A legend 31 years in the making

It was delightful this morning, as I caught part of the sixth draw, to hear the wonderful P.E.I. lilt from the mouth of veteran Rod MacDonald, the skip of Prince Edward Island.
Interesting note about Rod, he started his Brier career before any other curler (not counting fifths) in this year’s event, even before Russ Howard. Howard’s first Brier was in Calgary in 1980.
For MacDonald, the debut came two years earlier in Vancouver. While a young fourth from Alberta by the name of Ed Lukowich was the focus of that Brier, a young team from P.E.I. was running up a solid 5-6 record (the Island’s best record in five years) with 20-year-old third Rod MacDonald playing for Peter MacDonald.
Since then, Rod has made five more appearances as a player, including this year, and two others as a fifth.
In 1981 and 1996 he played as a lead for Peter again — making the playoffs in 1996, eliminating Ed Werenich in a tiebreaker before losing to Don Westphal of Quebec in the 3-4 game.
Since then he’s been a fifth twice, in 2004 for Mike Gaudet and 2007 for Peter Gallant, and a skip twice in 2005 (4-7) and 2006 (3-8).
Including the fifths, there’s one player whose Brier experience stretches further back than Rod’s and that is the aforementioned Peter MacDonald, playing fifth for Rod. His first Brier was in 1976 as a second for Ken MacDonald of P.E.I.