KINGSTON, Ont. — What would a national curling championship be without a bit of controversy?
It came to the Tim Hortons Brier on Sunday night when Manitoba’s Jason Gunnlaugson won a measurement in the 10th end to score a deuce and pull off a 6-5 upset of top seed Northern Ontario (Brad Jacobs).
The Manitoba and Northern Ontario rocks had to be measured three times before it was officially determined that Gunnlaugson had won.
Northern Ontario third Marc Kennedy was not satisfied with the first measurement and asked for another official to step in.
Some TSN viewers and social media commentators thought Kennedy was being disrespectful but other curlers said they fully understood why he asked for another official.
“I just think in that instance, (the official) was moving the stick and obviously went a little too fast,” Team Wild Card third Reid Carruthers said. “She measured the first one and I thought she did a good job but as she went to do the second one she went a little bit quick and I think that’s what caused the controversy.
“If she would have went by slowly, it wouldn’t have changed the result of what the measurement was, but watching on TV, I didn’t even see the needle move.
“It’s unfortunate that it happened. I feel bad for the official, but, at the same time, it was huge for Team Jacobs. I would have been doing the same thing. I would have asked for another measurement.”
Controversy over measurements is nothing new to high-level curling.
On the World Curling Tour and Grand Slam circuits, curlers do measurements themselves in order to be sure of results.
At Curling Canada and World Curling Federation events, independent officials are used.
“I don’t think there’s a mistrust,” Carruthers said.
“It’s just one of those things. People are human and we have human error.
“The process here is we both watch. Thirds go over the shoulder and if we’re not happy we can ask for a second measurement. If you want to ask for another official to do it, if you’re sensing that you need to do that, then you do that.”
In the draw to the button contests that are conducted before each game at the Brier, laser measuring tools are used.
They could be used to measure rocks during games as well but Carruthers said curlers don’t want that.
“Going to a laser measurement system isn’t gonna be any better, because it’s not gonna be as accurate,” Carruthers said. “(The measuring stick) is the most accurate measurement tool that we have.
“It’s one of those things where, if they have to break a tie, they’ll bring the laser up.
“The thing with the laser is, what I’ve noticed, is in the pinhole, it actually can swivel a little bit, back and forth. So if a measurement is down to .01 and you’ve got a little movement in the pinhole, you’re not gonna get a true measurement. The lasers aren’t 100% accurate.”
DUNSTONE A COMEBACK KID
Matt Dunstone walked off the ice Monday morning, approached a group of reporters, and summed his Brier so far before the interview even started.
“Hanging on for dear life, boys,” the affable 24-year-old Saskatchewan skip said.
Moments earlier, Dunstone made a brilliant raise triple takeout to score four points in the 10th end and pull off an unlikely 9-8 win over British Columbia’s Steve Laycock.
Of all the expectations Dunstone had for his first Brier as a skip, scoring four in the 10th end of a game to erase a three-point deficit was not one of them.
“Not at the Brier … not anywhere, really,” Dunstone said. “Just to even have the chance for it. You rarely have a chance for even three in that situation. The curling gods definitely wanted us to win today.”
It was Dunstone’s second straight Houdini act.
On Sunday his team fell behind 5-1 against New Brunswick’s James Grattan but scored five points in the final two ends to win 10-6.
“I thought (Sunday) was a turning point and here we are,” Dunstone said. “I sure hope so. How many kicks in the butt do we need to learn?”
Monday’s comeback wouldn’t have been possible if B.C. fourth Jim Cotter hadn’t missed his last two shots. His first rock was heavy, his second short of the rings.
“As soon as Jimmy came up light, (the raise triple) was definitely there, not a doubt in my mind,” said Dunstone, who is from Winnipeg but curls out of Regina with Braeden Moskowy, Catlin Schneider and Dustin Kidby.
“You don’t expect two misses like that out of Jimmy, ever,. Wow. Whew. Four in the 10th.
“We’re definitely still alive and we’ve had nothing but chances to gain momentum from it so hopefully we take advantage of it now.”
Dunstone beat Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories 6-2 Monday afternoon to improve his record to 3-1.
MCEWEN’S KNEE HOLDING UP
Team Wild Card skip Mike McEwen didn’t even know if he was able to curl this year after he had off-season knee surgery.
When his team started playing in September he was still feeling some discomfort but he’s been pleasantly surprised with how well things have gone since then.
The 39-year-old from Winnipeg led his team to fourth place in the Canadian Team Ranking System standings and that got him into the Brier wild card game even through he lost the Manitoba final to Jason Gunnlaugson.
McEwen won the wild card game over Glenn Howard on Friday and is now cruising along at 4-0 through the first three days of the Brier.
“I was optimistic, but it was pretty concerning that I wasn’t even going to step on the ice in September,” McEwen said of his recovery from the knee scope. “You know, I managed to kind of force myself and to do it probably a little bit earlier than I should have.
“It was concerning because there’s a lot of unknowns.”
McEwen said he didn’t feel back to normal until early November.
“I was in a full brace for a month,” he said. “When they took it off, I almost cried how skinny my leg was. I was like, ‘Oh, no, I only had this thing on for four weeks!’
“I would say it took a good month to a month and a half before I felt at the point where it’s not in the back of your head every time you slide.
“Because there that thought process there at the start where it’s kind of distracts you. You don’t know that you can trust it for sure.”
