Alberta curling fans sport giant cowboy hats as they cheer on the Kevin Koe rink at the Brier in Halifax on Tuesday, March 9, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew VaughanANDREW VAUGHAN/The Canadian Press
It's harder to find a good moose hat than you think. Just ask Linda Loiselle.
The Sudbury woman was preparing to come to the Tim Hortons Brier here with five fellow fans. They had the tickets arranged and she had sewed a banner to wave. But they still wanted hats with antlers to match the moose on the crest worn by the Northern Ontario team.
"I had to go to a website and order these all the way from New Orleans, a Mardi Gras company," she said yesterday while watching the men's national curling championship. "Several sites came up, but the New Orleans one seemed best."
Her group's attire was matched by fans wearing other notes of whimsy, including headgear shaped like curling rocks. Some Nova Scotians waved inflatable lobsters and a contingent from Alberta in cowboy hats cheered as Kevin Koe led his Edmonton-based rink to victory over New Brunswick.
"We've put ourselves in a good spot going into the last day," the skip said following the late-afternoon draw. They have won seven of nine in the round robin, and are tied for second place with Newfoundland/Labrador and Northern Ontario. Ontario topped the standings at 9-0.
"If you're going to pick ones to lose, I guess those'd be the ones to pick. We've beat all the teams we're tied with, so if we win two [today] that puts us in the 1-2 [playoff]game. And, obviously, that's the goal coming into the week."
The arena was perhaps half-full but the fans were passionate.
They applauded as their favourites were led into the rink by a piper and stood as the national anthem, its old lyrics intact, was sung. And while not nearly as raucous as the Winter Olympic fans in Vancouver last month, the crowd erupted in bursts of applause at audacious plays, waving flags and ringing cowbells to show their appreciation.
In other play, Glenn Howard's Ontario rink stayed perfect with an 8-4 defeat of Jeff Stoughton of Manitoba (5-4) last night.
Northern Ontario skip Brad Jacobs said his 7-2 rink is helped by the lack of pressure brought by its underdog status.
"I think maybe, probably, the fans are surprised but I'm not surprised by the way we've been playing," he said.
"The team has gotten better and better all throughout this playoff process. … The three guys that I play with, they're animals, they're phenomenal players. They really are. We're just putting on a performance every game."
The Brier continues through Sunday. This is the sixth time Halifax has staged the men's national championship.
"It's a gorgeous city," said Jan Hlady of Thunder Bay, who was sitting with friends, four of them standing out from across the arena in green wigs and gold-sequin dresses. "It's nice, friendly and clean."
Beers in hand, they were enjoying the hospitality. Others were congregating in the Brier Patch and at local bars that had rolled out the welcome mat to curlers and their fans.
Among those enjoying the scene with his teammates was Jamie Koe, skip of the Northwest Territories/Yukon rink and Kevin Koe's brother. He'd had to sit out a Tuesday evening game to take an accounting exam but his team beat Nova Scotia in his absence.
"Oh yeah, we drank some beers [that]night, absolutely," he said. "The boys won and we went for some drinks after."
He said he was looking forward to the match-up this morning that will pit them against his brother's Alberta rink.
"We'll have to pick up our socks to play those guys," admitted Jamie, whose rink was 1-8.
But Kevin acknowledged that it would be no cakewalk, especially with the other team mired at the bottom of the standings and having little to lose. And he reminded reporters that he'd been beaten by his brother once in the Canada Cup.
"It'll be fun … playing him, but we really need that one," Kevin said.