Calgary<\/strong> \u2014 Jean-Michel M\u00e9nard is back on the Canadian men\u2019s curling stage. The first francophone skip from Quebec to win a national men\u2019s championship has returned this season playing third for F\u00e9lix Asselin.<\/p>\n M\u00e9nard, who defeated Glenn Howard in the 2006 Brier final in Regina, also earned a silver medal at the world championship in Lowell, Massachusetts. With 119 games over 11 career Brier appearances, including 10 as a skip, M\u00e9nard is one of the most accomplished players in Canadian curling.<\/p>\n Stepping back from men\u2019s curling in 2018 to prioritize family life, M\u00e9nard continued to play in mixed curling and claimed a Canadian mixed team championship in 2021, playing alongside his wife, Annie Lemay, an eight-time provincial women\u2019s champion. The couple went on to win the 2022 World Mixed Championship in Aberdeen, Scotland.<\/p>\n Now, M\u00e9nard is back in men’s curling after receiving a call from former teammate Martin Cr\u00e9te in February, offering him a full-time position with Asselin’s team. Initially thinking it was a request to spare in a bonspiel, M\u00e9nard embraced the opportunity to contribute as Asselin\u2019s vice-skip. “I think I still have some shots left in me. Why not give it a try?” M\u00e9nard said. He expressed confidence in playing as part of the team without the pressure of skipping, remarking on how long it\u2019s been since he last swept.<\/p>\n Asselin, who was 11 years old when M\u00e9nard won the Brier, expressed excitement about the addition of the veteran skip. \u201cHe can help a lot. His experiences in tense moments is where it\u2019s going to show,\u201d Asselin noted.<\/p>\n M\u00e9nard, now 48, hasn\u2019t ruled out a return to the Brier, with hopes that a strong performance from Asselin\u2019s team this season could lead to another Brier appearance. \u201cMaybe I have a sniff to go back to the Brier,\u201d M\u00e9nard said, optimistic about their chances if they maintain their current form.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n SOURCE: Global<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former Brier Champion Jean-Michel M\u00e9nard Returns to Elite Men\u2019s Curling Calgary \u2014 Jean-Michel M\u00e9nard is back…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":9541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[368],"tags":[4404,5520,5512,5510,5515,5517,5518,5511,5514,5509,5519,5521,5513,5516],"class_list":["post-9538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-amat","tag-annie-lemay","tag-brier-champion","tag-canadian-curling","tag-canadian-mixed-team-championship","tag-curling-news","tag-elite-curling","tag-felix-asselin","tag-glenn-howard","tag-jean-michel-menard","tag-martin-crete","tag-pointsbet-invitational","tag-quebec-curling","tag-world-mixed-championship"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/resizer\/v2\/VUROHA45ABAUNGS3TBQPGM7MQU.jpg?auth=acb2140820a96f2f71b58911e20cab6735f127c3d512992d2b70f654c7e01b24&width=1200&quality=80","fifu_image_alt":"Former Brier Champion Jean-Michel M\u00e9nard Returns to Elite Men\u2019s Curling","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}