1999 Brier
SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Curling
1999 BRIER
ON THE ROCKS
INTERACTIVE
ALSO ON SLAM!
Hunka bids adieu
Russ Howard is buying.
And if he isn't, the organizing committee will be.
"Russ told me he'd buy me tons of beer if we won,'' said Hunka, who won his last game 10-5 over Nova Scotia.
Hunka had to win for Howard to advance to this morning's 8:30 a.m. tiebreaker against Nova Scotia.
It was also one last chance for Hunka to sell tickets for the Brier.
The win, combined with Howard's very scary extra end win to make Orest Peech the only 0-11 rink in Brier history, created the tie-breaker.
And that will add more than 11,000 to the attendance total of the record-breaking Edmonton event.
Hunka won his game in the washroom.
Nature called when Paul Flemming went to take his last rock shot in the eighth end. He missed and Hunka stole two while he was in the toilet.
"I never won a game in the can before,'' he laughed. "But a guy has to do what a guy has to do.''
When he returned to shake hands the crowd of 13,450 - by far the largest crowd of the Brier to date - gave him a standing ovation.
That just doesn't happen in curling.
"That was great. Just absolutely great,'' said Hunka.
"The crowd was awesome. They were awesome all the way. When we struggled they stayed behind us."
Hunka was all but mathematically eliminated the night before. He lost 6-4 to Northern Ontario in the afternoon draw. That made it official.
Hunka ended up with a 5-6 record, tied with Bert Gretzinger of B.C. for eighth place in the most competitive field ever assembled in the 70 years of the event.