Brendan Bottcher

Junior career

In the 2009-2010 season, with Brad Thiessen at third, Landon Bucholz at second, Bryce Bucholz at lead, and Bernie Panich as their coach, they had much success winning four junior bonspiels and being a runner-up in another. In the Edmonton Men's Super-League, they posted a .500 record. In a few exhibition games throughout the season prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics, they played Olympic calibre teams such as Kevin Martin and Thomas Ulsrud. The team would then go on to win the Alberta junior provincial curling championships, beating their cross town rival Curtis Bale 6-4 in the final.^[3] This provincial junior title earned him a berth to the 2010 Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec. At Canadian Junior Curling Championships, the team had mixed success, finishing with a 6-6 record.^[4]

Although contenders to return the following Canadian junior curling championships, the team lost the 2011 Alberta junior provincial semi-final to Scott Smith of Calgary.^[5] The end of the 2010-2011 season saw Brad Thiessen age out of junior eligibility. The team then added long time Alberta junior competitor Evan Asmussen to the lineup prior to the 2011-2012 season. After his junior curling season concluded, Bottcher skipped his University of Alberta Golden Bears men's team to a semi-final finish at the CIS curling championships.

The 2011-2012 season saw Bottcher continue his previous success at the 2012 Alberta junior provincials, finishing the round robin with a perfect record and defeating Jordan Steinke of Dawson Creek in the final to win his second provincial junior title. At the 2012 Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Napanee, Ontario the team finished the round robin with an 11-1 record, earning a bye to the Canadian final. Bottcher himself would earn first team all-star skip honors for the highest shooting percentage in the round robin. Bottcher would then defeated Wark of Northern Ontario 9-6 to win the Canadian junior championships. The team would then proceed to the 2012 World Junior Curling Championships in Östersund Sweden, where he finished the round robin with an 8-1 record, only losing to Scotland's Kyle Smith 8-4. A 1-2 page play-off 9-3 victory over Sweden gave Bottcher and his team a direct berth to the final. Sweden would defeat Norway 8-4 in the semi-final game, setting up a re-match in the final. Bottcher would score five points in the seventh end of the final for a 10-4 win and become the 2012 World Junior men's curling champion - the first world junior men's curling championship title for Canada since 2007.

Prior to the World Junior Curling Championships and after the Canadian Junior Curling Championships, Bottcher's University of Alberta Golden Bears team went undefeated at the Canada West Curling Championships, qualifying them for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Curling Championships. Days after the world juniors, Bottcher returned to Canada to compete at the CIS nationals and led the Golden Bears to the university's first ever curling national championship. Bottcher and his university team of third Mick Lizmore, second Brad Thiessen, lead Karrick Martin and alternate Parker Konschuh had a strong weekend, only losing one game to the UPEI Panthers' Brett Gallant 10-4. The team's strong performance was demonstrated when the front end was awarded 1st team All-Canadian honours while the back end received 2nd team All-Canadian honours. The championship was Bottcher's third in five weeks.^[6] A chemical engineering student, he was named Athlete of the Year and Academic All-Canadian of the Year from the University of Alberta.^[7]

Bottcher's rink represented Canada at the 2013 Winter Universiade, where he was named Canada's flag bearer for the opening ceremony.^[8] Team Canada won the bronze medal at the event.^[9]

2012-present

Now aged out of junior, Bottcher continued to curl with his University of Alberta team. They won their first World Curling Tour (WCT) event at the 2012 Red Deer Curling Classic. The team played in their first men's provincial at the 2013 Boston Pizza Cup, winning just one game before being eliminated. The following season, the team played in two Grand Slam events: they played at the 2013 Canadian Open, finishing with a record of 1-4, and the 2014 National, again earning a 1-4 record. They did however win their second WCT event, the 2013 Spruce Grove Cashspiel. At the 2014 Boston Pizza Cup they again won just one game before being eliminated.

Following the 2013-14 season, Lizmore left the team to form his own rink, and was replaced with Albertan veteran curler Tom Appelman. The team found immediate success with their new addition, beginning the 2014-15 season by winning the 2014 HDF Insurance Shoot-Out. That season, the team also won the German Masters. They also played in three Grand Slams, making it to the semifinals in all three events. At the 2015 Boston Pizza Cup, the team would make it all the way to the final, where they lost to the Kevin Koe rink. The following season, the team had less success on tour, as they did not win any events, and only made it as far as the quarterfinals in two of the five slams they played in. At the 2016 Boston Pizza Cup, they would lose in the semifinals.

After two seasons, two-time Brier champion Pat Simmons joined Bottcher in place of Appelman. Over the 2016 Christmas break Simmons left the rink, with Darren Moulding taking over at third.^[10] With Moulding on the team would make it to the quarterfinals at the 2017 Canadian Open of Curling, which was their first event with the new lineup. In February 2017 Bottcher, Moulding, Brad Thiessen and Karrick Martin won the 2017 Boston Pizza Cup Alberta men's title and a place representing the province in that year's Brier Canadian championship; they had a perfect 5-0 record, beating Ted Appelman 6-5 in the final.^[10][11] The team represented Alberta at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier, Botcher's first career Brier appearance. There, he led his province to a 3-8 round robin record, missing the playoffs. On the tour, the team would not win any events, and would only make the playoffs in one slam, the aforementioned Canadian Open.

Team Botcher qualified for the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials (held December 2–10 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario) by winning one of the two pre-trials spots at the Home Hardware Road to the Roar Pre-Trials November 6–12 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. They had a 4-4 record at the Trials for 4th spot, one place out of the playoffs. By winning the 2018 Boston Pizza Cup, Team Bottcher qualified as Team Alberta for the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier, held from March 3 to 11, 2018 at the Brandt Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan. The team had a 8-3 round robin record, and had to fight through the 3 vs. 4 game beating Brad Jacobs (Northern Ontario) and the semifinal against John Epping (Ontario) to make it to the final, where they would lose to Brad Gushue of Team Canada 6-4.^[12] On the tour, the team won the Medicine Hat Charity Classic and the Red Deer Curling Classic. They only played in one Slam, the 2018 Players' Championship where they won just one game.