The 2016

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 5–13, 2016 at

TD Place Arena TD Place Arena, originally the Ottawa Civic Centre, is an indoor arena located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, seating 9,500. With temporary seating and standing room it can hold 10,585. Opened in December 1967, it is used primarily for sports, inc ...

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 ...

. It is the fourth time the Brier has been held in Ottawa, and the fifth time the Brier has been held in the

Ottawa-Gatineau The National Capital Region (french: Région de la capitale nationale), also referred to as Canada's Capital Region and Ottawa–Gatineau (formerly ''Ottawa–Hull''), is an official federal designation for the Canadian capital of Ottawa, On ...

region. It is the first time the Brier has been held in Ottawa since the 2001 Nokia Brier.

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 ...

won the Brier 9–5 in the final against

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 ...

, giving skip

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 ...

his third Brier title. With the win, the Koe rink represented Canada at the 2016 World Men's Curling Championship held from April 2–10, 2016 at

St. Jakobshalle St. Jakobshalle is an arena in Münchenstein, near Basel, Switzerland. It is primarily used for indoor sports and concert events. The arena originally had capacity for 9,000 people and was opened in September 1976. It is the home of the Swiss In ...

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. They also represented Team Canada at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and earned $225,000 for the victory. The bronze medal game was won by

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Provi ...

. The total attendance for the event was 115,047, down from the 154,136 that went to the last Brier held in Ottawa. The attendance for the final was a sellout of 8,419, which was standing-room only in the 8,200 seat arena.

Ice conditions

Toward the end of the week, ice conditions became poor, as warmer, wet weather descended upon the capital, creating a layer of frost on the ice. The arena lacked a dehumidifier which made the problem worse, as there was no way of removing the moisture in the air. Manitoba skip Mike McEwen claimed the ice was the "second-worst ice conditions he's ever played on". Conditions returned to normal for the final championship weekend.

Teams

The 2016 Brier field has been considered by some to be among the best ever. The event features two Olympic champion skips, two World Champion skips, four Brier champion skips, and ten of the top 17 teams in the country (including six of the top ten in the world), according to the

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 ...

. Coming off of a bronze medal showing at the 2015 Ford World Men's Curling Championship, the defending Brier champion Pat Simmons rink from Calgary returns to represent Team Canada. Also returning from the 2015 Brier is the 2010 World Champion

rink (also from Calgary), representing Alberta; 2014 Brier runner-up Jim Cotter representing British Columbia; 2006 Olympic Champion

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 ...

and his Newfoundland and Labrador team; the 2014 Olympic champions

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 ...

representing Northern Ontario; 2009 Canadian Junior Champion Adam Casey and his Prince Edward Island team; 2006 Brier champion

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 ...

skipping the Quebec team; 2003 World Junior Champion

Steve Laycock Stephen "Steve" Laycock (born October 29, 1982 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian curler from Saskatoon. He currently skips his own team out of Saskatoon. Career In 2003, Laycock skipped Team Saskatchewan to a Canadian Junior Curling Ch ...

and his Saskatchewan team; ten-time Territories champion

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; and four-time Territorial Champion

Bob Smallwood Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals * Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname ...

representing the Yukon. The 2016 Brier also features four-time provincial champion Mike Kennedy skipping New Brunswick; Three-time provincial champion Jamie Murphy representing Nova Scotia; and Four-time World Champion

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 ...

, who is making his Brier record 17th appearance at the national championships. Two teams are making their debut at the 2016 Brier. The World #2 ranked Mike McEwen rink who lost in five of the last six provincial championship finals, finally won the Manitoba championship, earning the right to represent Manitoba for the first time at the Brier. Also making their debut is Team Nunavut, skipped by

Wade Kingdon Wade, WADE, or Wades may refer to: Places in the United States * Wade, California, a former settlement * Wade, Maine, a town * Wade, Mississippi, a census-designated place * Wade, North Carolina, a town * Wade, Ohio, an unincorporated commu ...

