Jamie Koe and company are off to a rough start at this year’s Tim Hortons Brier in London, Ont. But Koe knew it would be a tough sled coming up against Canada’s best curlers.
Team NWT came out firing in their first matchup on Sunday against 2011 Brier champion Reid Carruthers of Manitoba, playing as Wild Card 2 this week. Koe and his squad had Carruthers and company on the ropes early, stacking up a 6-2 lead at the fifth-end break, placing the event’s fifth seed in peril.
“They came out on fire and at the turn, we were in trouble,” said Carruthers following the game. “We talked about not missing high side and tightened up the broom and looked to squeak back in it”
Carruthers popped three in the sixth end right after the break, but the NWT fought hard until an unfortunate steal of two in the ninth end for Carruthers basically sealed the first loss of the Brier for the Yellowknife Curling Centre outfit.
“That steal was tough to recover from,” said NWT third Glen Kennedy. “We started well but then they picked it up and it got harder.”
In their second game against the mighty Bluenose squad from Nova Scotia, the NWT had good reason to expect a positive result. The reason? An often overlooked factoid in the Brier is that the Northern team has often had its greatest successes against Atlantic representatives.
“Well of course, we all know Jamie — he has been here 10-12 (actually 16) times, we watched him on TV, seen him beat the best,” said Matt Manuel, Brier rookie and skip of Nova Scotia this year.
The match was initially very closely fought with the NWT getting in in trouble due to some key shots being made by the Brier rookies. Koe and company lived on the edge for most of the game, getting one shot in amongst numbers of Bluenose stones.
“We were playing the best we have ever played and then Jamie would drop an egg in there we could not get at and the end was gone,” said Manuel
Unfortunately, the egg finally broke when in the eighth end when Kennedy had a rock pick up debris and miss, leading to a steal of two in and basically handed Nova Scotia the game
“That was not a good time for a pick,” said Kennedy.
The NWT still has six more games ahead in Pool A. The final game of pool play is the Battle of the Koes on Thursday.
Speaking of Kevin Koe, he’s faring well thus far. He sat with a perfect record of 4-0 as of Monday. Kevin Koe is looking well-positioned to be in the hunt for the Brier Tankard and the trip to the World Men’s Curling Championship in Ottawa next month.
“We don’t look that far ahead — right now, we are looking at positioning to make the playoffs,” said Kevin when asked about the worlds.
Aside from all of that, there was a big moment in territorial curling history that happened at the Brier on Saturday. Nunavut had come into this year’s Brier having lost all 44 official games it had played since first coming to the Brier in 2016.
“We knew Nunavut had not won a game and it was a big thing,” said Jake Higgs, skip of Nunavut and who’s an import player from just down the road from the Brier in Strathroy, Ont. “We knew that we needed to just focus on our play and each shot and improve each time and the wins would happen.”
The win did happen as they beat Newfoundland and Labrador, 7-4, and bumping up Nunavut’s Brier record to 1-44 at the time. “
“This is the beauty of the Brier,” said TSN’s Vic Rauter. “Nowhere else do you see the this much excitement on a first win.”
The Brier continues through to March 12 with the winner heading to Ottawa in April.