curling game was last year’s Brier final. My first game this season is actually going to be at the Brier. It’s basically a full calendar year in between competitive games for myself, but there is going to be, I think, a lot of people in that same boat.”

Geoff says he and his team have not been together since winning last year’s Brier. He adds he started practicing in October but has not been back on the ice since December 10.