The Canadian Men’s Curling Championship is just around the corner, with play set to begin on March 5th from London, Ontario. With the Provincial championships now out of the way, the 12 qualifying teams for this year’s Tim Hortons Brier can begin to focus on taking home the title.
The Brier will feature one team representing the territories, and one representative from each of the 10 provinces. Ontario is the exception, as they are divided into Ontario and Northern Ontario for the Brier. This year’s tournament features a number of strong teams, but the focus heading in will likely be on Kevin Martin and Glenn Howard. The two representatives from Alberta and Ontario have been a dominant force in men’s curling in recent years and will likely be the early favorites to meet in the final. Their head-to-head round robin match will take place on March 10th and will be highly anticipated.
Unlike the women’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts, last year’s Brier winner does not receive an automatic berth into this year’s tournament. This means that defending champion Kevin Koe, who went on to win the World Championship as well, will not be playing. He was defeated in the Alberta final by Kevin Martin.
The following is a brief preview of all 12 teams competing in this year’s Tim Hortons Brier.
Prince Edward Island: Eddie MacKenzie, Mike Gaudet, Mike Dillon, Alex MacFadyen
The team from Charlottetown is one of the more inexperienced teams to compete this year, so they will have their work cut out for them. While this is MacKenzie’s first time as a skip at the Brier, the team’s third, Mike Gaudet has two previous appearances. In 1994 and 2004 he was the PEI provincial champion.
Nova Scotia: Shawn Adams, Paul Flemming, Andrew Gibson, Kelly Mittelstadt, Craig Burgess
Shawn Adams will be making his 4th appearance at the Brier and will be a serious contender to take home the title. In his three previous appearances, he has improved each time. In 2005, he finished the round robin with an 8-3 record and finished as a runner-up. Having waited 6 long years to return to the Brier, he will be ready to compete.
Newfoundland and Labrador: Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Ryan Fry, Jamie Danbrook
Brad Gushue has been one of the biggest names in Canadian curling for the past decade. He has represented Newfoundland at the Brier in 8 of the past 9 years and while he has never won, his team is always a consistent threat to make the playoffs. Gushue has also had international success. In 2006 he won gold at the Winter Olympics in Italy. Once again, Gushue will be looking to finally take home a Brier title.
New Brunswick: James Gratton, Charles Sullivan Jr., Steven Howard, Peter Case
This team from Oromocto may not be one of the favorites, but skip James Gratton does have plenty of Brier experience. This will be his 9th time representing New Brunswick. While most of his past success has come from playing third for Russ Howard, he did lead his province to a 3rd place finish back in 1997. Gratton and his rink could be competitive but will likely find it difficult to earn a spot near the top of the standings in order to qualify for the playoffs.
Quebec: Francois Gagne, Robert Desjardins, Christian Bouchard, Philippe Menard
The Quebec representatives are newcomers to the Brier and will be making their very first appearance this year. What they lack in experience, they make up for with determination. They proved that by beating former Brier champion, Jean-Michel Menard in the Quebec provincial championship.
Ontario: Glenn Howard, Richard Hart, Brent Laing, Craig Savill
Glenn Howard has been one of the world’s most dominant curlers in recent years, and will be making his 6th straight appearance at the Brier. This 2007 championship squad has played in the finals in four of the past five years and will once again be considered one of the favorites heading into the competition.
Northern Ontario: Brad Jacobs, E.J. Harnden, Ryan Harnden, Scott Seabrook
This young group of up and coming curlers surprised a lot of people last year by finishing in 3rd place at the Brier. After qualifying once again, Jacobs and his teammates will look to prove that last year was no fluke, as they are prepared to compete for the title of Canadian champions in 2011.
Manitoba: Jeff Stoughton, Jon Mead, Reid Carruthers, Steve Gould
Two-time Brier champion, Jeff Stoughton is one of the more experienced players in the field this year. Making his 9th Brier appearance, Stoughton and his rink from Winnipeg could very easily challenge for the title. While he finished 2nd in 2009 and 3rd in 2007, Stoughton has not won the Brier since 1999.
Saskatchewan: Pat Simmons, Steve Laycock, Brennen Jones, Dallan Muyres, Kelly Knapp
Throwing last rocks for Saskatchewan will be Pat Simmons, who is making his 5th Brier appearance. Despite the experience, Simmons has qualified for the playoffs only once. The team knows that they will have to step up their play if they want to be successful this year.
Alberta: Kevin Martin, John Morris, Marc Kennedy, Ben Herbert
Kevin Martin will be the favorite to win the 2011 Tim Hortons Brier, and with good reason. The 4 time Brier champion has won two of the last three titles, and perhaps the only thing that prevented him from winning for a 3rd year in a row was that he did not enter last year. Instead, Martin and his team focused on competing at the Olympics where they went on to win gold. Kevin Martin has had a strong season thus far, and recently defeated the defending Brier and World champion, Kevin Koe to qualify for this year’s tournament.
British Columbia: Jim Cotter, Ken Maskiewich, Kevin Folk, Rick Sawatsky, Brad Wood
In the 2008 Brier, Bob Ursel skipped this team to a playoff appearance. Having to sit out for most of the season due to a knee injury, Ursel was replaced by Jim Cotter and the team still managed to qualify for this year’s Brier. With the extra motivation to honor their former skip, this team could be one to watch out for.
Yukon/Northwest Territories: Jamie Koe, Tom Naugler, Brad Chorostkowski, Martin Gavin, Colin Miller
Jamie Koe will be representing the Territories at the Brier for the 5th time, though he has yet to have much success. He is the brother of defending Brier champion, Kevin Koe, and will look for improvement this year.
Brier Format
Round robin play at the Tim Hortons Brier begins on March 5th and will conclude on March 10th, with a tie-breaker on March 11th if needed. The top 4 teams at the end of the round robin will make it through to the playoffs, which will also begin on March 11th. The 1st and 2nd place teams will play, with the winner moving through to the final, and the loser going on to play the winner of the 3rd and 4th place game in the semi-final match. The championship game will take place on Sunday, March 13th at 7:30 p.m. (EST).
Sources
Canadian Curling Association official website
Jason Caravaggio - I am a university graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a Bachelor of Education degree. Currently I am working two ...
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