LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – The page playoff matchups are set at the Tim Hortons Brier.
The usual suspects own three of the four spots with 2022 Olympic bronze medallist Brad Gushue, 2021 Brier winner Brendan Bottcher and four-time Canadian champion Kevin Koe all making the second weekend. The surprise of the week has been Colton Flasch and his Saskatchewan rink as they will round out the page playoff field in Lethbridge.
Alberta will take on Canada in the 1 vs. 2 game after their wins in the page seeding round Friday night while Saskatchewan will take on Wild Card 1 in the 3 vs. 4 contest. Both games go on Saturday with the semi-final and final set for Sunday.
Let’s take a closer look at the matchups and all the storylines that set up to be a fun weekend of elite level curling an the Enmax Centre.
The last rink standing will wear the Maple Leaf at the World Men’s Curling Championship in Las Vegas from April 2-10.
SK (Flasch) vs. WC1 (Gushue)
3 vs. 4 Game – Saturday at 3:30pm ET on TSN 1, TSN Direct and the TSN App
‘It’s a gut punch on top of a kick in the groin’: Gushue on losing Nichols
After a loss to Canada, Brad Gushue discusses losing Mark Nichols for the rest of the Tim Hortons Brier after testing positive for COVID-19 and how tough it will be to be the last team standing as a result.
If Gushue and the B’ys from The Rock are going to capture their fourth Brier Tankard since 2017, they’re going to have to do it a man down.
About an hour before Friday’s page seeding clash against Bottcher, Gushue’s rink announced on Twitter that third Mark Nichols is done for the tournament after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier in the day.
“Despite taking the necessary precautions, Mark Nichols unfortunately tested positive for COVID-19 today,” the release said. “Mark is experiencing mild symptoms and is currently isolating. Due to event protocols, Mark will no longer be able to compete in the Tim Hortons Brier. The team will play the rest of the event with three players. We wish Mark all the best and a speedy recovery.”
Gushue, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker will now finish off the event by themselves as they did not bring an alternate with them to Lethbridge this week.
The first test will come Saturday afternoon in the 3 vs. 4-game against Saskatchewan’s Colton Flasch after they dropped a close 4-3 decision to Team Bottcher Friday night. Of course, playing with only three players comes with some massive disadvantages, including only having one sweeper.
“We’ve done everything we can in the last few months to avoid this and we’re one of the only teams here that were wearing masks and doing all this stuff. And we get caught in the playoffs when we were playing great,” said Gushue after the loss. “It’s a gut punch on top of a kick in the groin.”
Team Gushue, who are fresh off winning bronze at the Winter Olympics in Beijing last month, were the only rink in Lethbridge to get through round-robin play with a perfect 8-0 record as Wild Card 1.
Gushue has said all week that his expectations are lower compared to Briers of year’s past because of the recent Olympic exhaustion, but the results paint a different picture. The St. John’s foursome had yet to lose entering Friday’s action with their skipper shooting a Brier-best 90 per cent. Nichols was best among vices at 88 per cent.
The future of Gushue’s team is very much up in the air, so going out on top would a dream ending for this group who have been together for the past eight years. And playing shorthanded, it might just be their toughest task yet.
Must See: Saskatchewan skip Flasch delivers with incredible triple takeout
Saskatchewan skip Colton Flasch makes a fantastic triple takeout against Alberta’s Kevin Koe.
On the other side of the sheet, it will be Saskatchewan’s Team Flasch, who have been one of the more intriguing teams at this year’s Brier.
After dropping a tough 9-8 decision to Alberta and his former skip Koe in the opener last Friday night, Flasch have been zoned in, winning eight of his next 10 games.
They’ve defeated their provincial rivals, Team Matt Dunstone, in the round-robin finale Thursday to earn a tiebreaker and then they beat them again in said tiebreaker to make the playoffs.
In the biggest surprise of the week, they thumped Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs Friday afternoon in the playoffs, 10-3 in just seven ends, as Flasch shot an impressive 88 per cent. They lost to Team Koe, 7-2, in the page seeding round.
Flasch says he’s starting to feel like he’s in the zone.
“Oh yeah. The draw weight has been there all week and now I’m hitting a little better. It’s been good,” he said after beating Jacobs earlier Friday.
Flasch, a construction company owner from Saskatoon, played second for Team Koe in Alberta for two seasons, highlighted by capturing his first Brier Tankard in 2019. Following a disappointing run as Team Canada at the 2020 nationals, Flasch was cut in favour of John Morris.
