Curlers from Newfoundland and Labrador were front and centre as Brier all-stars and award winners were announced over the weekend in Regina.
Every member of the now two-time champion Team Canada rink out of St. John’s was named an all-star — three of them to the first team — while Newfoundland skip Greg Smith was the choice for the Brier sportsmanship award.
Team Canada skip Brad Gushue, third Mark Nichols and second Brett Gallant were named first-team all-stars based on them having the best shooting percentages at their positions during the round robin.
It was almost a clean first-team sweep for the defending champions.
Team Canada lead Geoff Walker was a second-team choice with a 92 per cent shooting the percentage, the same as Denni Neufeld of the wild-card team. However, Neufeld was the first-team choice after application of a tiebreaker based on plus/minus (players receive a plus for every game in which they outcurl their positional opponent by five per cent or more).
The 21-year-old Smith and his rookie St. John’s entry finished 14th overall with just one win in eight games, but the N.L. skip impressed throughout with his energy, enthusiasm and interaction with fans. That earned him the Ross Harstone Trophy, presented to the player chosen by his peers as the curler in the Brier who best represents the ideals of good sportsmanship, observance of the rules, exemplary conduct and curling ability.
In the photo above, Curling Canada’s Scott Comfort presents the Harstone Award to Smith.
