It’s a tradition as old as the Volvo automobile, and even older than the first notch carved in Mount Rushmore. In 1927, eight teams competed over three days in the first-ever Macdonald Brier Tankard at the Granite Curling Club in Toronto, ON. Almost every year after that Canada’s top men’s curling teams have met on the national stage.
The Brier has changed over the years. The inaugural event started out with 14-end games, which quickly moved to 12 ends and, in 1977, the games were shortened to 10. Like any sport, curling has seen leaps and bounds with the addition of new rules and equipment, all while growing in popularity throughout the world. Now, more changes are coming to the Brier, this time with a new format.
Following suit from the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the Tim Hortons Brier will host a 16-team field—one team representing each province and territory, along with Northern Ontario, Canada and the inaugural Team Wild Card.
The wild card slot will be filled by one of the top two rinks on the Canadian Team Ranking System that didn’t qualify out of their province or territory.
The foursomes getting another crack at it are Winnipeg rinks Mike McEwen and Jason Gunnlaugson. They face off in the wild card draw Friday at 7 p.m. CT. The winner claims the final berth into the Brier.
“Based on what we saw in Penticton at the Scotties, it’s an interesting game; it’s an intriguing game,” said Al Cameron, director of communications for Curling Canada. “It’s pressure-packed and the team that gets in comes into the Tim Hortons Brier with a lot of momentum.”
Once the stage is officially set, the field will split into two pools of eight, with the top four teams in each pool advancing to a championship pool. From there, the top four playoff teams will be decided.
“It adds a wrinkle; a new look,” Cameron said. “And based on what we saw at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, it went over very well.”
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Cameron added the format gives lower-level teams a chance to gain valuable experience on arena ice, while the championship pool narrows down the field to the top teams.
The 1 vs. 2 and 3 vs. 4-page playoffs are still in play; however, the bronze medal match has been eliminated.
The semi-final showdown is set for March 11 at 11 a.m. CT. The gold medal game gets underway at 6 p.m CT.
“Maybe it’s fate”
The new format, in part, was created by curlers for curlers. The wild card game gives two of Canada’s top teams a second chance at entering the Brier.
“When we were looking at the 16-team format it was Mike McEwen who approached Curling Canada and said, ‘you know what would be really cool is a play-in game—a wild card,’” Cameron said.
It’s probably not the place he’d imagined his team would be when he concocted the idea, but now Team McEwen is on their last legs.
“It’s sort of redemption. I wasn’t there to help my guys as much as I would have wanted to in the provincial final and I feel like this is a second chance,” McEwen explained. “Maybe it’s fate that I’m in this game.”
McEwen was hospitalized with the chicken pox during most of the Manitoba provincial playdowns. He was released just in time to join his rink of B.J. Neufeld, Matt Wozniak and Denni Neufeld in the final. But it wasn’t in the cards for the Winnipeg team as they dropped a nail-biter, 7-6, to Reid Carruthers.
“We’ve got a really good opportunity to win a big game to start the Brier Friday night.”
After taking a break to reset, McEwen says his team is “chomping at the bit” to get back on the ice. Besides a little scarring from the virus, he says he’s feeling better physically, but the effects of the pox haven’t left yet.
“I had a complication where it did damage my liver, so I won’t be whooping it up in the Patch,” McEwen said, while showing off a big grin.
As calm as he looks, McEwen says he’s not getting ahead of himself. He hasn’t even looked at the draw past the wild-card game.
“It’s kind of strange. I feel like we’re here, but we’re not quite part of the event yet. It’s a bit of a weird feeling.”
A Manitoba Showdown
Friday night’s wild-card game will be a battle of the buffalo, in a match that will look like a Manitoba provincial final. Once it’s all said and done, curling fans will have two Manitoba teams to cheer for Reid Carruthers and Team Wild Card.
Jason Gunnlaugson and his rink, also from Winnipeg, are looking to score their first appearance at the national championship.
“The team’s just really excited. It’s a great opportunity being the first-ever men’s wild-card game,” Gunnlaugson said during Thursday night practice.
The foursome made up of Alex Forrest, Ian McMillan and Connor Njegovan says nerves are inevitable in do-or-die situations, but they feel confident having played McEwen’s team in the past.
“It’s a slight advantage for us to know this team well and have a good plan in place to know how we’re going to play.”
The newly crowned team will look to take Kerri Einarson’s wild-card run at the Scotties one step further. Einarson and Team Wild Card clinched first place after pool play, but lost to Jennifer Jones in the gold medal final.
“I think the (wild card) game is really hard to play, but if you are the team that wins I think it really sets you up great going into the full week,” Gunnlaugson said.
–with files from Ian Duffy.
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