Two fathers, two sons: History made at the 2016 Brier

Something new happened at the 2016 Brier on Wednesday.

For the first time - as far as anyone can remember - two fathers and two sons were on the ice at the same time for the same team.

It happened on Wednesday morning, during draw 11.

After the seventh end of Ontario's 9-4 win over Prince Edward Island, Ontario skip Glenn Howard looked to the player/coach bench behind the sheet he was playing on, grinned broadly and tapped his left arm the way a baseball manager would summon a new pitcher from the bullpen.

That meant that 19-year-old Joey Hart was coming in to play lead. When Hart threw his first stone, 53-year-old Howard was in the house holding the broom while his son Scott, 25, was sweeping. So was 47-year-old Richard Hart, Joey's father.

Two Howards, two Harts.

It was widely anticipated that this moment would happen at some point this week. While the Ontario rink wasn't planning on using the young Hart on a regular basis, it was hoped that the team would be in a position to press him into action. That meant being up by a big score or down by a big one in what many are calling the toughest, most competitive Brier ever.

"The field's so tight this year we didn't know if we were gonna get an opportunity to do it," said Richard Hart, after the game. "But it came up, we got him in and it was a real thrill."

"It was quite a thing, something that I never imagined would happen. I didn't really think that our careers would cross over like that."

Did the younger Hart bark any orders at dad during his shots? Have to think that would be every teenage curler's dream, to let the old man have it.

"No, he blacked out," said Richard, laughing. He didn't know where it was going. He was just hoping we'd make him look good."

While Scott Howard joined the team at the beginning of the season - the announcement that he was joining his pops had been made late last season - Joey Hart was added to the team just before The Brier, hopping aboard as an alternate.

It's not that there haven't been Brier moments in the past that involved fathers and sons; In 2009, for instance, Russ Howard's New Brunswick team included his son Steve at the lead position. Even that was a rarity at an event that has been held since 1927.

Brother versus brother competitions have surfaced. In fact, at that 2009 Brier, Russ took on his brother Glenn. It marked the first time that two brothers had met as skips at the event since 1942. It's happened since, including this year, with Alberta skip Kevin Koe besting his brother Jamie and Northwest Territories earlier in the week by an 8-7 score. The two Koes made Brier history in 2012 when they became the first brother combo to square off in a playoff game.

However, two sets of fathers and sons playing on one team and on the ice at the same time?

It's a first for the nearly 90-year-old tournament.