Martin bronzed right off

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This article was published 13/03/2011 (5517 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LONDON, Ont. — Alberta’s Kevin Martin will not win his record fifth Canadian men’s curling championship at the Tim Hortons Brier on Sunday, but that doesn’t mean he won’t make news today anyway.

Moments after being eliminated 5-4 by Ontario’s Glenn Howard in Saturday’s Page playoff 3 vs. 4 game, Martin made it crystal clear that his team has no interest in playing this afternoon’s bronze medal game against Newfoundland’s Brad Gushue and has no intention of bringing his best stuff.

“For sure not because it doesn’t matter to me at all,” Martin said. “But we’ll come, we’ll show up, we’ll play. But guys, I really hope it never happens again, this bronze thing.

“Please make this thing go away here. For us, we gave everything we had this week and we played a heck of a game against Glenn and they played a heck of a game against us. And they won.

“Why do we have to go out now and do it (again)? I just for the life of me don’t understand it.”

Asked if he would field his regular lineup today amidst rumblings from his team this week that they may allow lead Ben Hebert to skip as a protest, Martin was non-committal, refusing to confirm who would skip or play third today.

“I don’t know. We’ll see who comes down to play us, see what they want to do,” Martin said. “I’m not worried about that game, I was worried about this game… We cannot get up for tomorrow’s game.

“The only way you can go to the world championship is to win this event. That’s the only chance you get. And now we cannot win this event. So this event is over for us.”

Martin was seeking to become the first skip to ever win five Briers.

Martin said he was going to tell second Marc Kennedy to go home to Edmonton immediately because Kennedy’s wife is due to give birth today.

The Canadian Curling Association added a bronze medal game to the men’s and women’s events this year in keeping with the format used at world events.

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While Martin dismissed the bronze game as meaningless, CCA officials pointed out Saturday that the winner of today’s bronze game will receive a $10,000 bonus for the victory.

In contrast, the finals of Grand Slam curling events — of which Martin is the strongest proponent — are played for a difference of $7,500.

CCA officials are also expecting a big crowd for today’s bronze medal game — 6,500 tickets had been sold by Saturday afternoon.

And they are also expecting a big TV audience after the bronze medal game at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Charlottetown last month attracted 800,000 viewers, more than most NHL games attract.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca