The 2008 Tim Hortons Brier will be staged at the 15,000-seat MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, March 8-16.  This will mark the fifth time that Winnipeg has hosted the Canadian men’s curling championship and the seventh time it has been staged in Manitoba.   The city will join Toronto, Calgary, Halifax, Saskatoon and Edmonton as the only ones to have hosted at least five Briers. 

The city held its first Brier in 1940, won by Howard Wood of Winnipeg, followed in 1952 when won by Winnipeg’s Billy Walsh, then in 1970, again won by a Winnipegger, Don Duguid, and finally in 1998, when captured that year by Ontario’s Wayne Middaugh. The 1998 Labatt Brier at the Winnipeg Arena drew 147,017 fans.

The Brier is probably the truest of any Canadian sporting championship.  Twelve teams, representing each of the ten provinces, plus the Yukon/NWT and Northern Ontario, compete for the Brier Tankard, the refurbished silver trophy that was presented to the winners of the Brier during Macdonald Tobacco’s 50-year sponsorship.  The trophy was re-introduced in 2001 in Ottawa at the first Nokia Brier, when the famed Labatt Brier Tankard was retired after the 2000 Brier in Saskatoon.

This is the 79th year of Brier competition.  The Canadian men’s curling championship began in 1927 in Toronto and has been contested each year since, with the exception of the war years (1943, 1944 and 1945). After being held in Toronto from 1927-1939, the Brier went ‘national’ in 1940, staged in Winnipeg.  It has been held in every province at least once and in 31 cities from coast-to-coast.

Manitoba has won a leading 26 Briers, the last by skip Jeff Stoughton in 1999 in Edmonton; Alberta is next with 22 victories.  Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Yukon/NWT have yet to win.

In 1927, all games at the inaugural Canadian men’s curling championship were 14 ends. Two games actually went to a 15th end.  Nova Scotia (skip Murray Macneill) won that first Brier in Toronto, in which eight teams competed, including ones from Toronto and Montreal.  From 1928-76, games where shortened to 12 ends and beginning in 1977, games were reduced to 10 ends.

More than 7,000 curlers attempt to qualify each year for the Brier through club, zone, district and eventually provincial championships, the latter taking place from late January through mid-February.  Some of the provincial championships are sponsored…the Labatt Tankards (New Brunswick, Newfoundland/Labrador and PEI), Keith’s Tankard (Nova Scotia), Kia Cup (Alberta), TSC Stores Tankard (Ontario), Dominion of Canada Championship (Northern Ontario), SaskTel Tankard (Saskatchewan) and Safeway Championship (Manitoba).

Currently, the 12 Brier teams play a round robin, which concludes on Thursday. The playoff format is the Page System, whereby, after any tie-breakers are required to determine the first four teams, the first and second place teams meet in one playoff game, while the third and fourth place teams meet in another game, both on Friday.  The winner of 1 vs 2 goes directly to Sunday evening’s final.  The loser meets the winner of 3 vs 4 in Saturday afternoon’s semi-final.  The semi-final winner then advances to the final as well.  

From 1927-79, there was no playoff format.  The Brier winner was the leader at the conclusion of the round robin, unless there was a tie for top spot, in which case a playoff game ensued.  Beginning with the first Labatt Brier in 1980, a playoff format was instituted, whereby the first place finisher at the conclusion of the round robin advanced to the final, while the second and third place finishers met in a semi-final, with the winner also advancing to the final.  This format was in place from 1980-1994, before the Page Playoff system was adopted in 1995.   Interestingly, since then, no team has won the Brier advancing from the Page 3 vs 4 game.

The Brier champion then represents Canada at the (Ford) World Men’s Curling Championship.   Eighteen of the past 28 Brier winners…skips Rick Folk (2), Al Hackner (2), Ed Werenich (2), Ed Lukowich, Russ Howard (2), Pat Ryan, Kerry Burtnyk, Jeff Stoughton, Wayne Middaugh, Greg McAulay, Randy Ferbey (3) and Glenn Howard… have also won the world title.

The 2008 winner will represent Canada at the world men’s curling championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota, April 5-13.

The Labatt Brewing Company announced its sponsorship of the Brier in 1978, taking over from Macdonald Tobacco, which had sponsored the first 50 Canadian men’s curling championships.  The first Labatt Brier was held in Calgary in 1980 and was won by Rick Folk of Saskatoon. 

In 1982 in Brandon, Labatt’s extended its Brier sponsorship through 1989 and in Kitchener in 1986, the company announced a further extension of that agreement with the Canadian Curling Association for Brier and Tankard sponsorships through 1994.  In November of 1993, Labatt signed a new Brier sponsorship agreement with the Canadian Curling Association, a three-year deal through 1997.

At the 1997 Labatt Brier in Calgary, the brewery announced a further three-year commitment to the Canadian Men’s Curling Championship, which guaranteed title sponsorship through the year 2000.

At the 2000 Brier in Saskatoon, the Canadian Curling Association announced that Nokia, the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile communications, had signed a four-year deal to become the new title sponsor of the Canadian Men’s Curling Championship, beginning with the first Nokia Brier in Ottawa, March 3-11.  Labatt became an official supplier to the Season of Champions.

