Coming off an outstanding week of curling albeit with a disappointing quarter-final loss at the 2026 Canadian Mixed Doubles Championship in British Columbia, Kira Brunton had very little down time to deal with before getting her mind fixated right back on the sport that she loves in recent weeks.

Late last month, Team Brunton 2026-2027 was unveiled and Sudbury and area curling fans are thrilled, to say the least. The entire foursome of Brunton (skip), Kendra Lilly (third), Jamie Smith (second) and Lauren Rajala (lead) all have their roots on the ice firmly planted in Sudbury, even if life has now taken some to different parts of the province.

Given their familiarity, this curling marriage could not be viewed as shocking in any way, shape or form. “At the end of every quad, there’s a lot of team shuffles going around – and we were chatting with each other,” said Brunton, second eldest on the team at age 27 (Lilly is 34; Smith is 25; Rajala is 23).

“I would say that Lauren was probably the instigator for this team.”

For as much as they crossed paths many times over in their youths in the nickel city, neither Brunton nor Lilly have played a full season with any of their remaining teammates – though Smith and Rajala are coming off back to back years competing as part of Team Emma Artichuk, the tandem having spent six of the past ten seasons together.

“I think it’s a really good combination of young energy from the front-end and then a little bit more experience at the back end with Kendra and I,” said Brunton, now living in Ottawa and just putting the finishing touches on her masters degree in psychology.

“It’s going to be exciting to put it all together in the fall.”

Brunton has been quite the busy curler these past few years, playing vice with the now-disbanded Danielle Inglis rink from 2022-2026 and also finding team to become part of one of the top mixed doubles teams in the country via her partnership with Jake Horgan.

“I went into this off-season with a really open mind about what next year could look like,” she said. “When this opportunity came around, I found myself really excited by it. I’m just kind of following my gut with the thought process.”

As for making the move back to skip, Brunton is feeling perhaps even more at ease than when she led her time to gold throwing last rocks at the 2017 Canadian U18 Curling Championship in 2017. “Playing third for Danielle has been a great learning opportunity,” said Brunton. “I believe that the experience you gain from other positions can only make you a better skip.”

“It’s not foreign, at all,” she continued. “I skipped for a long time in juniors and I’ve been keeping my feet in it, throwing last rocks in mixed doubles. I am always excited to be in close, meaningful games, to get that experience of throwing big shots.”

“If you have to make a shot to win a game, that’s a position I want to be in, every time.”