Alberta’s Koe joins playoff teams, Manitoba’s Calvert keeps race interesting at Brier

By Canadian Press on March 4, 2026.

ST. JOHN’S — Kevin Koe secured a playoff spot at the Brier while Braden Calvert injected intrigue into the race for other berths Wednesday.

Koe’s Alberta foursome won a sixth straight game to top Pool B and secure entry into Friday’s playoff round in St. John’s, N.L.

Four-time Brier champion Koe returns to the playoffs after two straight years on the outside looking in.

“It feels great. It’s been a couple Briers since we’ve been even really kind of close,” Koe said.

The 51-year-old skip continued to be vintage Koe in St. John’s with 94 per cent shooting accuracy Wednesday, and led all skips at 90.

“It’s a beautiful thing to see the fire Kevin still has,” said his longtime competitor E.J. Harnden, who plays second for Matt Dunstone.

“Curling is only getting harder. It’s not getting any easier, and Kevin hasn’t cooled off.”

Koe also got run support from his lineup that slammed the door 8-2 on Northern Ontario’s Sandy MacEwan in the afternoon draw.

Calvert’s rookie team from Manitoba, meanwhile, beat Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen 9-4 to get to 4-2 and drop McEwen to 5-2.

“We kind of knew going into today that this was a must-win game and treated it like that,” Calvert said. “It was nice to come out so sharp.”

Manitoba’s Dunstone remained in the Pool B playoff hunt at 5-1 after a 6-5 victory over Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin.

Dunstone and McEwen meet in the Pool B finale on Thursday evening.

“One of the games we had highlighted in pool play here,” Dunstone said. “Going to be excited for that one. We’ve got to take care of business in the morning, though.”

Dunstone takes on Northern Ontario in the morning. New Brunswick’s James Grattan was still in playoff contention at 3-3.

The top three teams in each pool of nine at the conclusion of the preliminary round Thursday advance to Friday’s playoffs.

There are no tiebreaker games. Ties are resolved via head-to-head record first, and then cumulative rankings from the pre-game draw the button to determine hammer.

Sunday’s winner represents Canada at the men’s world championship March 27 to April 4 in Ogden, Utah.

Defending champion Brad Jacobs and Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador shared the Pool A lead at 6-0 heading into Wednesday evening’s draw.

Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard was 4-2 ahead of Saskatchewan’s Kelly Knapp and Ontario’s Jayden King both at 3-3.

Thursday afternoon features a “Battle of the Brads” as Jacobs and Gushue square off at Mary Brown’s Centre in the final Pool A draw.

Koe’s last Brier win was in 2019 when his team went undefeated in Brandon, Man.

He’s a veteran of eight Brier finals, including 2017 in St. John’s when he fell 7-6 to hometown hero Gushue.

The 2026 Brier will be the last for 45-year-old Gushue. Koe would happily take a rematch with Gushue on Sunday.

“That’d be a battle of the old guys,” Koe joked. “Sure, he wants to play a 50-year-old, I get it.

“Brad and I have played each other probably something like 90 times. Hopefully there’s one more some time this week.”

Koe wasn’t sure how much longer he’ll curl competitively.

“I’ve always said we’ll see how this Brier goes and see how we play and where we end up,” the skip said. “If I continue to play, it would be a year-by-year basis for now.

“Hopefully we can go out on top this week and probably make my decision harder.”