Alberta Wins the 2010 Brier

Who knows what on earth Ontario was doing in the 6th/7th end when they gave up 3 to Alberta, but let's face it, Alberta and Kevin Koe curled extremely well through the Alberta trials and through most of the round robin. And they made some great shots in the final. So I'm looking forward to watching them do well at the worlds.

Two Groups

This year seems different at the Tim Horton 2010 Brier. There are clearly (at least so far) two groups of teams. In the upper group, there's Ontario at 7-0, Nfld-Lab 6-1, and then Alberta, Northern Ontario, Manitoba, and Quebec all at 5-2.

In the lower group are Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and BC all at 2-5; and then Nova Scotia, PEI, and the Territories at 1-6.

I don't recall having seen such a division into the two different groups at past major tournaments.

Selecting Teams for the Brier and the Scott

As I watch the Brier this week, it strikes me that there are several teams that really, to be blunt, are nowhere near as good as the others. In fact, they are nowhere near as good as some of the teams that were eliminated in other provinces. I would much rather see the second, even third, place teams from Alberta, Ontario, and BC than watch games involving the to-date winless teams from PEI, Nova Scotia, or the Territories.

The divergence in quality seems especially striking this year, with truly excellent teams at the Brier.

The problem, though, is how else might the Canadian Curling Association choose teams to compete at the Brier. Surely they do not wish to keep good teams from small provinces from participating, and surely they do not want to use money-winnings or curling stats as decision variables. And if that is correct, then I see no change that might be seen as either reasonable or fair.

The only possible change might be to lump Northern Ontario with either Ontario or possibly the Territories and give the previous year's winner a berth at the Brier. I'd like that, but I'm not sure it would get strong support.

Addendum: I can't believe I didn't think about this earlier, but of course it is impossible for more than one team to be winless through the entire round robin. Duh.

My Picks to Win the 2010 Tim Hortons Brier

The Brier starts today. I expect that the Glenn Howard rink from Ontario is odds-on favourite to win the Brier and go on to represent Canada at the World Championships.

Why isn't the Howard rink a prohibitive favourite? I think there are two possible explanations:

1. The Howard rink choked big time during the final of the Roar of the Rings Olympic trials. I saw the final of that tournament live, and it looked to me as if the entire rink was in shock. Some of the facial expressions made me think of the the phrase "like a deer in the headlights". It is unlikely to happen at the Brier, but there is some non-negligible probability that it could.
2. Kevin Koe looked very good in the Alberta play-down. His rink and the Stoughton rink could, on their own merits, challenge the Howard rink. A possible dark horse might be Darrell McKee from Saskatchewan, but I confess that's a vote more from my heart than from knowledge, since I will be living in Saskatchewan much of the 2010-11 season.