CurlingZone: 2023 Brier Preview: Pool B

The 2023 Tim Horton's Brier officially gets underway on Friday evening as defending champions Team Gushue (Photo: Anil Mungal) clash with Jaques Gauthier and Team British Columbia in the opening draw.

By: Dylan Chenier

Newfoundland's Brad Gushue, skip of Team Canada at this year's Tim Horton's Brier, will start his quest for a fourth national championship on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. ET, as he faces Jacques Gauthier and Team British Columbia (BC) in Draw One at the Budweiser Gardens in London.

Heading into this year's event, Team Gushue looks a bit different than the rink that won last year's Brier in Lethbridge, with E.J. Harnden joining the squad at second for this season. Alongside lead Geoff Walker and third Mark Nichols, Team Gushue will be looking for their second consecutive national title.

It won't be an easy road to the finals for Team Canada, however, with the rink set to endure a tough round-robin, which kicks off on Friday night against Jacques Gauthier's young rink from Victoria. With third Stirling Middleton, second Jason Ginter, and lead Alex Horvath, Team Gauthier will be competing in their first-ever Brier this week in London.

Gauthier's rink earned their spot in the 2023 Brier field with an 8-5 victory over Brent Pierce in the finals of the BC Men's Curling Championships earlier this winter. The team will be looking for a strong performance in London, alongside many of this country's best men's rinks.

Teams Canada and BC are just two of the rinks that make up Pool B at this year's Brier, as organizers have once again split the event into two pools of nine teams. Pool B at this year's tournament features several other noteworthy rinks, including the home-province team of Mike McEwen who represents Ontario for the first time in his career. The Manitoba native will be joined by third Ryan Fry, second Brent Laing, and lead Joey Heart. This year's Brier marks McEwen's eighth appearance at nationals; he is still looking for his first win.

Alberta's Brendan Bottcher will be looking for his second Brier title as he skips Team Wild Card #1, with third Marc Kennedy, second Brent Gallant, and lead Ben Hebert. After finishing as the runner-up for three years in a row, Bottcher finally won his first Brier in 2021. The skip will be looking for a strong showing with his new team, in the hopes of taking home another title.

Other Pool B rinks include Quebec (Asselin), PEI (Smith), New Brunswick (Jones), Wild Card #3 (Sturmay), and Yukon (Scoffin). At the conclusion of the round-robin, the second and third-ranked teams in each pool crossover to contest a single elimination playoff round, the winners of which advance to a page-playoff seeding draw against the top two teams.

The page playoff kicks off on Saturday afternoon with the 3v4 game at 1:00 p.m., with the winner moving on to face the loser of Saturday night's 1v2 game in the semi-finals (12:00 p.m. Sunday). The winner of Saturday's 1v2 contest, set for 7:00 p.m. Saturday advances directly to the championship final (7:00 p.m. Sunday).

The winners of this year's Tim Horton's Brier will represent Team Canada at the 2023 World Men's Curling Championship, from April 1 to 9 in Ottawa, Ontario. Canada last won the World Men's Championship in 2017, when Brad Gushue secured the gold medal in Edmonton. Since 2017, Canada has won silver medals in three of the last four World Championships.

Fans in Canada can watch the entire Tim Horton's Brier on TSN, with replays set to be uploaded to Curling Canada's new streaming service Curling Canada Plus. Meanwhile, fans in the USA will be unable to watch this year's Season of Champions on ESPN 3, as was the case in past years. For 2023, American fans will have to rely on Curling Canada Plus replays.

Draw One at the Tim Horton's Brier is set for Friday night at 7:00 p.m. inside the Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario.

For live SCORES, STANDINGS, and STATISTICS, visit www.CurlingZone.com.

Look for our Pool A preview on Saturday morning.

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