The BDO Canadian Open just might have the finest field assembled in men's curling this season and it will be right here in Winnipeg.
Fighting for $100,000 in prize money at MTS Centre from Jan. 5 through Jan. 8, the draw will have an Olympic flavour including Canada's Olympic representative Brad Gushue as well as Norway's Pal Trulsen and Pete Fenson of the United States.
Both of Alberta's super rinks, Randy Ferbey and Kevin Martin, will participate and Manitoba will be represented well by Jeff Stoughton, Randy Dutiaume, Dave Boehmer and Ryan Fry. Throw in teams skipped by John Morris, Wayne Middaugh and Glen Howard and its hard to imagine the Brier, the Olympics or any other event this season having such an elite field.
"Last year's Brier was among the best fields I've played in but all the muckety mucks of curling are in this draw," said Winnipegger Randy Dutiaume. "Just about everyone is here. I've never had a chance to play Kevin Martin. Hopefully we'll qualify and get the chance."
Jeff Stoughton, admitting he's still smarting from his loss to Brad Gushue at the Olympic Trials last weekend, says by the time this event rolls around he'll be ready to go.
"We haven't had a lot of time to talk about the weekend," said Stoughton. "Maybe we'll qualify and get another chance at him (Gushue). He beat us twice at the Trials. We don't want to see a trend develop.
"Curlers and curling fans want to see the best play the best and that's what this event gives us. At a Brier you never see Martin and Ferbey play each other because they're from the same province.
This event showcases all these great players and the field here is probably better than at most Briers. It's hard not to get excited about an event like this and I'm sure the competitive juices will be flowing."
Dutiaume says this event will hold some unique distractions for a local crew.
"We knew a few people in the crowd at the Brier in Edmonton but we'll know a lot of people here. You have to be careful not to let your emotions get the best of you," said Dutiaume. "Just playing in a facility of this calibre can get the best of your emotions. You have to stay focused. For us, we'll try and adopt the same philosophy as last year and just take it shot by shot."
With $30,000 going to the winning team this is a very rich curling purse but Dutiaume says that isn't a motivating factor.
"We're not motivated by money. We just want to win and have a chance to play the best in the world. That being said, $30,000 is a pretty nice chunk of change. Right after Christmas, that might make a few people at home happy."
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