Team Canada and Team Alberta-Bottcher advance at Montana Brier

Brad Gushue took another important step in defending his Canadian men’s curling championship Friday with a crucial victory in qualifying matches Page 1-2 at the Montana Brier, presented by AGI.

Gushue, captain of Team Canada (St. John’s), dominated Team Manitoba-Carruthers (Winnipeg), skipped by Brad Jacobs, 9-7 at the Brandt Centre.

Team Canada, seeking a third consecutive national title, will now face Team Alberta-Bottcher (Calgary), led by Brendan Bottcher, in the Page 1-2 game on Saturday night. Team Alberta-Bottcher punched its ticket to the 1-2 game with a 9-7 victory over Team Saskatchewan (Saskatoon) of captain Mike McEwen.

The winner of this match will advance to Sunday’s gold medal final, while the loser will advance to Sunday’s semifinal.

The two losing teams, who had earned the No. 1. 1 position after playing in Pools A and B, had to come together quickly to face their opponents later in the evening in the Page 3-4 qualifier. Team Manitoba-Carruthers faces Team Manitoba-Dunstone, skipped by Matt Dunstone of Winnipeg, while Team Saskatchewan will face Team Northwest Territories, skipped by Jamie Koe (Yellowknife) .

The losers of these matches will be eliminated, while the winners will play in the Page 3-4 match on Saturday afternoon.

The two afternoon matches were, as expected, close affairs that were played right to the end.

Bottcher made several great shots that paved the way for the victory. He hit a sensational triple with his first stone in the fourth end to turn the game around and produce two points for a 4-3 lead. He also made consecutive field goals to cover the button in the eighth end from cover. McEwen ended up with a wafer-thin angle raise to the button, but spun just wide.

McEwen brought his team back within two in the ninth and, with the help of a stone burn by Team Alberta-Bottcher in the 10th, he had the chance to make a double takeout to force Bottcher to throw his last stone, but failed to succeed.

Team Saskatchewan, playing in front of its home crowd in Regina, is trying to win the Montana Brier for the first time since 1980.

“Winning this game gives us some breathing room and gives us some advantages here for the next few days,” said Bottcher, the 2021 Montana Brier winner and No. 2 team in the world. “We fought this game, we toughed it out.”

Bottcher admitted his triple was huge.

“It was a big swing, a big one on the scoreboard. It allowed us to continue to dictate the play. If we had been forced to do that, they would have had a slight advantage. A few of those shots in the coming days will decide who will win the title.

Marc Kennedy, third on the Alberta-Bottcher team, was happy to play in the 1-2 game.

“I haven’t been to the 1-2 game in 15 years,” he said. “It’s exciting. I haven’t been in a 1-2 match since 2009 with Kevin Martin. Since then, everything has happened in 3-4 matches.

Team Canada was pushed to the limit and needed some great shooting from their captain to get the victory. Gushue took control in the fifth end when he performed a sensational slash-raise-takedown on the button for three points and a 5-3 lead. He also needed a placement in the four-foot circle with his last stone on the 10th, facing two, to earn the victory.

“It was pretty tough,” Gushue said of his hit in the fifth. “I touched it very thinly and it stayed. I wanted to give it a good chance because after butchering the ending before (on a line call), I wanted to make up for it. It’s the kind of thing where you almost have to pull it off the rock and potentially miss it and luckily I pulled it out and did it.

Sunday’s gold medalist will represent Canada at the LGT Men’s World Championship, March 30 to April 7, in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

The 2024 Montana Brier continues Friday with both qualifying games 3-4 at 7 p.m. Central Time.

Live scores, standings and statistics for the 2024 Montana Brier are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/.

TSN and RDS will provide complete coverage of the 2024 Montana Brier. CLICK HERE for the full schedule. Live coverage is also available for international broadcast on TSN YouTube channel.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at https://www.curling.ca/?lang=fr