No heart in the heartland
East more a beast as Saskatchewan, Manitoba still lose
By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun
SASKATOON -- Who moved the heartland of curling east?
The heartland of hockey, we all know, is where they held the Heritage Classic and where more NHL players come from than anywhere else.
But that's hockey. When it came to curling, the heartland was always considered to be right here in Saskatchewan.
And next door. In Manitoba.
Maybe you noticed. The Buffalo Boys (Manitoba) and the Stubble Jumpers (Saskatchewan) are toast. And if anybody is going to stop Randy Ferbey's record run of consecutive Brier titles and wins, it's now virtually certain it will have to be a team from the Maritimes - for the second year in a row.
Last year it was an all-Maritimes semi-final. This year, other than Ferbey, it could well be an all-Maritimes playoff involving rinks from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
"When I started coming to the Brier, your goal was to go 2-2 with the teams from the West," said 5-2 Russ Howard, who made a record-breaking 13th trip here this year.
"If you did that, you'd be in the playoffs. It's not like that anymore."
When Ferbey first came with Pat Ryan, the Newfies, Bluenosers (Nova Scotia), Spud Islanders (P.E.I.) and Herring Chokers (New Brunswick) were all considered free spaces on the Brier bingo card.
"Absolutely," said Ferbey. "We said that in '88 and '89. If we showed up and curled 60-70% we should win. It's not like that now."
Ferbey gave Russ Howard's New Brunswick bunch their second loss here yesterday, has a rematch of last year's Brier against (6-1) Mark Dacey today and finishes up against last year's semifinalist Brad Gushue (6-1) after play yesterday, in the final draw of the round robin.
MADE SOME SENSE
Last year it made some sense. Manitoba's supposed best rinks were boycotting the Brier. Jeff Stoughton, Kerry Burtnyk, Vic Peters, etc. weren't there. This year all those guys are back but couldn't beat Brent Scales. And he's 2-5.
Last year, the Brier was in Halifax. They were celebrating the only Atlantic Canada Brier title of the modern era - Jack MacDuff's miracle in 1976. Nova Scotia won the first Brier in 1927 and another one in 1951. But that's been it.
In 75 years, Manitoba has won 26 of the Briers. One-third of them.
But what have they done lately?
John Bubbs went 3-8 last year. No Manitoba team had ever lost more games at a Brier than that team. This one might.
OK, with Manitoba, maybe it's a temporarily out of order thing.
Saskatchewan hasn't won a Brier since Rick Folk in 1980. This is a province thatwon seven between 1955 and that one. And Bruce Korte isn't going to win this one.
Korte was in the last Saskatoon Brier in 2002. He went 5-6. The hometown Korte is 3-4 with his second try in front of 10,000-plus fans every night.
What's happening here?
"You know what I think it is, at least from the Atlantic Canada end of it? I think there are so many great bonspiels in Canada now that more teams from out east are travelling. And with Russ and Mark out there and Gushue coming on like he has, there's a lot more competition at that end of the country, too."
Howard, of course, is from Ontario.
And Dacey is from here. In fact, Dacey curled for Saskatchewan as a third in the 1995 Brier with Brad Heidt.
"I think maybe we've played a part in bringing up the level," said Howard.
And maybe Colleen Jones winning four straight Scott Tournament of Hearts hasn't hurt either.
Warren Hansen, the Edmontonian who curled for Hec Gervais for four years and won a Brier, is now the Brier boss. He has a theory.
"There are too many players close to the same level in Saskatchewan and Manitoba," he said. "They seldom send the same teams to the Brier."
Alberta, he says, has always had teams which have gone on runs. From Matt Baldwin to Gervais to Ron Northcott to Ed Lukowich to Pat Ryan to Kevin Martin to Ferbey. They've all owned the province.
FEWER GOOD TEAMS IN EAST
"There are fewer good teams out East. Once they get to the top of the heap, they keep coming to the Brier regularly. They get momentum, learn how tough Brier week is to get through, and become hard to knock off.
"Kurt Balderston almost beat Ferbey to get out of Alberta this year. Would they be 7-0 here in their first year? Or would they maybe have records like the Saskatchewan and Manitoba rinks?"
There are other theories, of course, one of which is the marathon qualifying processes in both Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
But the No. 1 reason for these heartbreaks in the heartland?
"Everybody wants to be skip," someone from here whispered to me.
