At the Brier, curling is a family affair

From Wednesday morning's draw between Kevin Koe and his brother Jamie (skips of Team Alberta and Team Northwest Territories/Yukon, respectively) to Scott Howard playing spare for his dad Glenn on Team Ontario while his uncle Russ calls the games for TSN, to Rick Folk coaching his son Kevin on Team British Columbia, Saskatoon's Brier appears to be as much a family reunion as a sporting event.

The family connectionsand rivalriesare playing themselves out on during draws, at the Brier Patch, and sometimes, on the players' own Twitter feeds.

Prior to the much anticipated "clash of the Koes" @TeamKevinKoe tweeted, "Big game vs @JKnwt and the Polar Bears to stay in 1st. Might be some #tokens on the line for the brothers so we gotta pick it up."

The 'tokens' the team was referring to were drinks tokens for the Brier Patch. The two brothers wagered on the Ford Hot Shots competition to open the tournament Saturday, and Jamie, who earned more points than Kevin, won four drink tokens.

A short time later Jamie's team (@JKnwt) promptly 'edited' the message to make it look like it said "Big game vs @JKnwt and the Polar Bears to stay in 1st. Just hoping we don't get embarrassed" and retweeted itto their followers.

The game, however, turned out to be more of an embarrassment for Jamie, with Kevin's rink winning it 113 after seven ends. It helped keep his Alberta squad at the top of the standings with seven wins and one loss. The Yukon/Northwest Territories rink still remained a strong playoff contender, in third place.

The other team challenging for top spot in the round robin is Team Ontario, which also had a 71 record after Wednesday morning's draw. Skip Glenn Howard and his brother Russ have played in 14 Briers, but on Monday Glenn surpassed Russ for games played in the competition, at 175.

His son Scott plays alternate for Ontario and has a long way to go to catch either man, but he did get some ice time on Monday when he subbed in as lead for a sick Craig Savill.

"Yeah I'd like to follow in the footsteps of my dad and hopefully be a Brier champ or world champ one day," he said.

"I love it,"enthused Glenn. "I played in this building in 1989 in the Brier, and neither of my children were born then. And now, 23 years later, I've got my 21-year-old son on the team with meIt's pretty cool."

His brother Russ, who has been watchingGlenn and Scottfrom the TSN broadcast booth, has another take on the emergence of the next generation of Howard curlers.

"It's a little spooky to be honest, because you know you're old. That's the first thing that comes across," he laughed, before turning serious.

"You're so proud of them. I'm shocked at how they both handled it. There's a lot of pressure on them with the Howard name and they both played so well. It's not easy to do that."

Another familiar Brier face who is offering up advice to a younger generation is Rick Folk. Skip of the last Saskatchewan team to win the Brier, in 1980, Folk now coaches Team B.C.

His son, Kevin, who was born in Saskatoon, throws third stones for B.C.The team is barely hanging on in the standings (with a 44 record after Wednesday morning's draw), but the younger Folk still hopes the team can pull it off.

"To play in the final anywhere would be amazing. To win a Brier with my dad on my team in Saskatoon would be the absolute best place possible, in my opinion," he said.

With the Howards, the Folks and the two Koe teamsoccupying four of the top six spots in the standings, its likely the Brier final will bebe a family affair. What remains to be seen, is which family.