Martin posts third straight win at Brier

THE CANADIAN PRESS

LONDON, Ont. — You won’t see an entourage trailing the competitors at the Tim Hortons Brier.

There are no tattoos in sight, the haircuts are neat and the jerseys are crisp. To many, it’s a refreshing change from the overpaid, overhyped, image-conscious athletes who dominate the professional sports scene.

These curlers are clean-cut Canadiana. A mother-in-law’s dream. The guy who’ll stop on the side of the road to help you change a flat tire.

“We’re not high-paid athletes that sometimes think our crap don’t stink,” said Alberta third John Morris. “I think it’s one of the appealing things to curling. It’s a working man’s sport.”

The intensity is there on the ice at the John Labatt Centre but the smiles come just as easily. There’s no bling, no attitude, no trash talk. These are normal guys with regular day jobs.

Ontario skip Glenn Howard is a beer store manager. Northern Ontario skip Brad Jacobs is a sales rep at Future Shop. New Brunswick skip James Grattan is a customer service agent for Air Canada.

It’s all part of the appeal to an event and a sport that is very popular across the country.

“It’s just a whole culture,” Morris said. “I know that there’s people that have probably been to the last 30 Briers and they have all these pins to show for it. It’s a real cool culture to be a part of. I think it’s what makes curling very unique.”

Morris, who works as a firefighter back home, is off to a good start. His Alberta rink is tied with Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton at 3-0 after four draws of round-robin play.

Alberta skip Kevin Martin started the day with an 8-6 victory over New Brunswick before downing B.C.’s Jim Cotter 8-2 in seven ends on Sunday afternoon.

It was Martin’s record 29th straight Brier victory and 100th overall. Martin said he doesn’t pay much attention to landmark achievements, adding his only big goal for down the road is to defend his Olympic title at the 2014 Sochi Games in Russia.

“We’ll train extremely hard the last couple of years before that because that’ll be my last hurrah,” Martin said.

Stoughton, who beat Nova Scotia’s Shawn Adams 8-3, was scheduled to play Eddie MacKenzie of Prince Edward Island later Sunday.

Francois Gagne of Quebec (2-1) is off to a decent start in his first Brier appearance. He dumped MacKenzie 10-3 in the morning before dropping an 8-7 extra-end decision to Steve Laycock of Saskatchewan (2-0). Ontario’s Glenn Howard evened his record at 1-1 with a 7-4 victory over Nova Scotia (0-3).

Northern Ontario (1-2) defeated Jamie Koe of Northwest Territories/Yukon 11-8 and then fell 7-5 to Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador (2-0) in an extra end.

Draw 5 is scheduled for Sunday night.

Notes: There are 12 teams competing in the round robin — one rink from each province plus entries from Northern Ontario and the Territories. Four teams will qualify for the Page Playoff next weekend, with the final set for March 13.