Bluenosers last men in
Murphy avoids tiebreaker mess after nail-biting victory
Jamie Murphy should have slept well knowing he avoided a nightmare scenario that would have kept him up late with an early morning wakeup call.
Murphy’s team from Nova Scotia (Halifax) edged Sean Geall of British Columbia (Kelowna) 7-6 Wednesday night to capture the final berth in the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier, presented by Mosaic, Championship Pool.
The win meant Nova Scotia (4-3) finished fourth in
Pool A, joining Alberta (6-1), Team Canada (6-1) and Team Wild Card (5-2) in the Championship Pool, which is a fourgame round robin against the top four teams from Pool B.
“That was our first goal coming into the week. We were hoping to be 5-2, but we’ll take that,” said Murphy. “We really just wanted to be in that top pool playing against the top teams, just trying to see what we can do against them.”
If B.C. (2-5) had won, it would have created a three-way tie for fourth at 3-4 in Pool A between both teams and Northwest Territories (Yellowknife). Jamie Koe’s team defeated (Yukon Territories Whitehorse, 1-6), skipped by Thomas Scoffin 8-2.
Murphy would have had to face Jamie Koe’s Territories team in the first tiebreaker in an eight-end game right after the night draw. The winner then would have played B.C. in morning, in another eight-end game, to determine who would advance.
“I don’t think the teams who would have had to play tonight would have got through, to be honest,” said Murphy. “We would have had no rest, and rest is huge. So it’s nice to be able to get some rest and be able to play again tomorrow.”
Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher, who lost his first game of the Brier to Nova Scotia last Saturday, stole eight points in defeating Mike McEwen of Team Wild Card (Winnipeg) 9-2.
Bottcher said he’s playing so well he wouldn’t want to play against himself right now.
“I’m feeling it, and I’m not shy to say that. I’m feeling really well, and I think the guys are playing well in front of me. I’m excited to get out there tomorrow and hopefully keep the train going,” said Bottcher.
Northern Ontario and Ontario take 6-1 records into the next round after wins in the final round of Pool B round-robin play Wednesday afternoon.
Northern Ontario (Sault Ste. Marie), skipped by Brad Jacobs, downed Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers (West St. Paul), 6-3. Ontario (Toronto), skipped by John Epping, defeated Steve Laycock of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon) 8-4.
“We’re happy to be at six wins and see how this crisscross works against teams in the other pool,” said Jacobs, whose team will be the top seed from Pool B.
“From what I can tell with our team right now, everybody’s real comfortable with the ice, with the rocks, we’re making lots of shots. It bodes well going into this next couple of games.”
Ontario’s outcome turned in the seventh when Epping had two buried around the button and Saskatchewan last rock thrower Matt Dunstone’s attempted in-off didn’t work allowing Ontario to steal a pair and take a 4-2 lead.
“I’ll take 6-1. It puts us in great shape. As I’ve said from the start, I think three losses is the number just to be on the safe side (to advance to the Page playoff),” said Epping, whose only loss came to Jacobs in their first game.
Despite the losses, Manitoba (5-2) and Saskatchewan (4-3) will both advance to the Championship Pool round robin against the top four teams from Pool A, which completes its play tonight.
The top two teams out of the eight will advance to the Page playoff 1-2 game Saturday (7 p.m.) while the next two will play the 3-4 game at 2 p.m.