And Then There Were Four

No tiebreakers at this year's Brier! Jeff Stoughton's Manitoba rink fell to Glenn Howard's from Ontario last night, and may have violated some more rules:

With the win well out of reach in the eighth end, Stoughton sent the crowd home entertained with his signature 360-degree delivery, in which he slides out of the hack and does a complete revolution before he releases the stone. He did it once for a draw, another for a takeout and then his team shook hands and were saluted by the Brandt Centre.

"I hope Glenn wins it," Stoughton said. "We're good buddies. They played well. He's never won it as a skip and the team has never won it."

Ontario finished at 10-1, having lost only to Alberta, who finished third at 8-3 and play Nova Scotia in the Page 3-4 playoff. Ontario play Quebec, who finished second at 8-3. It seems the right Mark Dacey showed up this year; the big surprise was the Quebec rink. My feel at the start was that hte ifnal four would be as they are except for that Quebec team; I had picked Manitoba.