The 2017

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 ...

, Canada's national men's

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

championship, was held from March 4–12, 2017 at the

Mile One Centre Mary Brown's Centre (formerly Mile One Centre) is an indoor arena and entertainment venue located in downtown St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The arena opened in May 2001, replacing Memorial Stadium. At full capacity the arena can ...

in St. John's,

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. This marked the second time the Brier was hosted by St. John's, the first being the 1972 Macdonald Brier.

won the Brier 7–6 in the final against Team

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, giving 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 ...

his first Brier title. With the win, the Gushue rink earned the right to represent Canada at the

2017 Ford World Men's Curling Championship The 2017 World Men's Curling Championship (branded as Ford World Men's Curling Championship 2017 for sponsorship reasons) was a curling event that was held from April 1 to 9 at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Alberta. Canada won the title for th ...

held from April 1–9, 2017 at

Northlands Coliseum Northlands Coliseum is a now-unused indoor arena located in Edmonton, Alberta, situated on the north side of Northlands. It was used for sports events and concerts, and was home to the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and N ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

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 ...

. They also represented Team Canada at the

2018 Tim Hortons Brier The 2018 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from March 3 to 11, 2018 at the Brandt Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan. The winning team represented Canada at the 2018 World Men's Curling Championship from March ...

in Regina,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

and earned $225,000 for the victory. The bronze medal was won by

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. The total attendance for the event was 122,592, up from the 115,047 that attended the previous year's Brier held in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. The attendance for the final was 6,471.

Background

Host bidding

Both

's Sault Ste. Marie (

Essar Centre The GFL Memorial Gardens, formerly the "Essar Centre", is a 4,928 seat sports and entertainment centre in downtown Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. It opened on September 29, 2006, replacing the now demolished Sault Memorial Gardens. The new b ...

) and

's St. John's (

) made bids for the Brier, but it was announced on September 14, 2015 that St. John's would host.

''Brier Bear''

The wearer of the ''Brier Bear'' – the Brier-renowned mascot – suit, Reg Caughie, announced that, after this 2017 Canadian Men's Curling Championship, he would retire from wearing the suit. The 78-year old Caughie believed that

Curling Canada Curling Canada (formerly the Canadian Curling Association (CCA)) is a sanctioning body for the sport of Curling in Canada. It is associated with more than a dozen provincial and territorial curling associations across the country, and organizes C ...

would continue the tradition of the Brier Bear.

Teams

Ten of the fifteen teams of the 2017 Brier were in the top 30 of the men's 2016–17

CTRS standings The Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) is a point system used by Curling Canada to rank men's and women's curling teams across Canada. They are determined through points earned in various curling bonspiels held worldwide throughout the season. CTR ...

. Newfoundland and Labrador's

, skip of one of the consistent top three rinks in Canada, attempted to win his first Brier (in 14 appearances) in front of a hometown crowd. Brothers

Kevin Koe Kevin Koe ( ; born January 11, 1975) is a Canadian curler. Koe is a two-time World champion and four-time Canadian champion. He was the skip of the Canadian men's team at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Originally from Yellowknife, N ...

– representing Team Canada, and

Jamie Koe Jamie Koe (born November 3, 1977 in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories) is a Canadian curler. He has played in 14 Briers, representing the Northwest Territories/Yukon team and three Briers representing just the Northwest Territories. At the 20 ...

– representing the Northwest Territories, again competed against each other. 2016 PEI Champion Adam Casey and his third David Mathers moved west to join rinks that then won the championships of Saskatchewan and Ontario, respectively.

Glenn Howard Glenn William Howard (born July 17, 1962) is a Canadian curler who is one of the most decorated curlers of all time. He has won four world championships, four Briers and 17 Ontario provincial championships, including a record eight straight ...

won the Ontario Championship for the 17th time as either third or skip. By contrast, a team not skipped by either Kevin Martin,

Randy Ferbey Randy S. Ferbey (born May 30, 1959) is a Canadian retired curler from Sherwood Park, Alberta. Ferbey is a six-time Canadian champion and a four-time World Champion. He currently coaches the Rachel Homan women's team. Born in Edmonton, Albert ...

or Kevin Koe won the Alberta Championship for the first time since

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

(although Kevin Martin coached Alberta's

Brendan Bottcher Brendan Michael Bottcher (born December 19, 1991) is a Canadian curler from Sherwood Park, Alberta. Bottcher is a three-time provincial men's champion, and was the skip of the 2021 Canadian men's championship team, having led Alberta to victory ...

