King representing Tillsonburg Curling Club at 2026 Brier

Jayden King’s team won the Ontario championship on the weekend, qualifying them for the Canadian Brier. Left to right are: Left to right are: Dylan Niepage (vice), Jayden King (skip), Cory Heggestad (alternate/coach), Victor Pietrangelo (lead) and Owen Henry (second). (Contributed Photo)

Jeff Tribe, Post Correspondent

Courtland’s Jayden King is not only brushing up on his curling skills for the Montana’s Brier February 27 to March 8 in St. John’s Newfoundland, but also his ability to kiss a cod and ingest dark rum.

“We’ll do the whole screech situation,” laughed the 23-year skip of the Farm & Food Care Ontario Men’s Curling Championship winning rink. “Whatever comes along, we are excited to go along for the whole ride.”

King, vice Dylan Niepage, second Owen Henry, lead VIctor Pietrangelo and alternate Cory Heggestad booked their ticket to Canadian men’s curling ultimate ride with a 9-6 win over Sam Mooinbroeck’s Whitby foursome Sunday, Jan. 11 in the Woolwich Memorial Centre.

The teams have met six times this season said King, Mooinbroeck prevailing 7-5 earlier in the provincial draw and opening with the hammer during the final as a result. The Whitby rink counted one in the first end, King answering with a draw for two, Mooinbroeck answering back with a great third-end shot of his own, to score two and take a 3-2 lead.

“We were back and forth again,” said King, who counted two in the fifth and seventh ends, adding two in the ninth to lead 8-6 heading home.

The tenth end played out ‘scary’ for its majority King admitted.

“We made a pair of doubles,” he continued, which put the pressure on Mooinbroeck to attempt an extremely tough and ultimately unsuccessful shot. “And then we stole one.”

Experience gained through a final appearance two years earlier helped this year said King, believing his team entered the match looser and more focussed.

“But it’s hard to ignore what’s at stake in these big games.”

King’s rink qualified for a first-round bye based on a strong seasonal performance. They opened Jan. 5 with a 6-4 win over Jordan McNamara’s Rideau foursome, locking down a three-point sixth end and steal in the seventh with solid defence through the final three ends.

“They were pretty steady,” King credited.

He prevailed 6-5 over Scott Howard in the team’s second outing Jan. 6, drawing twice to the circle in the tenth end to finally decide a tightly-contested affair. The victory marked a measure of revenge against an opponent who had defeated King and company in the 2024 Ontario final.

Daniel Hocevar’s Dundas Valley Golf and Curling Club rink came into their Jan. 8 encounter with the momentum of two large victories behind them. An ‘up-and-coming team’ took a 2-1 lead into the fourth end, where the game turned as King scored three and added a steal in the fifth for a 5-2 advantage.

“That was kind of our ‘MO’ this week. Three in one end and steal in the next.”

Hocevar responded with two in the sixth to close within one, but King executed an ‘in off’ (playing off his own rock to take out an opposing stone) to count two in the ninth, running his opponent out of rocks through the tenth.

King’s 3-0 record qualified his foursome for the page 1 versus 2 match Jan. 10 at 2 p.m.

“We did not play our best,” he admitted.

King scored two in each the second and third ends, giving up one in the fifth and a pivotal steal of three in the sixth to trail 6-4.

“We were scratching and clawing but just couldn’t quite pull it together,” he said of an eventual 7-5 loss. “Sam played better than we did and deserved the win.”

Rather than qualifying for the final, King’s rink had to face Woodstock’s Mark Kean in a semi-final matchup that evening.

“We’re good friends and we seem to meet each other every year,” said King.

A see-saw battle was finally decided as trailing by one, he blanked the ninth end to take the hammer into the tenth.

“And we scored two in order to win.”

To say the King rink is thrilled with the Ontario title and resultant national championship berth would be an understatement.

“Going to the brier is every curler’s dream. Over the moon happy - happy is not a big enough word to describe this.”

He began curling at the age of 12, taken to the local club by neighbours Les and Nora Peters after having his interest piqued by watching the sport on TV. King fell in love immediately, eventually advancing to a competitive junior team in London and winning the U21 provincial championship in 2023.

“You are fierce competitors on the ice and friends off it,” he explained of a sport requiring both athleticism and strategy, one which has ‘taken him many interesting places and introduced him to many great people.’

Niepage, who hails from Oro-Medonte, and King played together at the junior level, meeting up with Henry (from Ilderton). Pietrangelo is from Niagara Falls, curling previously in the world university games, while Heggestad is also a well-known member of the curling community.

King sees his role as both shot-maker and leader, understanding and managing his team’s strengths in order to put the rink in a position to be successful. It takes all four curlers playing well together to win says King, working as a team.

“We all pitched in and couldn’t be happier with the result.”

Each is ‘super excited’ to represent their home club, King proud to compete under the Tillsonburg Curling Club banner.

“Having a trophy to come home with is even better.”

Their team is young, averaging 23 years of age, but he feels they can be competitive at the Brier.

“Make the playoffs and anything is possible from there,” King said of their shared goal.

While making the Brier is an accomplishment for most curlers, doing so at this point of their careers is also cause for excitement, King pointing out most competitive curlers fall between the ages of 20 and 35.

“There’s a lot of years left in our curling careers if we choose to take them. This is just the beginning.”