It seems weird to say and yet there it is -- in the end, Kerry Burtnyk simply wasn't good enough to keep curling in the Brier.
There were bad breaks, sure, including a rock that got hung up in the frost Thursday night against Saskatchewan, costing Manitoba a steal of four and snuffing out the last chance they had left of surviving to play a playoff tiebreaker this morning at MTS Centre.
Team Manitoba’s Kerry Burtnyk waves farewell to his supporters at MTS Centre Thursday night after being eliminated by Saskatchewan’s Pat Simmons.
It was the second time this week Manitoba gave up a steal of four -- the first was the result of a pick -- but at the end of the day those are just excuses.
Because at the end of the round-robin last night, the cold, hard facts were that Manitoba lost five of their last seven games to finish with a 6-5 record, exactly one game out of a playoff tiebreaker.
It was a nasty little tank job that saw Manitoba lose every single game they played against legitimate contenders. Five teams are still standing at the Brier today -- Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and, in a playoff tiebreaker game this morning, Newfoundland and B.C. -- and Manitoba lost to all five of them.
So while the hometown crowd -- and Brier organizers -- will be disappointed to have seen this Manitoba team make such an early exit in this long anticipated Winnipeg Brier, the simple fact is our team, presided over by one of this province's most decorated curlers, simply wasn't good enough to do anything else this week.
"We didn't curl as well as you need to curl," Burtnyk said. "Sometimes you have a good week, sometimes you have a bad week and unfortunately this wasn't one of our better weeks.
"These kinds of events are all about peaking at the right time and we didn't peak this week. That's unfortunate for us."
While the result was disappointing, Burtnyk never lost the support of the crowd. His team received a standing ovation after the loss to Saskatchewan as he exited the ice.
"It's nice that even though we didn't have the kind of week the fans would have liked for us, that they're still behind us," Burtnyk said.
Manitoba third Dan Kammerlock could only shake his head in wonder last night. "Things just didn't work out, I don't know why. If you guys know, maybe you can let us know."
But Manitoba lead Garth Smith seemed to know exactly what went wrong. "Not good enough -- that's pretty simple, just not good enough."
With Manitoba -- and the rest of the Brier pretenders -- now eliminated, the real show begins today with the start of the Page playoffs. Alberta, who ran the table in the round-robin to finish a perfect 11-0, will face Saskatchewan (9-2) in tonight's 1 vs. 2 game, while Ontario (9-2) will face the winner of B.C.-Newfoundland (both 7-4) in this afternoon's 3 vs. 4 game.
Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons had no illusions Thursday night about the task in front of him today in facing Alberta's seemingly unstoppable Kevin Martin.
"I'm pretty sure they're human, but they're as close to machines, curling-wise, as you can get," Simmons said.
Ontario's Glenn Howard, meantime, will have to take the long route now if he's going to play in his third consecutive Brier final. While Ontario finished with the same record as Saskatchewan, they lost the head-to-head matchup and were bounced to the 3-4 game as a result.
That means Ontario will need to win three straight games -- today's game, Saturday's semifinal and Sunday's final -- if they're going to defend their 2007 Brier title.
"I don't think I've ever been in (the 3 vs. 4 game at the Brier)," Howard said. "It's a new venue, a new route for us and we'll have to see where it goes."
LOOSE HAIRS -- Winnipeg's two Canadian curling champion teams -- Kaitlyn Lawes' junior team and Jennifer Jones' women's team -- were recognized on the ice prior to the start of Thursday night's game.
paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca
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