One - Two, Buckle my Shoe

The way the Brier works, is that in the playoffs, one plays two, and three plays four. The winner of the one - two game goes straight to the finals. Loser plays the winner of the three four game, and the winner of THAT goes to the finals too.

Complicated yes, but who cares! That's curling for ya!

So here we go, the one-two game is on the go tonight, featuring first place Ontario, skipped by Glenn Howard, little brother of Olympic gold medalist Russ Howard (played 2nd position for Brad Gushue). Ontario is battling it out with second place Quebec.

Quebec, historically, was never terrific at curling. Of course, they have the hilarious Guy Hemmings with his stylish hair, but they've never been thought of as a curling powerhouse. Personally, I was shocked to hear that Quebec finished 2nd after the round robin.

But Friday night, the held their own against the 10-1 record team Ontario. Ontario started off strong by holding Quebec to one with the hammer in the second end, and then picked up a deuce in the third. But starting with the fifth end, the two teams began trading two point ends. Just when Ontario looked like it was getting some momentum going, Quebec would come and score a deuce. Then Ontario would take it right back. And Quebec would take another two. With the momentum swinging back and forth like this, it seemed that whoever happened to have the hammer in the tenth would win the game.

But in the 9th end, Glenn Howard played a nice tap back on his own rock to score two points, and took a three point lead into the tenth end, which put the game just a little too far out of reach for Quebec. Final score, Ontario 10, Quebec 6.

But Quebec isn't out of the tournament yet. They'll face team Nova Scotia tomorrow for a chance to earn a rematch with Ontario in the Brier finals on Sunday. So don't be too sad, all you Quebec fans... ha! Quebec fans! Yeah right! I almost said it with a straight face.