1979 Macdonald Brier
1979 Macdonald Brier | |
---|---|
Host city | Ottawa |
Arena | Ottawa Civic Centre |
Dates | March 4–10[1] |
Attendance | 89,081 |
Winner | Manitoba |
Curling club | , Winnipeg |
Skip | Barry Fry |
Third | Bill Carey |
Second | Gordon Sparkes |
Lead | Bryan 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 |
, Vancouver
Skip: |
, Winnipeg
Skip: Barry Fry |
New Brunswick | Newfoundland | Northern Ontario |
, Saint John
Skip: |
St. John's CC, St. John's
Skip: |
, Thunder Bay
Skip: |
Nova Scotia | Ontario | Prince Edward Island |
, Dartmouth
Skip: |
, Pickering
Skip: |
, Charlottetown
Skip: |
Quebec | Saskatchewan | Northwest Territories/Yukon |
, Mount Royal
Skip: Jim Ursel |
Nutana CC, Saskatoon
Skip: Rick Folk |
Yellowknife CC, Yellowknife
Skip: |
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 | 3 | 8 | |
Northwest Territories/Yukon | 2 | 9 |
Round robin results[]
March 4[]
- Draw 1 - 3 PM (EST)
- Ontario 6-5 Prince Edward Island
- British Columbia 5-3 New Brunswick
- Alberta 8-6 Nova Scotia
- Manitoba 6-5 Northwest Territories/Yukon
- Quebec 8-2 Newfoundland
- Draw 2 - 730 PM (EST)
- Manitoba 8-6 British Columbia
- Prince Edward Island 6-3 Alberta
- Saskatchewan 7-1 Northern Ontario
- Ontario 6-3 Nova Scotia
- New Brunswick 4-3 Northwest Territories/Yukon
March 5[]
- Draw 3 - 930 AM (EST)
- Nova Scotia 5-3 Northern Ontario
- Quebec 10-3 British Columbia
- Manitoba 6-5 Newfoundland
- Draw 4 - 2 PM (EST)
- Alberta 6-3 New Brunswick
- Northwest Territories/Yukon 10-3 Ontario
- Prince Edward Island 9-3 Saskatchewan
- Draw 5 - 730 PM (EST)
- Quebec 7-3 Nova Scotia
- Saskatchewan 5-3 Northwest Territories/Yukon
- Newfoundland 9-4 Prince Edward Island
- Northern Ontario 7-5 New Brunswick
- Ontario 8-4 Alberta
March 6[]
- Draw 6 - 9 AM (EST)
- Northern Ontario 5-3 Northwest Territories/Yukon
- Newfoundland 11-3 Nova Scotia
- Quebec 5-4 Ontario
- Saskatchewan 7-6 British Columbia
- Manitoba 10-1 New Brunswick
- Draw 7 - 2 PM (EST)
- Alberta 7-5 Newfoundland
- Manitoba 10-3 Northern Ontario
- Saskatchewan 8-6 New Brunswick
- Prince Edward Island 10-3 Quebec
- British Columbia 7-6 Northwest Territories/Yukon
March 7[]
- Draw 8 - 2 PM (EST)
- Saskatchewan 7-3 Manitoba
- Alberta 8-3 Quebec
- Northern Ontario 5-3 British Columbia
- Ontario 5-4 Newfoundland
- Prince Edward Island 8-3 Nova Scotia
- Draw 9 - 730 PM (EST)
- Northern Ontario 7-4 Prince Edward Island
- Ontario 5-3 New Brunswick
- Northwest Territories/Yukon 7-4 Nova Scotia
- British Columbia 5-4 Alberta
- Saskatchewan 8-5 Quebec
March 8[]
- Draw 10 - 2 PM (EST)
- Nova Scotia 12-3 New Brunswick
- Saskatchewan 8-4 Newfoundland
- Manitoba 4-2 Ontario
- Prince Edward Island 6-3 Northwest Territories/Yukon
- Northern Ontario 10-3 Alberta
- Draw 11 - 730 PM (EST)
- Alberta 10-7 Saskatchewan
- Manitoba 5-3 Nova Scotia
- British Columbia 8-5 Newfoundland
- Northern Ontario 6-5 Quebec
- Prince Edward Island 8-3 New Brunswick
March 9[]
- Draw 12 - 2 PM (EST)
- Newfoundland 11-4 Northwest Territories/Yukon
- Northern Ontario 6-4 Ontario
- New Brunswick 5-3 Quebec
- Manitoba 5-3 Alberta
- Nova Scotia 9-6 British Columbia
- Draw 13 - 730 pm (EST)
- Ontario 9-7 British Columbia
- Quebec 10-6 Northwest Territories/Yukon
- Manitoba 4-3 Prince Edward Island
- Nova Scotia 8-7 Saskatchewan
- Northern Ontario 10-5 Newfoundland
March 10[]
- Draw 14 130 PM (EST)
- Manitoba 7-2 Quebec
- British Columbia 5-4 Prince Edward Island
- Alberta 6-4 Northwest Territories/Yukon
- New Brunswick 8-2 Newfoundland
- Saskatchewan 7-4 Ontario
References[]
- ^ "Ottawa Citizen - Google News Archive Search".
- ^ Weeks, pg 153
- ^ "The Montreal Gazette - Google News Archive Search".
- ^ "Ottawa Citizen - Google News Archive Search".
- ^ Ottawa Citizen, March 6, 1979, pg 19
- ^ "The Brier", Bob Weeks, pg 158
- ^ Weeks
- 1979 in Canadian curling
- The Brier
- Curling in Ottawa
- 1979 in Ontario