The 2022 Tim Hortons Brier got underway on Friday evening from Lethbridge, Alberta. Kevin Koe of Calgary, Alberta came away with a 9-8 win over Saskatchewan’s Colton Flasch. However, it is fair to say that Koe struggled throughout the contest in trying to find his draw weight. There is no doubt he was much more comfortable with the hitting game.
Koe was one of two Alberta-based teams to be victorious. The other was Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher, who is representing Team Canada as the defending champion. Bottcher defeated Ontario’s Glenn Howard 5-4. In an interesting turn of events, Bottcher elected to go into the 10th end down by one with the hammer, rather than up by one point without the hammer.
In other action, Newfoundland beat Yukon 7-5, and the Wildcard team skipped by Matt Dunstone of Saskatchewan beat James Grattan of New Brunswick 7-6. The Newfoundland team is skipped by Nathan Young of Torbay, Newfoundland. There are two Newfoundland-based teams at the Brier this year again because Brad Gushue was granted a Wildcard spot. Gushue missed the 2022 Newfoundland and Labrador Tankard because he was busy winning a bronze medal at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Meanwhile, four curlers are missing the Brier because they tested positive for coronavirus. At this time the only curler we know who tested positive is Team Manitoba lead Colin Hodgson.
