1999 Brier
SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Curling
1999 BRIER
ON THE ROCKS
INTERACTIVE
ALSO ON SLAM!
'What a thrill!'
'We capped it off real well. It was in the bag in 10. We weren't going to miss three or four open hits in 10. We knew we had it won.' - Winning skip Jeff Stoughton
Jeff Stoughton and his Buffalo Boys from the Charleswood Curling Club in Winnipeg have carried on that tradition.
Stoughton delivered the 26th Brier title won by Manitoba, beating Guy Hemmings of Quebec 9-5 in the Labatt Brier final.
"It feels fantastic,'' said Stoughton. "What a thrill. Four up playing nine. We knew we had it in the bag. We had a great nine and in 10, we're just running them down.
'`We capped it off real well. It was in the bag in 10. We weren't going to miss three or four open hits in 10. We knew we had it won.''
Manitoba has won three of the last five finals.
Second title
It's the second title for 35-year-old Stoughton, who won his first in 1996.
"We had such a fantastic year on the World Curling Tour,'' said Stoughton, who finished second behind Russ Howard with $54,425 in earnings.
"And we held it on through the Select and the Brier. I couldn't be prouder of the guys I'm playing with. It's fantastic.''
Stoughton also won the inaugural Hec Gervais playoff MVP award, as selected by a media panel.
As far as Brier finals go, the dramatics ended shortly after the fifth-end break.
The lead changed four times before the break, and the crowd was into it.
But Stoughton struck the decisive blow in the sixth. Hemmings, who had delivered one of the biggest pressure shots in Brier history when he drew the button in Saturday afternoon's semifinal, only had a choice of hits.
He decided to go with a more difficult 20-foot raise of Stoughton's rock because there was a chance for a pair. Instead, he flared his rock. Stoughton's raised rock then skidded in for the decisive steal that gave him a 6-4 lead.
"I can't remember too much of it now,'' said Hemmings.
"I missed it by about one-sixteenth of an inch and it was a three-point swing. We didn't really play that well at the beginning of the end. I had a chance to get out of it with a nice raise-takeout, but I didn't do it. That's too bad.''
Hemmings did not walk away empty-handed. Besides his charisma, he'll be remembered as the man who fired the Shot of the Week. That was his cold draw to the button in an extra end to beat Gerald Shymko of Saskatchewan Saturday afternoon.
Once yesterday's game was well in hand, Manitoba got a chance to show some funk of their own.
Third Jon Mean danced to Stayin' Alive at the eight-end break. The timing of the tune was arranged by Judy Stoughton, Jeff's wife.
"We knew it was coming,'' said Stoughton. "The girls arranged it. He's a real good guy and he was going to let loose. What the heck. It was a lot of fun.''
Stoughton put it away with a three-ender in the eighth. All he needed to do was catch a piece of Hemmings' shot rock in the four-foot.
But there was no question in Stoughton's mind where the turning point was.
"Number six,'' he said. "We were looking for a steal of two. Pierre (Charette) got lucky on his shot, really lucky. We didn't miss a shot, got a perfect steal and we held on from there.''
List of bonuses
Stoughton also won a whole list of bonuses. His team not only advances to the Worlds in Saint John, New Brunswick next month, but he's entered in the qualifier for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
His team will also become carded athletes with the level of federal funding depending on how he does at his second trip to the Worlds.
"I think we're doing all right because we're going to get some money, anyways,'' said Stoughton.
"You can't get any bigger thrill than this. All the things that come of this is because of how good our team is.
'`You can't get much better than this.''