Defending champion Jacobs improves to 4-0 at Brier with win over King

ST. JOHN'S - Manitoba's Matt Dunstone defeated Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories 8-3 on Monday to remain unbeaten at the Montana's Brier.

Dunstone moved into a first-place tie with Alberta's Kevin Koe in the Pool B standings at 3-0. Koe was idle for the afternoon session. 

Saskatchewan's Mike McEwen beat Northern Ontario's Sandy MacEwan 5-1, Manitoba's Braden Calvert doubled British Columbia's Cody Tanaka 8-4, and New Brunswick's James Grattan defeated Yukon's Thomas Scoffin 9-6.

McEwen was alone in third place at 3-1 and Calvert was next at 2-1. The top three teams in each nine-team pool will qualify for the playoffs.

Alberta’s Koe remains unbeaten at Montana’s Brier with wins over McEwen, Grattan

ST. JOHN'S - Kevin Koe's unbeaten Alberta squad moved to the top of Pool B on Sunday with two significant wins at the Montana's Brier.

Koe, from Calgary's Glencoe Club, improved to 3-0 by beating James Grattan of New Brunswick 9-4 in nine ends in the evening draw, hours after outlasting Mike McEwen of Saskatchewan 6-4. Koe scored three in the 10th end to edge McEwen.

Against Grattan, Koe counted two in the first end, surrendered a single in the second, and counted three in the third to grab a 5-1 lead and coasted from there.

McEwen bounced back in the evening draw with a 10-5 win in eight ends over the Yukon's Thomas Scoffin. McEwen improved to 2-1 in Pool B.

Recent runners-up Dunstone, McEwen among Draw 2 winners at Brier

ST. JOHN'S - Recent runners-up Matt Dunstone and Mike McEwen continued to chase an elusive Canadian men's curling title with wins in Draw 2 on Saturday.

Dunstone's Manitoba team, which finished second to Brad Jacobs at the Montana's Brier in 2025 and was also second in 2023, opened its account at this year's event with a 5-3 win over New Brunswick's Dean Grattan.

McEwen, who was runner-up in 2024, defeated Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories 11-5.

Dunstone, who also finished second to Jacobs in the Canadian Olympic curling trials, says his team is hungry for a title.

Gushue opens final Montana’s Brier with 10-2 victory over Quebec

ST. JOHN'S - Brad Gushue opened his final Montana's Brier on a winning note Friday night.

Gushue, of St. John's, N.L., earned a 10-2 victory over Quebec's Jean-Michel Ménard in opening action. Gushue, 45, who will retire from curling at season's end, is playing in the Brier in his home city for the first time since 2017, when he was crowned champion.

Predictably, Gushue received a thunderous reception from the hometown gathering.

"I actually got a little teary-eyed there when it kept going,” said Gushue. “To see that, and to feel it and hear it, definitely got the jitters going.

Asian and Black skips look to carve a place in curling history at Brier

ST. JOHN'S - Two curlers believed to be the first Black and Asian skips in Brier history are set to break new ground at Canada’s national men’s curling championship.

Cody Tanaka said it wasn’t until he and his team won the provincial championships in British Columbia to qualify for the Brier that someone suggested he would be the first Asian skip at the event.

"It's an honour," Tanaka, of Tsawwassen, B.C., said after a Friday practice session at the Mary Brown's Centre.

Meanwhile, Team Ontario’s Jayden King, of Tillsonburg, Ont., is believed to be the first Black skip to compete at the Brier.

Dunstone back at Brier

More curling, anyone?

If you didn’t get your fix after 135-plus games at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, you’re in luck: the Brier starts today in St. John’s, N.L.

Winnipeg’s own Matt Dunstone took the time to watch many of those battles between the world’s best from his living room. Considering his squad was the runner-up at the Canadian Curling Trials in November to Brad Jacobs — who went on to win the gold medal last Saturday over Great Britain’s Bruce Mouat — it wasn’t easy.

“It’s tough, man. I think a couple years ago I probably would have been a little bit more petty and committed to really not watching,” admitted Dunstone in a chat with the Free Press on Thursday.

A capsule look at the 2026 Canadian men’s curling championship field

A capsule look at the field for the 2026 Canadian men's curling championship, Feb. 27 to March 8 in St. John's, N.L. (lineups include alternate):

POOL A

Canada

Brad Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant, Ben Hebert, Mike Caione.

Decorated curler Brad Gushue braces for big Brier feelings in his hometown

Curling drama didn't end with the Olympic Games. 

The Montana's Brier, starting Friday in his hometown of St. John's, N.L., will be the last for decorated skip Brad Gushue.

The 45-year-old is a six-time Canadian champion, a world champion and an Olympic gold and bronze medallist.

Gushue's first Brier victory in St. John's in 2017 wasn't just electric. It also launched his team to more success in the ensuing years. 

Stoughton helps guide Jacobs team to top of podium

Medals don’t get handed out to coaches at the Olympics.

Heck, they don’t even get one of those stuffed animals that the Canadian men’s hockey team begrudingly accepted after their heartbreaking overtime loss to the Americans.

But even though Jeff Stoughton didn’t get to bring a highly sought after souvenir from Milano Cortina back to Winnipeg, he’s not complaining. He was more than just happy to play a role in helping Brad Jacobs win gold in men’s curling for Canada.

“We just get handshakes and pats on the back, and that’s more than enough,” said Stoughton, the head of Curling Canada’s men’s national program.

Carruthers calls it a career

Reid Carruthers, a nine-time provincial champion, announced on social media Wednesday that he is retiring after 20-plus years in competitive curling.

Reid Carruthers announces retirement from competitive curling

WINNIPEG - Curler Reid Carruthers is retiring after a career that saw him capture Brier and world titles as part of a Manitoba team skipped by Jeff Stoughton and a world silver medal in mixed doubles.

The 41-year-old Carruthers, from Winnipeg, announced his retirement Wednesday on Instagram, weeks after coaching Kerri Einarson's team to a Canadian women's title.

Carruthers joined Stoughton's team at second for the 2010-11 season. The team won the Brier in 2011 — Carruthers' only Canadian men's title in 13 appearances — and went on to beat Scotland 6-5 in the world championship final later that year.

He won a Canadian mixed doubles title alongside Joanne Courtney in 2017. They advanced to the world championship gold-medal game, where they lost 6-5 to Switzerland.

Hayward hoping to end junior career in style

SHAELA Hayward isn’t getting ahead of herself. Sure, the skip from Carman won the national U-18 women’s curling crown in 2024. And yes, most of the field from that event will be at the Canadian U-20 Curling Championships in Sudbury, Ont., from March 28-April 4.

Team Cameron dissolving at the end of curling season

With the Olympics now in the rearview mirror, the dominoes are already starting to fall in the Canadian curling scene.

Team Kate Cameron announced early Monday that they will be parting ways at the conclusion of this season.

Cameron, third Briane Harris, second Taylor McDonald, and lead Mackenzie Elias lost the Manitoba provincial semifinal last month to Beth Peterson to miss out on a trip to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Cameron, a 34-year-old from New Bothwell, originally formed the team ahead of the 2023-24 campaign alongside McDonald, Elias, and former third Meghan Walter. They proved to be an immediate national contender by bringing home bronze from the 2024 Scotties.