Quebec beats Nova Scotia 7-6 in Brier semi-final

Saturday, March 18, 2006
Source: Canadian Curling Association

REGINA — Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard will play Ontario’s Glenn Howard in Sunday’s Tim Hortons Brier final.

Menard advanced to the final by grinding out a 7-6 win over Nova Scotia’s Mark Dacey in the Brier semi-final on Saturday.

Both Quebec and Nova Scotia struggled with their shotmaking in the semi-final but Menard said what’s important is the result.

“My coach told us what’s important is the ‘W’ at the end. We’ll come back out tomorrow,” Menard said.

“I know we can do it, if we play good.”

Nova Scotia struggled early against Quebec and trailed 5-1 heading into the fourth end.

Quebec scored two with the hammer in the first end and then Dacey needed a good shot to bail his team out of trouble in the second end. Facing four Quebec counters, Dacey neatly tapped a Quebec rock off the button and stuck around to take one.

But it was the third end that proved to be decisive. Already lying one, Menard attempted with the last rock of the end to chip another of his rocks towards the button and then roll the shooter just far enough to count three.

Menard was wide with the attempt but got the result he was looking for anyway, sliding by the stone he was attempting to chip but tapping a Nova Scotia rock behind the tee-line far enough to count three anyway.

“It wasn’t our best performance,” said Dacey. “We were a little tentative.”

It will be the third time this week that Quebec has faced Ontario. Ontario won the round-robin game between the two teams on the opening draw 12-6 and also beat Quebec in Friday’s page playoff 1 vs 2 game by a score of 9-6.

The win Friday night advanced Ontario straight through to Sunday’s final, while Quebec got a second chance against Nova Scotia Saturday.

The Brier final will air live on CBC-TV Sunday at 6 p.m. Central Time.

© 2004-2006 Canadian Curling Association. All rights reserved.

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