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Howard rink picks up steam
The Skyreach Centre is rocking.
It looks a lot like the good old days for Russ Howard.
The two-time world champion, who moved to New Brunswick from Ontario last fall, was front and centre again at the Labatt Brier Canadian men's curling championship yesterday.
Howard's rink of Wayne Tallon, Grant Odishaw, Rick Perron and Jeff Lacey of the Moncton Beaver Curling Club bounced Northern Ontario's Scott Patterson 8-2 in a game that lasted only five ends.
The victory improved Howard's record to 3-1 and, all of a sudden, there's plenty of talk about him basking in success again.
Howard's previous Brier titles as a skip for Ontario came in 1987 and 1993.
Only Saskatchewan's Ernie Richardson, who has four Brier victories, and Ron Northcott, Matt Baldwin and Ken Watson, each with three, have won more times than Howard. He could jump into that exclusive group with a victory here.
Only one rink - Guy Hemmings of Quebec - remained unbeaten after Draw 7. He was 4-0.
Tied for second with Howard at 3-1 is former champion Jeff Stoughton of Manitoba.
Alberta's Ken Hunka and Nova Scotia's Paul Flemming are next at 3-2, while Bert Gretzinger of British Columbia Gerald Shymko of Saskatchewan and Rich Moffatt of Ontario are 2-2.
Patterson is next after Draw 7 at 2-3. Rounding out the standings are Robert Campbell of Prince Edward Island and Glen Goss of Newfoundland at 1-3, followed by Orest Peech of the Yukon-NWT, still looking for his first win at 0-5.
New Brunswick hit quick and hard against Northern Ontario.
They scored three in the first and put the game away with a four in the fifth. Their single came in the third.
Northern Ontario, whose skip, Patterson, and third, Phil Loevenmark, were former members of the Howard rink earlier this decade, got singles in the second and fourth.
"That's the best we played here," said a smiling Howard moments after the match concluded. "The guys were great. I didn't have a hard shot."
The game was the feature broadcast on TSN (The Sports Network). However, after the quick decision, the broadcast switched to the PEI-Alberta match.
New Brunswick, the only team in the championship with a rotating roster, had Odishaw at mate, Perron at second and Lacey at lead.
Tallon, who was the mate in the first three games, sat down for the first time.
As the odd-man out, Tallon's responsibility was to chart the ice and offer potential tips at the fifth-end break.
However, all that was needed was his directions back to the hotel. Everybody was on the way home after five.
New Brunswick's opponent in last night's late round was Gerald Shymko of Saskatchewan.
Howard lauded a couple of key shots by Odishaw to set up the big, four-point fifth.
With his first shot Odishaw pulled off a double raise for N.B. to sit two behind lots of cover.
A miss by Loevenmark rubbed another N.B. counter into the house and then Odishaw put up a perfect guard.
When he got into the hack, Patterson made a nice double raise to sit No. 2, but Howard countered with a double raise takeout for N.B. to sit three again.
Attempting to pull off a wick and get to the can, Patterson was heavy and slipped through the house. Then, Howard had a free draw for four.
"You don't like getting into a junk end, double raises and that kind of stuff, but it happened and in the situation we were in [leading 4-2] we flew with it," said Howard.
In five ends, Odishaw hit at 100 per cent. Howard was 95, Lacey 93 and Perron 85.
As a team, N.B. was 93 per cent to Northern Ontario's 85 per cent.
The victory was New Brunswick's third in row after losing its first game on Saturday, 9-6, to Paul Flemming of Nova Scotia.
"That's a hell of a turnaround and these guys deserve the credit," said Howard of his team. "They're highly competitive curlers and, after that first game, we all shook it and got back in it. It's a credit to them. There's no quit on this crew."
Howard said the four players on his roster all had to make larger adjustments than he for this calibre of competition.
"Everybody knows my strategy, offence, and they've made the big adjustments, especially on this fast ice. Here, it's first in, wins.
"You have to be careful. You can't be too heavy, but they've adjusted beautifully. Like I said, it's a credit to their games."
Nobody has adjusted quicker than Lacey, who always plays lead.
"Russ wants to get off first and it's working," said Lacey. "Right off the bat, I know we're going for it. There's a big adjustment to the offensive game, but you can't argue with his results."
Especially when it's back to the hotel after five ends.
"I was surprised," confessed Lacey of the quick kill. "You don't expect that at this level. I guess when you apply big heat strange things can happen."
Lacey said all the N.B. players have made important adjustments since their first game.
"We're catching on to the ice. That's why we're on a roll. You have to work at the ice and keep working at it," he said.
Even though Howard has all the credentials, Lacey said the N.B. players are not looking at him to carry all the heavy mail.
"We know what he's done," he said. "He's had lot of success at this and that's a big help. But, it's one game at a time, not for a minute thinking ahead. We know we can't afford to think about what might happen. We have to go out there and just try to keep making it happen."