By Ed Klajman
Special to the Guardian
LONDON, Ont. — You could say they became the lovable losers of this year’s Brier.
The Prince Edward Island team of skip Eddie MacKenzie, third stone Mike Gaudet, second Mike Dillon and lead Alex MacFadyen had a disastrous time on the ice, losing 10 of their 11 games and making it through 10 ends only once in their defeats.
They even quit after five ends in one game — when they were supposed to play a minimum of seven as mandated by Canadian Curling Association rules.
That drew national attention to their plight as they incurred a fine for a yet-to-be-determined amount.
But along the way they have also endeared themselves to curling fans at the arena.
In Thursday’s finale against Nova Scotia, loud cheers of “Eddie, Eddie” reverberated through the stands when the skip threw his shots.
It was a scene that happened often throughout the week.
“It’s nice to have the crowd support,” said the 38-year-old, who plays out of the Charlottetown Curling Club. “A lot of people have come up to me in hallway and wished me luck. A lot of people are saying ‘go get them’ for the next game. A number of people have come off and said we’re a pleasure to watch. It’s been a good experience overall. I enjoyed certain parts of it outside of our poor shot making.”
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Photo by The Canadian Press
Eddie MacKenzie