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 Gunnlaugson (l to r), Richter, Zawada and Forrest will compete in the Canadian Olympic Trials in Edmonton next month. (MICHAEL BURNS/CANADIAN CURLING ASSOCIATION) |
Jason Gunnlaugson, young and fearless that he is, looks like a guy who says whatever's on his mind.
Turns out that is actually the case.
For instance, the 25-year-old Winnipeg skip admitted he started thinking about qualifying for the Olympic Trials on Friday night -- even though he still had to beat Winnipeg's Mike McEwen in a C-event qualifier at the Roar to the Rings pre-Trials event yesterday in Prince George, B.C.
There was none of that one-game-at-a-time stuff going through his head. He was so close he could taste it.
"I said, Oh goodness, we might actually go," Gunnlaugson said yesterday from the B.C. city. "Then I looked at the draw and said, I don't know if we want to go!"
The second instance of his exuberance came during his post-game interview on TSN yesterday, after his Beausejour-based squad broke the heart of McEwen, the fourth seed, with an 8-7 extra-end victory to clinch the third of four Trials spots up for grabs.
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Gunnlaugson, noting his team's fearless ways, told esteemed TSN curling man Vic Rauter on live TV that his young squad was full of "piss and vinegar."
Rauter, slightly taken aback, noted, "On here we say P&V."
Call it whatever you want, but Gunnlaugson and Co. have it. They will find out just how much when they compete against Kevin Martin, Glenn Howard, Randy Ferbey, Kevin Koe, Jeff Stoughton, Pat Simmons and either Wayne Middaugh or Bob Ursel next month in Edmonton.
Former Winnipegger Kelly Scott grabbed one of the last two available berths on the women's side yesterday with a 9-4 win over Sherry Middaugh. Marie-France Larouche and Amber Holland were playing for the final berth last night.
The winner of the Trials will represent Canada at next February's 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
That means Gunnlaugson, who remarkably is in his first year of skipping, has a one-in-eight chance of going to the Olympics. Not too shabby for the team that squeaked into the pre-Trials and was the 12th seed in the field of 12.
"This has been a dream for us," said Gunnlaugson, who used to play third for Reid Carruthers. "It's been three years in the making and a lot of hard work."
Gunnlaugson, who is supported by Justin Richter, Braden Zawada and Tyler Forrest, knocked a McEwen rock out of the way with his last stone in the 11th, but it almost stuck around after it hit one of his own stones situated behind it.
It wasn't the prettiest toss for a win, but Gunnlaugson will take it.
"I wasn't particularly nervous," he said. "I didn't throw it very well, but I wasn't nervous."
Gunnlaugson caught a big break on Friday night to stay alive in the C event, and that stroke of luck cost Winnipeg's Kerry Burtnyk his Olympic dream -- likely for good.
Burtnyk was poised to score the winning point in the 11th against Gunnlaugson, but his second, Richard Daneault, burned the rock as it headed for the four-foot. The rock was taken out of play, and Gunnlaugson, who had stolen one in the 10th to force the extra, escaped with a 9-7 victory.
"It's extremely disappointing, because we've been working towards this for three years now," Burtnyk said last night while on his way home from Prince George. "We've put in a lot of effort, especially in the last six months. When you lose out of your number one goal it's very disappointing."
Burtnyk said Daneault felt terrible about his sweeping mistake, but the skip noted that these things happen in curling.
"I'm sure he's had better days, too, but we spent the evening last night, all of us together, and let off a little bit of steam," Burtnyk said.
Burtnyk said that was likely his last shot at the Olympics.
"Probably this would be my last Olympic Trials," he said.
And who knows? It could be the first of several for Gunnlaugson, who will no doubt be a huge underdog in the field of curling titans at the Trials.
Gunnlaugson noted yesterday that he knows he's hit the big time because he has to find a fifth man for Edmonton.
The lineup for that job will likely be a long one.
The No. 1 requirement?
A little P&V.
kirk.penton@sunmedia.ca