Brier Combatants Into Playoffs

Ontario won a last-stone showdown in their final round robin game to avoid a tiebreaker and qualify for the 2023 Brier playoffs.

Faced with a must-win situation to finish third in Pool B, Ontario’s Mike McEwen team battled Wild Card 3’s Karsten Surmay (3-5) at the Canadian men’s curling championship at Budweiser Gardens in London, Ont.

Back and forth they went until the 10th end when McEwen, third Ryan Fry, second Brent Laing and lead Joey Hart scored a lifesaving deuce to pull out a 9-8 win.

It looked like the Toronto squad was headed for a Friday tiebreaker in the 10th end until McEwen made a fantastic in-off from his own stone into Sturmay’s shot stone to sit one.

Sturmay also threw out a lifeline; on his last shot he nicked McEwen’s shot rock, trying to come behind, and rolled open. McEwen picked it off for a score of two and the win.

Ontario’s win improved its record to 6-2 and effectively slammed the door on skip Félix Asselin’s frantic bid for a playoff spot for Team Quebec (5-3). Asselin needed some help from Team Sturmay to knock off Ontario, meanwhile winning his own game over New Brunswick, to force a tiebreaker.

“It’s tough playing a team playing loose,” said McEwen. “I thought (Sturmay) played a great game. We had to work through that. It was a great comeback. I feel fortunate to have a shot to win.”

The end result was a tough pill for Asselin to swallow.

“I’m bummed out right now,” said the 28-year-old Quebec skip. “But that’s what happens when you leave (results) to others.”

It was also a big night for skip Brad Gushue’s Team Canada (7-1) who clinched first place in Pool B after an 8-3 win over Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin (2-6).

The win assured the defending champs a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

“We started really slow but I think we built all week,” said Gushue. “The last day and a half I’ve felt this is the best we’ve played all year.”

The playoffs are in Gushue’s wheelhouse and he’s amped to get started in the home stretch and see if he can win his record-breaking fifth Canadian men’s curling title as a skip.

“These games matter,” he said. “There’s a little bit of nerves. Certainly I’ve had it the last couple of games, the excitement to throw. I think that’s translated into some pretty good curling.”

Brendan Bottcher and his Team Wild Card 1 (7-1) clinched the second playoff spot in Pool B earlier in the day. Bottcher earned the second berth due to his head-to-head record against Team Canada.

In the other Pool B game, skip Jacques Gauthier’s British Columbia (3-5) went out with a bang, thumping Prince Edward Island (2-6) skipped by Tyler Smith by a score of 9-2.

Teams missing out of Pool A’s playoff picture included Saskatchewan’s Kelly Knapp and Reid Carruthers’ Wild Card entry (both 4-4).

The playoffs begin Friday. Up first is the must-win Page qualifier at 1:00 p.m. (all times ET), with Tanner Horgan’s Northern Ontario facing Bottcher while Alberta’s Kevin Koe faces Ontario’s McEwen. Losers will be eliminated.

The winners advance to the Page qualifier at 7:00 p.m. The winner of Northern Ontario/Wild Card 1 faces Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone and the victor of the Alberta/Ontario match squares off against Canada’s Team Gushue. The winners of the evening game advance to the Page 1v2 game and the losers advance to the Page 3v4 game.

The final goes Sunday, March 12.