Brad Gushue extra-end win Jason Gunnlaugson Tim Hortons Brier

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — Shortly after securing first place in his pool with one other comfy round-robin win, Alberta’s Kevin Koe seemed up on the media backdrop stand adorned with footage of earlier nationwide males’s curling champions.

The veteran skip is holding the Tim Hortons Brier tankard in 4 of them. He has cleared the primary hurdle in his mission to do it a fifth time.

Koe beat Prince Edward Island’s Tyler Smith 8-3 on Thursday afternoon on the Enmax Centre to prime the Pool A desk at 7-1.

“A number of delight, I suppose, to have received this 4 occasions,” Koe stated. “Clearly, they’re nice reminiscences however the focus is clearly attempting to win one other. All of us having received it, it will most likely assist calm us slightly.

“We all know what to anticipate if we get right into a state of affairs to attempt to win one other one hopefully.”

The primary-place positioning provides Koe, third B.J. Neufeld, second John Morris and lead Ben Hebert some further relaxation. They will get to skip the crossover playoff qualifier video games Friday afternoon between the second- and third-place finishers.

“We’re glad we’re there however now the true work begins,” Hebert stated.

Canada’s Brendan Bottcher (7-1) was in second place after a 6-3 win over Nathan Younger of Newfoundland and Labrador. Saskatchewan’s Colton Flasch wanted an additional finish for a 9-8 win over Wild Card Two’s Matt Dunstone, establishing a morning tiebreaker between the 6-2 provincial rivals for the third and closing playoff spot in Pool A.

In Pool B, Brad Gushue’s Wild Card One workforce (8-0) secured first place with a 6-5 victory over Wild Card Three’s Jason Gunnlaugson. Gushue saved his unbeaten file intact within the night with an 8-7 win over B.C.’s Brent Pierce (4-4).

Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs (6-2) secured second place with a 10-2 rout of Nova Scotia’s Paul Flemming (3-5). Mike McEwen dropped a 9-6 choice to Quebec’s Michael Fournier (4-4) to arrange a tiebreaker towards Gunnlaugson (5-3), who was idle for the night draw.

McEwen (5-3) gave up 4 factors within the ninth finish and conceded within the tenth.

“It is slightly disappointing to have a nasty recreation,” McEwen stated. “No less than it did not knock us out. It may very well be a very lengthy day tomorrow.”

Gushue, in the meantime, stated that he seems like he is enjoying with home cash on the Brier. He has had a whirlwind schedule after successful Olympic bronze a couple of weeks in the past on the Beijing Olympics.

“The (fewer) video games we will play proper now the higher,” Gushue stated. “I am fairly pooped after two lengthy, tight video games at present. I went again after the primary recreation and slept for over two hours. I am fairly exhausted.”

Within the different late recreation, Jamie Koe (1-7) of the Northwest Territories beat Peter Mackey (0-8) of Nunavut 11-4.

Ontario’s Glenn Howard completed in fifth place in Pool A at 4-4. He was adopted by New Brunswick’s James Grattan (3-5) and Smith, Younger and Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin, all at 1-7.

It is an 18-team subject on the nationwide playdowns this yr – two greater than typical – and there is an expanded playoff construction.

The crossover recreation winners will play the pool leaders within the night. The winners of these video games advance to the Web page playoff 1-2 recreation Saturday and the losers meet within the 3-4 recreation.

The 1-2 Web page winner goes on to Sunday evening’s closing. The 1-2 loser performs the 3-4 winner within the semifinal earlier that day.

The Brier winner will characterize Canada on the April 2-10 world males’s curling championship in Las Vegas.

Kerri Einarson received her third straight Scotties Match of Hearts title final month in Thunder Bay, Ont. She is going to put on the Maple Leaf on the March 19-27 ladies’s world curling championship in Prince George, B.C.

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed March 10, 2022.

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