“A bit more fierce, a bit more fiery”
[With files from Curling Canada]
Mike McEwen’s Team Dynamics (7-0) is in.
Defending champ Brad Gushue (also 7-0) is in.
Alberta’s Brad Jacobs (6-0) is also in—to the 2025 Brier playoffs, that is—following an 11-5 win over Ontario’s young Sam Mooibroek (3-3).
Jacobs won Brier bronze in 2016 (with recent format changes, playing for bronze is no longer a thing) and while he’s qualified for playoffs in six of seven Brier appearances since then, he’s only played in nine playoff matches.
“There’s been years in the past where we did have a lot of confidence going into the playoffs, and we just were kind of on the wrong side of the inch, and things didn’t really go our way, and it wasn’t meant to be,” said Jacobs.
“We’re performing so well right now and making so many shots that a break or two would be great. But if we don’t get it, I still think that with how we’re playing, we can do some good things in the playoffs.”
Jacobs and McEwen will battle in Thursday night’s Brier pool finale at Prospera Place in Kelowna.
“That’s going to be awesome, I can’t wait for that,” said Jacobs.
“Hopefully, we can finish the round robin strong heading into the weekend.”
The Wednesday night draw highlight was an all-Manitoba clash between Teams Dunstone and Carruthers.
Key to the drama was Carruthers third B.J. Neufeld, who was abruptly let go from Team Dunstone back in early December, and made a reappearance with Carruthers in late January, just in time for the Manitoba provincial.
Dunstone—with Colton Lott, E.J. Harnden (the man who replaced Neufeld in the lineup) and Ryan Harnden came away the victors, by an 8-6 scoreline.
Dunstone improved to 6-1 on the week while Carruthers dropped to 6-2. That’s a final pool mark for his squad as they have Thursday off—and they might need some help to make the playoffs.
“Naturally everything’s going to be a little bit more fierce, a little bit more fiery, just because of that (Manitoba) rivalry,” said Dunstone. “But we just had to put together a full 10-end game, which we hadn’t necessarily done yet this week.
“This was a step in the right direction. We just grinded, we weathered the storm early in the first five and just took over the game in the last half.”
The playoff format will see the first-place team from Pool A meeting second place from Pool B, and vice versa, in the first round of the playoffs at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, with the winners going directly to the Page playoff 1 vs. 2 game.
The losers meet the third-place finishers in the pools Friday at 6:30 p.m., with the winners of those games advancing to the Page playoff 3 vs. 4 game.
The standard Page playoffs commence with the winner of the Page 1 vs. 2 game on Saturday at 6:30 p.m., advancing directly to the final, and the loser plays the winner of the Page 3 vs. 4 game (scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on Saturday) in the semifinal.
The semifinal (Sunday at 11:00 a.m.) winner takes on the winner of the Page 1 vs. 2 game in the championship match at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.
The winner will represent Canada at the world men’s championship Mar. 29-Apr. 6 in Moose Jaw, Sask.
