Advertisement

Tim Hortons Brier: Crowd will be watching and listening to Saskatchewan rink

EDMONTON – Fans at this year's Tim Hortons Brier won't just be watching Brock Virtue's Saskatchewan rink, they will be listening to what the team says as well.

Virtue's team comes to their first Brier under a dark club. Second Chris Schille was ejected from a game during the provincial playoffs for using profane language. He also posted some tweets critical of his treatment.

The Brier is a much bigger stage and Schille plans to be a better actor.

"It was an unfortunate incident for everybody involved," he said. "The whole provincial championships was affected by it.

"We're happy it's behind us and hopefully we'll just move forward from it."

Virtue just wanted to put the whole thing behind his team.

"It's over and done with," he said. "That's provincials.

"We are at the Brier now. Onward and upward."

Warren Hansen, director of event operations with the Canadian Curling Association, said the Saskatchewan rink won't be under any special scrutiny.

All teams are expected to conduct themselves "in a civilized, gentleman's manner," Hansen said.

"I think everybody knows what the acceptable demeanour is on a sheet of curling ice. If we have issues with it then we deal with it at the time. We have a fining system in place which is how we, for the most part, deal with most of these type of issues."

Hansen said a player is warned first.

"If it goes beyond that then fines set it," he said. "I guess if we had anything that went beyond that, which we never have, then there would have to be further disciplinary action taken.

"So far we have been able to keep things under control by the use of the fining and warning system. I'm quite sure that will be the case again."

Russ Howard, the TSN analyst who won two Briers as a skip, has seen a change in today's curlers.

"The tolerance level is probably a little lower now," he said. "The politeness has gone a little bit out of it.

"We like to think curling and golf starts and ends in an handshake and it's all about etiquette."

Manitoba skip Jeff Stoughton admits to haven thrown a couple of water bottles and slammed a few brooms.

"I think we have a few more characters out there that show their emotions on their sleeves," said the two-time world champion. "I don't think it's good or bad for the game. It doesn't hurt the game at all.

"It doesn't bother me if a guy gets mad or breaks a broom or is yelling and screaming. It's fun to watch and I think the fans like it."

Marc Kennedy, the second on Kevin Martin's Alberta rink, said increased prize money and the chance for an Olympic berth have added extra pressure to the game.

"The biggest difference is how much is on the line now-a-days," said Kennedy. "Financially these can make big changes to (a player's) life. For a lot of guys it's becoming almost like a profession.

"You can see the emotion there now because there is so much on the line. The game is adjusting to being more of a professional sport."

Most curlers agree they must show some verbal restraint on the ice, especially when they are miked for television.

"If you are miked up, do your best to keep the profanity to a low, especially with kids watching," said Kennedy.

"I like seeing passion. I like seeing intensity, I like seeing guys want to win. I don't like it if it makes the sport look bad."

Schille said the Saskatchewan rink won't be wearing gags, but will remember they are at the Brier.

"I don't think we will do anything out of our ordinary," he said. "Things come up, things get heated, just like any other sport. It's not different.

"You hope to see everybody out here acting a little bit better than they would maybe when there's not so many people watching."