SWEEP STAKES
Newfoundland’s Smith gets first ‘incredible’ Brier win, McEwen cuts it way too close ... Under new two-pool format, top teams can’t afford an early stumble
REGINA — On the morning when Brad Gushue established a record for career Brier games won by a skip with his 114th, Greg
Smith won his first for Newfoundland.
“It was incredible. Absolutely incredible,” said the 21-year-old, who replaced Gushue representing The Rock while he wears Team Canada colours as the defending Brier and world champion.
“We were on our eighth end when Gushue was shaking hands after his win and they put it on the scoreboard — 114 wins,” said Smith who came from behind to register a 7-6 victory over Thomas Scoffin of the Yukon.
“It was a great day for Newfoundland and Labrador curling. I’m so proud of what Brad has been able to do in his career and I was so proud of what my boys were able to do today as well.”
Smith might not be shooting the lights out here — his 66% being the lowest of all skips while Gushue had curled 94% in opening with a 3-0 record.
But he’s definitely, with his emotions and enthusiasm, bouncing around the ice with all sorts of expressions and body language, made himself a crowd favourite.
“I like to say I’m the male
Heather Nedohin,” he said of the former Scotties champion from Alberta.
“It doesn’t matter what I’m doing, I’m just like that. And I have to admit I love it that the crowd seems to be feeding off it,” he said of the fans adopting himself and his team of Matthew Hunt, Andrew Taylor and Ian Withycombe.
There are no bigger Gushue fans here than those guys.
Not only are they cheering for him because he’s a legend in Newfoundland but, the fact is, if they’re going to get back here again, the only likely way would be for Gushue to win a second straight Brier and return as Team Canada again.
“If we can get back here next year it would be absolutely incredible,” Smith said. “I can’t tell you how much fun this has been for us so far. From the music in the Brier Patch to the size of the crowds to the camaraderie, it’s been an amazing experience, this has been something I won’t forget for the rest of my life.”
TICK TALK, TICK TALK
There’s no sound to the tick tock of the clock here.
But you can get caught having too much talk between the ticks on the clock.
Eight seconds of “thinking time” remained when Mike
McEwen released his rock that would produce three points on the 10th end for a 6-5 win over Jamie Murphy of Nova Scotia Monday.
Each team gets 38 minutes of thinking time, plus two time outs, per game. McEwen came close to not having time to throw his last rock, a shot that won the game and left the wild-card team from Winnipeg, Gushue’s Team Canada crew, Reid Carruthers
Manitoba champions and
Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario the only undefeated teams through the first six draws of the Brier.
“We’re not a team that generally leaves a lot of time, but that’s cutting it a little too close,” said McEwen.
So far, McEwen has been one of the better stories at the first Brier to feature a wildcard team. He lost six Manitoba finals before he managed to get to the show two years ago.
Then, after losing the final of the Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials to Kevin Koe, he ended up spending the Manitoba provincials in a Winkler hospital with chicken pox and lost the final again, this time to Carruthers. McEwen then defeated
Jason Gunnlaugson of Winnipeg here Friday to become the wild-card team.
But it’s weird how it’s worked. He made it all the way to Game 4 in the pool and his fifth game here, to go against Gushue in pool play Monday night without feeling like he’s at the Brier yet.
“I don’t know why. Normally you have three or four weeks of build-up going to the Brier and I didn’t have that. You don’t have that with a winner-takeall Friday night game.
“It’s been strange. You don’t have all that planning with the family coming and getting excited and everything.”
ALBERTA’S GREAT ESCAPE
Under the previous format, used for the first 88 years of the Brier, getting down by four points early in your third game with a 1-1 win loss record was no big deal.
But under the new 16-team, two-pool business here this year, a top team can’t afford an early stumble.
And when it comes to Alberta, after Brendan Bottcher’s second-worst-in-history 3-8 run wearing the provincial crest last year, it remains to be determined whether they’re a top team.
Losers in their first game here against Nova Scotia, the Edmonton team bounced back with a 9-2 win over
Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories Sunday night but still have Gushue’s Team Canada and McEwen’s Manitoba to play in the seven-game, round-robin pool play which will send four teams to the championship round.
“You absolutely can’t lose that game,” said third Darren
Moulding, who had visions of being back making ice at the Lacombe Curling Club by the weekend when they found themselves in deep doo-doo early here Monday morning.
“We were so far behind when we scored a deuce on the fifth end I said ‘Well, at least we can see them in our front windshield again,’” he laughed.
“That was pretty big for us,” said Bottcher, who crashed a guard on the third end that resulted in four for British Columbia and a 4-1 lead that they turned into a 5-1 lead with a steal on the fourth end. Alberta when on to win the game 9-8.