Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 21:00:52 -0500
From: Jeff Timson, Media Director, Saint Clair Group
Subject: First Nokia Brier set for Ottawa
FIRST NOKIA BRIER SET FOR OTTAWA
January 15, 2001 The Nokia Brier will be played March 3-11 at the
Civic Centre in Ottawa. It's the 72nd Canadian Men's Curling
Championship but the first one under the title sponsorship of Nokia,
the world's largest supplier of mobile phones.
The winning team will be presented with the original Brier Tankard, a
solid silver trophy used during the first 50 years of the Brier,
before being replaced by the Labatt Brier Tankard in 1980. It's now
been refurbished to include the names of all of the Brier winners,
from 1927 through 2000.
This will mark the third time that the Brier has been held in Ottawa.
It was last staged in 1993, when captured by Ontario's Russ Howard.
The attendance that week at the Civic Centre was 130,076, which, at
the time, was the second best ever for a Brier. The city also hosted
the 1979 championship.
The 12 teams competing in the Nokia Brier will be determined in the
next four weeks by provincial/territorial championships, which begin
in late January and conclude in mid-February.
Last year in Saskatoon, a Brier attendance record of 248,793 was
established at SaskPlace, eclipsing the former mark of 242,887 set
only a year earlier in Edmonton.
Manitoba has won 26 Briers, more than any other province, while
Alberta is next with 18. New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and
Yukon/Northwest Territories have yet to win. British Columbia is the
defending champion, as Greg McAulay and his New Westminster team won
the 2000 Labatt Brier, defeating New Brunswick and skip Russ Howard
in the final.
McAulay then went on to capture the Ford Worlds in Glasgow, becoming
the 26th team from Canada to win the men's world championship since
1959 and the 14th since 1980.
TSN/RDS will televise all round robin draws plus the Page Playoff
games on Friday, March 9. CBC-TV will televise the semi-final, March
10 and Nokia Brier final, March 11.
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