Repeating As Brier Champ Rare

04/03/2009 00:48

Only nine teams have successfully defended their title, but five were from Alberta

Make Kevin Martin's a double? The reigning Tim Hortons Brier champion would love nothing more than to defend his 2008 Canadian men's curling championship.

Martin, along with third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy, lead Ben Hebert, fifth-man Terry Meek and coach Jules Owchar, have their eyes firmly set on the prize when the Brier begins Saturday in Calgary. But doing the double, as it were, is easier said than done.

Only nine championship teams have ever successfully repeated the feat in back-to-back years since 1927 -- amazingly five of those represented Alberta as Randy Ferbey rattled off three straight titles from 2001-03, and Pat Ryan won in 1988-89, Ron Northcott turned the trick in 1968-69, and Matt Baldwin blazed the trail in 1957-58.

"I'm surprised. That's actually more than I thought," said Martin, of the list of two-straight victors.

"That's a hard thing to do, just because you have to be that consistent for that long. But I don't know, the guys are throwing it pretty good right now. The only downfall to it all is the field is so tough." He's got a point there. This year's field features a half-dozen previous Canadian champions and world titleholders, and an Olympic gold-medallist in Newfoundland's Brad Gushue.

But what Martin has going for him is a red-hot team that not only went undefeated in last year's Brier, but also the last two Alberta championships.

"That doesn't happen very often," said Martin, of the perfect Brier at Winnipeg in '08, which he capped with a 5-4 win over Glenn Howard of Ontario in the final.

"That's good consistent play. Mind you, (Pat) Simmons should have probably beat us in that 1-2 (playoff) game last year.

"It does bode well for consistency, though," he said of his crew's run. "That's important. If you want to take some confidence out of something, yeah, that would be it." The Martin rink is not openly talking about claiming two straight titles.

More from the Edmonton Journal.

SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:

Don’t bet against these guys repeating as Brier champions either, folks.