Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 15:49:34 -0500
From: Jeff Timson
Subject: 2001 Nokia Brier
MIDDAUGH AND BURTNYK TOP INAUGURAL NOKIA BRIER IN OTTAWA
February 26, 2001...Ontario's Wayne Middaugh and Manitoba's Kerry
Burtnyk head an impressive lineup for the inaugural Nokia Brier,
March 3-11 at the Ottawa Civic Centre.
They'll be joined by, amongst others, Northern Ontario's Al Hackner,
a two-time world champion and Guy Hemmings of St-Aime, Quebec, twice
a Brier runner-up, as Ottawa hosts its third Brier, after staging the
1993 and 1979 championships.
It's the first Nokia (pronounced NO-key-ah) Brier and 72nd Canadian
men's curling championship. Last March in Saskatoon, the Canadian
Curling Association announced that Nokia, the world's largest
supplier of mobile phones, would become title sponsor of the Brier,
beginning with the 2001 event in Ottawa, taking over from Labatt
Breweries, now an official supplier to curling's Season of Champions.
Middaugh, representing St. George's Golf and Country Club in Toronto,
returns to the Brier for the first time since 1998, when he and
teammates Graeme McCarrel, Ian Tetley and Scott Bailey impressively
won the Brier in Winnipeg and then the Ford Worlds in Kamloops.
Middaugh will be looking for a third Brier win, having also played
second for Russ Howard on his 1993 Canadian (in Ottawa) and world
championship foursome. Meanwhile, Tetley is a perfect
three-for-three at the Brier and Worlds, having also won in 1985
(skip Al Hackner) and 1990 (skip Ed Werenich).
For Winnipeg's Burtnyk, it's been a longer stretch returning to the
Canadian men's curling championship. His Assiniboine Memorial
Curling Club team of Jeff Ryan, Rob Meakin and Keith Fenton will be
making its first appearance since winning the Brier in 1995 in
Halifax, then going unbeaten at the Worlds in Brandon, the last team
to do so.
Burtnyk and Hackner are also trying to win a third Brier as a skip,
joining three others, Ken Watson, Matt Baldwin and Ron Northcott.
Saskatchewan's Ernie Richardson is the only four-time winning skip.
Ironically, Burtnyk upset Hackner at the 1981 Brier in Halifax,
becoming, at age 22, the youngest winning skip in history.
Hackner, from the Fort William Curling Club in Thunder Bay, also made
his last Brier appearance in 1995. He won the 1982 (in Brandon) and
1985 Briers (in Moncton), as well as world titles in each of those
years. This year, he is skipping a team of youngsters fresh from the
junior ranks, as 'The Iceman' makes his ninth trip to the Brier, all
as skip, second only to Russ Howard's 10 appearances as skip.
Hackner also stands third in Brier game wins as skip, with 57, behind
Howard's 85.
Quebec's Guy Hemmings will make his third Brier appearance, after
impressive second place finishes in 1998 (to Middaugh) and 1999 (to
Manitoba's Jeff Stoughton in Edmonton).
Also competing are Alberta's Randy Ferbey, who played third for
Edmonton's Pat Ryan when they won the 1988 and 1989 Briers and 1989
Worlds; British Columbia's Dean Joanisse, New Brunswick's 1990 Brier
runner-up Jim Sullivan, Newfoundland's Keith Ryan, Nova Scotia's Mark
Dacey, the 1995 Brier runner-up to Kerry Burtnyk, Prince Edward
Island's Peter MacDonald, Saskatchewan's Doug Harcourt and
Yukon/Northwest Territories Steve Moss.
The competition format is a round robin, with the top four teams
(after any tiebreakers) participating in the Page Playoff system.
The first and second place teams meet in one game, with the winner
advancing to the final, the loser to the semi-final while the third
and fourth place teams battle in the other game, with the winner
qualifying for the semi-final, the loser eliminated.
The Nokia Brier will have extensive television coverage. TSN and RDS
will televise all draws of the round robin, plus the Page Playoff
games (1 vs 2, 3 vs 4) on Friday, March 9.
CBC-TV will televise the semi-final Saturday, March 10 and final
Sunday, March 11, with both games starting at 1:30 pm ET.
Manitoba has won a leading 26 Briers, including four in the 1990's,
since the championship began in 1927. Alberta is next with 18
victories. New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Yukon/NWT have
yet to win. Ontario has captured eight titles, the last by Wayne
Middaugh in 1998. While British Columbia is the defending champion
(Greg McAulay of New Westminster won last year in Saskatoon), it will
be 1989 Canadian junior champion Dean Joanisse carrying the
province's colours this year, after beating McAulay in the provincial
final. Interestingly, no curler who qualified for this year's Brier
played in last year's championship in Saskatoon.
The winning team at this year's Nokia Brier will then represent
Canada at the 2001 Ford Worlds, the seventh and final event in
curling's Season of Champions, March 31- April 8 at the Malley Sports
Center in Lausanne, Switzerland. Canada has won a leading 26 men's
titles since the championship began in 1959, including 14 of the last
21 renewals.
The winner, who will be presented with the refurbished Brier Tankard,
the solid silver trophy used during the first 50 years of the Brier,
also earns a berth into the 2001 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials,
December 1-9 at the Regina Agridome, when Canada determines its men's
and women's curling teams for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake
City, Utah. The Middaugh and Burtnyk teams have already qualified
for the Trials.
The Ford Hot Shots, offering the winning curler a new 2001 Ford
Taurus SE, valued at approximately $27,120 (MSRP), begins Friday,
March 2 with a preliminary round from 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm. Saturday
morning, the Nokia Brier official opening ceremonies will take place
from 10:00 am - 11:00 am, followed by the Ford Hot Shots playoffs.
The first draw begins at 1:30 pm ET.
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