An emotional night: Curler Craig Savill takes to the ice in the midst of his battle with cancer

They ruined the pebble on the ice at The Brier on Thursday night.

How could it have possibly stood up to the salt of all those tears in the building?

It was a stirring sight. Craig Savill sliding out of the hack to deliver two stones for Team Ontario during their game against Team Canada.

Savill, the exceptionally popular former lead for Glenn Howard's Ontario team, made an appearance at the arena at TD Place, in Ottawa, in the midst of his battle with cancer. It was last fall that Savill found out that he had Hodgkin's lymphoma, causing him to shut down the season he had just begun, curling with a new team out of Nova Scotia.

The 37-year-old didn't want to miss making some kind of appearance at the national men's curling championship, being held in his hometown.

He made the rounds, shaking hands and sitting at the benches behind each of the sheets. Did a couple of television interviews with TSN, too.

Then, as the eighth end of the Team Howard's game against the Pat Simmons-skipped defending champions began, Savill got out on the ice and took a practice slide, accompanied by a thunderous ovation from the crowd. Players from other games on other sheets ceased hostilities to turn towards him and salute him with applause and broom taps.

That was an amazing moment, but there was more to come. (See it on TSN by clicking here)

Savill stayed out there, throwing the first two Ontario stones of the end, something he'd done countless times at previous Briers. This, of course, was very different and a panning camera caught more than one member of the crowd dabbing at their eyes, including Savill's wife, Karen.

Savill did exactly what he's done so many times over the course of his career as one of the best leads in the game. He planted his first stone as a centre guard and then looped his second one around that guard and into the house, perfectly buried. "This game is easy," he was heard to jokingly say.

With that, he turned to the crowd, waved, and took a seat at the Ontario bench.

It has been a week of tremendous shot-making in what so many are calling the most competitive Brier ever. There are more stones to throw, too, as we creep closer to crowning the national men's champions on Sunday night.

Hard to imagine, though, that whatever moments are still to come, any of them will top Craig Savill's two throws on Thursday night.