Briane Meilleur

Briane Meilleur (born March 11, 1992) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba.[1] She currently plays lead for Team Kerri Einarson who won the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Briane Meilleur
Curler
Born (1992-03-11) March 11, 1992
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Team
Curling clubGimli CC,
Gimli, MB
SkipKerri Einarson
ThirdVal Sweeting
SecondShannon Birchard
LeadBriane Meilleur
AlternateJennifer Clark-Rouire
Career
Member Association Manitoba
Hearts appearances3 (2016, 2018, 2020)
Top CTRS ranking1st (2019–20)
Grand Slam victories1 (2019 Players')
Medal record
Women's Curling
Representing  Manitoba
Scotties Tournament of Hearts
2020 Moose Jaw

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.[2]

She began her senior career as a skip in the 2011–12 curling 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 curling season.[3] She competed in the 2017 Road to the Roar Canadian Olympic Curling Pre-Trials with Breanne Knapp, Janelle Vachon, and Sarah Neufeld, but the team missed out on a chance to qualify for the trials following losses to Julie Tippin and Krista McCarville.[4]

For the 2018–19 curling season, Meilleur joined Kerri Einarson's new team as the lead. The team gained some attention for being made up entirely of former skips.[5] They began the season by winning three straight World Curling Tour events in three weeks: the 2018 Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, the inaugural Morris SunSpiel and then the Mother Club Fall Curling Classic[6] with a fourth win at the Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Classic in October.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9][10] 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.[11]

Personal life

Meilleur currently works as a CAD Technician for EuroCraft Office Furnishings.[12]

Teams
Season Skip Third Second Lead
2011–12[13] Briane MeilleurKrysten KarwackiAmy AgnewMeagan Grenkow
2012–13 Selena KaatzBriane MeilleurKristin MacCuishKatherine Doersken
2013–14 Breanne KnappKatherine DoerskenBriane MeilleurKrysten Karwacki
2014–15 Jill ThurstonBrette RichardsBriane MeilleurKrysten Karwacki
2015–16 Cathy Overton-ClaphamBriane MeilleurKatherine DoerskenKrysten Karwacki
2016–17 Briane MeilleurRhonda VarnesJanelle VachonSarah Neufeld
2017–18 Briane MeilleurBreanne KnappJanelle VachonSarah Neufeld
2018–19 Kerri EinarsonVal SweetingShannon BirchardBriane Meilleur
2019–20 Kerri EinarsonVal SweetingShannon BirchardBriane Meilleur

References
  1. "CurlingZone". www.curlingzone.com. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  2. "Team | TEAM KERRI EINARSON". teamkerrieinarson.com. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  3. Bender, Jim (October 5, 2016). "Curler home, despite tears". Winnipeg Sun. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
  4. Bell, Jason (2017-11-12). "Manitoba curlers shut out at pre-trials". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  5. Brazeau, Jonathan (February 16, 2018). "Kerri Einarson's new team committed to embracing different roles". Sportsnet. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  6. "WCT Recap: Team Einarson keeps rolling with third win of season - TSN.ca". TSN. 2018-09-24. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
  7. 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.
  8. Donna Spencer (February 23, 2020). "Kerri Einarson wins Canadian women's curling championship". CBC Sports. The Canadian Press.
  9. The Canadian Press (March 12, 2020). "World Women's Curling Championship Cancelled". The Sports Network. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  10. "World Women's Curling Championship 2020 cancelled in Prince George, Canada". World Curling Federation. March 12, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  11. "GSOC cancels remaining events of 2019–20 season". Grand Slam of Curling. Grand Slam of Curling. March 13, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  12. 2018 Home Hardware Canada Cup Media Guide: Briane Meilleur
  13. "Briane Meilleur Past Teams". Curlingzone. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
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