The winning team was also presented (beginning in 2001) with the refurbished Brier Tankard, the original solid silver trophy first unveiled in 1927 at the inaugural Macdonald Brier

Nokia decided not to renew its Brier sponsorship agreement at the conclusion of the 2004 championship.  A new title sponsor, Tim Hortons, the largest quick service restaurant chain in Canada, was welcomed in a three-year agreement, beginning in 2005, with a three-year option.  The first Tim Hortons Brier was staged at Rexall Place in Edmonton and produced a record attendance of 281,985.

Edmonton’s Randy Ferbey entered the record books in 2003 in Halifax by winning his fifth Brier, the only player to do so.   He won the 1988 and 1989 Briers, as third for Pat Ryan, then skipped Alberta to a record three consecutive Brier triumphs in 2001, 2002 and 2003.  He added another chapter in 2005, though, joining Saskatchewan’s Ernie Richardson of Regina (1959, 1960, 1962, 1963) as the only skips to win four Briers, when notching his record sixth Canadian men’s curling championship title. 

Three players have won the Brier three times as skip: Ken Watson of Winnipeg, in 1936, 1942 and 1949; Matt Baldwin of Edmonton, in 1954, 1957 and 1958; Ron Northcott of Calgary in 1966, 1968 and 1969.

Russ Howard, formerly of Midland, Ontario but now living in Moncton, New Brunswick, holds the record for most Brier appearances (13, all as skip) and most games won as a skip, 107.   Prior to 2004, he was tied for most appearances with Bernie Sparkes of Vancouver, who also had appeared in 12 Briers: six as skip but six at other positions.   

The last unbeaten team to win a Brier was skipped by Randy Ferbey of Edmonton, who went 13-0 in Halifax in 2003.  Prior to that, Pat Ryan, also of Edmonton, was unbeaten in 1988 in Chicoutimi, going 12-0, including the final.  Manitoba’s Vic Peters went 11-0 in the 1997 round robin but lost a Page Playoff game.  He then won the semi-final but lost the final.  In 1985, Pat Ryan was unbeaten at 11-0 in the round robin, but lost the final.  Six skips have won back-to-back Briers (Richardson did it twice) while Ferbey is the only one to win back-to-back-to-back Canadian titles.

The Brier attendance record is 281,985, set in Edmonton in 2005, eclipsing the 248,793 mark established in Saskatoon in 2000.  Those numbers are followed by Calgary (245,296 in 2002) and Edmonton (242,887 in 1999).

Among Brier records, the highest score for one team is 30, established in 1957, when Saskatchewan’s Garnet Campbell defeated New Brunswick’s Ken Everett, 30-3.   That game is also among three games with the highest total score, joining Ontario’s 17-16 win over New Brunswick in 1932 and Prince Edward Island’s 17-16 victory over Newfoundland in 1968.

Five games in Brier history have resulted in one team being shut out, the last in 1998, when Manitoba (Dale Duguid) defeated Prince Edward Island (Garth Mitchell), 8-0.

The lowest combined score for both teams is 3, all resulting in 2-1 victories.  It has happened three times, the latest in 2000 when Manitoba (Jeff Stoughton) edged Prince Edward Island (Andrew Robinson).

The highest end score (count or steal) is seven.  It’s happened on five occasions, the last being in 2000, when Prince Edward Island (Andrew Robinson) stole seven against Nova Scotia (Shawn Adams) en route to a 12-2 win.

Thirteen teams have gone undefeated in winning the Brier, the last to do so being Alberta      (Randy Ferbey) in 2003 in Halifax, when it recorded a 13-0 mark.   On the other hand, 18 teams have failed to win a game during Brier week, the latest being Northern Ontario (Robbie Gordon) in 2006 in Regina.

There’s been one four-way tie for first (at the conclusion of the round robin), in 1993 in Ottawa, when Manitoba, British Columbia, Northern Ontario and Ontario finished on top with 8-3 records, prior to the playoffs.

Manitoba’s Kerry Burtnyk is the youngest winning skip, when his team took the 1981 Labatt Brier in Halifax.  Burtnyk was 22 years (and four months) old.  His team is also the youngest to win the Brier, averaging 22 years of age.

At the first Brier in 1927, six provinces were represented - New Brunswick, Northern Ontario, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan, along with teams from Toronto and Montreal. In 1928, Alberta and Manitoba joined the championship. In 1932, city representation was dropped, but in 1936, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia were added, followed by Newfoundland in 1951 and Yukon/Northwest Territories in 1975.
 
Approximately 1,200 volunteers are required to help stage the Brier and its accompanying social activities.  Several thousand tourists annually come to the host city during Brier week and spend an estimated $5-7 million.

The Brier usually attracts a national media gathering of 250, including television rights-holders personnel.

There is extensive television coverage of the Brier, with round robin and Page Playoff games on TSN and the semi-final and final on CBC-TV.   There is also daily internet draw coverage provided to subscribers by CurlTV.