The 31-year-old was able to build his very own Saskatchewan-based team after Catlin Schneider was let go from Team Dunstone and the Marsh twins – Kevin and Daniel – found themselves without a team after their skip Kirk Muyres joined Dunstone’s rink.
Their first season together in 2020-21 was more or less a wash due to COVID-19. This season they’ve played in nine events, highlighted by an appearance in the Vesta Energy Curling Classic final and a win over Dunstone in the provincial championship last month. They also went 4-2 at the Home Hardware Curling Pre-Trials.
This is Flasch’s sixth career Brier, but first as a skip. He says he learned a lot from his short time with Koe.
“Playing with Kevin Koe I’ve learnt over the years that you don’t have to be too good too early. And learn the ice. Every game even if you lose, make sure you learn something from that game. Move forward. We’ve been doing a great job of that,” said Flasch. “It definitely helped playing with Kevin.
“These games are lot easier after playing in them and knowing what it takes to win. Just all the knowledge and being comfortable in these games helps as well.”
Schneider says that Koe-like calm presence is needed in a skip since the pressures of the position are so intense.
“I mean it’s nerve-wracking. You’re the guy who has to make the final shot in front of a ton of people, in front of all of Canada and North America watching, right,” said Schneider. “So, it’s not the easiest thing to do and people who haven’t been there don’t quite understand that feeling. So, my job is to just calm him down and relax, get him in the right head space and bring his confidence up because he’s a great player.”
There’s skip pressure and there’s the pressure of bringing home the Tankard to Saskatchewan. Of course, the curling crazed prairie province hasn’t won the Canadian men’s curling championship since 1980 when Rick Folk, Ron Mills, Tim Wilson and Jim Wilson stood atop the podium.
Dunstone was close the past couple years with back-to-back semi-final appearances but wasn’t able to get over the hump and snap the 40-year plus drought.
Flasch and company still have a long way to go to accomplish that feat.
“Oh, I think they’re very hungry. I’ve heard the question about 100 times this week. So, I’m not here to necessarily win for Saskatchewan, I am obviously, but I’m here to win for our team and if that happens great.”
CA (Bottcher) vs. AB (Koe)
1 vs. 2 Game – Saturday at 6:30pm ET on TSN 1/5, TSN Direct and the TSN App
Tim Horton’s Brier: Page Qualifier – Saskatchewan 2, Alberta 7
Kevin Koe and Team Alberta beat Saskatchewan’s Colton Flasch to earn a spot in the 1-2 Page Playoff game at the Brier.
Saturday’s evening feature pits the defending champions looking to make their fifth straight appearance in the Brier final against a squad stacked with talent playing in their last Brier together.
It’s also the Battle of Alberta and a rematch of last year’s final. So, safe to say it will be a good one.
We know Bottcher and Team Canada are going to be hard to beat in the playoffs as they’ve proven in the past quadrennial.
Despite a mid-season lineup change, cutting Darren Moulding in favour of alternate Patrick Janssen, Bottcher and his team haven’t missed a beat in Lethbridge. They went 7-1 in the preliminary round with their only loss coming to Koe, the team they beat in the final last year inside the Calgary bubble for their first national title.
Bottcher, 30, is shooting a solid 85 per cent while Janssen has fit in well, also shooting 85 per cent, which is fourth best among thirds.
It seems like whatever you throw this team’s way, they find a way to deflect it. Last Saturday night in their second game of the event, Bottcher and company were most definitely the “road team” despite wearing Team Canada colours and being from Edmonton, just five hours north of Lethbridge. That was because they were facing New Brunswick’s James Grattan with hometown favourite Moulding in their lineup.
There were plenty of cheers for Moulding and just as many heckles for Bottcher, but that didn’t faze the unflappable skip as Team Bottcher slid to a 6-4 win.
“I thought it was a curling knowledgeable crowd and ultimately it was always going to be a battle,” a relaxed Bottcher said after the game. “So, I guess I came into this game expecting it and I was actually glad it lived up to that hype. It was a good venue here tonight.”
We know that this is the final year for Koe, BJ Neufeld, John Morris and Ben Hebert with the foursome slated to disband in some form by season’s end.
Three-time Brier champ Morris, 43, is expected to step away from the men’s game and maybe only focus on playing mixed doubles going forward for the foreseeable future.
In Lethbridge, Team Koe has not looked like a rink that is set to break up.
