Kevin Koe delivers ‘vintage’ performance to remain undefeated at Brier

castle. JOHN’S, NL — Kevin Koe’s understated style kept his fist pumps low and subtle. But there was no mistaking the significance of the moment when the veteran skipper kept his team Alberta undefeated by dismantling Canada’s second-place team at the Brier.

“I mean, it was big,” an outspoken Koe said after defeating Matt Dunstone’s Winnipeg foursome at the Mary Brown’s Centre, where Koe is competing in his remarkable 14th national championship.

As Dunstone lead Ryan Harnden pointed out, the performance was “Vintage Kevin”.

That throwback, dominant Koe style has been on display all week from the 51-year-old skipper and four-time Brier champion, who advanced to the Brier playoffs for the first time since 2023 on Wednesday.

Koe is curling a stellar 90% through six games at the Brier, and with two round-robin games remaining against BC and Yukon, two wins mean Koe, third Tyler Tardi, and the front end of Aaron Sluchinski and Karrick Martin are atop Pool B for Friday’s playoffs. They’ve already beaten the top two teams in Dunstone and Team Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen.

“Our skipper is making it all happen,” Martin said after Koe hit 94 per cent of his curls in Wednesday afternoon’s 8-2 win over Northern Ontario. “He’s great. He’s the best skip right now and he’s playing great. He can play better than anybody and he still does.”

The players in the other pools at the Brier are still here at St. Louis. This fact hasn’t gone unnoticed by players who aren’t on the ice, like Koe at St. John’s. That includes Talk of the Rock, Brad Gushue, a six-time Brier champion competing in the national championship finale in his hometown this week.

“Yes, Kevin is Kevin.” Gushue said with a smile.

But Koe, a two-time world champion, hasn’t had a “Kevin being Kevin” performance at the Brier in years. He went 4-4 last year, missed the playoffs with a dismal 2-6 record in 2024, and hasn’t played here since 2023.

“It’s been a long time,” Koe said, recalling his last Brier final appearance in 2022. “That makes me feel good.”

Just ask Gushue. He could see that this type of performance was coming from his old rival.

“At the (Olympic) Trials, we played a game and it was probably one of the best games we’ve ever played against each other,” Gushue said. “He was making everything, I was making everything, and it was like we went back 10 years.”

At the November Trials, Koe’s team had a tough final day, missing the playoffs, but beat both eventual winner Dunstone and Alberta’s Brad Jacobs early in the event. “This will give us confidence when we have to play again,” Koe said.

Jacobs’ Olympic championship team is perfect in the other pool, scheduled to play Gushue on Thursday.

“We know what Kevin is capable of when he really wants to play well, and we’re glad they’re in a different pool and we won’t have to worry about it until later in the week,” said Brier, who was third for Team Jacobs and third for Koe after winning the 2016 World Championship.

“But I’m not surprised, he’s a great player,” Kennedy added of his former teammate. “He’s 51 years old and what he’s doing now is amazing.”

It was even more surprising because Koe’s team Alberta hadn’t practiced in units for more than a month until they arrived here in St. John’s. Tardi was an alternate for Team Canada at the Olympics and was busy winning gold, while Sluchinski was also working as a spotter at Cortina.

Tardi said Team Alberta has had a “period of underperformance” at the Brier over the past two years. This year, his third season, he came here not full of energy after his Olympic experience, but was buoyed by Koe’s play.

“When a skip is always on his head, it’s easier to want to play better for him, just to give him what he deserves with how well he plays,” Tardi said.

Nine years ago, Koe played the Brier final in this very building. In the 2017 finals, Newfoundland’s Gushue won his first title, defeating Koe’s Team Canada in the final.

“This weekend I’d like to play Kevin in a rematch from 2017,” Gushue said. “That would be really nice.”

Koe disagrees. “Of course. He wants to play a 50-year-old player. Okay.” Skip said with a smile. “So what I’m saying is, I accept that. Brad and I have probably played each other 90 times, so hopefully we’ll play one more time this week.”

Gushue is confident he’s done everything, but Koe isn’t sure what the future holds. He said he doesn’t think he’ll be able to curl for four years, long enough to qualify for the Olympics, and will think more about his future after the Brier. But what’s certain is that there won’t be any big retirement goodbyes or big announcements when he calls it a career.

“When we’re done, we’ll crawl away on our own without telling anyone,” Koe said. “Hopefully we can come out on top this week and that will probably make my decision more difficult.”

Earlier this week, after Koe defeated his younger brother Jamie, who skips Team NWT, the pair shook hands and the younger brother told Koe to “go get over it.”

“okay.” Koe said to Jamie. “I will try.”