1999 Brier
SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Curling
1999 BRIER
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The Manitoba ice men rarely cut loose
Jeff Stoughton is the king of the world of Canadian curling. But the way it worked out, it really wasn't for a dang thing he did to win his second Brier Tankard in the final over Guy Hemmings of Quebec.
The truth is, the Manitoba skip didn't have to make one tough shot.
It was sad in a way. If there was ever a Brier that deserved to have a final finish with an extra end and an awesome shot to win it, this was it. At least we had that in the semifinal.
There was no memory, no freeze-frame to take away from the final. And in the end, most of the emotion seemed to be with the Guy guys than with the winners.
It was like they lost it more than the other guys won it, despite the fact Stoughton's rink won their way through this Brier from start to finish with machine-like efficiency.
Quebec third Pierre Charette left the ice with tears in his eyes.
"It's tough to lose two finals in a row and three playoff games in four years.''
Charette will set a Brier record if he gets back next year. This was his fourth Brier in a row. Nobody has ever played in five straight.
"We might have made it a game,'' he apologized. "But Guy missed by about a quarter of an inch to steal one in the sixth. That was a three-point swing. That was the game.''
Hemmings didn't take it as hard.
"I'm happy I had a chance to play in this Brier and in this final with these crowds. I cherish everything that happened to us here. I don't know how old I'll be for the one here in 2005 but I want a chance to come back and be in that one.
"Pierre took it pretty hard. But I'm younger. It's easier for me to manage my emotions. I'm not going home with my tail between my legs.''
The Quebec team owned the predominantly Western crowd all week.
Weird the way this worked. Manitoba proved to be the best team in Canada and the worst team in Western Canada. They only lost three games here. The three losses were to Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C..
East Is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet? Then what was this? When the two teams were introduced before the game the reaction for Stoughton's Manitoba rink was polite and the payoff for Hemmings' Quebec crew was nothing short of thunderous.
The Buffalo Boys took the crowd away and muted the 'Guy! Guy! Guys!' as they refused to make the mistake Quebec needed to get into the game.
Until the break after the seventh end, the Buffalo Boys efficiently and effectively killed the game.
Then it happened. Tired of his team being painted as the most boring bunch at the Brier, and with the game offering no entertainment, Manitoba third Jonathan Mead started disco dancing on the ice to the between-end Stayin' Alive tune on the P.A. system.
When you play on a team with a systems analyst, an accountant and a financial planner, you gotta be the guy.
In introducing the Manitoba rink in the closing ceremonies, Jackie-Rae Greening, introduced Mead as Jonathan Travolta.
"It came on and I did it,'' said Mead, whose dance happened to be more of a highlight than anything actually involving curling.
"How is that for boring?'' shouted Garry Van Den Berghe at the media surrounding Mead when it was over.
"I just had fun today,'' said Mead.
"I just did that because I'm an idiot. I like to have fun.''
In the end Stoughton loosened up some, giving credit to Hemmings' rink in the closing ceremonies, concluding by saying "Guy! Guy! Guy!''
Guy Hemmings can now keep coming back to this thing until he's an old Guy-zer, and they're gonna love him forever.
But the next time he makes it to the final - and let's all hope there is a next time - he's gonna get the kind of questions that Bud Grant and Marv Levy got when they took their teams to the Super Bowl and kept losing the big game.
Stoughton, the next time he gets to a final - and he's certainly young enough and good enough that you have to figure he'll get here again - will be asked about joining the greats of the game.
With his second Brier win, Stoughton joins names like Hec Gervais, Don Duguid, Al Hackner, Ed Lukowich, Pat Ryan, Ed Werenich, Russ Howard, Rick Folk, Kerry Burtnyk and Kevin Martin.
The next time he's in a final, he'll have the chance to join the third-time winners, the immortal Ken Watson, Matt Baldwin and Ron Northcott.
Only one rink, Ernie Richardson's Saskatchewan team, has ever won four.
They may be a bland band but they are the best band in the land.