The Brier: Sweeping the house in Calgary

It caught everyone off-guard when Team Canada's John Morris decided to give his third Pat Simmons a shot as skip. 

• The Brier: Northern Ontario remains perfect
• The Brier: Brad Jacobs keeps win streak alive
• The Brier: Live updates from the ice

"As much as I kept hoping it would happen, it just never did," said Morris. "I think our best chance to win this was making that move."

After struggling in their first five games, Team Canada had a late-night team meeting after their Monday drubbing at the hands of Saskatchewan. They needed a change.

"We needed a spark. We were just missing something," admitted Morris. "I asked Pat (Simmons) if he would skip. It was a team decision."

Now Team Canada is being led by the former Saskatchewan skip, Pat Simmons. So far, so good. In the afternoon draw, the new look team beat the Northwest Territorites.

Then last night, in the most anticipated game at the Brier, Canada beat Kevin Koe and Team Alberta. It appears this is the way it'll stay for the rest of the tournament.

Competitive Field

At the start of Wednesday, there is one team leading the standings. Northern Ontario is running away from the rest of the pack. Brad Jacobs and his crew are still unbeaten after seven games.

After that it gets really interesting. Newfoundland is in second with a 5-2 record. Saskatchewan is just behind with a 4-2 record. Then there are five teams tied with three loses.

By the end of Wednesday we should start to see some separation between these teams. Or, as it's been so far, the teams will continue to stay locked together.

All of this is to say that these teams are highly competitive and very evenly matched. Remember the top four teams make the playoffs. Where are all the people? We're about halfway through this year's Brier and the attendance is slumping.

Through 10 draws at the tournament just a little more than 60,000 have attended games at the Saddledome. Normally crowds are smaller at the beginning of the week and build towards the playoffs. But consider this: last night's draw was billed as the one to be at during the Brier.

Team Canada vs. Team Alberta

A Battle of Alberta on ice.

Just over 7,600 people showed up to watch. I was expecting at least 10,000. When Calgary last hosted the Brier in 2009, fans in this city set the third-largest attendance record ever. More than 246,000 curling fans came to the Dome to watch.

This year will probably get close to 150,000. Considerably lower. All that said, it's still a large number of people gathering to watch grown men throw rocks. Many feel people are staying home and watching on TV and you almost can't blame them. The players are mic'd up.

The camera angles are tighter. You can focus on one game. There are a lot of perks to watching at home, but I still prefer being in the arena. It's always better live.

Brier standings