Gushue hoping to break through
Decorated skips fill field in Brier
Brad Gushue has had enough of the Kevin Martin-Glenn Howard-Jeff Stoughton show at the Tim Hortons Brier.
Ontario’s Howard is playing in his record 15th Canadian men’s curling championship while Alberta’s Martin is in his 12th Brier and bidding to become the first skip to win five times and Manitoba’s Stoughton is a three-time winner making his 10th trip here.
“Yeah, it’s time for those guys to retire,” Gushue, 32, the Newfoundland Labrador skip in his 10th Brier said with a laugh on Friday morning after his practice session at Rexall Place.
“They’re great teams. I’m lucky and unlucky to play in a time when arguably, you have three of the greatest skips to ever play the game,” he continued.
“It’s fortunate to get to play against those guys, but it’s unfortunate because they’re still good. They’re approaching 50, I think Glenn is 50, and they’re still at the top of the game.
“I think it’s time for them to retire soon, so some of us younger guys will have a better chance of winning.”
This is the seventh time the three veterans will play in the same Brier, including the first appearance for Martin and Stoughton in 1991, 2006-09 inclusive and 2011.
One of the three won each time, except in 2006 when Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard upset Howard in the final.
“It just goes to show you how consistent we all are,” said Howard, who won his first of four Briers as a third for older brother Russ at Edmonton in 1987. “It’s not easy to get here. I’m impressed
“EVEN IF WE ALL KEEP PLAYING, THERE’S NO GUARANTEE WE’RE ALL COMING BACK.”
GLENN HOWARD
that those three teams day-in and day-out are right there at the top all the time.
“We’re the older curlers, we’re hanging on and it makes it special that we’re still coming back and enjoying it.”
This Brier, however, could be the last time the three teams play in the championship at the same time. With Stoughton 49 and Martin 46, their futures could be determined by what happens at the Olympic Trials at Winnipeg in December.
“Even if we all keep playing, there’s no guarantee we’re all coming back,” Howard admitted. “It’s getting harder and harder to win the province.”
This year’s Brier field is loaded with experience and talent, from Gushue, who won an Olympic gold medal in 2006, to Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs, who is appearing in his sixth Brier and has had a great season on the World Curling Tour, to wily veteran Jamie Koe from the Northwest Territories/Yukon to Saskatchewan’s young hotshot team skipped by Brock Virtue.
Martin suggested some of the younger curlers might look at this Brier the same way he does the 1995 championship at Halifax, which stands out as the only field “more special” than this one in his memory banks.
“I was younger then, of course, and all the guys I looked up to as a kid were all there — (Rick) Folk out of B.C., Brad Heidt out of Saskatchewan, (Kerry) Burtnyk out of Manitoba, (Ed) Werenich out of Ontario, (Al) Hackner out of Northern Ontario,” said Martin. “For me, when I was younger, those were all the guys. Now, I’m the Werenich from ’95.”
“You always wonder what would happen if there wasn’t a Glenn or a Kevin or myself, what would be going on, but we’re all going to fade away eventually and the next superstars are going to come up and take over,” said Stoughton.
That can’t happen soon enough for Gushue, who thinks his young team of imports from Prince Edward Island and Alberta (Brett Gallant, Adam Casey and Geoff Walker) will have to play really well to have a chance to win this week.
“Those (veteran) guys are definitely the favourites this week, but we’re not going to hand it to them and I’m sure most of the teams aren’t going to do that either,” said Gushue, who had a different team when he finished the 2011 round-robin in a threeway tie for first at 9-2 with Martin and Stoughton before losing in an extra end to Stoughton and to Howard by a single point in the playoffs.
“We know we can do it. It’s just with a younger team this year, the guys are still learning a little bit, so the expectations aren’t that we’re going to come in and go 11-0 like Jennifer (Jones) did last week (at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts), but we definitely feel if we play well, we’re going to have a chance in the playoffs.”
That’s what every team here wants, a chance to make the playoffs.
“If you’re playing (next) Saturday, all you need is two good days of curling and you can walk away with the win,” said Gushue.
Howard said it helps to get off to a good start in the round-robin, which begins at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. But Martin and Stoughton clash in the second draw at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, then Stoughton takes on Howard in his third game at 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
“If we go 1-2 or 0-3, it still won’t matter until that final round-robin game and we see where we end up,” said Stoughton, who expects eight wins will get teams into the playoffs next weekend.