Miracle (or baseball bat) needed to top Stoughton
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/02/2010 (6013 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
STEINBACH — Jeff Stoughton’s a likable guy but it wouldn’t surprise anyone in Steinbach this weekend if someone with a few beers under his belt thought of pulling a Gillooly on the Charleswood skip.
Curlers aren’t prone to violence and we certainly aren’t endorsing any. We’re just saying. Jeff Gillooly and his accomplices whacked Nancy Kerrigan on the knee in order to clear the way at a U.S. figure skating championship for Tonya Harding. And that’s just about the only way Stoughton is going to be stopped this weekend.
"Gillooly, eh? That’s a pretty good idea. Maybe I’ll give him a call. See if I can give him some work," laughed 2005 provincial champion Randy Dutiaume as he walked off the ice following a six-end, 8-3 drubbing at the hands of Stoughton on Friday morning.
The championship is down to its last eight teams with Stoughton, Mike McEwen, David Hamblin, Kerry Burtnyk, Allan Lyburn, Jason Gunnlaugson, Brendan Taylor and Randy Neufeld all still alive.
In the opening round of the eight-team double knockout on Friday night, Stoughton defeated Neufeld 6-2 and McEwen handled Hamblin 8-4, Gunnlaugson downed Taylor 9-6 while Burtnyk beat Lyburn 11-8.
All eight teams are on the ice again Saturday morning at 9 a.m.
"It’s gonna be very difficult to beat (Stoughton). No one thinks we can. Except maybe my mom. Who knows, maybe McEwen can do it. Beating Stoughton will be tough. Maybe Burtnyk or McEwen," said Dutiaume. "(Stoughton’s) won seven times and he’s beaten Vic Peters in his heyday, Burtnyk in his and (Dale) Duguid in his heyday. He’s beat them all. This is his backyard."
Stoughton is handsome, but not as good looking as, say, George Clooney. He probably has built a nice little nest egg with all his curling cash on top of a salary from the good folks at Air Canada but he’s not Trump rich. We’ve talked to him, he doesn’t have bad breath. His car? All in all, he seems like the kind of guy you’d want for a neighbour, and in the curling world, he’s a fine ambassador to represent Winnipeg and the province.
So why does everyone want to give the guy a licking? This dude has a target on his back like a 10-pointer on the last day of deer season. The young, the old, the up and comers and the seasoned vets, are all the same in their zeal to give Stoughton and his teammates a beating. Well, good luck with that. If there’s one constant in Manitoba curling these days it’s Jeff Stoughton. He’s the undisputed, unrivalled, unmatched king of the hill.
Someone might take a game from him along the way and he hasn’t won every time he’s stepped on the ice at the men’s provincial Safeway Championship, but the defending champ has been ridiculously successful here over the years. A record seven-time champion, winner of three of the last four and owner of an impressive 27-2 mark in games at the provincials dating back to 2006.
Stoughton is also a two-time Brier winner and in 1996 won the world title.
Being the favourite is not an issue but more of an impetus for success says Stoughton.
"I think we enjoy it," said the 46-year-old father of three. "We’ve been fortunate enough to be the favourite for a few years going in. I don’t mind having the bulls-eye and I think the guys raise their game to live up to it," said Stoughton. "It’s a great feeling when your game is on and you start to believe you can’t be beat. Some might call it cockiness but I think every great skip has that confidence."
McEwen, who is considered the only legitimate threat to upset the king this weekend, bristles at any talk of Stoughton being impossible to beat.
"Our mindset going into this weekend was that we’d have to beat Jeff to win," said McEwen, who most recently handed Stoughton a defeat at the BDO Classic in January at the MTS Centre. "If any of the older teams hasn’t lost a step it’s Jeff. We’d have to play pretty much at our full potential to beat him. But he’s not so big that he’s ahead of us by very much."
As for any talk of Gillooly and his crew of thugs making a visit to Steinbach this weekend, Stoughton takes it as it’s meant — a joke.
"There’s no physical intimidation in curling," said Stoughton, laughing. "So I’m not too worried about it."
gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca
