Four years ago, Doug and Sheila McNulty said ‘I do,’ hours before jetting off to the Tim Hortons Brier in Kelowna, B.C. for their honeymoon.
But their love of curling didn’t start or stop there.
Sheila first stepped onto a curling sheet when she was seven years old. And by the time she was 18, she had developed a passion for the sport, both on and off the ice.
“I really became interested in the history of the game,” she said, while wearing an old-style knitted curling sweater. “I’m obsessed with the idea of the game and everything about it, as opposed to just playing it.”
Doug’s love of the game came a little later in his life. He took up the sport around the age of 25, although that would have been close to the same time Sheila started.
Doug’s 58 years old, while Sheila’s 31.
They met at their local curling club in Welland, Ont., about 11 years ago. Sheila was looking to join a league, and Doug’s team needed a lead. But, like many curling teams, there was a bit of a shake up in their rink.
“He kicked me off the team one time,” Sheila recalled.
Doug claims they were trying to start a “super team” with two skips and two thirds.
“I had to tell her that she was cut,” Doug laughed.
That might have been a pick in the couple’s curling relationship, but Sheila says it wasn’t a deal breaker.
They continued to spend time together, and on their first “unofficial date” they watched the Brier.
“She didn’t have TSN at her place, so we went to the house I was staying at and just watched the curling game.”
The Brier means more to the couple than just a first date. Sheila has been attending the national championship since 2007 in Hamilton, Ont. — 2009 is the only one she’s missed.
In 2013, the couple started going together. That’s also the year the two got engaged.
“It was going to be a special trip — our first Brier together,” said Doug, adding he had been waiting for the right time to pop the question. “I figured, ‘Let’s do this.’”
One year later, the couple tied the knot and the next day they were flying to Kelowna, B.C. for their honeymoon, and their second Brier together.
Now their whole year revolves around the Brier. They plan their work schedules and holidays around the championship, and the routine of it all makes life a little easier for Doug.
“I know when our anniversary is coming up because we’re getting ready to leave, so it’s good for me.”
And in a sport that’s all about camaraderie and forming friendships, the McNultys aren’t surprised that it’s what brought them together.
“It definitely was the love of curling,” Doug said.
Wearing her heart on her sleeve
Sheila and Doug are now at their sixth Brier together. They’ll be sitting in the corner, four rows up from ice level at the Brandt Centre all week, cheering on their favourite teams.
The couple says lots of people recognize them from previous Briers, and they expect to see many of their friends they’ve made along the way. But for the fans that don’t know Sheila, it won’t be hard to see her passion for the game.
She was 17 when she got her first curling tattoo. Inked in the centre of her right calf is the World Curling Federation’s logo.
“I loved it. It took me some time to decide that I wanted something bigger and better,” Sheila said, as she rolled up her sleeve to reveal a tattoo covering her upper right arm.
An old curling rock and corn broom, drawings of ones Sheila actually owns, overlap curling rings. Two big maple leaves are on either side of the broom, representing Canada, and three Scottish thistles stem from the top of the 12-foot.
“Curling was born in Scotland but raised in Canada — that was kind of the history of it,” she explained. “It ties into my love for the history of the game.”
A history that lives on in Sheila and Doug’s Welland, Ont. home.
“Our house looks like a curling museum,” Doug said, adding Sheila is an avid collector of pins, jerseys, rocks, brooms and other memorabilia.
But above all the collectibles Sheila and Doug have gained over the years, their love for the game still comes down to something more than just keepsakes.
“It’s camaraderie and I think that probably means more than anything else,” Sheila said. “You can meet anybody, make a friend and have a good time. (Curling) is a community.”
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