We now know the six teams left for the 2023 Tim Hortons Brier in London, Ontario. After Thursday, the 18-team field dropped to half a dozen. The pool winners were Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone, who had a perfect record of eight wins and zero losses, and Team Canada’s Brad Gushue, who had a record of seven wins and one loss. Gushue of St. John’s, Newfoundland, who won the gold medal for Canada in men’s curling at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, and Dunstone of Winnipeg, both advance directly to the Championship Round finals.
The Championship Round semifinals will have Team Wildcard’s Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton versus Northern Ontario’s Darren Moulding and Alberta’s Kevin Koe of Edmonton versus Ontario’s Mike McEwen. Koe was at seven wins and one loss, while McEwen was at six wins and two losses. McEwen prevented playing in a tie-breaker on Friday morning by beating the third wildcard team skipped by Karsten Sturmay of St. Albert 9-8 on Thursday night. Bottcher was at seven wins and one loss, while Moulding was at six wins and two losses. Ironically, Moulding was Bottcher’s third when Bottcher skipped Team Alberta to the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier title at the Markin MacPhail Centre in Calgary, Alberta.
