First draw wraps up

Well, the first draw of the 2009 and history doesn't bode well for the four who were defeated.
In the previous 29 Briers in the playoff era, the champion has played in the first draw 23 times
So there's a good chance the winner took the ice this afternoon and an even better chance they were won of the four winners.
In those 23 games, the eventual winner won all but six times.
So it should not be a surprise that of those four winners, three of them — Kevin Martin, Alberta; Jeff Stoughton, Manitoba; and Jean-Michel Menard, Quebec — are former Brier champs.
Now, keep in mind that since 1992, just 66 per cent of the field plays in the first draw, with the four-sheet format (before then it was all but two teams from 1980 to 1990 with five sheets and everybody played with six sheets in 1991). So of those six winners who didn't play in the opening round, five have been since 1992 (that's 30 per cent, just about right).
So that gives a little hope to the four teams (N.L., Ontario, N. Ontario and B.C.) who didn't play in the opening draw. Remember, Martin didn't play in the opening draw last year.
So, while history says that there is a good chance Martin, Menard, Stoughton or P.E.I.'s Rod MacDonald will win the Brier, it's not a done deal. But if any of the four playing their first game tonight want to be the Brier champ, they have to win this evening. Of those six champs to sit out the opening draw, they all won in the second draw.
That means, the champ won its opening game 23 out of 29 times.
Now of those six opening round losses by the future winners, four have taken place since the CCA adopted the four-sheet format in 1992. So that's a little hope for Jamie Koe, Joel Jordison, and former champs Mark Dacey and Russ Howard.
There's one other thing that Howard's New Brunswick crew can take to heart — of those six opening round losses, Howard owns two of them. In 1987 B.C.'s Bernie Sparkes topped Ontario's Howard 8-5. In 1993, Manitoba's Vic Peters beat Howard 5-4. And Peters was the previous year's winner, like Martin.
Hmmm, interesting little factoid.
Well, enjoy the second draw.