1999 Brier
SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Curling
1999 BRIER
ON THE ROCKS
INTERACTIVE
ALSO ON SLAM!
Russ-ian roulette!
Scratched. Shelved. Pined.
Russ Howard, after one loss -- albeit one while he was playing a record 100th game skipping in a record ninth Brier - is going to the bullpen.
Lacey is being bounced.
Coming in will be be Rick Perron, the 41-year-old owner of Craft & Hobby World, for his second game of the Labatt Brier this afternoon against British Columbia.
And when Howard's New Brunswick rink plays Ken Hunka in Draw 5 tonight, you can bet on another lineup change.
Lacey will go back in.
And Grant Odishaw will get the hook.
MAKING HISTORY
Howard is making history at this Brier not just with that 100th game and his ninth appearance. He has introduced the designated-sitter rule to curling!
What a concept. A fifth man who is an actual member of the team. Part of a regular rotation.
The fifth man, with most rinks, is considered pretty much the team bartender.
Alberta is the only jurisdiction in Canada which insists that the fifth man be a Level 2 coach. Still a caddy.
But with New Brunswick, there will be line-up changes. Batting-order changes.
And the way the Howard's rink played for openers to soil and spoil their skip's 100th game, there should be line-up changes.
But that would mean benching Howard himself.
He was 71 per cent in the 9-6 opening draw loss to Paul Flemming's Nova Scotia Bluenosers.
Lacey, the guy being yarded out of the line-up, led the team shooting 86 per cent at lead. Odishaw, throwing second rocks, was next best at 78 per cent. And Wayne Tallon, the "mate'' as they call them out there, was barely better than Howard with 73 per cent.
Winning and losing isn't the reason Howard is going to go to the bullpen.
And panic isn't a part of it either.
Six times Howard won his first game at the Brier and all six times he failed to win the Brier.
Twice he lost his first game, 4-3 to Manitoba in 1987 and 8-4 to Quebec in 1993, and those are the years he won.
"We're right on schedule,'' laughed the legendary curler. "In the two Briers we won we lost our first game and I hope that holds true again.''
Howard took over this rink when he signed on as director of golf at Royal Oaks outside Moncton. He didn't think it was fair to ace one of the group, especially knowing the way Maritimers seem to be when it comes to curling, buddies first and curling teammates second.
So they decided to work out a rotation system.
"You can't possibly say to one of the guys, `Oh by the way, you're not playing any more,' '' said Howard.
Being a skip in curling is a lot like being the quarterback and the head coach. But Howard isn't coaching when it comes to the rotation.
In fact, he didn't know who exactly was coming out of the line-up for the next one. The guys keep track of that.
"I can't figure it out,'' said Howard. "It's pretty complicated.
"I think it was Grant who worked it out.''
Howard wasn't sure how it would work.
"I really worried about it in the beginning,'' said Howard. "I mean, you want your four best curlers. But the way it's worked with this rink, I'm not sure who our four best curlers might be.''
While Howard may have to make an actual benching and lineup change late in the schedule if they are in the hunt, and will definitely have to do it for a playoff game, he says they went through that at the provincial playoffs.
RED HOT
"If somebody is red hot, you keep him there,'' said Mr Hurry Hard.
"A lot of people think it's ridiculous,'' he says of the rotation he's running.
"But a lot of the other sports do it. And it's fair. If all other sports do it, why not curling?''
Tallon, the 42-year-old chief administration officer for the town of St. Stephen plays third or second when he's in the line-up.
Perron goes as either a second or lead.
Jeff Lacey, when he laces 'em up, is always a lead.
Odishaw, 34, also in the craft and hobby business, is the versatile utility man. He plays third, second and lead.
Howard doesn't think it's a big deal switching positions.
"It's still two rocks and in-turns and out-turns,'' he said.
"I have to learn four releases instead of three.''
But that's no big adjustment either. Not for a guy who has played 100 Brier games.