1999 Brier
SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Curling
1999 BRIER
ON THE ROCKS
INTERACTIVE
ALSO ON SLAM!
Guy's the man!
Hemmings wows crowd
He was written off as a flash in the pan, a fluke, an aberration when he made it to the final of last year's Brand-X Brier in Winnipeg.
But, hello.
Four rinks went into the fifth draw of the Labatt Brier without having suffered a loss.
Only one remains. Guy Hemmings.
It's not often at a Brier that Nova Scotia vs. Quebec is of any interest to anybody. But with Ken Hunka of Alberta and Rich Moffat of Ontario losing games on other sheets, Nova Scotia vs. Quebec it was last night, before 10,373 fans in Draw 5.
Having given up on Hunka when he gave up four in the third end against Russ Howard of New Brunswick, the crowd went back to doing what they were doing in the morning draw - cheering for the entertainer and contortionist from St.-Amie, Que.
And it was almost as if the crowd willed Guy Hemmings to win.
"Guy! Guy! Guy!'' they chanted like they used to when Lafleur came to town.
The pillow-haired folk hero from last year's Brier fought himself, the ice and Paul Flemming's Bluenosers before he finally pulled out at 5-4 win.
He emerged from the day at 3-0. No fewer than six - count 'em six - rinks sit at 2-1.
"It's early,'' said Hemmings when he walked off the ice.
"We don't look at the standings yet. We just keep track of the loss column. So far so good. But we could be 3-3 in a hurry in this field.''
With Hunka, Howard, Flemming, Moffat, Jeff Stoughton of Manitoba and Scott Patterson of Northern Ontario all at 2-1, Hemmings knows the Brier hasn't even got going yet.
"If you start to put pressure on yourself right now, you are not going to survive the week. This is not the time to look to see who is going to win.''
But maybe people can stop whispering that last year was mostly just a lot of luck.
"I know lots of people were mentioning it,'' he said.
"I'm not stupid. I heard it.
"Maybe we use that to pump us up a bit.
"All year long, we have become more and more solid. I'm only in my second year of playing in the big circuit. But ...''
If he makes it to the playoffs in this field - and now he has a great shot - somebody is going to have to declare this Guy for real.
Good teams in sport win games when their games are off, and that was the story for Hemmings this night.
"In the Brier you are going to have three or four games go that way,'' he said.
"If you fight hard and win one or two of them, you're going to do OK.''
That said, Hemmings wanted to add one other thing.
"Your opponent is allowed to play well sometimes,'' he said of his struggle.
"Give credit to my opponent for playing really, really well.
"We had a chance to come back at the end and we took it.
"I like those kind of wins, when the rocks are not rolling our way.''
Statistically after five draws, Stoughton is shooting 87 per cent and Hemmings, Hunka and Howard are all at 84.
Third Pierre Charette (79%), playing in his fourth consecutive Brier, and second Guy Thibaudeau (78%) are tied for sixth and ninth in the rankings with lead Dale Ness (86%) in a three way tie for third among leads.
But the crowd only had eyes for Guy.
Again and again they chanted his name.
And when he made the big shot they exploded with one long, strong "Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
"There's nothing wrong with that,'' he laughed.
"If they're chanting that all week long, that means I'm playing well and winning.''