His Manitoba team of Mark Olson, Jim Spencer and Ron Kammerlock defeated Northern Ontario, skipped by Al Hackner in the final.

Burtnyk became the youngest skip to win the Brier in history, as he was 22 years and 4 months old at the time.

At the Worlds, Burtnyk and his team claimed gold, defeating Scotland and their skip Gordon Muirhead.

Burtnyk announced his retirement in 2005 from the game, but returned in 2006 with a new team, and would shortly after win the 2008 Manitoba championship over David Bohn.

[2] Burtnyk previously worked as a sales investment advisor for Wellington West.