Day 2 at the Tim Hortons Brier here in Halifax and there are some pretty hungover people already! The first night in the Patch was heralded with a great band The Aviators, huge crowd, and lots of beer sales. Hey it is Atlantic Canada and it is the Brier – what else would you expect?

I love going to Briers – I have been fortunate enough to attend now 14 Briers in many different capacities – a player’s spouse, an organizer, a part of the National Curling Conference, and as a simple worker bee.  And Briers are like a homecoming to the curling community – even if you haven’t seen a fellow curler or Patch Buddy in many years, they still welcome you with open arms (hugs are great, kisses are better!) as if you have never been apart. We Brier folk are a special fraternity….

Oh, and there’s curling going on here?  Don’t worry, not forgetting – its been a long day with scoring back-to-back games. So here’s the scoop on the day from the media bench.

The morning started with Draw #3 and a full slate of games. In the North/South game, Ontario’s Glenn Howard’s team started off a little bit shaky but rebounded to emerge with a resounding score of 9-4 after 9 ends. And the neighbouring Sheet B simply copied the score – final favourite Jeff Stoughton over Rod MacDonald of PEI. Jamie Koe came out tired and weary after two defeats from Day #1 to get trounced by Quebec 7-3. And handing James Grattan his first loss was hot Saskatchewan Darrell McKee with a final of 7-4……. well deserved as McKee made a great raise takeout for 3 in the last end.

Onto Draw #4 on this beautiful day in Halifax – but hey, who keeps track of the weather when you are inside the hub of curling and partying!  A couple of touted match-ups were on this draw – much anticipation from Gushue playing McKee and of course Howard and Richard from BC.

Let’s start with the Gushue game – the boys from the Rock took a commanding in-your-face 3 points in the first end and yet another in the third end. The prairie boys came back with their own 3 in the 4th end but that was just enough incentive for Brad to say “take this!” and a 4 ender in the 5th! Saskatchewan was determined to keep plugging along and after taking 1 in the 6th, they decided a shake-up was in order.

So in came Saskatchewan’s fifth player Jason Jacobson to get his first taste of Brier ice. Not to be outdone, Brad replies with the plea from fifth Glenn Goss to “put me in, coach!” and in comes the Silver Fox. Both guys did well but Glenn gave in to his teammates when it came to keeping up with the rocket launches fired to peel Saskatchewan’s guards.  The slaughter finally ended with surrender from McKee and a final score of 11-5.

In the other mega-match-up, both teams were “worthy” and the Howard/Richard game was extremely close. Tied coming home, the 10th end was well played with Howard successfully keeping the 8 ft. area open so he could easily draw for the win.

The Nova Scotia/Quebec game was  real crowd pleaser – it was tight all the way and the stands loving the shots made by both teams. Tied at 6-6 after 8 ends, there was a missed opportunity by Fitzner-LeBlanc to draw for the all important 2nd point. The 10th end was ended with Quebec not having the throw their last rock as yet another rock just wasn’t in the right position at the right time.

And PEI/ Alberta was all Alberta early on (6-1 after 4) . Although valiant shots were made by Rod MacDonald, it was to no avail and they finally waved the white flag and admitted to the 9-4 defeat.

It was a quick break to run for a cookie and pizza slice (nutrionists would love to get their hands on the diet of the Brier folk like us!!) and then on to Draw #5 – it is only Sunday night and it is already starting to become a blur……

So let’s check out these match-ups. Jeff Stoughton and James Grattan were in the game I called the “Flight of the Bumblebees” - with almost identical provincial uniforms, it was a good thing I know and recognize all these guys as it was difficult to tell them apart on the ice. And it was easy to tell early on who was winning the race – Manitoba was playing totally en pointe while the struggling member of the New Brunswick squad was unfortunately skip James. NB was definitely not believing the amount of curl in this ice and just kept missing in the early ends. Finally rebounding with a 2 in the 5th end, Grattan and the guys started playing more consistently – but it just wasn’t enough to recover. 8-4 was the final count in this one.

BC versus NS was all BC – unfortunately for the home town team. Suffering their third loss in a row, Nova Scotia needs to have a good chat and come out fighting tomorrow as if it is a restart. And they have a tough road ahead of them Monday and Tuesday – playing some of the top contenders in this round robin.

Northern Ontario and Yukon/NWT was a great game – tight back and forth until the huge steal of 3 by NONT in the 9th end to make it 9-5. And that was it……… Jamie Koe is another team who need to have a serious chat. They are talented curlers and can definitely hold their own in competition.

Then we go to the other highly watched game of the night – with a huge crowd of Newfoundlers in the crowd, the Gushue/Koe battle was something to see. Two of the top 4 favourite teams were anxious to get this game out of the way early in the week. And both teams came out firing all guns – Gushue managing to steal 3 valuable points. Two of these points were the result of a dramatic open miss by Kevin Koe in the 4th end. The eighth end was deadly for Gushue though as Kevin takes an in-your-face 3. The ninth saw one point for NL and onto the messy 10th. On his last rock, Brad comes up 2 feet short on the difficult come around a rock in the 12 foot to be buried…….. and it was hand shake time all around. A disappointed Brad – but a beaming Kevin Koe going to 3-0.

Well, time to head to the Patch to see what fun tidbits I can find to pass on for tomorrow. Must say – the crowds are great, entertainment awesome, and the people just can’t be beat anywhere in the world.

Meg Wallace
CurlingZone.com