By Ed Klajman
Special to The Guardian
LONDON, Ont. – The rumblings were evident all week at the Brier.
Many people in the curling establishment would like to see a Team Canada concept brought to the men’s game, similar to how it works on the women’s side with the champion gaining an automatic berth in the following year’s event. The feeling is that there would be specific faces and personalities to build marketing campaigns around for a full year.
But with 13 teams there would have to be one less entrant. The compromise most often mentioned is to have a relegation system. The last-place finisher, or last two, at one year’s Brier would be ineligible to play the next year, which would free up the needed space for Team Canada and possibly one other team that would move up from a small relegation pool.
If either plan had been put in place this year, Prince Edward Island would be shut out of next year’s Brier, and would have to wait until 2013 for another opportunity.
Kevin Martin, the Olympic champion from Alberta and one of the greatest curlers of all time is a staunch proponent of the relegation idea. He defeated defending World Champion Kevin Koe in the Alberta final and felt it was a shame that Koe couldn’t be at the brier. He said there was “no disrespect” to a team such as the one sent by P.E.I. but that Koe should have been in the field.
At the other end of the spectrum is Glenn Howard, another legend of the sport, who played in Sunday night’s championship game. He feels strongly that the current format should remain unchanged.
That view was strongly supported by this year’s P.E.I. roster. They fear a format change could hurt the sport in the province.
“If they went to that and we were at the bottom it would pretty much kill a lot of interest back in Atlantic Canada, I think,” said Mike Gaudet, who played third year on skip Eddie MacKenzie’s rink. “The only reason I curl competitively is to have the chance to play against these guys (like Martin and Howard). I know it’ll be a struggle to ever win it but if you ever get four guys committed to it then you might have a chance.”
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Photo by The Canadian Press
P.E.I. skip Eddie MacKenzie