LONDON, ONT. - If anybody knows what Alberta’s Kevin Martin has to go through to win the Canadian men’s curling championship, it’s Kevin Koe.

Last year, faced with an identical situation of having to win out from the Page Playoff 3-4 game on, Koe and rinkmates Blake MacDonald at third, Carter Rycroft at second and lead Nolan Thiessen, put together a fabulous run in Halifax.

Representing Alberta, the Saville Centre rink defeated Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador 6-5 in the Page 3-4 game, dumped Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario 10-3 in the semifinal and then won a 6-5 thriller over Ontario’s Glenn Howard on Koe’s dramatic extra-end draw to the button to claim the Brier.

“Man, that was definitely hard,” recalled Koe. “Look at the teams Kevin has to go through, with no backup. I mean, I’ve never been in a Page 1-2 game, so I don’t know what to compare it to, but if anyone can pull it off, those guys can. Three in a row for Kevin’s team is not that hard when you win 30 straight.”

Koe alluded to Martin’s record of 30 straight Brier wins, which ended earlier in the week with a loss to Gushue. Martin now plays Howard on Saturday in the Page 3-4 game and with a win would advance to the semifinal against Gushue.

Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton defeated Gushue 7-6 in the Page 1-2 game on Friday night.

“When we did it, we lost the game on the Thursday night which would have got us into that Page 1-2 game, which made a big difference,” said Koe. “It worked out really well for us to have the Friday off, to get the loss out of your head.”

Martin does face a tough challenge, said Koe, but added: “It’s the playoffs at the Brier — it’s pretty easy to get up for.”

Howard likes challenge

Koe was the first to win the Brier through the Page 3-4 game since the format was first introduced in 1995, but Howard nearly did it in 2008 in Winnipeg.

“We beat B.C (9-7 over Bob Ursel), then Saskatchewan (8-7 in 11 ends over Pat Simmons), then had a real good game against Kevin (Martin),” recalled Howard, who lost 5-4 to Martin in the final. “It’s no different than any other bonspiel where you know you have to win three in a row. That’s the difference, whereas in the 1-2 game you have to win two out of three.”

“There, you have to win two of three games, they have an extra life,” said Howard. “But in this case, we have to win three straight and we know that. The bottom line is, you have to go out and play well. If you don’t, you won’t win.”

Bronze a bust?

Much has and will be made of the bronze-medal game that will take place here on Sunday afternoon as the Canadian Curling Association follows what the World Curling Federation has established as an extra game for the third-place medal.

Players at the Brier on Friday expressed their displeasure with the format.

“We’re already playing for the bronze,” Martin said of his Saturday morning Page Playoff 3-4 game against Howard.

“Glenn and I have put ourselves into that trouble and it took 11 games for us to do that. We haven’t played well all week and Glenn hasn’t either. We’re in the playoffs and we still have a chance to win. If we lose the three-versus-four game, we deserve to be in fourth place and not playing in a bronze game. I’m sure it will go away because it doesn’t make any sense at all.”

Don’t count on it; the game gives the CCA an extra time slot on television to broadcast the medal game, much like an Olympics.

“This is not the Winter Games,” said Martin, the 2010 gold-medal winner. “You would crawl across the desert to get an Olympic bronze medal. This is a Canadian championship where one team gets to move on to the next level. This is just one more step, just like provincials. It doesn’t matter if you’re second, third or fourth. Only one team gets to move on and one of us will.”

Both Gushue and Stoughton were also against it.

“I’m not a big fan of it. I don’t think either team that is going to be playing in it is going to be extremely motivated. It seems a little silly that the loser of the 3-4 game could potentially play the first-place team (if it loses two straight),” said Gushue.

“All of a sudden you could be playing in a meaningless bronze-medal game. I shouldn’t say meaningless, but it’s not what any of the four teams are here to do.”

“They’re all here for one thing, to win a championship,” said Stoughton. “The bronze medal is nothing more than an exhibition game.”

mannicchiarico@edmontonjournal.com

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