Bottcher stepping away from men's competitive curling to coach Team Homan

Brendan Bottcher is returning to the curling world, but not the way many fans and followers of the sport might have expected.

Bottcher, who split with his four-person team a month ago, will coach Rachel Homan's next season and for the foreseeable future. 

"I took the last month in a bit to really reflect on where I'm at and figure out what I want to be passionate about," Bottcher told CBC Sports.

"I can't say enough good things about all the team and certainly can't say enough good things about Rachel. They've had an incredible season this past year together and I'm just so excited to get on board with all of them."

Bottcher also will join forces with world champion Homan to form a mixed doubles team that will attempt to first qualify for the mixed doubles Olympic trials set for late December in hopes of representing Canada at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Games in Italy. 

"We put the team together for a specific reason and that's to win. We're both invested I'd say 110 per cent, so we're certainly going to put the work in," Bottcher said. 

"There's lots of parity but we're looking forward to putting in a run. We think we can qualify for the trials and hopefully represent Team Canada along the way."

In mid-April there was a shockwave sent across the curling world when Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant, Ben Hebert and Bottcher announced they'd be parting ways. 

"I started reflecting on the last couple of years, we had a pile of success and we did a lot of really good things, and I feel like I grew as a curler quite a bit through the last couple of years," he said.

"So although it maybe wasn't the ending and the timing I can envision, there are a lot of positives there. So how do I keep that momentum going? How do I keep