Six teams have checked the first box on their to-do list for the 2026 Montana’s Brier, presented by AGI, this week at the Mary Brown’s Centre in St. John’s, N.L.
As tough as that first task — clinch one of the six available playoff berths after 18 teams completed pool play on Thursday — was to accomplish, you can be assured the next boxes will be considerably tougher as the chase to earn a spot in Sunday night’s gold-medal game heats up.
The first steps will be taken on Friday with two rounds of playoff action.
At 1:30 p.m. (all times NT), the Page 1-2 qualifying games will take the stage. In one, Pool A winners Newfoundland and Labrador’s Team Brad Gushue (8-0; St. John’s) will take on Manitoba’s Team Matt Dunstone (7-1; Winnipeg) , and in the other, Pool B winner Team Kevin Koe (8-0; Calgary) will battle reigning champs Team Canada, skipped by Brad Jacobs (7-1; Calgary) — two teams that play out of the Glencoe Club.
The skips of the past 10 Montana’s Brier champs will all be on the ice, all looking to win and advance to the Page 1-2 playoff Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with a berth in the gold-medal game on the line, but also an all-important second playoff life — the loser Saturday night gets a second shot at the final by playing in Sunday’s 1:30 p.m. semifinal.Alberta’s Team Kevin Koe carried an unblemished 8-0 record through pool play at the 2026 Montana’s Brier and earned a spot in Friday’s Page 1v2 qualifier. (Photo, Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver)
Friday afternoon’s losers, meanwhile, also stay alive, and will be back in action Friday night, 7:30 p.m., in the Page 3-4 qualifying games.
The Team Gushue vs. Team Dunstone loser will on the ice against Pool A’s third-place finishers Ontario’s Team Jayden King (5-3; Tillsonburg), while the Team Koe vs. Team Jacobs loser will battle Pool B third-place finisher Manitoba’s Team Braden Calvert (5-3; Winnipeg).
Friday night’s winners will play in the Page 3-4 playoff Saturday at 1:30 p.m., with the winner going to Sunday’s semifinal and the loser being eliminated.
It was all sorted out late Thursday night when Team Dunstone doubled Saskatchewan’s Team Mike McEwen (5-3; Saskatoon) 6-3. A Team McEwen win would have vaulted them into second place in the pool and knocked Team Calvert out of playoff contention, but Dunstone scored a go-ahead deuce in the eighth end, and stole two more insurance points in the 10th when McEwen was light on his draw to bite the button and force an extra end.
Calvert’s Manitoba champs — 8-4 winners over Northern Ontario’s Team Sandy MacEwan (2-5; Sudbury) — had to wait with fingers crossed that their fellow Manitobans would do them a solid with the win over Team McEwen.
“Yeah, it was nerve-wracking,” admitted Calvert with a chuckle. “And being good friends with Dunstone’s team, you know, you’re kind of pulling for them. They made it interesting and then got the job done for us.”
As a result, Team Calvert — like Ontario’s Team King, all Montana’s Brier rookies — will get a taste of closing weekend playoff pressure in the planet’s biggest and most historic national men’s curling championship.
“It’s been a bit of a grind of a week,” said Calvert. “We’ve lost some games where we felt pretty good about our game and we’ve won some games where we maybe didn’t feel great about our game and that’s just the roller coaster of what the Brier is all about.
“I think we can play pretty loose (Friday night) and just try and really come out strong against whoever we’re playing and see what we can do.”
Team Calvert, Team McEwen and New Brunswick’s Team James Grattan all finished with 5-3 records, and were 1-1 against each other in head-to-head games; the tie was broken based on the Last Shot Draw standings, where Team Calvert posted the best total amongst the tied teams.
Team Koe, meanwhile, wrapped up a perfect round robin with a 6-3 win over the Yukon’s Team Thomas Scoffin (1-7; Whitehorse).
“Coming into this week, we wanted to be playoffs, and a bonus would have been getting that extra life in the playoffs,” he said. “So to get through our pool, and I think we’ll have hammer tomorrow (against Team Jacobs), yeah, it was a good win, and now it gets harder. We start playing some of the big boys.”
That last-rock advantage, suggested Koe, will be a nice edge to open the game against the defending champs.
“It just gives you just more of a reassuring feeling at the start,” he said. “I mean, you have to put it to good use, but even if you get up that one (point), even up one at the start, I think that’s big. If you don’t have it and give up a deuce, it can be deflating.
“So, it’s good for a good feeling, but unless we do something with it, it won’t matter.”
In the other Thursday night game, New Brunswick toppled B.C.’s Team Cody Tanaka (1-7; Kamloops/Delta) 8-2.
Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 20256 Montana’s Brier are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/.
TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2026 Montana’s Brier. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.
