Chico @ The Brier > Fantasy Hip

My main man playing in The Brier, Kris Granchelli, along with his team from Nova Scotia just finished their 5th game and now sit at 2-3. They are around the middle of the table, but what has to concern them is the fact that their schedule is heavily back-loaded with the top teams. One way to look at it is they should be able to gain ground on those ahead of them with victories, however, they will be tough.

Sunday afternoon saw Nova Scotia in the feature match on TSN. I gotta tell you, it was pretty neat seeing my buddy's ugly mug up on the screen with all his data. Age, place of birth and job. That's 36, Sydney, NS & Allstate Insurance agent respectively. They didn't mention "Allstate" on the air though so I'm doing it here. If you need some insurance and live in Nova Scotia Kris is your guy.

The feature match-up was a debacle for the NS team. They were playing NWT/Yukon (I like how our third territory doesn't even get a mention). I personally was already counting this one in the standings which I guess is not recommended. Kris curled 82% which from what I can tell is OK for a lead, but not outstanding. Their 3rd, Bruce Lohnes chucked a 67% which I know really sucks. Long story short, they lost to the perennial door mats and fell to 1-2. On TSN. HD. Live. Plus Nova Scotia hosts the Brier next year. I might go.

Monday morning they were matched up against Russ Howard and New Brunswick. Now I know Russ has won the Brier with Ontario I think. I'm not sure if he has playing out of New Brunswick. He may even be a world champion. I'm not going to look it up because it seems to me like he pussied out by leaving Ontario where the competition HAS to be stiffer than NB. You do what you gotta do, eh? Anyway, NB won 10-7 with Granchelli throwing a sparkling 91% for 73pts. (I went to Wikipedia to try to figure this out. Nothing. I'm going to have to make a phone call.) Once again the NS 3rd chucked bricks like was Dontrelle Willis in a Tiger's uniform for 68% & 54pts. That dropped the team to 1-3.

They had to go right back out there in Draw 7 to play Northern Ontario. They should merge these guys with the territories. Seriously. They got the boot from Ontario because no one from the south wanted to travel that far just to lay the boots down on them. It always happened. We have Northern Ontario and Ontario. No Southern Ontario. Good stuff. Granchelli continues his torrid pace by putting up 90% & 61pts. NS wins as Lohnes finally puts his glasses back on and jumps up to 76%. Basically from what I can tell, if you curl in the 60's your team will loose. It's a Shore Thing!

So the team now stands at 2-3 and are probably sucking back a few Keith's/Alpines right now. Kris' stats put him just shy of middle of the pack for Leads with an overall 85% accuracy rate. I think his numbers today are a truer reflection of his abilities and hopefully the entire team can get hot as they begin to go up against what most would agree are the better teams.

***************************************************************************

I just wrote one of my bigger articles over at my Tragically Hip Blog entitled 2009 Hip Tour > Song Selection > NOIS > Fantasy . Check it out if you get a chance and are a fan.

Cheers,
-mrjackstraw

Kris Granchelli to the Tim Horton's Brier

Kris Granchelli, a very good friend of mine and partner in crimes (that hurt no one) is going to the Tim Horton's Brier taking place from March 7-15, 2009 in Calgary, AB. Here's the press release as it appears on the Brier website:

2004 Brier winner Mark Dacey takes Nova Scotia Title

February 15...Mark Dacey, who won the 2004 Nokia Brier in Saskatoon, captured the Molson's Championship in Chester on Sunday by hammering Ian Fitzner-LeBlanc, 8-1 in the final, to complete a perfect 6-0 record.

Dacey had won the A side of the 16-team competition, before defeating Fitzner-LeBlanc, also by an 8-1 score, in the A vs B game, to advance to the final.

Brookfield's Fitzner-LeBlanc then beat Doug MacKenzie of Halifax, 7-6 in the semi-final to set up a rematch with Dacey. But once again, it was no contest, as Dacey opened with three in the first end, took two in the third, then stole a single in the fourth and two more in the fifth for the win.

Joining Dacey on his Halifax Mayflower Curling Club team are third Bruce Lohnes, second Andrew Gibson and lead Kris Granchelli.

Dacey, of course, ended Alberta's Randy Ferbey's attempt to win four straight Briers, capturing the 2004 final in Saskatoon when taking three in the 10th end for an improbable 10-9 win. His team would go on to finish third at the Ford Worlds in Gävle, Sweden, losing a semi-final to Germany's Sebastian Stock, his only loss of the week, before earning a bronze medal by defeating Norway's Pål Trulsen, while finishing 10-1.

It will be the sixth Brier appearance for the Saskatoon-born Dacey. He played third for Saskatchewan skip Brad Heidt in 1995, finishing the runner-up in Halifax to Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk, then skipped Nova Scotia in 2001, 2003 (runner-up), 2004 (won) and 2006 (third place).

For Lohnes, it will be his seventh trip to the Brier. In addition to playing with Dacey in 2003, 2004 and 2006, he skipped in 1995 and played third for skip Ragnar Kamp in 1989 and for skip Dave Jones in 1992. Gibson will be making his fourth Brier appearance, while Granchelli is making his Brier debut.

Nova Scotia has won three Briers, the inaugural one in 1927 (Murray Macneill), followed in 1951 (Don Oyler) and in 2004 by Dacey.

That's Kris in action above ^^^. Google rules. The blog I found that picture on described that particular moment as "graceful". Nice.

I am hoping to do a little Q&A with Kris for the blog. I want to talk to him about the little known fact that it is in fact the Leads who control the fate of a team and how solid sweeping ability can overcome some shitty throwing or sliding. Maybe some we can do a "Live from the Brier Patch" podcast type of thing. That's when lips are looser ya know. Haha!

Being serious though, I am really excited for my friend. Good luck Kris!