Stoughton stays alive

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/03/2009 (6264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY — Stop me if this script sounds familiar:

A talented Manitoba team gets off to a quick start at a Canadian curling championship, but then falls asleep midweek, loses a bunch of games and is in serious danger of missing the playoffs, only to stage a dramatic run at the end of the round-robin and just squeak in through the tiebreakers.

Good morning, Jennifer Jones. And, now, good morning Jeff Stoughton, too.

Using the exact same script Jones used in Victoria at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts late last month, Stoughton has squeaked into the tiebreakers here today at the Tim Hortons Brier, where he will play Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard (2 p.m., TSN).

The winner of Manitoba-Quebec will advance to Saturday morning’s 3 vs. 4 Page playoff game against Newfoundland’s Brad Gushue.

Meanwhile, it will be Ontario’s Glenn Howard facing off against Alberta’s Kevin Martin in tonight’s 1 vs. 2 game, where the winner will advance straight to Sunday’s Brier final while the loser will get a second chance in Saturday night’s semifinal.

Though Stoughton has used the same formula as Jones to get to this point, the question still to be answered is if he can obtain the same result as Jones did in Victoria by parlaying that back-door entry into a Canadian curling championship at the Saddledome Sunday evening.

Jones has done just that two consecutive years in a row at the Scotties, but Stoughton has even longer odds to overcome at the Brier. Although a team prior to Jones had also gone through the tiebreakers to a Canadian title (Kelley Law in 2000), it has never been done at the Brier.

And Stoughton knew it here yesterday as he pondered the task now in front of him if he is to parlay his Manitoba-record seventh appearance at the Brier into his third Canadian men’s curling championship.

Stoughton was taking solace in the knowledge that one Manitoba team has already proved this winter that while Brier history would suggest the task before him is impossible, a fellow Manitoban has proven just the opposite.

"We know another team that has done quite well in those situations," Stoughton laughed. "We’re happy we get to play."

He should be happy.

Stoughton entered Thursday having lost three of his last four games and needing to win both his final round-robin games to avoid missing the Brier playoffs for what would have been just the third time in seven appearances at this event.

He did just that, and did so with authority, drilling a very good Newfoundland team 8-3 on the morning draw, then doing enough to outlast Saskatchewan 7-5 in the afternoon.

Stoughton said the team did a gut-check before heading to the Saddledome Thursday morning. "You look in the mirror and you just want to play. There’s a lot of pride at stake, so you just don’t want to go out and play stinkers.

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"Get your act together and play like you should be playing."

And that’s exactly what they did. Manitoba third Kevin Park said he considered his team fortunate to still be playing today, and even more fortunate to be playing the way they are.

"(Thursday) was more reminiscent of the way we’ve been curling. We’re a much better crew than what we’d been showing," Park said.

It’s time to prove it.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca