It seems every year, right about this exact moment on the eve of the Brier, fans and curling pundits proclaim the latest Brier field is the most talent-laden it’s ever been.
But surely, this is the deepest Brier field ever, right?
Most notably, Calgary skip Kevin Koe is looking to win his fifth Brier title, and should he do it in Kingston, he’ll have more national championships than any other male skip to ever play game.
Koe, 45, will be wearing the Maple Leaf as Team Canada at this year’s Brier after winning the championship in Brandon, Man., last March in a thrilling final against Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher.
Koe’s lead, Ben Hebert, is also looking for his fifth Brier championship to move into elite company.
But defending the title isn’t going to be easy for Koe and company with a number of past champions competing.
Past Brier Champions eye another Prize
Brad Gushue and his team from Newfoundland and Labrador are looking for their third Brier title in the last four years. It’s Gushue’s 17th appearance at the national championship – he’s no stranger to Canada’s curling extravaganza.
Gushue finally broke through after years of disappointment by capturing his first championship in front of a raucous hometown crowd in St. John’s in 2017. He followed that up by defending the title in Regina one year later.
Newfoundland and Labrador skip Brad Gushue poses with the Brier Tinkard trophy after defeating Team Canada in the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)
Then there’s Brad Jacobs and his revamped Northern Ontario team – they added 2010 Olympic champion Marc Kennedy during the offseason in place of third Ryan Fry. Jacobs also won a gold medal at the Olympics in 2014. A year earlier, he won the 2013 Brier.
Jacobs is always a threat at the Brier, in the hunt as the end of the week nears. Will this new look team finally get Northern Ontario back on top of Canada’s curling world? The team from Sault Ste. Marie enters the Brier as the country’s top team on the Canadian Team Ranking System.
Breakthrough at the Brier?
Brendan Bottcher and his team from Edmonton are once again back at the Brier and looking to finally break through. Two years ago, Bottcher lost the final to Brad Gushue – then he lost to Koe last year. Will the third trip be the charm?
This team has been remarkably consistent over the past two seasons with a number of Grand Slam of Curling wins and the back-to-back Brier final appearances. They’d love nothing more than to take one step higher to the top of the podium at this year’s championship in Kingston.
Then there’s John Epping’s team from Ontario. Epping picked up Ryan Fry this past offseason and the team is currently ranked second-highest in Canada.
Epping is having one of his strongest seasons ever with two Slam wins and a Canada Cup win at the beginning of December.
McEwen wins Wild Card spot
Mike McEwen and his team from Winnipeg earned the final spot at this year’s Brier by winning a tension-filled Wild Card game on Friday night in Kingston.
The top two teams on the Canadian Team Ranking System that didn’t qualify for the Brier through their provincial/territorial championships earn the last-chance spot to make it into the tournament.
That left McEwen taking on Glenn Howard in the one-game showdown.
Early in the game, Howard put a lot of pressure on McEwen, but it was the 39-year-old skip from Brandon, Man., who bailed his team out with some remarkable shots.
It came down to the final rock of the game, when McEwen calmly delivered a game-winning draw for the victory and a ticket into this year’s championship.
WATCH | McEwen outlasts Howard for Brier berth:
Mike McEwen’s perfect draw in the 10th end sent his Winnipeg rink into the Tim Horton’s Brier main draw. 1:00
Brier Format
The 16 teams are split into two pools of eight, based on their Canadian Team Ranking System standing. They play seven round-robin games within their pool, with the top four teams in each group moving into the championship pool.
POOL A
1. Northern Ontario, Brad Jacobs 4. Alberta, Brendan Bottcher 5. Newfoundland/Labrador, Brad Gushue 8. Manitoba, Jason Gunnlaugson 9. Nova Scotia, Jamie Murphy 12. Quebec, Alek Bedard 13. Prince Edward Island, Bryan Cochrane 16. Nunavut, Jake Higgs
POOL B
2. Ontario, John Epping 3. Team Wild Card, Mike McEwen 6. Team Canada, Kevin Koe 7. Saskatchewan, Matt Dunstone 10. British Columbia, Steve Laycock 11. New Brunswick, James Grattan 14. Yukon, Thomas Scoffin 15. Northwest Territories, Jamie Koe
The four teams advancing from Pool A will play the four teams advancing from Pool B on Thursday and Friday, and then the top four win-loss records (including the preliminary round) will move into the traditional page playoffs beginning Saturday.
The semifinal is Sunday, March 8, at noon, while the gold-medal game is at 7 p.m ET.
The winning team will represent Canada at the 2020 Men’s World Curling Championship March 28-April 5 in Glasgow, Scotland. The winner will also defend its title as Team Canada in the 2021 Brier in Kelowna, B.C., and earn a direct-entry berth into the 2021 Roar of the Rings in Saskatoon.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
