A wonderful nine days of curling will come to a close today in Victoria when Canada’s Brad Jacobs takes on Sweden’s Niklas Edin in the gold medal game of the 2013 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship.
Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., rink of third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden simply refused to go away on Saturday. Two wins over Denmark’s Rasmus Stjerne in the morning and Scotland’s David Murdoch in the late afternoon will allow Canada a chance at a fourth straight world title.
The process will be well detailed in the Times Colonist on Sunday, but what I wasn’t able to document was the fact that Scotland made a bold move heading into the game. One that will be much discussed for some time for fans of the St. Andrew’s Cross.
Coach Soren Gran opted to take Tom Brewster out as third of the Murdoch rink. Not a great surprise considering the Scots went with a five-man rotation through the championship at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, but a gutsy decision.
After curling just 60 per cent the night before in a loss to Sweden, most probably would agree with the move. But considering Brewster had skipped Scotland to back-to-back silver medals the last two years, it was a gamble. One that did not pay off.
Instead, Gran went with Greg Drummond at third, Scott Andrews at second and Michael Goodfellow at lead as support for Murdoch – the team Brewster skipped to the past two championships.
It was the topic of conversation going into the game, but the real story on this fine late afternoon of entertainment was how Jacobs’s crew handled itself in the face of adversity.
Can they finish the job against Edin and Co?
It’ll be fun finding out and if you get a chance to take this one in, you certainly should. It will be one of those memorable Victoria events.
It’s been a blast, both on and off the ice.
For me, personally, it will mark the end of a run of about two weeks of long hours. But I’ve loved every minute of it.
Here’s to a fabulous finish.
