No slam dunks to win Brier
If the Championship Pool at the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier, presented by Mosaic, has a familiar look to it, it’s because the field of eight contains seven of the country’s top teams that just fought it out a few months ago for the right to represent Canada at the Olympics.
The notable exception, of course, is Kevin Koe, who won the 2017 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings in Ottawa. But the guy he barely beat in the final, Mike McEwen, is in the pool. So is semifinalist Brad Gushue, who just happens to be the defending world champion. Reid Carruthers and Brendan Bottcher were just out of the playoffs at the trials. They’re in the pool, too. Brad Jacobs, the 2014 Olympic gold medallist, was right behind them in Ottawa. Steve Laycock and John Epping pulled off a couple of wins in the elite field, too. They’ve also earned invitations to the Brier pool party. And what a pool party it’s going to be.
It’s going to be fun. A lot of fun.
The four Championship Pool draws – two today, two more tomorrow – should tickle the fancy of anyone with an ounce of interest in the sport. Every game will feature elite vs.elite. Gotta love that.
The new 16-team format with the two preliminary pools of round-robin play debuted at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Penticton, B.C., last month.
Four teams from each advanced to the Championship Pool, where they play a modified round robin against the other pool’s top teams. The Championship Pool in Penticton was a case of it was Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones’s event to lose. She didn’t.
That’s not the case here. Uh, uh. No way. There’s too many good teams to say any of them are slam dunks to win the treasured Tankard.
Sure, maybe Team Canada could be a slight favourite. Very slight. After all, they did run the table at the 2017 Ford World Men’s Championship in Edmonton last April, going 13-0. But that was then, this is now. Ottawa proved that. McEwen curled lights out to kill the 2006 Olympic gold medallist’s hopes of collecting a second medal. Even though McEwen finished second at the Manitoba provincials to Carruthers and barely got here via the Brier’s first-ever wild card, he could go on to win his first Brier.
“We’re right in it, but we’ve got to get back to where we were the last few games,” said Gushue after losing Wednesday morning to Bottcher.
Just like Regina’s streets next month, there’s plenty of potholes ahead that teams have to negotiate to get to the weekend. Wins will be at a premium, but for those with championship aspirations. And they all do. Losses will be doubly costly, especially since the teams carry them from the preliminary pools into the Championship Pool. And all of them go in with at least one defeat.
“Any team with their eyes on the (Page playoff) 1-2 game will want to stay away from more losses,” said McEwen. “Alberta winning (Wednesday morning) is huge. It creates a lot of chaos for all sorts of teams.”
Chaos is good. It creates interest. It creates fun. It creates drama. It creates good curling. And in TSN’s case, it creates good ratings.
There is no outright favourite, although some teams go in with more liabilities than others. The local side, skipped by Steve Laycock, is in the pool despite losing its first two games. He overcame them to reach the Championship Pool, but overcoming them to reach the weekend? That’s a tough task. Especially since he goes in with three defeats. It’s highly unlikely any team with four losses will qualify for the weekend. That was certainly the case in Penticton.
Then there’s Bottcher, whose first game loss to Nova Scotia may come back to bite him if his Alberta squad doesn’t stay hot.
Realistically, the best bets to play in
Las Vegas at the Ford Worlds are Gushue, McEwen, Carruthers and Jacobs. Based on past performance, they hold the best hands. The skips are all aces, and the rest of their teams are kings at their positions. But Bottcher, Epping and Laycock are playing with some pretty good cards, too.
The stakes are high. So will be the calibre of curling. Can’t wait to find out who hits the Brier jackpot.