Tears flow as wheelchair curler Dennis Thiessen plays last game for Team Canada

Photo credit: Anil Mungal/Curling Canada

LONDON, Ont. – Three-time Paralympian Dennis Thiessen of Sanford, Man. played his last game for Canada on Sunday at the Grand Slam of Curling.

Thiessen, playing third, helped Canada White to a 5-2 win over Italy in the bronze-medal game.

In the gold-medal match later Sunday, Canada Red, boasting four Paralympians, posted an impressive 7-2 victory over Great Britain.

Curling Canada made it official that Thiessen was retiring as a national team competitor on Sunday morning.

“It’s very emotional for me,” Thiessen told CPC about his last match. “To have my special people over here and teammates that I started curling with and I started my career with – that to me, that’s very, very special.”

In a touching moment after the match, Thiessen received a hero’s celebration from the crowd at the Western Fair Sports Centre.

The fans serenaded O Canada! for a tearful Thiessen while giving him a lengthy standing ovation. 

“That’s when I really lost it,” Thiessen said. “That’s a moment that I’m going to treasure.”

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His teammates, including Paralympians Mark Ideson, Ina Forrest and Jon Thurston, couldn’t maintain their composure either as they rolled onto the ice to embrace their dear friend.

‘’I’m really going to miss having him around,’’ said Forrest, a four-time Paralympian, who played with Thiessen his entire career. ‘’He’s been one of my closest friends on the team. He always brought humour, kept everybody calm, and he was an awesome competitor. He pushed us and he pushed himself to be the best.’’

Thiessen, 64, earned medals in his three Paralympic Winter Games appearances – gold at Sochi 2014 and bronze at both PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022.

He also won gold in 2013 and silver in 2020 over five world championships.

‘’He’s been an amazing teammate,’’ said 2022 Paralympian Jon Thurston of Dunsford, Ont. ‘’He’s been a solid pillar of this program for so many years. I learned so much from him. Number one was his passion for the game and how he enjoyed his teammates. He devoted a lot of time to get better.’’

Thiessen was already familiar with curling before he lost his leg in a farming accident at age 17.

But it was only in 2005 at age 43 that Thiessen returned, after being asked by a friend to give wheelchair curling a try. Through hard work while running the family farm, he made his first national team in 2012.

He cites the 2014 Games as the highlight of his career.

“It was just so special,” he recalled. “Mark (Ideson) and I were newbies, we took in everything that we possibly could, and the experience was just awesome.”

Over his career, Thiessen has seen the sport explode worldwide. At the world championships in March there were 16 countries and 15 more at the B pool worlds.

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Mixed doubles was added to the worlds in 2021 and will debut at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games.

Despite the surge in strong countries in the sport, Canada has held its ground winning a medal at every Games since the sport made its debut in 2006.

‘’Canada is in a really good position going forward,’’ Thiessen said. ‘’I know it’s going to be awesome to see them in Italy and come home with the gold.”

Thiessen was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame in 2019.

“What am I going to miss? I’m going to miss the people,” Thiessen said. “We are like a family; we’re such a close-knit group.”