Random Sunday morning Brier thoughts

Random Sunday morning Brier thoughts

New stones

Seems players are having a hard time adjusting to the new curling stones at the Brier.

Edmonton Journal has a story about how the curlers are struggling a bit.

When I was a novice curler I always thought that rock matching and curlers claiming stones are different was a lot of bunk. But now that I've played for a few years and have experienced a few other curling clubs, I now know that there is some validity that all rocks are not the same and perform differently. At my club there are a few stones that travel a bit differently. There is one rock that you can hit on the nose and there is no guarantee that it's going to run straight back. Another rock you have to throw hack weight to get to the four-foot.

 

Brad Gushue's teammates

Seems everyone has played with Brad Gushue at one time or another. Manitoba's Mark Nichols, Saskatchewan's Chris Schille and Northern Ontario's Ryan Fry are all former Team Gushue members.

Team Ontario skip Glenn Howard's brother Russ also played with Gushue.

The way that Gushue changes teammates, you can now play the seven degrees of Brad Gushue game. Every curler is just seven degrees away.

Curling families

If you talk about with the Brier participants you will hear that curling is part of their family lineage.

For example, Saskatchewan lead D.J. Kidby and Alberta lead Ben Hebert are cousins. Alternates Scott Howard (Ontario) and Karrick Martin (Alberta) have famous dads that you might have heard of.

Edmonton

I might expand on this later...but is there a better Brier host than Edmonton? The Stoughton-Martin game was exciting to watch, but it was even better with a large crowd of 10,000 on hand.

Not only was the crowd large, it was electric which makes for a fun atmosphere even if you're watching on television.

Game of the day

Stoughton meets Howard in the Sunday evening draw. Hunker down, as this one should be a good one.

Not shot of the day

We've all been there. Make a shot and your team scores a point or two. Miss it and it's disastorious. It happens to club curlers all the time.

It happened to Nova Scotia's Ian Fitzner-LeBlanc on Saturday against Newfoundland.
The Nova Scotia third, who throws final stones for his team, missed with his final rock in the sixth end leaving Brad Gushue a simple draw for five—game over.
That's the great thing about curling (or golf) every once in a while you make a great shot like the pros. Also, every once in a while the pros miss a shot just like you do every Thursday night.