1999 Brier
SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Curling
1999 BRIER
ON THE ROCKS
INTERACTIVE
ALSO ON SLAM!
Hunka hangs in
That's the good news. He's still enjoying his once-in-a-lifetime ride at the Brier. And he should be.
Hunka's still in solid playoff contention with a 3-2 record. Nobody said it would be clear sailing. He understands that.
"It's still pretty special,'' said Hunka. "The state we're at, we're still 3-2 and close to half the week over with. I'm still pretty happy. If we go 4-2 in the last half of the week, we might sneak a tiebreaker. If we go 5-1, so much the better.''
Even after he was bounced 8-3 by Guy Hemmings of Quebec he was smiling. Even though the crowd was pro-Hunka, they resumed the Guy, Guy, Guy chant, proving they can rise above a parochial viewpoint and appreciate good shot-making and he was smiling.
"We've played Stoughton, we've played Howard, we've played Hemmings,'' said Hunka. "That's three of the tough teams and we're 1-2 against those three, so I'm not upset. As long as we don't lose too many more.''
He's still on a win one, lose one path and looking to put together a two-win day.
Realistically, 3-2 is probably where he should be. He's been hot and cold.
Third Brent MacDonald, the guy who fired himself as skip after the opening-game loss in the city playdowns, has just been cold.
MacDonald has not been up to snuff since he inexplicably went into the tank against Manitoba's Jeff Stoughton on Day 2. He missed three of his last four shots that day and has had difficulty regaining his confidence.
"I'm sure he'll bounce back,'' said Hunka, offering some moral support to the guy who hasn't been giving him any support. "We've all struggling out there. I've had a real problem with draw weight. It's really quick out there and it's real easy to overthrow stuff. That's what's been happening. We're just overthrowing.''
MacDonald hit a personal low yesterday in Hunka's 8-3 loss to Guy Hemmings, rating out at 65 per cent, the third-lowest grade given to a third this week.
There are only two other thirds ranked lower than him.
"I think we can draw on the fact that we're still in pretty good shape, 3-2,'' said MacDonald. "We've got to go on a run now. We've got to put two or three wins together. We can't win, lose, win, lose all week.''
So far, the crowd has been patient with the Hunka team.
"It was pretty electric,'' said MacDonald. "It's a pretty good feeling knowing the people are behind you watching and cheering you on.''
It could have been a lot worse if his brother Blake hadn't been curling and sweeping his guts out. Blake's been setting the tables for his brother with a top-notch 86 per cent that's tops among the seconds.
But the team has held together, thanks in a large part to Hunka's ability to bail.
If he's disappointed, he's doing a good job hiding it from the prying eyes of the media.
Sure, you can see the slight hints.
The stare. He threw a few of those yesterday.
Or in the way he signals to the guy who just threw the shot. A slow deliberate raising of the broom means 'good shot.' A quick up-and-down means ... something different.
The day started out pretty promising.
Hunka took a morning win over Robert Campbell of P.E.I. by scoring a tricky takeout for five in the eighth end in a 10-5 win.
"I struggled a bit early on,'' said Hunka. "I still haven't found real good draw weight. We played a real good eighth end. The boys made some real good shots. I was fortunate enough to have a shot for five with my last one.''
They'll have to start bouncing a bit higher against a couple of other struggling teams today. Hunka faces Gerald Shymko of Saskatchewan this morning and Rich Moffatt of Ontario tonight.