. Nunavut was granted a direct entry to the Brier for the first time in 2015, but opted to field a team for the first time in 2016. For the first time,

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 ...

is allowing each team to field a player from out of province. Players living outside the province or territory of their team includes

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 ...

of Alberta (lives in Ontario),

Chris Schille Christopher Schille (born February 19, 1983 in Barrhead, Alberta) is a Canadian curler from Red Deer, Alberta. Curling career Schille grew up in Alberta, where he had a successful junior career, skipping the Alberta team to a 7-5 record at th ...

of the Northwest Territories (lives in Alberta) and

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 ...

of Northern Ontario (who lives in Ontario, but in Toronto). Also, Team Canada skip Pat Simmons lives in Saskatchewan, while the rest of his team lives in Alberta.

CTRS ranking

Pre-Qualifying Tournament

The Northwest Territories rink won the pre-qualifying event, qualifying the team to play at the full Brier event round robin against the other 11 teams. Nova Scotia missed out in playing in the main event for the second straight year.

Standings

''Final Standings''

Results

All draw times are listed in

Eastern Standard Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...

( UTC−5).

Draw 1

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

Draw 2

''Friday, March 4, 7:30 am''

Draw 3

''Friday, March 4, 4:20 pm''

Pre-Qualifying Final

''Saturday, March 5, 2:30 pm''

Round robin standings

''Final Round Robin Standings''

Round robin results

All draw times are listed in

( UTC−5).

Draw 1

''Saturday, March 5, 2:30 pm''

Draw 2

''Saturday, March 5, 7:30 pm''

Draw 3

''Sunday, March 6, 9:00 am''

Draw 4

''Sunday, March 6, 2:00 pm''

Draw 5

''Sunday, March 6, 7:30 pm''

Draw 6

''Monday, March 7, 2:30 pm''

Draw 7

''Monday, March 7, 7:30 pm''

Draw 8

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

Draw 9

''Tuesday, March 8, 2:30 pm''

Draw 10

''Tuesday, March 8, 7:30 pm''

Draw 11

''Wednesday, March 9, 9:30 am''

Draw 12

''Wednesday, March 9, 2:30 pm''

Draw 13

''Wednesday, March 9, 7:30 pm''
With Northern Ontario's win over the Northwest Territories, they become the first team to clinch a playoff spot.

Draw 14

''Thursday, March 10, 9:30 am''
With their wins, both Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador clinch playoff berths.

Draw 15

''Thursday, March 10, 2:30 pm''

Draw 16

''Thursday, March 10, 7:30 pm''
With Manitoba's win, they clinch the remaining playoff spot.

Draw 17

''Friday, March 11, 9:30 am''
With Prince Edward Island losing and Northwest Territories winning, PEI will be relegated into the pre-qualifying tournament at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier, as they have finished last.

Playoffs

1 vs. 2

''Friday, March 11, 7:30 pm''

3 vs. 4

''Saturday, March 12, 2:30 pm''

Semifinal

''Saturday, March 12, 7:30 pm''

Bronze medal game

''Sunday, March 13, 2:30 pm''

Final

''Sunday, March 13, 7:30 pm''

Statistics

Player percentages

''After Round Robin''

Perfect games

Awards

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

, Northern Ontario *Third:

, Northern Ontario *Second:

, Alberta *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:

, Newfoundland and Labrador *Third: Mark Nichols, Newfoundland and Labrador *Second: E.J. Harnden, Northern Ontario *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 *

Tyrel Griffith Tyrel James "Ty" Griffith (born December 22, 1985) is a Canadians, Canadian curling, curler from Kelowna, British Columbia. Personal life Griffith was born in Calgary. He is employed as a Canada golf operations manager/PGA of Canada Golf profes ...

, British Columbia second ;Paul McLean Award *Paul Wiecek, sports reporter for the

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...

;Hec Gervais Most Valuable Player Award *

, Alberta skip

Notes

References

External links

* {{2015–16 curling season Curling in Ottawa 2016 in Ontario 2016 in Canadian curling The Brier March 2016 sports events in Canada 2010s in Ottawa