Manitoba’s pride on the line

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/03/2011 (5514 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jeff STOUGHTON will have the weight of the curling world’s most enduring record riding on his shoulders when he takes to the Brier ice today at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ont.

The Manitoba skip will practise this morning and then take part in the preliminary round of the individual skills competition this afternoon as the 2011 Tim Hortons Brier gets underway with the hopes of this province riding on him.

Consider: Manitoba has held the record for most Brier wins by a province since all the way back in 1929, when Manitoba’s Gordon Hudson won his second in a row to put us one up on Nova Scotia — who won the very first Brier back in 1927.

Since then, for 82 consecutive years, Manitoba has been the only answer to the question: Which province has won the most Briers?

But that answer — and those bragging rights — could change in London over the next nine days as Alberta’s Kevin Martin looks to elbow his province into that equation.

With an eye-popping run of seven wins in the last 10 Briers — including the last three in a row, the province of Alberta now lays claim to having won 25 Briers, just one short of the record 26 Manitoba has won.

That’s the closest anyone has ever come to equalling Manitoba’s Brier mark and it offers an interesting subplot to this year’s event, which officially gets underway with Draw 1 of the round robin Saturday afternoon.

And so with that little piece of history as a backdrop, let’s take a look into the future and see how we see the Brier field breaking down over the next week:

 

THE ONE: Alberta’s Kevin Martin (2-1)

MARTIN comes into this event off a sub-par — for him, anyway — performance on the winter’s cashspiel circuit. And it’s hard to blame him if there’s been a bit of a letdown after winning Olympic gold in Vancouver last February.

Still, it’s hard to bet against a four-time Brier winner who took down titles in both 2008 and 2009 and probably would have won again last year had the playdowns not conflicted with the Olympics.

 

THE OTHER ONE: Ontario’s Glenn Howard (3-1)

A three-time Canadian and world champion, Howard will be playing in his 13th Brier this year — just one short of the record of 14 held by brother Russ.

He loves this format and excels in it, winning the 2007 Brier and going undefeated all through the week last year before losing his only game of the event in the final, 6-5 in an extra end to Alberta’s Kevin Koe.

 

THE ONE TO WATCH: Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton (7-2)

STOUGHTON caught a major break from the schedule-maker this year, who gave him a very soft early schedule. Stoughton opens against a lightweight B.C. team Saturday afternoon, followed by an even softer New Brunswick rink Saturday night. Then it’s Nova Scotia and P.E.I. on Sunday, Northern Ontario on Monday and Yukon/N.W.T. on Tuesday morning before Manitoba finally faces a legitimate Brier contender Tuesday night against Ontario’s Howard.

Put it altogether and Stoughton could very easily be 6-0 heading into that Howard game — if he is playing anything close to the level he will need to be playing to win this whole thing. Even if he then goes 2-3 in his final five games — Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta on Wednesday and Newfoundland and Quebec on Thursday — an 8-3 record is generally good enough to get a serious look at the Page playoff 1-2 game.

That soft start — coupled with all the momentum and confidence that could build — could translate into something very special for Manitoba come the final weekend in London.

 

THE SURPRISING ONES? Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs, Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock (6-1)

JACOBS is the youngest skip in the field at just 25 years old and comes into this event with a team that works and travels hard, despite their geographic disadvantage in Sault Ste. Marie. They turned heads in Halifax last year with a third-place finish and have some destiny about them, coming in off a miracle win in the playdowns that saw them steal three in the final end to beat Thunder Bay’s Joe Scharf by one. Still, it’d be a long shot.

Laycock is skipping but throwing third rocks, while Pat Simmons will once again get the brick for Saskatchewan. That might take some pressure off Simmons, who has always wilted in the past at this event. And it will give Laycock an opportunity to show the stuff that won him the 2003 Canadian and world junior titles.

 

THE GOLDEN ONE: Newfoundland’s Brad Gushue (7-1)

GUSHUE won gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics but has never again approached those lofty heights.

While expectations will once again be high given his impeccable curling resumé, Gushue comes into this event with a team that has been in turmoil much of the winter. His cash team had a disastrous season, prompting third Randy Ferbey to quit last month amidst much acrimony.

And his Brier team has issues too, with third Mark Nicholls announcing just last week the Brier will be his last event with Gushue.

That’s a lot of baggage to carry with you through an 11-game round robin.

 

THE ALSO-RANS: Nova Scotia’s Shawn Adams, B.C.’s Jim Cotter, New Brunswick’s James Grattan, Quebec’s Francois Gagne, P.E.I.’s Eddie MacKenzie, Yukon/N.W.T.’s Jamie Koe (20-1)

ADAMS was the 2005 Brier finalist and is probably the best of this bunch. Koe comes from a fine curling family and will post a better record here then the northerners normally do. Cotter, Grattan and Gagne will be in very tough and MacKenzie will be fortunate to win a game.

 

Prediction: This looks to me like a repeat of the 2009 Brier final, when Martin beat Stoughton at Calgary’s Saddledome. The soft early schedule will get Stoughton to the final, but I still don’t like his chances in a Brier final against Martin.

Alberta 7 Manitoba 5.

 

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca