‘It means a lot’: Schwarz-van Berkel honoured to be first Rock League MVP

TORONTO — Of course, it had to come down to a dramatic draw-to-the-button shootout.

This past week saw the launch of Rock League, the first true professional curling league, featuring the world’s best players at TMU Mattamy Athletic Centre. Six franchises with five men’s curlers and five women’s curlers competed during the condensed debut event.

Excitement and entertainment are the name of the game and that includes draw-to-the-button shootouts, even in Sunday’s championship final between Shield Curling Club and Typhoon Curling Club. 

After Anna Hasselborg skipped Typhoon to victory in the women’s game, and Brad Jacobs captained Shield to a win on the men’s sheet, it all came down to the mixed doubles in a winner-take-all shootout for the championship.  

There was no better person up for the task than Shield’s Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel, who had to draw fully into the four-foot circle to out-count Typhoon’s shot. Schwarz-van Berkel came through in the clutch, as “Mr. Tee” glued it right on the pin. 

As Shield Curling Club was crowned the inaugural Rock League champion, Schwarz-van Berkel was named MVP, as voted by Rock League’s commentators. 

“The recognition from the crew is something I will remember,” Schwarz-van Berkel said. “It means a lot, of course. I truly acknowledge, and I truly appreciate the recognition for sure."

The 34-year-old Swiss curler is no stranger to high-pressure situations, having thrown last rocks for skips Peter de Cruz and Yannick Schwaller on tour. Schwarz-van Berkel captured his second Grand Slam of Curling title at the HearingLife Canadian Open in December and earned his second Olympic bronze medal in February at Milano Cortina 2026.

After finishing runner-up at Swiss nationals and competing in an exhibition match with Team Schwaller against Team Tirinzoni, Schwarz-van Berkel probably thought his season was over. He wasn’t among the 60 curlers named in December when Rock League rosters were revealed.

That changed when Schwarz-van Berkel got the call to join Shield as a replacement player just three-and-a-half weeks ago.

Schwarz-van Berkel went from not being on the initial roster to playing in the first-ever Rock League match as Shield and Alpine Curling Club kicked off the season last Monday.

He teamed up with compatriot Carole Howald to start mixed doubles and upset Alpine’s Almida de Val and Oskar Eriksson 6-4. 

“I mean, let's be honest, I was quite sad not to be in the league at first, and got a late invitation,” Schwarz-van Berkel said after the win. “It’s a great recognition and honour, and I’m very happy to be here.” 

It was a pretty impressive victory considering de Val and Eriksson have won bronze medals in mixed doubles at the Olympic Winter Games and world championship. Eriksson also won gold at the worlds with Hasselborg. 

Howald pulled off quite possibly the shot of the season — in the first match of the season. With the last rock of the sixth end, Howald somehow redirected her team’s stone from the back of the pile up into the shot rock position for a single. C'est magnifique.

Mixed doubles isn’t exactly Schwarz-van Berkel’s forte, or at least it wasn’t until this week. 

“I haven't played much mixed doubles in my career, obviously following what's going on with the game, with this format, watching some games,” he said. “The reason I felt we were going to feel comfortable from the start is because we do quite a bit of sweeping of our own rocks while playing during practice, which is basically what you do in mixed doubles. So this part is not completely unknown and that helped a lot. 

“Carole, we know each other, so I think there was no big surprise there. We just had to align on a couple of topics regarding communication and sweeping and stuff, small alignments. … Playing Oskar was a tough one from the beginning. They're Olympic medallists, world champions, so it was a tough one to start, but it worked out.”

Schwarz-van Berkel and Howald joined their respective four-player teams for a couple of games as Jake Horgan and Marlee Powers handled mixed doubles duties. While Howald remained with the women’s team, Horgan rejoined the men’s team, as Schwarz-van Berkel partnered with Powers for mixed doubles during the final stretch.

Shield finished the round-robin stage at the top of the table following a 3-0 sweep over Maple United. The script was flipped in Saturday’s mixed fours matches, though, as Maple blanked Shield 2-0. After the dust settled on the day, Shield still qualified for the playoffs but had slipped to the fourth and final seed.

Shield upended No. 1 Alpine during Sunday’s semifinals and returned the ice roughly 45 minutes later to begin warming up for the championship showdown against Typhoon. Schwarz-van Berkel said it was really cool and amazing that they were able to pull it off. 

“When you win in a team, I think it's an even better feeling, honestly, in sports,” he said. “I think that's the good side of team sports is that, when you win, you don't do it for yourself, you do it for other people. That's something very cool and that's what you get here at Rock League.”

Cool, calm and collected, as always it seems, Schwarz-van Berkel was feeling good when he had to make the championship-winning shot. 

“I knew this last shot, the shootout, was a very makeable shot, but the atmosphere is new. You don't do that in practice. You have to find the right mindset in the right moment so that's a challenge,” the newly crowned MVP said. “I was glad I could do it, throw it the way I wanted and it worked out.”

Not bad for someone who originally wasn’t even supposed to be here today. 

"The irony, right?" Schwarz-van Berkel said with a smile.