Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Morning draws

















by Jill Officer

WINNIPEG – There’s been some talk (example: here and here) about how some of the biggest match-ups of the week are scheduled in the morning draws here at the Tim Hortons Brier, the grandest curling event of them all.

The game between favourites Alberta and Ontario, which could very likely be your Brier final, is on Thursday morning! So not only is it during the day when people are working and can’t sneak out early, but it’s a draw time that is not even featured on television!

Ontario’s Glenn Howard told the Tankard Times:

“If you want to build this game up and promote the players and everybody thinks we are the favourites then put us on a night draw and get the crowds out,” said Howard.

The only question about this is: who’s going to watch everyone else during the day?

The Bluenosers kept pace here this afternoon with Kevin Martin’s Alberta squad, but the fab four from Edmonton were just too much for Nova Scotia’s veteran Brian Rafuse (CCA photo by Michael Burns). After blanking the ninth end to be tied up playing the 10th, Martin hit for the win.

You might wonder whether Martin’s team was less than stellar today, but in fact, it was the Nova Scotians who kept pace with Alberta.

“They played fantastic,” said Martin. “They were all over us in the first five ends.”

If it wasn’t for putting all their guards in one basket in the 10th and allowing Alberta second Marc Kennedy to make a triple-peel, the Scotia senior men’s champs (yeah, they won that, too) just might have had a chance to play giant killer. Instead, it’s back to the drawing board.

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