Down 4-1 playing the seventh end – you just drew for 1 facing four to be down two coming home. What are the odds you are going to win the game? What are the odds you are even going to force an extra end?

With three rocks each to come, Canadian Police Champion Dale Hockley’s team faced that turning point shot we have all faced – “game’s probably over if we don’t make a pretty good shot right now!!”

Third Glenn Brannan made a dandy. With the added consideration that it was an early August event in an abnormally hot summer, the fact the St. Vital ice was as good as it was at the end of the Police-Fire Games was a surprise to many – and that made Brennan’s shot maybe as good a shot as you’ll see all winter.

The body language and the look on the face of Steve Moss tell the story as the yellow last shot didn’t curl up quite enough – rubbed off their own stone biting top four foot – rolled across the face of the other two counters, removing one but leaving a steal of two to force the extra end.

Over a decade after picking up a World Police & Fire Games silver medal (2009-Vancouver), Steve Moss, Frank McCort, and Chris Haichart have won their gold medal.

In 2009, Moss (NWT) has a chance to improve on a silver medal won in 2009 when he skipped his team of Chris Haichart (now Sask), and McCort (ON) teamed with Ryan Lalonde (Wpg) in Vancouver.

This year at St. Vital, the firefighters team with Gregg Tarasoff (Sask) replacing Lalonde and throwing fourth rocks, while Moss skipped, defeated the reigning Canadian Police champions in the Saturday evening gold medal game.

BC’s Dale Hockley, Glen Brennan, Randy Nelson and Daniel Brennan forced an extra end in the final game, stealing two coming home. The Moss foursome played a near perfect extra end, leaving Hockley facing four clustered in and near the four foot circle. A last stone ‘we have to try something’ attempt failed and the Moss team had their gold medal.

In addition to the 2009 World Games silver medal,  Moss (a 3-time Brier skip from Northwest Territories) and  Haichart had won the 2008 Canadian Firefighters event.  After Haichart moved to Saskatchewan, Tarasoff & Haichart won the Canadian firefighters together in 2013, 2018, and 2019.

The bronze medal game was featured the current Manitoba Police champions playing the current Manitoba Firefighters  champion skip with a cross-country team of firefighters.

The police team, skipped by Mike Dauk with Braden Zawada throwing last stones and supported by David Aitken & Rob Mitchell, prevailed. Tied 3-3 coming home, Zawada didn’t have to throw his last stone for a 5-3 victory over Dan Michalchuk and his team.

Fourteen teams from across Canada competed in the event. The three medalist teams had all finished the round robin with identical 5W-1L records in the same pool while the Michalchuk foursome were also 5-W-1L to top the other pool.  

The Dauk-Zawada team defeated a Hamilton, ON Canadian Border Services team in a cross-over play-in game while Hockley defeated Winnipeg Firefighters Team McDonald.

The Saturday evening medal games turned out to be re-matches of the Page Playoff first round games.

On the top side of the Page Playoff, Dauk-Zawada had beaten Michalchuk (6-5) while Moss defeated Hockley (8-7). The Moss team earned their gold medal game berth with a Saturday morning 6-1 win over the Manitobans.

On the bottom side of the Page Playoff draw, Hockley defeated Michalchuk (6-4) and then Dauk-Zawada  4-3 to earn the gold medal berth. The losses set up the Dauk-Zawada vs Michalchuk bronze medal game.

Steve Moss has a chance to improve on a silver medal won in 2009 when he skipped his team of Chris Haichart, Ryan Lalonde, & Frank McCort to the final game of the World Police-Fire Games in Vancouver.

This year at St. Vital, with Gregg Tarasoff replacing Lalonde and throwing fourth rocks, while Moss skips, the team has earned a spot in tonight’s 6PM gold medal game.

At the start of the week, it might have been difficult to name a favourite to win the gold medal but based on track record alone, three of the names to consider would probably have been Steve Moss; Dale Hockley with his BC team which won the Canadian Police gold medal for 2022-23, and the Mike Dauk-Braden Zawada Winnipeg Police team which won Manitoba and the Canadian Bronze medal last season.

Those are the three teams which could still win the gold.

This morning, Moss advanced with a 6-1 win over the Manitoba Police team, dropping the Dauk-Zawada foursome into the bottom side of the Page Playoff draw.

Their 2PM game to set-up a re-match is against Hockley and his Canadian champion Police team.  Earlier today, Hockley defeated Manitoba firefighter champion skip Dan Michalchuk, drawing to the four foot facing two on the final end, for a 6-4 win.

In addition to the 2009 World Games silver medal,  Moss (a 3-time Brier skip from Northwest Territories) and Moss & Haichart had won the 2008 Canadian Firefighters event.  After Haichart moved to Saskatchewan, Tarasoff & Haichart won the Canadian firefighters together in 2013, 2018, and 2019.

There will also be a bronze medal game. Michalchuk’s foursome gets a second chance to medal. They’ll play the loser of the 2PM game – that game also at 6PM.

FIRST PLAYOFF ROUND: (Friday, August 4) It was an exciting finish in both playoff games Friday evening in the Police/Fire Games at St. Vital. Steve Moss (a firefighter and former Brier rep from NWT, playing with 2 Sask and an Ontario colleague) gave up a five on the 7th end to trail BC’s Dale Hockley (2023 Canadian Police Champion) but built a three coming home to win 8-7.

On the next sheet over, the reigning Manitoba Police champs (and 2023 Canadian Bronze medallists) skipped by Mike Dauk were tied coming home with the hammer against the Manitoba 2023 Manitoba Firefighters’ champion skip Dan Michalchuk (playing with 2 Ontario colleagues and one from Alberta). Michalchuk placed a near perfect guard on his shot stone, forcing Dauk’s 4^th thrower Braden Zawada to draw – which he did perfectly for a 6-5 win.

Moss, Dauk/Zawada, and  Hockley all finished 5W-1L in their pool but the tiebreaker formula awarded Moss top spot with Dauk/Zawada in second and Hockley third. Michalchuk was also 5W-1L to top the other pool with Team McDonald (Winnipeg Fire) in second and a Hamilton, ON Canadian Border Services team in third.  McDonald lost to Hockley and the Hamilton foursome lost to Dauk/Zawada in the 2-3 play-in games.