Bottcher’s botch a gift for Gunner

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/03/2021 (1871 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jason Gunnlaugson was aided by an unforeseen miss Saturday — courtesy of one of curling’s finest shooters — but to suggest the hard-throwing skip wasn’t worthy of a victory would be absurd.

Alberta skip Brendan Bottcher did, in fact, botch his final delivery in the 10th end that, by Brier standards, should have been executed with relative ease. Instead of picking out a Manitoba stone to sit one with his last rock, he threw inside and erased his own counter.

Gunnlaugson, trailing by one, calmly used the hammer to draw for a gift deuce and a 5-4 win over Bottcher and his Edmonton squad in its opening game of the 2021 Canadian men’s championship at Calgary’s WinSport Arena.

“That was pretty fortunate for us. One of the best players in the world missed a shot for us and we took advantage. We played a really great game and there was a couple of ends we could have had more, but it’s just the first game of the event. Overall, the play was pretty good,” Gunnlaugson, seated by his third, import Adam Casey of Charlottetown, said in a Zoom chat.

The championship is being staged in a bubble, with no fans in the stands, owing to COVID-19 health regulations in Alberta.

Manitoba continued firing on all cylinders in the evening draw, dumping Yukon’s Ray Mikkelsen 9-5 to boost its record to 2-0. Gunnlaugson gets a rare day off before returning to the ice Monday afternoon to face Mike McEwen of West St. Paul (Wild Card 1).

McEwen had a rocky start to his sixth consecutive Brier, falling 6-3 to New Brunswick’s James Grattan on the morning draw. But his team, featuring third Reid Carruthers, second Derek Samagalski and lead Colin Hodgson, bounced back with an impressive — and critical — 8-5 triumph over the championship’s top seed, former Olympic champion Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario at night.

McEwen made some terrific come-arounds to put apply pressure, particularly in the eighth end to steal a pair for a 7-5 advantage. Jacobs, meanwhile, made his usual assortment of run-backs but couldn’t get a grasp of draw weight.

“I kind of feel like we’re playing a triple-knockout, play 12 games and not lose more than three,” McEwen said, smiling. “It was huge to rebound. If you said we were going to be 1-1 at the end of (Saturday), I wouldn’t have been too disappointed. We just sort of did it in reverse order.”

Grattan is also 2-0 in Pool A, Glenn Howard of Ontario (Wild Card 3) is 1-0, while McEwen, Bottcher and Jacobs are 1-1.

McEwen hooks up with Steve Laycock of B.C. (0-1) in today’s afternoon draw.

Bottcher was stung in the last three Brier finals, with the same personnel he’s employing in Calgary this week. The talented foursome is No. 4 on the World Curling Federation rankings.

The fortuitous gaffe was a major plot twist but doesn’t tell the entire story of Gunnlaugson’s morning glory. His crew shot the lights out, combining to register a stellar 90 per cent shooting accuracy, five points higher than the Albertans in the early draw.

And the sharpness, top to bottom, wasn’t lost on the affable 36-year-old skip of his Morris-based team, which, like most of the field, hasn’t had any kind of curling season to speak of due to the pandemic.

“The whole group was really good. I’m sure I was probably the worst but I’ll take it. If we win, I don’t care,” Gunnlaugson said, with his trademark laugh. “I think we’re pretty confident. This is what we love to do and we’re just so excited that we get to do it. We thought six months ago this wouldn’t be happening, so to get to come out here and play against the best on national TV, you can’t beat that.”

Manitoba lead Connor Njegovan was completely dialed in, shooting 98 per cent, Casey and second Matt Wozniak, a new addition after Alex Forrest left the team after last year’s Brier in Kingston, Ont., due to family and work commitments, recorded identical 90 per cent games, while Gunnlaugson was 83.

“So, I’m not surprised we played well. Maybe we got a little fortunate but hopefully we can keep this rolling.”

The first four ends were tidy, all blanked by Manitoba, until the fifth when Bottcher forced the issue and Gunnlaugson took one. Team Alberta generated a solid deuce in the sixth end, allowed only a single in seven but then surrendered a key steal of one in the eighth to fall behind 3-2.

The lead changed hands in the ninth when Gunnlaugson couldn’t quite make a perfect runback, handing Bottcher the opportunity to score two. That set the stage for the 10th and the pivotal miss.

“Really a fantastic start. It’s a long week and with three teams making the playoffs you can only afford so many losses. To pick a win against a top-three or four team in the world is just a fantastic start. I think everyone felt pretty comfortable out there, figuring out the ice. Such a good start to build on and grow on,” said Casey.

Kevin Koe of Calgary, playing as Wild Card 2, shares top spot in Pool B at 2-0 with defending champion Brad Gushue (Team Canada) of St. John’s, N.L.

Draws continue today at 9:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

The 18-team Brier field is divided into a pair of pools, with teams playing eight round-robin games through Thursday evening. The top four in each pool move on, carrying their records with them, into the championship round.

Each team then plays the quartet of teams from the other pool on draws Friday and Saturday. The three teams with the best overall records make Sunday’s playoffs.

The Calgary bubble will be bursting with energy for another two months from not only Canada’s elite players but from internationally renowned curlers as well.

 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell