Brier: Saskatchewan’s McEwen set for playoffs after loss to Jacobs

Saskatchewan-McEwen skip Mike McEwen delivers a rock while playing Quebec during the Brier, in Kelowna, B.C., on Monday, March 3, 2025.

McEwen and company will now face Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone in the 1 vs. 2 page qualifier on Friday afternoon.

Published Mar 07, 2025 • 4 minute read

Saskatchewan-McEwen skip Mike McEwen delivers a rock while playing Quebec during the Brier, in Kelowna, B.C., on Monday, March 3, 2025. Photo by DARRYL DYCK /THE CANADIAN PRESS

Thursday night at the 2025 Montana’s Brier featured a heavyweight matchup as the two undefeated teams in Pool B squared off in the final round robin game.

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And in the end, it was Alberta’s Brad Jacobs keeping their unbeaten record intact with a 9-6 win over Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen at Prospera Place in Kelowna, B.C.

With the win, Jacobs and company (8-0) earn the No. 1 seed in Pool B heading into Friday’s playoff round while McEwen and his Saskatoon squad featuring third Colton Flasch, second Kevin Marsh and lead Daniel Marsh finish as the No. 2 seed with a 7-1 record.

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Nova Scotia’s Owen Purcell earned the third and playoff spot in Pool B with a 7-3 win over Ontario’s Sam Mooibroek on Thursday night.

In Pool A, Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone earned the No. 1 seed after beating Brad Gushue and Team Canada on Thursday afternoon. Gushue and company enter playoffs as the No. 2 seed while Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers is the No. 3 seed. Despite finishing with the same 6-2 record as Northern Ontario, Carruthers’ win in the round robin against John Epping served as the tiebreaker between the two teams.

Playoff matchups

On Friday at 2:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, McEwen will face Dunstone in the 1 vs. 2 page qualifier while Jacobs will take on Gushue in the other.

The winners will advance to Saturday night’s 1 vs. 2 page playoff game (8:30 p.m.) while the losers will face the No. 3 seeds on Friday night in the 3 vs. 4 page qualifiers (8:30 p.m.). The two winners from there will advance to Saturday’s 3 vs. 4 page playoff game (2:30 p.m.).

The winner of Saturday’s 1 vs. 2 page playoff game then advances directly to Sunday night’s final (6 p.m.) while the loser heads to Sunday morning’s semifinal (12 p.m.) where they face the winner of Saturday’s 3 vs. 4 page playoff game.

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Draw 18: McEwen vs. Jacobs

As for the matchup between Alberta and Saskatchewan on Thursday night, Jacobs scored the first points in the game as McEwen forced him to a single point in the first before blanking the second end.

McEwen and company then scored a deuce in the third to go up 2-1 before Jacobs responded with a deuce of his own in the fourth.

After another two points by Saskatchewan in the fifth to go up 4-3, Jacobs scored a single in the sixth to tie the game before stealing a point in the seventh to take the 5-4 lead.

The teams traded single points in the next two ends before McEwen tried to engineer a win in the 10th with a deuce but Jacobs’ strong defence limited him to just one, which sent the game to extra ends.

And in the extra, without hammer, McEwen had a thin takeout with his last but couldn’t convert as Jacobs didn’t have to throw his last to pick up the win to become the only team in either Pool A or Pool B to finish the round robin with an undefeated record.

As for the other Saskatchewan entry skipped by Rylan Kleiter, after being eliminated from playoff contention on Thursday morning with a loss to Thomas Scoffin and Team Yukon, the Nutana Curling Club squad lost their final round robin game 8-5 to Felix Asselin and Team Quebec.

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In their first Brier, Team Kleiter also featuring third Joshua Mattern, second Matthew Hall and lead Trevor Johnson finished with a 3-5 record.