It was billed coming in as an all-time classic, a showcase for men's curling with two of its very best teams matched up in the final.
But by Sunday night's end, the final of the 2008 Tim Hortons Brier at MTS Centre had gone down as a stinker that will best be remembered for some rare acrimony between the teams, wonky ice conditions and more half-shots than the final of the Saturday night mixed league down at the Charley.
Third John Morris (left) races to congratulate skip Kevin Martin as lead Ben Hebert and second Marc Kennedy (right) embrace after Alberta’s win over Ontario on Sunday.
A classic? Hardly. But they don't give points for style at this thing and Alberta's Kevin Martin is a three-time Canadian men's curling champion this morning as a result.
Martin cooly drew the button with the last rock of the 10th end to score one and escape with a 5-4 win over defending champion Glenn Howard of Ontario.
It was the same out-turn shot Martin had to win the 2001 Trials and to lose the 2002 Olympic gold medal final and he was licking his chops as he stepped into the hack.
"That's what we wanted -- an out-turn draw for the win," Martin said afterward. "It's what you dream about."
Martin's walk-off shot capped a bizarre night that saw Howard get involved twice in confrontations with members of the Martin team. In the first instance, Howard confronted Martin at the conclusion of the first end to complain that Alberta third John Morris had been pacing back and forth at the end-boards while Howard was in his delivery.
"My very first shot of the game, I'm just about to slide out of the hack and he's walking around back there picking up his broom. You don't do that," said Howard. "So we talked about it a little bit."
And then three ends later, Howard confronted Alberta coach Jules Owchar and angrily pointed his finger at Morris. Moments earlier, Ontario had a rock pick on what they felt was a kneeprint left behind by Morris. The miss led directly to an Alberta deuce in the end.
Howard said his team had met with Owchar prior to the game to specifically ask that Morris not kneel on the ice, for the sake of everyone.
"We revisited it after the fourth end and I said again, 'There's no reason for John to be down there on his knees.' Just slide, stay on your feet. As soon as you put your knees down, you've got 98.6 degrees on there and it leaves prints and stuff on the ice."
Morris was apologetic afterward. "If I did anything that Glenn thought was meant to throw him off his game, it was totally accidental. I've been playing the same way all week. If I did anything that hurt his game, I apologize. It wasn't done on purpose. It's frustrating to miss shots some times. I have nothing but the utmost respect for those guys. I'm sure that they knew I wasn't doing it purposefully."
They did. "We know he wasn't doing this stuff on purpose," said Howard. "And I don't want it to sound like sour grapes."
The controversy -- not the first one involving Morris, the Brier and leaving ice prints behind -- distracted from what was otherwise a great performance by Morris.
Morris badly outcurled his Ontario counterpart, Richard Hart, 90-80 per cent and was named after the game as the playoff MVP.
The win means Alberta finishes the Brier undefeated at 13-0 to capture the province its 23rd Brier title. Manitoba holds the record at 26.
Alberta -- Martin, Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert -- will now represent Canada at the 2008 men's world curling championship in Grand Forks, April 5-13.
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