Kevin Koe secured a playoff spot at the Brier and Braden Calvert added excitement to the race for another spot on Wednesday.
Koe’s Alberta foursome has won six straight to sit atop Group B and secure a spot in Friday’s playoff round at NL St. John’s.
Koe, a four-time Brier champion, returns to the playoffs after a second straight year on the outside.
“It feels good. We’ve been a Briar couple since we became really close,” Koe said.
The 51-year-old skip continued his vintage Koe form in St. John’s on Wednesday with a shooting accuracy of 94 percent and led all skips with 90.
“It’s a beautiful thing to see the fire that Kevin still has,” said EJ Harnden, Matt Dunstone’s second-place finisher and his longtime rival.
“Curling is getting harder. It’s not getting any easier and Kevin isn’t cooling off.”
Koe also got a boost from his lineup, which slammed the door on Northern Ontario’s Sandy MacEwan 8-2 in the afternoon draw.
Meanwhile, Manitoba native Calvert’s rookie team beat Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen 9-4 to drop 4-2 and McEwen 5-2.
“Today we knew this was a must-win game and we treated it that way,” Calvert said. “I liked that it came out so sharply.”
Manitoba’s Dunstone beat Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin 6-5 to advance to a 5-1 Pool B playoff win.
Dunstone and McEwen meet in the Pool B finale on Thursday evening.
“It’s one of the games we emphasize here at billiards play,” Dunstone said. “That sounds really exciting, but we have to get things done in the morning.”
Dunstone takes on Northern Ontario in the morning. New Brunswick’s James Grattan is still in playoff contention at 3-3.
After Thursday’s qualifying round, the top three teams from each of the nine pools advance to Friday’s playoffs.
There are no penalty shoot-out games. Ties are first decided by head-to-head match, and the hammer is determined by drawing a button based on the cumulative rankings before the game.
Sunday’s winner will represent Canada at the men’s world championships in Ogden, Utah, March 27-April 4.
Defending champion Brad Jacobs and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue share the Pool A lead at 6-0 ahead of Wednesday evening’s tie.
Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard was ahead 4-2 over Saskatchewan’s Kelly Knapp and Ontario’s Jayden King. Both were 3-3.
Thursday afternoon sees the “Battle of the Brads” as Jacobs and Gushue face off in the final Group A draw at Mary Brown’s Center.
Koe’s last Brier win came in 2019 when his team went undefeated in Brandon, Man.
He is a veteran of eight Brier finals, including a 7-6 loss to hometown hero Gushue in St. John’s in 2017.
The 2026 Brier will be the last for the 45-year-old Gushue. Koe will happily accept a rematch with Gushue on Sunday.
“It’s going to be an old man’s fight,” Koe joked. “Of course, he wants to play a 50-year-old. I understand that.
“Brad and I have probably played each other 90 times. Hopefully we’ll get to play one more this week.”
Koe wasn’t sure how long he would be competing in curling.
“I’ve always said we’ll see how this Brier goes, how we play and where we go,” Skip said. “If I keep playing, I think it will be year by year at this point.
“Hopefully if we get to the top this week maybe my decision will become more difficult.”
