By Adam Laskaris
Johnson Tao has had a few big "firsts" over the course of the last year.
A year out from his University of Alberta graduation, Tao was navigating the realities of life as a young curler in Canada: his first full-time job, his first Alberta provincial final, his first men’s curling team breakup, and his first national final, winning silver at the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship.
But while dealing with so many firsts, the 2023 Canadian junior champion was also wondering if there would be a few "lasts."
With a bit of uncertainty around his curling future, Tao found himself trying to find the right fit for next season after parting ways with teammates Kenan Wipf, Ben Morin and Andrew Nowell, the latter two he had curled with for six seasons.
“I was ready to move, or make the commitment to join the right group, but at the same time, I was heavily considering, to be honest, taking a step back if I didn't find the right group to join,” Tao said in an interview with GSOC. “It was a really good chapter [with my old team]. All good things have to come to an end.”
Enter a phone call from reigning Brier finalist Karrick Martin, who alongside skip Kevin Koe had bested Tao’s now-defunct rink in the Alberta final a few months earlier. Martin came with an offer for Tao to join the legendary skip, who is more than twice Tao’s age.
“[The call] kind of came out of left field for me,” Tao said. “Joining Kev's team never really crossed my mind. I think in the Canadian game, there's such a big gap between the top men's teams and the up-and-coming men's teams, and so I was really focused on forming a team to kind of build with throughout the quad.”
Accepting the offer
Not too many young players get the offer to join a rink headlined by a reigning Brier finalist and two-time world champion, which Tao called “a pretty easy offer to accept.”
“His ability to make shots, it's like, really magical to watch, and I'm just super excited to be able to learn from him,” Tao said of what he admires about his new skip. “I watched that Brier, basically just as a fan, and I was pretty amazed by the shots that team was making.”
To begin, he’ll be slotting into the third position, taking over for the now-departed Tyler Tardi, who will be skipping a new team out of Saskatchewan.
“I’m excited about the change because it’s a different role than what I’ve been used to throughout my career. I’ve skipped my whole life, but my career is still just getting started,” Tao said. “I’m grateful that the team has trusted me to step into and perform in this new position. I think being part of a more experienced team and taking on more of a supporting role will help me grow in new ways.”
Tao, who works with the family violence shelter Wings of Providence in Edmonton, has said he appreciates the flexibility that the non-profit sector offers his career as a top-level curler.
“It definitely helps that my executive director is a Kevin Koe fan, so getting that call kind of got me a few brownie points at work,” Tao said. “They're super supportive of my curling career, and I'm really grateful for that.”
Growing up in Richmond, B.C., Tao first remembers watching Koe compete at the 2016 World Men's Curling Championship, where the rink that also featured Brent Laing, Marc Kennedy, and Ben Hebert came through with a gold medal.
But Tao admitted that, unlike his coworker, he actually still found himself cheering for another legendary Canadian skip this past season.
“To be honest, I am like a die-hard [Brad] Gushue fan,” Tao said with a laugh. “Brad was actually my idol growing up, and I'm a little sad that I never got the chance to play him before he retired. But Kev was definitely one of the players I also really, really, really admired growing up, and so it's just kind of surreal to be where I am right now.”
Doubling up
Tao and mixed doubles partner Zoe Cinnamon fell to the latter’s four-person teammate Serena Gray-Withers and her partner Victor Pietrangelo in the Canadian final earlier this year. The team defeated Canadian Olympians Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, while also taking down top curlers Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher in the round robin to top their pool.
“We're really focused on getting the right coaching resources and just focusing on training and just building off of what we were able to do this year,” Tao said. “Couldn't have expected making it all the way to the national final, but I think it gives us a lot of momentum and confidence heading into this next quad.”
With the next Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship not until October 2027, Tao said he’s planning for the 2026-27 season to be a training year for the duo.
“The two disciplines really complement each other, and so I think for Zoe and I, I think playing both disciplines — instead of hindering one or the other — makes us into more well-rounded curlers.”
Year-by-year commitment
Koe had alluded at the Brier in St. John’s, N.L., that he didn’t quite see himself going another full quadrennial as a competitive curling cycle, given that he’d be 55 when it wraps up in 2030.
“I think our kind of vision as a team is to kind of take it year-by-year, and especially just see how this year goes,” Tao said.
“There's a really good opportunity to be part of a group where I can learn so much from each of my teammates, and if it's for one year, so be it. If it's for the whole quad, that'd be amazing too, but I'm just trying to get as much as I can out of this experience.”
Lead photo by Connor Hood
