Provincial Rivals Square Off at Brier

Brendan Bottcher relived last year’s Brier playoffs in a day on Wednesday. In the morning, he took on Matt Dunstone whom he defeated in last year’s semifinal. In the evening, he met Kevin Koe who he had faced in the 2021 championship final.

The script had a different ending. Despite defeating Dunstone in the morning, Bottcher fell to Koe by a score of 5-4 in the evening Battle of Alberta.

“That was a barnburner, just what we expected,” said John Morris following the match, calling it a “character-tester.”

“Our skipper sure played awesome, and really made some great shots to keep us in that,” he said. “We just wanted to make sure we gave him a shot to win at the end.”

Koe and Bottcher made an aggressive start. The first three ends produced a score of two and then a steal of one for Koe, followed by a score of three for Bottcher to pull even.

After that, a patient Koe blanked five straight ends, even as the house remained lively throughout.

“There was rocks in play. I mean, it wasn't like everyone was getting up and down the sheets,” said Koe.

Koe looked to blank once more in the ninth, but missed a double takeout on his last shot, handing a steal of one and a 4-3 lead to Bottcher, but keeping hammer for the final end of the game.

In that last frame, Bottcher left his final stone open, setting up Koe to make a hit for two and notch the victory.

The Alberta crowd cheered the Koe team as he scored the win. Koe’s family was exuberant, and Morris’s father—the legendary Earle Morris—whistled enthusiastically. The Albertans raised their brushes to acknowledge the crowd.

“I mean, both teams are Alberta teams. They’re pulling for both teams, I’m sure,” said Koe. “We’ve got a lot of people who are closer in Lethbridge. A lot of people from home. So a very supportive crowd, a great crowd. It’s just lots of fun to be playing in this atmosphere again.”

The outcome leaves the possibility of a four-way tie in Pool A, pending the results of the pool’s one remaining draw on Thursday afternoon.

A key in determining those standings will be a rematch of the recent Saskatchewan provincial final, where Colton Flasch’s team defeated Matt Dunstone 6-4, claiming their green jerseys and leaving the Dunstone squad to wear their Wild Card uniforms at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge.

If Flasch’s team wins the Thursday game, the provincial rivals are likely to meet once again on Friday morning in a tiebreaker. If Dunstone’s Wild Card entry takes the match, they guarantee themselves a spot in the playoffs.

Following his 8-3 win over Newfoundland and Labrador on Wednesday night Flasch was asked about the coming rematch.

“They’re playing well, obviously,” said Flasch. “I’ve watched them a little bit this week, and we’re going to need our best to win, and if that’s not enough then so be it.”

There is much history between the two teams, dating back to 2011. Dunstone’s Braeden Moskowy and Kirk Muyres teamed with Flasch that season to win the Canadian junior title.

With two draws left to be played in Pool B on Thursday, more scenarios remain in the mix. Northern Ontario, Wild Card 3 (Jason Gunnlaugson) and Manitoba all have two losses, while faint hope remains for Nova Scotia and British Columbia who sit at three losses each.

Gunnlaugson second Matt Wozniak was asked if he was scoreboard-watching Manitoba’s win over Northern Ontario.

“Yeah,” said Wozniak, frankly. “We’re watching that game a little bit, and Mike’s standing on his head like he normally does and it’s not really helping us.”

Wozniak played on the original Mike McEwen team for 11 years, dating from 2007 through 2018. His own personal history with McEwen started in 2005.

“I think we could probably say that was like our best team game,” said McEwen following the 8-6 victory. “You know, I made some big ones early. The boys, all the draws I threw, they managed really well. And Colton (Lott) made like tick after tick after tick. I think he made a good four of them. So that’s impressive. Lead’s not his natural position, but he’s owning it.”

McEwen said the win sets his team up with a good chance to make the playoffs as they enter the final day of the tournament with games against eliminated Northwest Territories and Quebec.

“Our goal at the start of the week was to try to get to six and two,” said McEwen. “And then we control our own destiny, so we needed this one today. That was big. And you know, that’s all I can ask for, to try to split the games between the two Brads. So we’re in a really good spot for tomorrow.”

If Manitoba wins both Thursday games, then Gunnlaugson will need to win his  remaining match against the undefeated Brad Gushue to at least have a shot at a tiebreaker.

Wozniak said his team is ready for that challenge.

“Jay’s throwing it about as good as I’ve seen him throw it since my time on the team, so definitely having a hot skip is needed in this event,” said Wozniak. “So yeah, we’re gonna have to beat the Goo tomorrow—looking like we’re gonna have to beat them to keep our hopes alive here. So that's going to be tough, but we’re ready for that for sure.”

As Gushue continues to win, second Brett Gallant said that expectations are rising.

He added that as teams prepare for likely changes after this season, he wants his team to make the most of this Brier.

“We’ve had a ton of success over the last eight years,” said Gallant. “So if this year is the end for us, I think we really want to go out the way we kind of played all along, and that’s giving it our best shot.

“It doesn’t guarantee a win by any means out here, but I think we’d like to leave it all out there for sure.”