Their 47-year-old skipper is second among skips in shooting percentage at 87 per cent as he’s searching for a history-making fifth Brier Tankard.
As we’ve come to know over the years, there’s Tour Kevin Koe and then there’s Brier Kevin Koe. In nine prior appearances at nationals, the native of Calgary has made seven finals, winning four of them.
“He’s amazing at the Brier. His record speaks for that alone,” Hebert told TSN.ca this week. “He cranks it up as the event he really cares about. He likes to peak at these events and I like the way he’s playing right now. It looks like he’s doing it again.”
The winner advances straight to Sunday evening’s final while the loser has another chance to dance and will play the winner of the 3 vs. 4 game in the semi-final.
VANCOUVER – As the Major League Soccer season ticks down, Vanni Sartini wants his Vancouver Whitecaps to make a declaration — the team is ready to compete.
“The time of hiding ourselves, I think it’s over,” the coach said after the ‘Caps earned a 2-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.
“We need to really say that we are here to try to be at the ball until the end and trying to shoot for the highest position. That doesn’t mean that we’re going to make it, but we have the quality to do it.”
With seven games left on their regular-season schedule, the ‘Caps (13-8-6) sit in fifth spot in the congested Western Conference, just two points out of fourth.
Saturday’s loss officially eliminated the last-place Earthquakes (5-21-2) from post-season action.
Vancouver has been on a hot streak since returning from the Leagues Cup break and is unbeaten (3-0-1) in its last four outings across all competitions. The team has not allowed a goal in those matches.
“It’s the fact that we play really well,” Sartini said of the clean sheets. “We have the ball a lot, we finish our attack most of the time in their box. So it’s really hard for the other team to attack us. And then when they attack us, in the rare times that they arrive in the final third, we’re very solid.”
Recent additions have bolstered the team’s ranks, including the club’s newest designated player, Stuart Armstrong. The 32-year-old Scottish midfielder scored his first MLS goal Saturday.
Three minutes after coming on as a substitute for Alessandro Schopf, Armstrong gave Vancouver a two-goal cushion in the 87th minute.
Midfielder Pedro Vite dished a short pass to ‘Caps captain Ryan Gauld, who tapped it toward Armstrong. The former Southampton FC player then blasted a shot into the top of the net for his first strike in a Whitecaps’ jersey.
He was mobbed by teammates in the corner of the field.
“I think everyone was happy. Also for the first goal, but also that it was an important three points,” said Armstrong, who signed with the ‘Caps on Sept. 3.
“It kind of felt a little bit like last week, when we had a lot of chances and we didn’t get the three points. So today, I think everyone was just relieved to have that two-goal cushion.”
Vancouver was the dominant team from the outset Saturday and did not relent, outshooting the visitors 19-5 and controlling 54.1 per cent of possession.
Fafa Picault also found the back of the net for Vancouver, while Gauld contributed a pair of assists.
Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka stopped both shots he faced to collect his seventh clean sheet of the year, while Daniel made nine saves for the Quakes.
Gauld and Picault teamed up in the 22nd minute when Gauld curled a cross in and the Haitian striker headed it down toward the net, only to see Daniel catch a piece of the shot with his forearm and redirect it out of harm’s way.
The duo connected again in the 35th minute on a Vancouver corner. Gauld swung a ball in and Picault jumped up from the pack to send a glancing header in past Daniel for his ninth MLS goal of the season.
San Jose briefly appeared to level the score in the 68th minute when an unmarked Ousseni Bouda collected the ball, froze Takaoka and tapped a shot into the Vancouver net. An official quickly raised the offside flag and waved off the tally.
Daniel kept San Jose’s deficit to a single goal with a pair of solid stops in the 82nd minute.
First, the Brazilian ‘keeper dove sideways on his line to tip away a bomb from Alessandro Schopf. He was tested again on the ensuing corner and jumped up to send a header from Picault over the crossbar.
“I think we created a lot of chances again,” Gauld said.
“We probably should have put the game out of their reach sooner. But we’d be more worried if we weren’t creating the chances. Three clean sheets in a row in the league, I think it’s a big thing for us. And it gives us a good platform to go forward.”
NOTES
Vancouver played without leading scorer Brian White for a third consecutive game as the American striker works his way back from a concussion. … Gauld’s second assist marked his 15th goal contribution (six goals, nine assists) in his last 15 Whitecaps games across all competitions. … An announced crowd of 21,309 took in the game at B.C. Place.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps kick off a two-game road swing Wednesday against the Houston Dynamo. The Earthquakes host the Seattle Sounders the same night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Not good enough. That was Arne Slot’s verdict after his first defeat as Liverpool manager on Saturday.
