‘MISSION 1 ACCOM PLISHED’ FOR BOTTCHER
ALBERTA’S IN, BUT THERE’S A LOGJAM BEHIND THEM
HIGH CALIBRE OF CURLING, ACROSS THE BOARD.
On a day when t he defending champs fell to the brink of elimination and two other former winners flexed their muscles, Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher stood above them all at the Tim Hortons Brier.
Bottcher, a 28- year- old from Edmonton, clinched first place at the Brier with an emphatic 10- 3 win over John Epping of Ontario, which gave Alberta an impressive 9-1 record.
Bottcher, who lost the Brier finals in 2018 and 2019, will play in the Page playoff 1- 2 game on Saturday night at Leon’s Centre, with a chance to advance directly to Sunday’s final with a win. His team will even get a second life if it loses, dropping into Sunday’s semifinal.
“Mission 1 accomplished,” Bottcher said Friday afternoon.
“We’re playing against all the best teams in the world this week and we’ve had our share of the breaks but we’ve also played really well. That’s something we can all be pretty proud of.”
Bottcher’s third, Darren Moulding, said it was a big goal for the team to get to the 1-2 game, win it and get hammer in the final on Sunday.
“We talked right from the first game this week, when we played Brad Jacobs, that we needed to win that game to be in the 1-2 game.
“After losing the last two finals, we figured we lost them because we didn’t start out with hammer. The last two years we didn’t have hammer in either game. Our goal was to get to the 1-2 game to give ourselves an opportunity to get hammer in the final a nd we’re happy that we’ve achieved that goal.
“But the hardest part of the Brier is still to come.”
Is it ever. Nipping at Bottcher’s heels, and in strong contention to be his opponent in the 1-2 game, is two- time champion Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador (8-2). Top seed and world No. 1 Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario ( 7- 3) isn’t far behind, and the same goes for Team Wild Card’s Mike Mcewen (7-3) and exhilarating sharp-shooter Matt Dunstone of Saskatchewan (7-3).
Gushue and Jacobs had emphatic wins Friday afternoon to show they mean business — Newfoundland beat Wild Card 5- 3 in an almost perfectly played game by both teams and Northern Ontario beat Team Canada’s Kevin Koe 7-3 in eight ends.
Gushue curled 100 per cent in the win, while McEwen came in at 95 per cent.
“If we play like that, we’re gonna be tough to beat,” Gushue said.
“If we can replicate that a few more times between now and Sunday, I’d like our chances.
“It’s mentally gruelling. When you go into a game, it’s scary knowing that you have to be that good. I don’t think I missed in that game and I think ( Mcewen) might have had one half- hot. It’s scary good, how good the ice is and how good the players are right now. It’s very conducive to making a lot of good shots.”
Jacobs has roared back from the near dead since falling to 1-3 on Monday. Northern Ontario has six straight wins and is looking like a team no one should want to play against.
“We woke up the following day after we were 1-3 and we were happy to be above the ground,” Jacobs said. “We knew we were in for a battle and we still are. We’re not getting too far ahead of ourselves. We’re just trying to be present and enjoy the journey. So far, it has worked out well.”
Dunstone, the 24- yearold who has been a star shot- maker this week, made another incredible shot to score two and beat Manitoba’s Jason Gunnlaugson 9- 8 on Friday afternoon, bringing the fans to their feet and prompting three emphatic fist- pumps from the skip.
“It never gets old,” he said. “You like to win games the easy way, but when it comes down to the moment, the crowd cheer, at the Brier, the emotional high you get from that is by far the best feeling.”
Only Manitoba ( 5- 5) is out of the playoff mix at this point and there’s still a chance five teams could finish at 7- 4, creating a logjam of tiebreakers for third and fourth place, with all the teams back on the ice Friday night.
Among that group is fourtime champ and 2019 winner Koe, but his team was not liking its chances after a very mediocre Brier — by Koe standards — so far.
“It’s obviously not our week,” said Canada lead Ben Hebert, whose team went 13- 0 to win the Brier last year.
“We’ve just been mucking our way through the season. You could see we were the fifth-ranked team in Canada coming in here. You know what, that’s what we’re playing like.
“You come to the big events and you’ve got to elevate your play against the top teams. To muck through, when you play Gushue, Bottcher, Jacobs, Epping, you’ve got to shoot in the 90s. Guess what? We’re not shooting in the 90s as a team.”
To be honest, in this field, shooting in the 90s just might not be good enough.
“Sometimes you’ve got to play 100,” Mcewen said.
“We haven’t had one bad game, period. Even our three losses were well- played games. What a field. It’s crazy. I’ve never been a part of this high calibre of curling, across the board, ever. It’s amazing to be a part of that.”