1999 Brier
SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Curling
1999 BRIER
ON THE ROCKS
INTERACTIVE
ALSO ON SLAM!
Stoughton claims second Brier title with win over Quebec
Manitoba skip Jeff Stoughton used surgical shot-making to overcome the flash and dash of Quebec's Guy Hemmings, winning a wild 9-5 shootout in the Labatt Brier final.
Stoughton earned his second national title and Manitoba's 26th in Brier history by beating Hemmings for the third time this week, once in the round-robin, then in the playoffs and the final.
"This feels fantastic, what a thrill," said Stoughton, moments after hoisting the Brier Tankard high over his head to thunderous applause. "We were four up playing nine, figuring we've got it in the bag and we had a great nine.
"In the 10th we were just running him down, we had a great eighth and sixth ends, I figured we capped it off really well."
Stoughton, 35, a computer system specialist with Air Canada -- who won the 1996 Brier -- was voted playoff MVP by Brier media.
He hung coolly through an exchange of two-point ends before sending Hemmings and his rink to their second straight loss in the Labatt Brier final.
Manitoba second Garry van den Berghe, the only other player remaining from 1996, said it was a better feeling the second time around.
"It really lifts us up there with some of the greatest teams in Canada," he said. "We made changes on the team and it really helped us, it motivated us to prove we can play."
Stoughton was criticized late last year when he said he'd rather play for money on the cash tour than for the Brier title.
But it was a different Stoughton on Sunday.
"I think we're doing alright because we're going to get some money now anyway," he said.
"You can't get any bigger thrill than this, all the things that come with this are because of how good your team is and you can't get much better than this."
Stoughton goes on to represent Canada next month at the world curling championships in Saint John, N.B.
He also earned a berth in the 2001 Olympic curling trials, became eligible for federal government assistance as a potential Olympic representative and also receives an invite to the McCain TSN skins game later this year.
Hemmings lost to Ontario's Wayne Middaugh 7-4 in Winnipeg last year.
"If the gods of curling are good enough to bring me back to the final, I'll take my chances again," said Hemmings. "It was a close game, I'm not disappointed.
"This is a game that's in my blood, even if I wanted to stop I don't think I can, it won't be until I can't throw a rock.
"I hope us in the final has an affect on curling in Quebec and bring some kids to the curling club."
Stoughton took a 5-4 lead into the sixth end after Hemmings missed on a hit and roll, leaving the stoic Winnipeg skip an open hit for two.
Manitoba stretched it to 6-4 in the pivotal sixth end when Hemmings missed on a run-back double attempt, leaving a Stoughton rock in the rings for a single point.
"It was on those shots where (Hemmings) was off an inch, not even an inch," said Stoughton. "Coming back he'd get two, we'd be down one heading into the seventh and have another big battle going on."
Stoughton, third Jonathan Mead, Van Den Berghe and lead Doug Armstrong blew the game open with a three-point eighth end.
"Jeff is incredibly precise, incredibly calm and he's one of those people who the bigger the shot, the bigger moment, the better he throws it," said Mead, 31, who brought the house down with a wild dance to Staying Alive after the big eighth end.
"He loves it, he's an outstanding player."
Hemmings, 36, turned it into a barn-burner by forcing Stoughton to take a point in the first end to relinquish last-rock advantage to the delight of Hemmings' lemmings -- his dedicated fans that saw several in the crowd of 13,709 paint the Fleur-de-lis on their faces.
"I'm not going to say we're disappointed, we're proud of what we did," said Hemmings, a greenhouse operator from St-Aime, Que.
It was then a see-saw battle between the two very different rinks -- the flashy Quebecers and mundane Manitobans -- as the rinks traded two-point ends in the entertaining duel.
Sunday's crowd pushed the total ticket count for the 1999 Brier to 242,887, eclipsing the previous best set of 223,332 in Calgary in 1997.