BRIER BEGINS ON SATURDAY

Team Jeff Stoughton Represents Manitoba at the 2009 Tim Hortons Brier
Posted 2009-03-04

The Tim Hortons Brier, presented by Monsanto, March 7-15 takes place at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta.This marks the sixth time that the Brier will be staged in Calgary. Only Toronto has hosted the championship more often.

But Calgary becomes the first city to have held the Brier under four title sponsors since 1927….Macdonald Tobacco, Labatt Breweries, Nokia and, for the past five years, Tim Hortons, Canada’s largest quick service restaurant chain.This year, TSN will provide exclusive and comprehensive coverage of the Tim Hortons Brier, televising all morning, afternoon and evening round robin draws, plus the playoffs. The semi-final is scheduled for Saturday, March 14 at 6:00 pm MT/8:00 pm ET, while the final will be on Sunday, March 15 at 6:00 pm MT/8:00 pm ET. It’s the seventh consecutive year that the Brier final has been contested in Eastern prime time.

Two-time Brier winner (1996, 1999) and former world champion (1996) Jeff Stoughton of Winnipeg will represent Manitoba, which has won a leading 26 Briers since 1928, after not competing in the inaugural event in 1927. Stoughton, in fact, provided his province with its last Brier victory in 1999 in Edmonton, as he’ll make his seventh Brier appearance.Team Manitoba is made up of Skip Jeff Stoughton, Third Kevin Park, Second Rob Fowler, and Lead Steve Gould representing the Charleswood Curling Club.After the conclusion of the 12-team round robin, the top four teams advance to the Page Playoffs, whereby the first and second place teams meet in one game (winner to final, loser to semi-final) while the third and fourth place finishers meet in another game (winner to semi-final, loser eliminated).The winner of the Tim Hortons Brier will then represent Canada at the Ford world men’s curling championship, April 4-12 at the Coliseum in Moncton, New Brunswick, seeking a leading 32nd title for Canada since 1959.

The winning Brier team also becomes one of 16 teams eligible for the 2009 Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials, December 6-13 in Edmonton, which will determine Canada’s representatives for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Currently, only the Kevin Martin and Glenn Howard teams have earned berths directly into the Trials, while a number of others have qualified for the pool. Only four teams will get berths directly into the Trials, while the remaining 12 teams will battle in a pre-Trials competition, November 10-14 in Prince George, to determine the other four Trials spots.