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Quebec still perfect at 1999 Labatt Brier
The tousled-hair skip from St-Aime survived a shaky start to pull out an 8-3 win over Alberta's Ken Hunka of Edmonton before a noisy afternoon crowd of 11,105 on Monday.
Hunka was in the game until the late ends, but Quebec scored four in the ninth to blow it open.
"I expect all of the games to be tight, I'm not expecting to win easy games," said Hemmings, who at times drew as many cheers from the Edmonton crowd as did Hunka.
"It's a long road, we're just trying to find a way into the playoffs.
"We're not going to get too excited."
Hemmings -- runnerup to Ontario's Wayne Middaugh in 1998 -- was a crowd favourite in Winnipeg because of his penchant for playing to the crowd and his rumpled appearance.
The same is now happening in Edmonton as chants of Guy! Guy! erupt from the crowd when he pulls off a good shot. At times on Monday it was difficult to tell who was the home team as the arena often cheered Guy over Hunka.
Hemmings was to play P.E.I. in the late draw on Monday.
Manitoba's Jeff Stoughton stayed tight on Hemmings' heels, knocking off Paul Flemming of Nova Scotia in a 9-6 shootout.
The Winnipeg rink and New Brunswick's Russ Howard both sat at 3-1 entering Monday night's eighth draw.
"It was nice to get back after it after a long day off," said Stoughton.
"Nova Scotia had come off a big win over Ontario, it was a bit tiring for them. But we played really well, it was a strong game for us and I was pretty happy with the way we came out."
A disappointed Flemming, whose rink fell to 3-2 on the day, was able to take some solace in battling Manitoba hard and ending the day with a split.
"We're still pleased with the way we're playing and I think we might have a shot at doing well," said Flemming.
"We've had some good games, we're comfortable with the ice and I think we can give all of these teams a good game."
In a battle of the winless rinks, Newfoundland's Glenn Goss finally found success and moved to 1-3 with a 10-6 win over the hapless Orest Peech of Yukon/N.W.T whose record fell to 0-5.
"We had to win this game, obviously, we thought we had to win yesterday evening but we dug a big hole," said Goss. "We've got a long way to come, but we're here they're not going to kick us out so might as well stay and play."
Saskatchewan's Gerald Shymko evened his record at 2-2 with a hard-fought 5-2 win over Scott Patterson's Northern Ontario rink.
"The experts are saying 7-4 is still good (for a playoff spot)," said Shymko. "Our two losses are still alright, there are a lot of teams in the hunt.
"I think it's going to be a battle."
The morning draw saw Ontario's Rich Moffatt lose to Nova Scotia 6-5, leaving the Ottawa rink at 2-2 along with British Columbia's Bert Gretzinger.
Gretzinger guided his team to a 7-4 win over Yukon/N.W.T., while Russ Howard's New Brunswick foursome needed just five ends to bounce Northern Ontario 8-2 and Alberta won 10-5 over P.E.I.'s Robert Campbell.