(Jeff MacKinnon for the Calgary Herald)
Social media had come up with a name for it before the first rock was thrown — it is now the Prier.
After much back-and-forth from haters and supporters over the past year, pre-qualifying made its debut Thursday at the Canadian men’s curling championship with Bob Smallwood of the Yukon routing Adam Casey of Prince Edward Island 8-1 in seven ends at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Smallwood faces Glen MacLeod of Nova Scotia Friday morning at 8 a.m. and MacLeod then plays Casey at 3:30 p.m. [add 3 hours for PEI time]
The two top teams meet during Saturday’s opening draw at 1:30 p.m. for the right to move into the main draw and play Ontario’s Mark Kean on Saturday evening (6:30 p.m.).
This is Casey’s fourth straight trip to the Brier but first as a skip from his native province after he played with Brad Gushue out of Newfoundland and Labrador until this season. He was favoured to be the survivor of pre-qualifying, but with a loss Friday this could be a brief Brier for his rink.
“I came out and struggled a bit so I’ll take the blame,” Casey said.
“The guys played OK. The first couple of ends got away from us. The good thing is it’s a pre-qualifier and 1-1 is OK as long as we have our draw to the button and hopefully we look back on this and this game doesn’t make much difference.”
If the three teams are all 1-1 after Friday, there will be a draw to the button to determine who gets into the pre-qualifying final.
Casey’s gone on record as saying the new Brier pre-qualifying is “stupid.” He arrived in Calgary four days before the start of play Thursday to workout at The Glencoe Club, but struggled when he moved over the Saddledome. His team arrived in Calgary at four hours before Thursday’s game because of flight delays.