1979 Macdonald Brier

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1979 Macdonald Brier
Host cityOttawa
ArenaOttawa Civic Centre
DatesMarch 4–10[1]
Attendance89,081
Winner Manitoba
Curling club, Winnipeg
SkipBarry Fry
ThirdBill Carey
SecondGordon Sparkes
LeadBryan Wood
Finalist Northern Ontario &
 Saskatchewan
« 1978
1980 »

The 1979 Macdonald Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship was held from March 4 to March 10 at the Ottawa Civic Centre in Ottawa.

Manitoba's Barry Fry won his only Brier title of his career. He clinched the Brier title following the Friday night (March 9) draw. The rink which also included Bill Carey, Gordon Sparkes and Bryan Wood would go on to represent Canada at the 1979 Air Canada Silver Broom, the World Curling Championships.

It would be the last Brier under the sponsorship of Macdonald Tobacco. This marked an end of an era, as Macdonald Tobacco had sponsored the event since the first Brier in 1927. Following the final draw, the head of Macdonald Tobacco, declared "[f]or half a century, Macdonald Tobacco has followed an idea ... a dream to ... bring together Canadians, from all parts of the country and all walks of life, in a national sporting event. Curling was the ideal sport. It's been a wonderful experience. We've now seen the final chapter in 50 years of Canadian history". To commemorate the end of the Macdonald era, every living Brier champion skip at the time were invited to attend the Brier, and had their picture taken together. The lone surviving curler from the 1927 Brier, (Northern Ontario) was also invited.[2] The group of skips gathered before the final draw of the event for a special ceremony.[3]

The event was also the last Brier without a playoff following the round robin. The final attendance of the event was 89,081 which was a Brier record at the time.[4] 7000 people witnessed the final draw on March 10, despite the matches being meaningless to the outcome of the event.

The event was marred with slow ice conditions and bad rocks,[5] which were borrowed from a local curling club. The rocks were mismatched and pitted which "reduced shotmaking to a guessing game."[6] Part way through the week, organizers asked for the teams to vote on changing the rocks. The teams that favoured hitting, including the leading Manitoba rink opposed changing the rocks, as the mismatched rocks made draw shots more difficult than hit shots.[7]

Teams[]

Alberta British Columbia Manitoba
Crestwood CC, Edmonton

Skip: Paul Devlin
Third:
Second: Pat Ryan
Lead:

, Vancouver

Skip:
Third:
Second:
Lead:

, Winnipeg

Skip: Barry Fry
Third: Bill Carey
Second: Gordon Sparkes
Lead: Bryan Wood

New Brunswick Newfoundland Northern Ontario
, Saint John

Skip:
Third:
Second:
Lead:

St. John's CC, St. John's

Skip:
Third:
Second:
Lead:

, Thunder Bay

Skip:
Third:
Second:
Lead:

Nova Scotia Ontario Prince Edward Island
, Dartmouth

Skip:
Third:
Second: Mike Currie
Lead:

, Pickering

Skip:
Third:
Second:
Lead:

, Charlottetown

Skip:
Third: Ken MacDonald
Second:
Lead:

Quebec Saskatchewan Northwest Territories/Yukon
, Mount Royal

Skip: Jim Ursel
Third: Don Aitken
Second:
Lead:

Nutana CC, Saskatoon

Skip: Rick Folk
Third:
Second: Tom Wilson
Lead: Jim Wilson

Yellowknife CC, Yellowknife

Skip:
Third:
Second:
Lead:

Round robin standings[]

Key
Brier champion
Province Skip W L
 Manitoba Barry Fry 10 1
 Saskatchewan Rick Folk 8 3
 Northern Ontario 8 3
 Ontario 6 5
 Prince Edward Island 6 5
 Alberta Paul Devlin 6 5
 Quebec Jim Ursel 5 6
 British Columbia 5 6
 Nova Scotia 4 7
 New Brunswick 3 8
Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland 3 8
 Northwest Territories/Yukon 2 9

Round robin results[]

March 4[]

Draw 1 - 3 PM (EST)
Draw 2 - 730 PM (EST)

March 5[]

Draw 3 - 930 AM (EST)
Draw 4 - 2 PM (EST)
Draw 5 - 730 PM (EST)

March 6[]

Draw 6 - 9 AM (EST)
Draw 7 - 2 PM (EST)

March 7[]

Draw 8 - 2 PM (EST)
Draw 9 - 730 PM (EST)

March 8[]

Draw 10 - 2 PM (EST)
Draw 11 - 730 PM (EST)

March 9[]

Draw 12 - 2 PM (EST)
Draw 13 - 730 pm (EST)

March 10[]

Draw 14 130 PM (EST)

References[]

  1. ^ "Ottawa Citizen - Google News Archive Search".
  2. ^ Weeks, pg 153
  3. ^ "The Montreal Gazette - Google News Archive Search".
  4. ^ "Ottawa Citizen - Google News Archive Search".
  5. ^ Ottawa Citizen, March 6, 1979, pg 19
  6. ^ "The Brier", Bob Weeks, pg 158
  7. ^ Weeks
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