1999 Brier
SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Curling
1999 BRIER
ON THE ROCKS
INTERACTIVE
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Charmed, he's sure
Hemmings scrambles to keep Quebec undefeated
Hemmings' Quebec rink ran its record to 5-0 with wins over Alberta's Ken Hunka and a last-rock 6-5 win over Robert Campbell of P.E.I. yesterday.
Hemmings may have been a bit fortunate to scramble out unscathed. His third, Pierre Charette, was a bit miffed that the skipper has been so accommodating.
"Our skip gave a couple of very early interviews this morning and I don't think he's going to do it again,'' said Charette. "He got up at 6:30 to get to the radio stations. It doesn't make any sense in a week like this. You could tell tonight. He couldn't concentrate, he was so tired.
"He missed shots he never misses. We're glad we pulled one out for him because he's pulled out a lot of games for us. Maybe it's our week.''
Charette said the team is near the goal it set for itself coming into this week.
"I know we can beat every team here, but I certainly don't expect to,'' said Charette. "It's a long week and we should have lost that game, there's no doubt about that.''
Manitoba's Jeff Stoughton also came through with a two-win day. He's at 4-1 and in sole possession of second place.
"It was nice to get back here and start throwing again,'' said Stoughton, who was given the bye in three straight draws. "The guys in the locker-room were asking us if we were still in this thing or not.''
Stoughton was 4-1 at this stage in 1996 when he went on to win the Kamloops Brier.
"I think you can guarantee three losses will get you something,'' said Stoughton.
"It's early to start looking at it. If we go out tomorrow and lose two, we're right back in the pack. It'll start shaking out better tomorrow.''
Gerald Shymko of Saskatchewan got himself back in the hunt with a two-win day, including a 10th-end steal against Russ Howard of New Brunswick, giving him a 7-5 win in the night draw. Shymko and Howard are in a five-way tie for third at 3-2, along with Ken Hunka, B.C.'s Bert Gretzinger and Nova Scotia's Paul Flemming.
"Somewhere along the line, you always have to steal a game and boy, you really have to work hard to get one from Russ,'' said Shymko. "When we lost the first two, we tried to keep our composure. It was an excellent day. I think we'll just sit down, have a water and go to sleep again like we did last night.''
Shymko faces Hunka and the Skyreach crowd in this morning's draw in what could be a huge matchup.
"It's a fun crowd,'' said Shymko. "It's nice when they really cheer. Kenny's a good friend of mine. Two Ukrainian boys and we're going to go at it in the morning.''
Flemming is the first skip here starting to lose his voice.
"Yeah, mine's going and so is Blayne's (third Iskiw),'' said Flemming. "He's a catcher in baseball so maybe we'll have to do some of those hand signals.''
You might need more than hand signals to unscramble this pack. Good job there's another three round-robin days to sort it out.