The 2015

Tim Hortons Brier The Tim Hortons Brier, or simply (and more commonly) the Brier (''french: Le Brier''), is the annual Canadian men's curling championship, sanctioned by Curling Canada. The current event name refers to its main sponsor, the Tim Hortons coffee and ...

was held from February 28 to March 8 at

Scotiabank Saddledome Scotiabank Saddledome is a multi-use indoor arena in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Located in Stampede Park in the southeast end of downtown Calgary, the Saddledome was built in 1983 to replace the Stampede Corral as the home of the Calgary Flames ...

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. In the final, the team of Pat Simmons, John Morris,

Carter Rycroft Carter Rycroft (born August 29, 1977) is a Canadian curler from Sherwood Park, Alberta. He was a member of the Canadian Olympic team, skipped by Kevin Martin, that won a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Career Rycroft joined the Marti ...

and

Nolan Thiessen Nolan Thiessen (born November 6, 1980 in Pilot Mound, Manitoba) is a Canadian curler. Career Thiessen, in his debut at Canadian Juniors, lost the final of the 2001 Canadian Junior Curling Championships playing lead for Mike McEwen. Thiessen ...

, representing "Team Canada" as defending Brier champions defeated the reigning Olympic gold medallist

Brad Jacobs Bradley Robert Jacobs (born June 11, 1985) is a Canadian curler from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He is an Olympic champion skip, having led Canada to a gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Jacobs is also the 2013 Tim Hortons Brier championshi ...

rink, representing Northern Ontario. Simmons had to make a draw to the button in an extra end to win the championship. With the victory, the Simmons rink went on to represent Canada at the 2015 Ford World Men's Curling Championship in Halifax, where they won the bronze medal.

Changes to competition format

For the first time, the event was expanded to include an entry from

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...

, which has previously not participated in the Brier. Another notable change was having separate entries for the

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

and

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

, which had historically competed as a single entry. Starting with the 2015 tournament, the top ten teams automatically qualified to the main tournament, which was a competition between twelve teams as in years past. An eleventh team was the defending champions from the previous Brier who played as Team Canada. The four remaining unqualified teams played in a pre-qualifying tournament to determine the twelfth team to play in the main tournament. It was the first time in the history of the Brier that a Team Canada partook, which essentially allowed the defending champions direct re-entry into the event. The skip of the previous year's winning team, Kevin Koe, formed a new team in the off-season and was not be part of Team Canada. Koe won the 2015 Boston Pizza Cup with his new team and represented Alberta at the 2015 Brier. Koe's former teammates recruited John Morris to skip the first ever edition of Team Canada at the Brier. Morris was the runner-up from the previous year. Similar changes were also implemented for the

2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts The 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts was held from February 14 to 22 at Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The winners represented Canada at the 2015 World Women's Curling Championship held from March 14 to 22 at the Tsukisamu Gymnasium in ...

, meaning that for the first time the Canadian men's and women's curling championships will be conducted using identical formats. Previous versions of the

Scotties Tournament of Hearts The Scotties Tournament of Hearts (''french: Le Tournoi des Cœurs Scotties''; commonly referred to as the Scotties) is the annual Canadian women's curling championship, sanctioned by Curling Canada, formerly called the Canadian Curling Associat ...

differed from the Brier in that they included a Team Canada entry, but did not include a separate entry from Northern Ontario.

Teams

The teams are listed as follows:

CTRS ranking

The #1 ranked Mike McEwen rink lost in the Manitoba final.

Relegation playoff

Combined record of each province/territory from 2012 to 2014

Nunavut declined to send a team while Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and the Yukon played a single round-robin at the Scotiabank Saddledome in order to determine which one of the three teams would qualify for the tournament. The teams with the two best records were to advance to the play-in game which was contested Saturday, February 28, concurrent with the opening draw of the Brier round-robin. However, each team finished the round robin tied with a 1-1 record which saw Nova Scotia eliminated based on pregame draws to the button. Prince Edward Island then defeated the Yukon to advance to the main draw of the tournament.

Round robin standings

Round robin results

All draw times are listed in

Mountain Standard Time The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when standard time ( UTC−07:00) is in effect, and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time ( UTC−06:00). The clo ...

( UTC−7).

