Mark Nichols had a decision to make this offseason.
The six-time Brier champion and longtime Team Gushue third out of Newfoundland and Labrador had already seen his running mate in Brad Gushue call it a career.
Bowing out in the 3-4 page playoff game to defending champions in Team Jacobs at their hometown Brier in St. John’s, the 46-year-old Nichols had to have a long, hard think about what would be next for his own playing days, if anything.
Waiting around to see if he’d get the call to join another top team, it was skip Matt Dunstone — fresh off a Brier win of his own — who picked up the phone to offer Nichols a spot as the team’s second.
And while Nichols took a few days to come to the final decision, he’s excited for the new challenge, even if there is a little bit of uncertainty to the new frontier.
“I don't know if it's [a] four-year [commitment]. The conversation that we had is like, ‘let's see what year one is like, let's see how we do,’” Nichols said in an interview with John Cullen on the latest episode of The Broom Brothers. “I think that would play [a factor] like if things don't work or it just doesn't mesh or those sort of things… like I don't think we're committing on anything any longer than [one year for now].”
“In my head, yeah I'd love everything to go perfectly and we just continue on. That being said, I'm 46. If I get through halfway through the season and my hip gives out or my back gives out or they got to start bringing in extra massage therapy or something like that for me to just get through events then yeah I might have to consider, like ‘yeah okay now it's time,’ but right now I'm healthy. I'm still playing well and I don't have any injuries. I feel like health is not going to be what limits me from continuing on.”
The full interview is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
