SUBSTITUTE CHAMPIONS

When the first Brier was held in Toronto in 1927, it was organized late in the curling year, and there was a scramble to assemble the representative teams.

Two members of Ontario’s team, winners of the Silver Tankard, had to be called back from Florida, where they’d escaped to pass the winter. The team’s second, Mel Hunt (father of the late Toronto sportswriter Jim Hunt), and Harry Watson (grandfather of hockey broadcaster Harry Neale) returned with just a few days to spare.

The Nova Scotia entry had its own difficulties.When locals received the invitation to come to Toronto for the first championship, they originally decided to send Murray Macniell’s provincial championship rink. But the only one able to make the trip was the skip, so he selected three other skips to join him.The first time the team played together as a team was the opening draw of the Brier. It obviously worked, as the Halifax four became the first Canadian champions.