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.
NEW YORK – Toronto Blue Jays reliever Chad Green and Canadian slugger Tyler O’Neill of the Boston Red Sox were named finalists for the Major League Baseball Players’ Association’s American League comeback player award on Monday.
Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet was the other nominee.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. were named player of the year finalists.
The award winners, selected via player voting, will be named Saturday before Game 2 of the World Series.
Green, who missed most of the 2022 and ’23 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was a high-leverage option for the Blue Jays this past season and filled in at closer over the second half of the campaign.
The right-hander converted his first 16 save opportunities and finished the year with a 4-6 record, 17 saves and a 3.21 earned-run average over 53 appearances.
O’Neill, a native of Burnaby, B.C., also endured back-to-back injury-plagued seasons in ’22 and ’23.
After being traded to the Red Sox in the off-season, O’Neill set an MLB record by hitting a homer in his fifth straight Opening Day. He finished with 31 homers on the year and had an OPS of .847.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
Alabama’s Mark Sears and North Carolina‘s RJ Davis looked into the possibility of leaving for the NBA before deciding to return for another college season.
Their decisions helped their teams earn top-10 rankings in the AP Top 25 and earned both players some preseason honors, too.
Sears was a near-unanimous selection for The Associated Press preseason All-America men’s basketball team released Monday, earning all but one vote from a 55-person national media panel. Davis was right behind him, nabbing 51 votes.
They were joined by Kansas big man Hunter Dickinson, Auburn forward Johni Broome, Arizona guard Caleb Love and Duke freshman Cooper Flagg. Love and Flagg tied for the final spot, creating a six-man team that includes only the ACC, Big 12 and SEC.
Alabama twin bill
Sears was a key cog in the Crimson Tide’s first trip to the Final Four a year ago, orchestrating one of college basketball’s highest-scoring teams.
The 6-foot-1 guard was named a second-team AP All-America after averaging 21.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists. He was the first Division I player in 31 years to have 795 points, 150 rebounds, 145 assists and 95 three-pointers in a single season while breaking the Alabama single-season record with 26 games with at least 20 points.
Sears worked out for NBA scouts during the offseason before deciding to return to Alabama, earning the Crimson Tide a No. 2 ranking in the preseason AP Top 25.
“I saw the team that we had and I wanted to be a part of it, and bring home Alabama’s first national championship in basketball,” Sears said.
Across the state at rival Auburn, Broome made a quick decision about his future, announcing in April that he would be back for a fifth season.
The 6-10 forward was a third-team AP All-American last season after averaging 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds while shooting nearly 55% from the floor. With an eye on an NBA future, Broome worked hard on his perimeter shooting during the offseason and his return earned Auburn a No. 11 preseason ranking.
“My main goal is a team goal, which is to win the national championship, to make it as far as I can in March Madness,” Broome said. “When a team shines, everyone shines individually.”
Along Tobacco Road
Like Sears, Davis has similar aspirations after opting to return for his fifth season at North Carolina.
The 6-foot guard was an AP All-American last season and the ACC player of the year after averaging 21.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists on a team that reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Davis enters this year within reach of former North Carolina big man Tyler Hansbrough’s all-time ACC scoring record.
“I know there’s more work to be done,” Davis said. “I know my jersey’s not going up until I leave. So there’s some more records to break and some more work to be done. I’m satisfied but I’m not satisfied, if that makes sense.”
Up the road at Duke, Flagg was the only underclassman on the preseason All-America team after arriving with tons of hype. The 6-9 swingman was the No. 1-rated high school recruit out of Newport, Maine and has been projected as the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft.
Flagg has the skills of a guard, but can also play inside and has worked hard on his perimeter shooting, giving him the potential to be one of college basketball’s most versatile players. He’s part of a stellar recruiting class that has No. 7 Duke eyeing a deep March run.
Big 12 duo
Dickinson was the biggest move in the transfer portal last spring after leaving Michigan for Kansas. The 7-2 center lived up to the billing, averaging 17.9 points and 10.9 rebounds while leading the Jayhawks back to the NCAA Tournament.
Love’s decision to return for a second season at No. 10 Arizona has ratcheted up expectations in the desert for the Big 12 rival of Kansas.
The athletic 6-4 guard had a high-scoring career at North Carolina and continued it after transferring to Arizona last season. He was the Pac-12 player of the year and a third-team All-American after averaging 18 points per game and making 92 3-pointers.
Love tested the NBA waters this summer before deciding to return.
“He’s had a very successful college career thus far,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “He’s kind of this last generation of player that’s going to get better with this extra year, and so I just encourage him to take advantage of it.”
____
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: and
CLEVELAND (AP) — Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson will miss the rest of Cleveland‘s season after rupturing his right Achilles tendon on Sunday against Cincinnati, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Monday.
Watson will soon undergo surgery, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the team has not announced the results of imaging tests taken on his leg.
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year.
The 29-year-old Watson went down without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson collapsed to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
As he laid on the ground, there was cheering by some Cleveland fans, leading to some of Watson’s teammates criticizing that behavior during the team’s fifth straight loss.
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s divisive stay with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks to Houston and signed him to a fully guaranteed $230 million in 2022. The deal came amid Watson being accused by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions. He settled civil lawsuits in all but one of those cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games with the Browns and then made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