A shock 1-0 loss at home to Nottingham Forest in the English Premier League ended Slot’s perfect record since succeeding Jurgen Klopp at Anfield at the end of last season.
“We had a lot of ball possession but only managed to create three (or) four quite good chances, so that is by far not enough if you have so much ball possession,” said the Dutchman, who suggested his team should not be losing to the likes of Forest.
“If you lose a home game it’s always a setback, especially if you face a team … we never know, maybe they will go all the way to fight for Champions League tickets, but normally this team is not ending up in the top 10, so if you lose a game against them that’s a big disappointment.”
Slot won his first three games in charge, including a memorable 3-0 victory against Manchester United before the international break.
But that run came to an end after Callum Hudson-Odoi struck in the 72nd with a curling effort from the edge of the box and beyond goalkeeper Alisson.
Liverpool’s defeat leaves Manchester City as the only team with a 100% record in the league after a 2-1 win against Brentford kept the defending champion at the top of the table.
United won at Southampton 3-0 to end its two-game losing streak.
Unstoppable Haaland
Erling Haaland moved to 99 goals for City after scoring twice against Brentford.
The Norwegian’s double came after Yoane Wissa fired Brentford ahead with just 22 seconds on the clock.
Haaland scored his 98th and 99th goals in his 103rd City appearance in all competitions. And he was the width of the post away from his third consecutive hat trick after trebles against Ipswich and West Ham.
“He’s been really, really good. Yeah, I would say he’s the best (he’s been), but it’s only four fixtures (this season),” City manager Pep Guardiola said.
Haaland, who has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or, has nine goals in four league games. He has topped the league scoring charts in each of his two seasons at City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022 for $63 million.
Haaland’s first goal after 19 minutes evened the game following Wissa’s opener, which stunned the Etihad Stadium crowd. Haaland turned and swept a shot past goalkeeper Mark Flekken after a slight deflection off Ethan Pinnock.
He was then too strong for Pinnock when shaking off the defender and running through for his second in the 32nd.
He was inches away in the 81st; the shot came back off the post after beating the keeper.
Rashford snaps run
Marcus Rashford snapped a 12-game barren run in front of goal as United beat Southampton.
Rashford doubled United’s lead at Saint Mary’s after Matthijs de Ligt’s scored his first for the club. Substitute Alejandro Garnacho scored a third in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
The win came after back-to-back defeats for United.
Rashford hadn’t scored since March in United’s win over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals. He curled in a shot from the edge of the area to put Erik ten Hag’s team 2-0 up at Southampton in the 41st minute.
Ten Hag said it could be a turning point for the forward.
“For every striker, they want to be on the scoring list. Once the first is in, more is coming. Like a ketchup bottle, once it’s going, it’s coming more,” he said.
De Ligt, who joined United from Bayern Munich in the offseason, headed in from Bruno Fernandes’ cross in the 35th.
It could have been a different story if Cameron Archer converted a penalty for Southampton in the 33rd. Instead, his effort was saved by goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Newly promoted Southampton was reduced to 10 men when Jack Stephens was sent off in the 79th for a high challenge on Garnacho.
Villa comeback
After three straight defeats to start the league, Everton looked set for its first win when leading Aston Villa 2-0.
Goals from Dwight McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin put Sean Dyche’s team in control until Ollie Watkins struck twice to even the game.
Jhon Duran completed Villa’s comeback and sealed a 3-2 win in the 76th to leave Everton rooted to the bottom of the table and the only top flight team without a point.
Late drama
Jean-Philippe Mateta converted a stoppage time penalty to salvage a 2-2 draw for Crystal Palace against Leicester.
Leicester led 2-0 at Selhurst Park after goals from Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi.
But Mateta sparked Palace’s response with a goal in the 47th, a minute after Mavididi doubled Leicester’s advantage.
Conor Coady fouled Ismaili Sarr in the box right near fulltime and Mateta was cool enough to convert.
West Ham left it even later to salvage a point in a 1-1 draw at Fulham.
Danny Ings struck in the fifth minute of added time after Raul Jimenez’s goal looked like earning Fulham the win.
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler, the manager of the month for August, was frustrated as his team was held to 0-0 at home by Ipswich.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
