Quebec wins Canadian men’s curling title

Canadian Press
3/19/2006 10:53:13 PM

REGINA (CP) - Quebec won a Canadian men’s curling championship for the first time since 1977 on Sunday when Jean-Michel Menard skipped his team to an 8-7 upset over Ontario’s Glenn Howard in the final.

The last and only team from Quebec to win a national title prior to Sunday was a foursome skipped by Jim Ursel 29 years ago when the tournament was held in Montreal.

The closest Quebec had come after that was in 1998 and 1999 when Guy Hemmings finished runner-up.

”I’m overwhelmed,” said Menard. ”This is something I’ve dreamed about since I started curling and here I am.”

Menard, third Francois Roberge, second Eric Sylvain, lead Maxime Elmaleh and alternate Jean Gagnon, out of the Victoria and Etchemin curling clubs in Quebec City, will represent Canada at the men’s world curling championship April 1-9 in Lowell, Mass.

Quebec was considered a second-tier contender in the Tim Hortons Brier behind the Big Four of Ontario, Alberta’s Kevin Martin, Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton and Nova Scotia’s Mark Dacey, even though the Menard’s team finished fourth in last year’s Canadian championship in Edmonton.

Unlike those teams, Menard’s isn’t able to play on the cashspiel circuit a lot because Quebec doesn’t have corporate sponsors to help pay for travel costs. Quebec and Ontario each won $40,000 in prize money by reaching the final.

”Hopefully someone will want to sponsor us next year,” Menard said. ”We would be more than happy with that.”

Quebec’s play improved as the tournament progressed and the team finished second in the round robin at 8-3 behind Ontario at 10-1.

Quebec had lost twice to Ontario prior to Sunday - in the first draw of the round robin and also in Friday’s Page playoff between the top two seeds.

But Quebec found a way to win Sunday. Menard was helped by a disastrous first two ends by Ontario.

Howard’s team had been by far the best and most consistent team in the tournament until Sunday when it was forced to play catchup against a team that can defend a lead well.

Menard was named the MVP of the tournament. The 30-year-old throws big-weight shots accurately, but also proved he can throw quieter weight when required, which was a question mark heading into the final.

Menard usually calls an aggressive game to get a lot of rocks in play and generate offence, but found himself defending early.

Howard’s team had read the ice conditions well all week, but seemed baffled Sunday

Ontario had last-rock advantage to start the game as the higher-seeded playoff team, but gave up a steal of one in the first and a shocking three in the second to quickly fall behind 4-0, before scoring two in the third end.

Ontario trailed 8-5 heading into the ninth and Quebec made no mistakes for Howard to capitalize on with last-rock advantage.

Ontario could generate only one point and was down two points without the hammer coming home.

Ontario had Quebec under some pressure in the final end, however, with three stones frozen on top of each other starting at top of the button. Menard’s takeout spilled them wide for the victory.

”I was nervous all game long, but not more nervous than on any other shot,” said Menard.

Howard made a great double takeout on two Quebec stones and got a nice roll in the eighth to put the pressure on Menard. But Howard didn’t get the same roll on his next takeout and Menard had an open hit for one.

Ontario missed a golden opportunity to score two and pull within a point in the seventh end when Sylvain missed peeling a guard and then failed to remove Ontario’s counter.

But Ontario second Brent Laing sailed his draw through the house and Ontario had to scramble to get one point.

Ontario was also in trouble in the sixth end when Roberge made a perfect draw into the edge of the button with rocks behind it holding the stone in. Howard just missed a similar shots and his later attempt to tap out Quebec’s shot stone, didn’t move it far enough.

Ontario was sitting third shot and Menard attempted to tap it out for a score of at last three and possibly four to end the game early, but his miss limited Quebec to two and a 7-4 lead.

Great sweeping by Ontario front end Laing and Craig Savill got Howard’s takeout attempt past two stones to score two and trail by one point at the midway point.

Ontario kept guarding its shot stone in the top of the eight-foot rings with an eye to either stealing one or forcing Quebec to take one. Menard made a double takeout and stayed in the house to do so and lead 5-2 after four ends.

Menard missed a takeout in the third to allow Ontario to set up for two. He didn’t get enough roll on an attempted takeout on Ontario’s shot stone, so Howard had an open hit for two.

When Howard was drawing against three in the second end, he was slightly heavy and straight when he attempted to tap out Quebec’s shot stone and rolled wide to give up three.

Menard stole a point in the first end when Quebec had two stones crowding the button. Howard’s draw didn’t get a big enough piece of it with his last shot to score one.

The 2006 Tim Hortons Brier drew a total attendance of 125,971 at the Brandt Centre, which expanded to 7,000 seats for the event. The attendance record for the event was set in Edmonton last year at 281,985 in the 17,000-seat Rexall Place.

The tournament will be held in Hamilton’s Copps Coliseum in 2007 and that building has a capacity of 19,000.

Menard resides in Gatineau, Roberge, 37, lives in Levis, Sylvain, 34, is from Thetford Mines and Elmaleh, 36, is from St-Etienne.

Menard had spoken before the final about how a win would help promote curling in francophone Quebec.

”People in Quebec often see curling is a sport that is dominated by people who speak English so if we can win . . . it just shows them that if you’ve got faith and heart and dedicate yourself, it’s possible to be a good curling team,” he said.

Hemmings helped shepherd Menard in the sport as Menard made his Brier debut as second for Hemmings at the 2003 Canadian championship.

”I’ll always be very grateful to him for getting me to my first Brier,” Menard said. ”The first one is always toughest to get to.”

Source

© 2006 Bell Globemedia All Rights Reserved.

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