As has been noted in the past few days, the local curling tandem of Jacob and Tanner Horgan will be going their separate ways, for the 2019-2020 season, at the very least.
Still with two years of junior curling eligibility remaining, Jacob unveiled his new lineup of Scott Mitchell (Whitby), Mitchell Cortello (Halifax) and Chase Dussesoy (Winnipeg) just over a week ago.
This week, it's time for the older brother to pull the curtain aside.
Following somewhat in the footsteps of older sister Tracy Fleury, Tanner Horgan will curl under the Manitoba banner next year, joining forces with Colton Lott (vice), Kyle Doering (second) and Tanner Lott (lead).
Given the highly successful history that he has enjoyed with his brother, it stood to reason that Horgan would address the most noteworthy alteration to what has generally been conceived as the "Team Horgan" lineup in recent years.
"It's not a bad thing to have a little bit of change, but I think more where the decision came from was that we both had good opportunities present themselves to us," explained Tanner. "We're both going to get something good out of this. This doesn't mean that we're not going to play together in the future."
Currently, however, the young skip has assembled some very familiar faces, at least within the curling circles that he travels. "I'm really excited because of the experience they have," said Horgan. "I played against them in juniors for years and always looked up to these guys."
"They are three to four years older than me, so I am really looking forward to learning from these guys, even though I am in something of a leadership role as skip. It will be interesting merging together all of our ways, all of our styles, and see what we can get out of it."
The pedigree of his new team is unquestioned. In Colton Lott, Horgan garners a back-end presence who was a member of the Matt Dunstone rinks which captured the Canadian Junior Curling Championship in both 2013 and 2016.
In fact, that latter team also included Kyle Doering. And while the native Manitobans all enjoyed a far less intense schedule in 2018-2019, both Colton Lott and Doering suited up with two-time Brier champion Pat Simmonds in 2017-18, having played with highly regarded Jason Gunnlaugson from Manitoba one year earlier.
"Kyle and Colton are used to touring all the time, spieling every weekend," said Horgan. "They are coming off more of a casual season, last year, but I think now, they are ready to ramp it up again."
As for the move to Manitoba, which generally would be considered a tougher pathway to the Brier, with all due respect to Brad Jacobs and his powerhouse Northern Ontario quartet, Horgan conceded that geography was not much of a factor at all when it came to forming this new foursome.
"Personally, I don't really care what province I play out of, I just want to form the strongest team possible and get as many points as possible," he said, adding that he obviously becomes the one eligible import curler on his new squad.
"If a team is good enough to get to the Brier, then it's good enough to get out of most provinces. I don't mind that extra challenge to get out of a deeper province like Manitoba." The new "Team Horgan" has not yet finalized a schedule of events for 2019-2020, though that should be forthcoming shortly.
