Bradley Thiessen


Bradley "Brad" Thiessen is a Canadian curler. He is a long-time member of the Brendan Bottcher rink, currently throwing second stones for the team.

Career

Juniors

Thiessen was a member of the Bottcher rink at the 2010 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, representing Alberta. There, the team finished with a 6-6 record. Thiessen aged off the team, and was not a member of the team when Bottcher won the 2012 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. However, remained with Botcher in university curling, playing on the University of Alberta team which won a bronze medal at the 2011 CIS/CCA Curling Championships, gold at the 2012 CIS/CCA Curling Championships and silvers at the 2013 CIS/CCA Curling Championships and 2014 CIS/CCA Curling Championships. The team represented Canada at the 2013 Winter Universiade, where they won a bronze medal.

Men's

Thiessen has won four World Curling Tour events as a member of the Bottcher rink. They won the 2012 Red Deer Curling Classic, the 2013 Spruce Grove Cashspiel, the 2014 HDF Insurance Shoot-Out and the 2015 German Masters. They played in their first Grand Slam of Curling event at the 2013 Canadian Open of Curling, where they won just one game. Later that season, they played in the 2014 Syncrude National, where they again won just one game. In the 2014-15 season, the team played in three Slams, making it to the semifinals in all three, the 2014 The National, the 2014 Canadian Open of Curling and the 2015 Players' Championship. The next season, they played in four Slams, making it to the quarterfinals in two. In the 2016-17 season, they again made it to the quarterfinals at the 2017 Meridian Canadian Open.
The rink played in their first Boston Pizza Cup, the Alberta men's curling championship in 2013, where they won just one game. In 2014, they again won just one game. They found more success in 2015, making it all the way to the final before losing to Kevin Koe. In 2016, they made it to the semifinal where they lost to Koe. With Koe winning the 2016 Tim Hortons Brier and representing Team Canada as defending champions at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier, the way was paved for the Bottcher rink to win the 2017 Boston Pizza Cup. The team did just this, going undefeated en route to their first provincial championship. The team would go on to represent Alberta at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier. At the Brier, the team finished with a 3-8 record, missing the playoffs.
Team Bottcher qualified as Team Alberta for the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier, held from March 3 to 11, 2018 at the Brandt Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan. The team had n 6-1 round robin record, and had to fight through the 3 vs. 4 game beating Brad Jacobs and John Epping in the semifinals in the playoffs to make it to the final, where they would lose to Brad Gushue of Team Canada 6 to 4.
In 2019 he would win his 1st Grand Slam of Curling titles with Team Bottcher at the Meridian Canadian Open with an 6-3 win over Team Epping and in April The Players Championship with a 6-1 win over Team Koe. Earlier in the year. Team Bottcher would win the 2019 Pinty's All-Star Curling Skins Game, the team winning $54,500.
In 2019 he would win his 1st Grand Slam of Curling titles at the Meridian Canadian Open with an 6-3 win over Team Epping, in April The Players Championship with a 6-1 win over Team Koe and again in the Champions Cup with another 6-5 win over Team Koe. Earlier in the year. Team Bottcher would win the 2019 Pinty's All-Star Curling Skins Game, the team winning $54,500.
At the 2019 Tim Hortons Brier, Team Bottcher played their way into the main draw by winning the wildcard game over Team Epping and then went 8-3 in the round-robin, making the playoffs for the second straight year. The team was 8-3 in the Championship Pool. Beating Brad Gushue and then Team Jacobs in the semifinals in the playoffs to make it to the final for the second straight year. In the finals, Team Wildcard 4–3 was defeated by Kevin Koe of Team Alberta.
Team Bottcher began their 2019–20 season at the 2019 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic where they lost the tiebreaker to Yannick Schwaller. In Grand Slam play, they had quarterfinal finishes at the Masters and the National, a semifinal finish at the Tour Challenge and missed the playoffs at the Canadian Open. They had a semifinal finish at the 2019 Canada Cup after losing to eventual winners John Epping. After losing the semifinal to Kevin Koe at provincials the previous season, Team Bottcher would win the 2020 Boston Pizza Cup with a draw to the button to defeat Karsten Sturmay 7–6. For the third year in a row, they would finish runner-up at the Brier, this year to Brad Gushue.

Mixed

Thiessen was a member of the Alberta team which won the 2016 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship. The team's skip was Mick Lizmore, who had been a member of the Bottcher rink until 2014. The team represented Canada at the 2016 World Mixed Curling Championship, losing in the quarterfinals.

Personal life

Thiessen works as a web developer for LawDepot. He is married to fellow curler Alison Thiessen, who was a member of their Canadian Mixed championship team. Thiessen is a graduate of the University of Alberta.