It was the most anticipated match of the round-robin portion of the 2026 Montana’s Brier, presented by AGI, and the rematch Saturday afternoon will have even more on the line.
It’s the Battle of the Brads — the sequel. This time, the winner of Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. (all times NT) Page 3-4 playoff stays alive in his quest to win the most famous men’s national curling championship on the planet, and the loser goes home.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s Team Brad Gushue (9-1; St. John’s) and Team Canada (8-2; Calgary), skipped by Brad Jacobs, will play for a berth in Sunday afternoon’s 1:30 p.m. semifinal after prevailing Friday night in front of yet another sold-out crowd at the Mary Brown’s Centre in the Page 3-4 qualifying games.
Thursday afternoon, the two teams brought unbeaten records into their clash close out the Pool A round robin with Team Gushue winning a 4-2 nailbiter.
Friday night, the home team, of course, was again the main focus of the crowd, and Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second/vice-skip Brendan Bottcher, lead Geoff Walker, alternate Adam Casey and coach Jeff Hoffart didn’t disappoint, earning a 12-6 win over Ontario’s Team Jayden King (Tillsonburg).
Team Gushue, who’d lost in a Page 1-2 qualifying game earlier on Friday, rebounded in style, scoring back-to-back deuces in the third and fourth ends — the latter the result of King being heavy on his last-rock draw. The Ontario rookies hung tough, cutting the lead to 5-4 after six ends with a fifth-end deuce and a steal of one in the sixth.
But Team Gushue erased all doubt with a big three in the seventh, and prompted a concession with four more in the ninth.
“Nine and one (record) and we still have to win three more games,” said Gushue with a smile. “So a tough road ahead, but obviously (we took the) first step tonight. It was a good bounceback after this afternoon, which is pretty disappointing, but we played a good game. A few little misses here and there (against Ontario), but made some big shots and finished off in nine. We get 10 minutes extra sleep tonight.”
The reigning champs, meanwhile, had to go the distance against another team of Montana’s Brier rookies before completing a 7-3 win over Manitoba’s Team Braden Calvert (Winnipeg).Team Canada third/vice-skip Marc Kennedy hollers a line call down the sheet in a loud Mary Brown’s Centre at the 2026 Montana’s Brier in St. John’s. (Photo, Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver)
Jacobs, backed up by vice-skip Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, lead Ben Hebert, alternate Mike Caione and coach Paul Webster, also had to rebound from an afternoon loss, and is on the same potential path he took a year ago in Kelowna, where his team rattled off four straight loser-out victories to claim Montana’s Brier gold,
Against Manitoba, it was a lacklustre first three ends for Team Canada, but Jacobs made a wonderful angle-tap to score a go-ahead deuce in the fourth end, and added steals of one in the sixth and seventh to take control.
That was a much-needed jolt of energy for a team that is certainly feeling the effects of nearly a month of high-curling encompassing its victory at the Winter Olympics in Italy and its attempt this week to defend its Canadian title.
“I’m done with this day,” said Jacobs, shaking his head. “That was a long day. We’re exhausted and just ready for bed.
“The turning point in that game was when we made the angle raise for two. I think that just gave us a little bit more energy because, yeah, we were pretty exhausted at the start of that game. But I think the boys kind of pepped up a little bit after that one and we played pretty good from that point on.”
Jacobs is fully aware that here will be little doubt again about the crowd favourite in Saturday’s rematch.
“I mean they’re gonna be cheering hard for their for their guys and for their man,” he said. “I don’t blame them at all. This is Brad’s last Brier. You know they’re going to bring a lot of positive, great energy for them and they’ll cheer our misses. We’re used to it. That game that we played just a couple days ago was a good warm-up for tomorrow.”
Gushue, meanwhile, is looking for the crowd to give his team a jumpstart against a formidable opponent.
“Yeah, obviously, they’re a great team, they’re playing well,” he said. “They’re going to be energized in this crowd, and the crowd’s going to be pretty energized. And we’ll be energized. It’s going to be a good game. It’s going to be exciting.”
And the sub-plot, as the curling world knows very well, is that for the rest of the closing weekend of the Montana’s Brier, each game could be Gushue’s last as he will retire at the end of this season.
“We’re getting down to the nitty gritty here,” he said. “There’s not going to be too many games. Once we lose, we’re done. So I’m trying to enjoy every moment.
“That was one thing I kind of struggled with a little bit in that game is that emotion and thinking, you know what, if we don’t win this one, that’s the last one. So I’ve got to figure out a way to get that out of my head tomorrow, but it’s probably something I’m going to have to deal with. I think it’s natural to have those thoughts and emotions, but I’m glad we get to play another one. Hopefully we get to play another one after that.”
The afternoon game will set the table for a high-stakes Page 1-2 playoff game Saturday at 7:30 p.m. as Kevin Koe’s unbeaten (9-0) Alberta champs from Calgary will battle Manitoba’s Team Matt Dunstone (8-1; Winnipeg) for a berth in Sunday’s 7:30 p.m. gold-medal game.
The Alberta-Manitoba loser will drop to Sunday’s 1:30 p.m. semifinal against the Team Gushue/Team Jacobs winner.
It’ll be the second meeting at the 2026 Montana’s Brier between Team Koe and Team Dunstone. On Tuesday, Team Dunstone led 4-2 through five ends, but the Albertans rallied in the second half of the game for a 7-6 victory.
Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2026 Montana’s Brier are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/.
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