There is all of a sudden a three-way tie in Pool A at the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier in Lethbridge, Alberta. On Wednesday evening in the Canadian National Men’s Curling Championship, Team Alberta, skipped by Kevin Koe of Calgary, defeated Team Canada, skipped by Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton, 5-4.
In an intriguing curling match that would have made the traditionalists of the sport of curling proud as the game contained five consecutive blank ends, Koe jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead after two ends, before Bottcher tied the game at three in the third end. In the ninth end, Koe was attempting a difficult double takeout for two points, but was only able to takeout one Bottcher stone, and Bottcher ended up stealing one point to take a 4-3 lead. Then in the 10th, Koe knocked out a Bottcher stone in the four-foot to record two points and the 5-4 win.
So with the Koe win over Bottcher, there are three teams at 6-1 in Pool A. Koe and Bottcher are tied alongside Matt Dunstone’s wildcard squad based out of Saskatchewan. Meanwhile, Saskatchewan’s Colton Flasch is the other team in the mix at 5-2.
In Pool B, Brad Gushue’s Wildcard squad leads at 6-0. Three teams are at two losses as Brad Jacobs’s Northern Ontario team and Team Wildcard’s Jason Gunnlaugson team based out of Winnipeg are at 5-2. Meanwhile Manitoba’s Mike McEwen (4-2), British Columbia’s Brent Pierce (3-3), and Nova Scotia’s Paul Flemming are still in the mix.
