 The Northwest Territories' Jamie Koe (Photo: Curling Canada) and Team Canada's Brad Gushue moved one step closer to the Brier tankard with wins Thursday in Regina. By: Cameron Sallaj For the second time in his career, Jamie Koe has reached the championship round at the Montana's Brier. In a must-win game in Draw 17, the team played Prince Edward Island's Tyler Smith to see which of the two rinks would advance. In the first, the Territories' squad of Koe, Glen Kennedy, Cole Parsons and Shadrach Mcleod started well, taking a steal of one. PEI then got one back in the second to tie the score. For the next four ends, the two rinks traded deuces, sitting deadlocked 5-5 after six. Then in seven, the team from the Crapaud Community Curling Club of Smith, Adam Cocks, Chris Gallant and Ed White were able to force the Territories to just one point, trailing by one heading into eight. A well-played eighth end by PEI gave skip Tyler Smith an open draw to the rings to count three points and give his team a commanding 8-6 lead, which he made. Koe then elected to blank in nine, taking the hammer into the tenth but down two points. With their playoff hopes on the line, the team's third Glen Kennedy made a perfect double takeout and roll buried on his second stone. This set the team from the north up for two, tying the game and sending the pivotal match into overtime. In the extra, Jamie Koe faced two on his final shot. Needing the perfect draw, Koe calmly drew his rock onto the tee line completely buried. Needing to follow him down, Smith wrecked on his own third shot rock and was not able to make it into the four-foot, giving up a steal and the victory to the Northwest Territories, 9-8 the final score. With the win, the Territories' rink advanced to the knockout round of the Brier for the first time since 2012. That year, the team qualified for the playoffs with a 7-4 record before being defeated by Koe's brother Kevin 10-6 in the 3 vs. 4 game. The team went on to finish fourth after an 8-7 extra end loss in the bronze medal game against Manitoba's Rob Fowler. To win this year's Tankard, the team will again have to go through the 3 vs. 4 game. As they finished third in the pool, they only have one chance to reach the playoffs in the 3/4 page seeding game Friday night. A win will enter them into the playoffs where a loss will eliminate them from contention. For PEI, the loss eliminated the from the competition and continued the province's drought of not reaching the knockout rounds since 1996. Despite this, the 5-3 week is something Smith can be proud of as in his previous three Brier appearances, he won four games total, more than doubling that number this week in Regina. The other two playoff teams out of Pool B will be Saskatchewan's Mike McEwen and Team Canada's Brad Gushue, each earning the one and two spots out of the pool respectively. Having already clinched first with a Draw 15 win, Saskatchewan won 7-6 over Quebec's Julien Tremblay (2-6; various clubs) in their final round robin game while Team Canada eliminated Alberta's Aaron Sluchinski (4-4; Airdrie) in a 10-4 affair. The other game in the draw saw Alberta's Kevin Koe (2-6; Calgary) end the week on a high note, beating Nunavut's Shane Latimer (1-7; Iqaluit) 6-4 in a battle of the two last ranked teams in the pool. Pool B Final Standings: 1. Saskatchewan (McEwen): 7-1 2. Team Canada (Gushue): 6-2 3. Northwest Territories (J. Koe): 5-3 (defeated PEI 9-8) 4. Prince Edward Island (Smith): 5-3 (lost to NT 8-9) 5. Nova Scotia (Manuel): 4-4 (defeated AB-S 6-2) 6. Alberta (Sluchinski): 4-4 (lost to NS 2-6) 7: Quebec (Tremblay): 2-6 (defeated AB-K 11-6) 8: Alberta (Koe): 2-6 (lost to QC 6-11) 9: Nunavut (Latimer): 1-7 Round robin play at the 2024 Montana's Brier wraps up Thursday evening at 7:00 PM Central Time with Brendan Bottcher, Matt Dunstone and Trevor Bonot fighting for the two remaining spots in the championship round. |
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Brendan Bottcher (photo: Stan Fong) is moving on from now former teammates Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert, announced Tuesday.
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