Nolan Thiessen (born November 6, 1980 in Pilot Mound,

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

curler.

Career

Thiessen, in his debut at Canadian Juniors, lost the final of the

2001 Canadian Junior Curling Championships The 2001 Kärcher Canadian Junior Curling Championships were held February 3-11 at the St. Catharines Golf & Country Club in St. Catharines, Ontario. The winning teams represented Canada at the 2001 World Junior Curling Championships. Men's Team ...

playing lead for Mike McEwen. Thiessen was a member of the 2003 Winter Universiade championship team. He represented

Brandon University Brandon University is a university located in the city of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, with an enrollment of 3375 (2020) full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. The current location was founded on July 13, 1899, as Brandon Co ...

, playing lead for Mike McEwen. After university, he played lead for Sean Grassie before moving to play in Alberta as Mark Johnson's lead in 2004. In 2006, he moved to play for

Kevin Koe Kevin Koe ( ; born January 11, 1975) is a Canadian curler. Koe is a two-time World champion and four-time Canadian champion. He was the skip of the Canadian men's team at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Originally from Yellowknife, N ...

. Thiessen won the

2008 Canada Cup of Curling The 2008 Strauss Canada Cup was held February 27 to March 2 at the Interior Savings Centre in Kamloops, British Columbia. The men's champion was Kevin Koe and the women's champion was Stefanie Lawton. Men's Teams * Glenn Howard ( 2007 Tim Hortons ...

with the team, and qualified for his first

Brier Briar, Briars, Brier, or Briers may refer to: * Briar, or brier, common name for a number of unrelated thorny plants that form thicket People * Brier (surname) * Briers, a surname * Briars (surname) Places * Briar, Missouri, U.S. * Bri ...

in 2010 as Team Alberta. The team won the Brier after beating Ontario's

Glenn Howard Glenn William Howard (born July 17, 1962) is a Canadian curler who is one of the most decorated curlers of all time. He has won four world championships, four Briers and 17 Ontario provincial championships, including a record eight straight ...

6-5 in the final. They went on to win at that year's

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, securing the gold medal after a win over Norway, skipped by

Torger Nergård Torger Nergård, also spelled Nergaard (born 12 December 1974) is a Norwegian curler from Oslo."Torger Nergaard, Curling" (Curling > Athletes). Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Retrieved 12 Februar ...

. After Pat Simmons signed on with the team, they went to their second Brier in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, but lost to Ontario, skipped by

in the final. At the 2014 Brier the rink repeated as Canadian champions, defeating John Morris' B.C. rink 10-5 in the final. The team would go on to finish in 4th place at the

2014 World Men's Curling Championship The 2014 World Men's Curling Championship was held from March 29 to April 6 at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China. Norway's Thomas Ulsrud defeated Sweden's Oskar Eriksson in the final with a score of 8–3, securing his first world tit ...

. After the season, Koe left the team and was replaced by John Morris. The team would represent Team Canada at the

2015 Tim Hortons Brier The 2015 Tim Hortons Brier was held from February 28 to March 8 at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In the final, the team of Pat Simmons, John Morris, Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen, representing "Team Canada" as defending ...

as defending champions. They would win the 2015 Brier and go on to win a bronze medal at the

2015 Ford World Men's Curling Championship The 2015 World Men's Curling Championship (branded as Ford World Men's Curling Championship 2015 for sponsorship reasons) was held from March 28 to April 5 at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It marked the first time that a ...

. The team would represent Team Canada at the

2016 Tim Hortons Brier The 2016 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from March 5–13, 2016 at TD Place Arena in Ottawa, Ontario. It is the fourth time the Brier has been held in Ottawa, and the fifth time the Brier has been held i ...

for the final time, finishing in 5th place. The team would go their separate ways after the season. Thiessen is currently the Executive Director of Marketing for

Curling Canada Curling Canada (formerly the Canadian Curling Association (CCA)) is a sanctioning body for the sport of Curling in Canada. It is associated with more than a dozen provincial and territorial curling associations across the country, and organizes C ...

Personal life

Thiessen enjoyed playing baseball growing up. He played for the Claiborne Christian High School in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

and played one year at

Vernon College Vernon College is a public community college in Vernon, Texas. History The two-year Vernon Regional Junior College welcomed its first student body of 608 in 1972, and had a Board of Trustees of seven members. In 1970, the Wilbarger County vote ...

in Texas, which led to his participation in a regional tournament for the junior College World Series. He also played baseball at the 2001 Canada Summer Games for Team Manitoba. After playing baseball in Texas, Thiessen returned to Manitoba and finished his education at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.McKinney, Texas McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas. It is Collin County's third-largest city, after Plano and Frisco. A suburb of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, McKinney is about north of Dallas. The U.S. Census Bureau l ...

, where she found work.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thiessen, Nolan 1980 births Living people Brier champions Curlers from Manitoba Curlers from Alberta Sportspeople from Brandon, Manitoba World curling champions People from Spruce Grove Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian baseball players Canadian accountants People from McKinney, Texas Canadian male curlers Universiade medalists in curling Continental Cup of Curling participants Universiade gold medalists for Canada Medalists at the 2003 Winter Universiade Canada Cup (curling) participants