). The teams are listed as follows:

CTRS ranking

Pre-qualifying tournament

Standings

Results

All draw times are listed in

Newfoundland Standard Time The Newfoundland Time Zone (NT) is a geographic region that keeps time by subtracting 3.5 hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC) during standard time, resulting in UTC−03:30; or subtracting 2.5 hours during daylight saving time. The clock ...

( UTC−03:30).

Draw 1

''Thursday, March 2, 7:00 pm''

Draw 2

''Friday, March 3, 8:00 am''

Draw 3

''Friday, March 3, 3:30 pm''

Pre-qualifying final

''Saturday, March 4, 3:00 pm''

Round-robin standings

''Final round-robin standings''

Round-robin results

All draw times are listed in

( UTC−03:30).

Draw 1

''Saturday, March 4, 3:00 pm''

Draw 2

''Saturday, March 4, 8:00 pm''

Draw 3

''Sunday, March 5, 10:00 am''

Draw 4

''Sunday, March 5, 3:00 pm''

Draw 5

''Sunday, March 5, 8:00 pm''

Draw 6

''Monday, March 6, 3:00 pm''

Draw 7

''Monday, March 6, 8:00 pm''

Draw 8

''Tuesday, March 7, 10:00 am''

Draw 9

''Tuesday, March 7, 3:00 pm''

Draw 10

''Tuesday, March 7, 8:00 pm''

Draw 11

''Wednesday, March 8, 10:00 am''

Draw 12

''Wednesday, March 8, 3:00 pm''

Draw 13

''Wednesday, March 8, 8:00 pm''

Draw 14

''Thursday, March 9, 10:00 am''

Draw 15

''Thursday, March 9, 3:00 pm''

Draw 16

''Thursday, March 9, 8:00 pm''

Draw 17

''Friday, March 10, 10:00 am''

Playoffs

1 vs. 2

''Friday, March 10, 8:00 pm''

3 vs. 4

''Saturday, March 11, 3:00 pm''

Semifinal

''Saturday, March 11, 8:30 pm''

Bronze medal game

''Sunday, March 12, 3:00 pm''

Final

''Sunday, March 12, 8:00 pm''

Statistics

Player percentages

''Round Robin only''

Perfect games

''Round Robin only''

Awards

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

, Newfoundland and Labrador *Third:

Catlin Schneider Catlin Schneider (born October 17, 1991) is a Canadian curler from Regina, Saskatchewan. Career Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Schneider was a two-sport athlete at university, playing both football and curling for the University of Regina. In fo ...

, Saskatchewan *Second: E.J. Harnden, Northern Ontario *Lead:

Denni Neufeld Dennison "Denni" Neufeld (born January 25, 1981) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Born in Steinbach, Manitoba, Neufeld won a gold medal for Manitoba at the 1999 Canada Games. In 2001 he joined Mike McEwen's team. After a few years ...

, Manitoba ''Second Team'' *Skip: Mike McEwen, Manitoba *Third: Mark Nichols, Newfoundland and Labrador *Second:

Matt Wozniak Matt Wozniak (born January 6, 1983) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Wozniak is the former second for the Mike McEwen team which curled out of the Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club in Winnipeg. Career 2005–2010 In 2005, Woznia ...

, Manitoba *Lead: Geoff Walker, Newfoundland and Labrador ;Ross Harstone Sportsmanship Award *

Jean-Michel Ménard Jean-Michel Ménard (born January 19, 1976) is a curler from Aylmer, Quebec, Canada. Ménard is notable for being the first Francophone born skip from Quebec to win the Brier - Canada's national curling championship- which he did in 2006. In 202 ...

, Quebec Skip ;Paul McLean Award *Leigh Buttery, TSN ;Hec Gervais Most Valuable Player Award *

, Newfoundland and Labrador Skip

Notes

References

{{2016–17 curling season 2017 in Canadian curling The Brier Sport in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador 2017 in Newfoundland and Labrador Curling in Newfoundland and Labrador