Draw 1

''Thursday, February 26, 7:00 pm''

Draw 2

''Friday, February 27, 8:00 am''

Draw 3

''Friday, February 27, 3:30 pm''

Pre-qualifying final

''Saturday, February 28, 1:30 pm''

Round robin standings

''Final Round Robin Standings''

Round robin results

All draw times are listed in

( UTC−7).

Draw 1

''Saturday, February 28, 1:30 pm''

Draw 2

''Saturday, February 28, 6:30 pm''

Draw 3

''Sunday, March 1, 8:30 am''

Draw 4

''Sunday, March 1, 1:30 pm''

Draw 5

''Sunday, March 1, 6:30 pm''

Draw 6

''Monday, March 2, 1:30 pm''

Draw 7

''Monday, March 2, 6:30 pm''

Draw 8

''Tuesday, March 3, 8:30 am''

Draw 9

''Tuesday, March 3, 1:30 pm''

Draw 10

''Tuesday, March 3, 6:30 pm''

Draw 11

''Wednesday, March 4, 8:30 am''

Draw 12

''Wednesday, March 4, 1:30 pm''

Draw 13

''Wednesday, March 4, 6:30 pm''

Draw 14

''Thursday, March 5, 8:30 am''

Draw 15

''Thursday, March 5, 1:30 pm''

Draw 16

''Thursday, March 5, 6:30 pm''

Draw 17

''Friday, March 6, 8:30 am''

Playoffs

1 vs. 2

''Friday, March 6, 6:30 pm''

3 vs. 4

''Saturday, March 7, 1:00 pm''

Semifinal

''Saturday, March 7, 6:00 pm''

Bronze medal game

''Sunday, March 8, 9:30 am''

Final

The 2015 Brier final was the first Brier final to start with four blanks. This game came down to the final stone of the eleventh end, where Pat Simmons had a draw to the pin for the win. ''Sunday, March 8, 5:00 pm''

Statistics

Top 5 player percentages

''Round Robin only''

Perfect games

Awards

The awards and all-star teams are listed as follows: ;All-Star Teams ''First Team'' *Skip:

, Northern Ontario *Third:

Ryan Fry Ryan Bennett Fry (born July 25, 1978) is a Canadian curler currently living in Toronto and playing third on the Mike McEwen team. He previously played third for Team Brad Jacobs, and the team represented Canada and won the gold medal at the 20 ...

, Northern Ontario *Second:

, Team Canada *Lead:

Colin Hodgson Colin Sterling-Wyatt Hodgson (born June 8, 1990) is a Canadian curler originally from Lacombe, Alberta. He is the former lead for Team Mike McEwen and currently plays mixed doubles with Chelsea Carey. Career While briefly living in Calgary, H ...

, Manitoba ''Second Team'' *Skip:

Brad Gushue Bradley Raymond Gushue, ONL ( ; born June 16, 1980) is a Canadian curler from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Gushue, along with teammates Russ Howard, Mark Nichols, Jamie Korab and Mike Adam, represented Canada in curling at the 2006 W ...

, Newfoundland and Labrador *Third:

Marc Kennedy Marc Kennedy (born February 5, 1982) is a Canadian curler, and Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic gold medallist from St. Albert, Alberta. In 2019, Kennedy was named the greatest Canadian male second in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, repo ...

, Alberta *Second:

Brent Laing Brent George Laing (born December 10, 1978) is a Canadian curler from Horseshoe Valley, Ontario. He currently plays lead for Mike McEwen. He grew up in Meaford, Ontario. Career Curling out of the Ottawa Curling Club (in Ottawa) and later the ...

, Alberta *Lead:

Ben Hebert Benjamin "Ben" Hebert (born March 16, 1983) is a Canadian curler, a Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic gold medallist, 2008 World Champion and four time Brier Champion from Chestermere, Alberta. In 2019, Hebert was named the greatest Canadian ma ...

, Alberta ;Ross Harstone Sportsmanship Award * Jim Cotter, British Columbia skip ;Paul McLean Award *Jim Young, longtime camera man for TSN's curling broadcasts ;Hec Gervais Most Valuable Player Award * Pat Simmons, Team Canada skip

Notes

References

External links

* {{2014–15 curling season Sport in Calgary Curling in Alberta The Brier