Teams not fond of Brier bronze medal match (Leader-Post)

LONDON, Ont. — Gold is the only medal of value for the four remaining teams at the Tim Hortons Brier.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue, Alberta’s Kevin Martin, Ontario’s Glenn Howard and Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton were all in the hunt Friday for the Canadian men’s curling championship. Two teams will meet in Sunday’s final. The winner is to represent Canada at the Ford men’s world championship, April 2-10 in Regina.

The teams not in the final are to meet in Sunday’s bronze-medal game, which was added to the schedules of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and Brier this year by the Canadian Curling Association. The bronze-medal game is an addition that wasn’t needed, at least according to the skips in the playoffs at the John Labatt Centre.

“I’m not a big fan of it and I don’t think either team playing in it is going to be motivated,” said Gushue, who was beaten 7-6 by Stoughton in the 1 vs 2 Page Playoff game Friday night. “It seems silly that the loser of the 3 vs. 4 game gets another chance and could play the first-place team. You lose a couple of games and you could find yourselves in a meaningless game. It’s not what any of us are here to do by any stretch.”

Martin and Howard are to meet in the 3 vs. 4 Page Playoff game Saturday afternoon. In the past, the loser was eliminated and was out of the competition. The winner goes on to play in Saturday’s semifinal against Gushue. the loser of last night’s 1 vs. 2 Page Playoff game. The loser of the semifinal and 3 vs. 4 Page Playoff game are to play for third place. “We’re already playing for the bronze,” Martin said. “Glenn and I have put ourselves into that trouble and it took 11 games for us to do that. We haven’t played well all week and Glenn hasn’t either. We’re in the playoffs and we still have a chance to win. If we lose the 3 vs. 4 game, we deserve to be in fourth place and not playing in a bronze game. I’m sure it will go away because it doesn’t make any sense at all.”

The CCA added a bronze-medal game for a number of reasons. It was included because it fell in line with what takes place at the world championships. The World Curling Federation added the game because it didn’t feel a team should win a medal by losing. The losing team in the semifinal was deemed to have finished third. Teams also play for bronze medals at the Winter Olympics.

“This is not the Winter Games,” Martin said. “You would crawl across the desert to get an Olympic bronze medal. This is a Canadian championship where one team gets to move on to the next level. This is just one more step, just like provincials. It doesn’t matter if you’re second, third or fourth. Only one team gets to move on and one of us will.”

The CCA also felt it would help Canadian teams who do go on to play at world championships and find themselves in bronze-medal games at those events. It also fills out the schedule because the final is to be held Sunday evening.

The bronze-medal game at the Scotties between Nova Scotia’s Heather Smith-Dacey and Ontario’s Rachel Homan drew 800,000 viewers. The three-hour telecast also provides more exposure for the teams, TSN and the CCA. Warren Hansen, the CCA’s director of event operations and media, said Friday that 6,800 tickets have been sold for Sunday’s game and the CCA anticipates 1 million viewers to tune in.

There is also money on the line. The third-place team earns $30,000 and the fourth-place squad gets $20,000. The finalists each receive $40,000.

“We’re not in this for the money,” Gushue said. “We play for money on the WCT week in and week out. When it gets to this level it’s about being first. Nothing else matters.”

Click for full story in the Regina Leader-Post.