Harnden snaps losing skid

NEWS RELEASES

CANADIAN CURLING ASSOCIATION

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Eyes on the prize for Newfoundland/Labrador Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue gave his playoff hopes a major boost on Wednesday morning at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in Winnipeg.

Gushue's St. John's foursome — third Mark Nichols, second Chris Schille and lead Dave Noftall — picked up a Draw 12 victory at the MTS Centre, dropping Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk 9-4.

The result left the teams tied for fourth place in the 12-team round-robin standings with 5-3 records.

Newfoundland/Labrador broke the game open in the third end by scoring four, and never looked back.

"It's still a long way to go," cautioned Gushue. "We still have to play Alberta this afternoon, and we have two tough games tomorrow (against New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island). We're still in the thick of it, but there's still a long way to go."

In other Draw 12 play, Ontario's Glenn Howard bounced back nicely from taking his first loss a night earlier, knocking off New Brunswick's James Grattan 8-5. Ontario took control of the game with a steal of one in the fourth, then scored three in the sixth to improve to 7-1. New Brunswick dipped to 2-6.

Northern Ontario's Eric Harnden snapped a six-game losing streak, cruising to a 7-2 win over Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse. Both teams came out of the draw with 2-6 records.

And in the other morning tilt, Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories stole the winning point in the 10th end for a 5-4 win over 2006 Brier champ Jean-Michel Menard of Quebec. Both teams now sport 2-6 records.

Alberta's Kevin Martin (7-0), Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons (6-1), B.C.'s Bob Ursel (3-4) and P.E.I.'s Peter Gallant (3-4) all had byes.

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Alberta clinches playoff berth Alberta's Kevin Martin became the first team at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship to lock up a playoff berth Wednesday afternoon in Winnipeg.

Martin's Alberta team — third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert — knocked off Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue 8-7 in Draw 13 play at the MTS Centre to improve to 8-0.

That guaranteed one of the four available berths in the Page playoff system for the two-time Brier champ.

"Well, you lose this one, and the one-two game is going to be real tough to get to," said Martin, who scored deuces in the second, fourth and sixth ends in the victory. "Nine and two, 10 and one will get you there, so so far, so good. Step one was eight and three (to make the playoffs), so that one's safe. Now, we're trying to get to that one-two game, and we're close."

Newfoundland/Labrador dropped to 5-4 with the loss and needs some help to make the playoffs.

Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons, meanwhile, secured a tiebreaker spot at the very worst with an 8-5 win over New Brunswick's Peter Gallant. The victory pushed Saskatchewan's record to 7-1, its best start since Regina’s Randy Woytowich opened the 1991 Brier in Hamilton with a 6-1 record. He went on to lose to Martin in the final that year.

B.C.'s Bob Ursel kept his playoff hopes alive with an 8-7 extra-end victory over Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse. The win pushed B.C. to 4-4, and it will need to win its final three games to make a possible tiebreaker.

Also, Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard picked up his third win in nine outings, beating Peter Gallant of P.E.I. 8-2. The loss dropped the Islanders' record to 3-5.

Ontario's Glenn Howard (7-1), Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk (5-3), Northern Ontario's Eric Harnden (2-6) and Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories (2-6) all had byes in Draw 13.

Play at the the Tim Hortons Brier resumes Wednesday with the 8 p.m. draw on TSN.

On Thursday, draws are scheduled for 9:30 a.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.; all three draws will be on TSN, while curltv.com also will show the morning draw. ***********************************************************