Team Koe clinches Pool B berth with win over Northern Ontario at 2026 Montana’s Brier

Alberta’s Team Kevin Koe is the first team to lock up a Pool B playoff berth at the 2026 Montana’s Brier, presented by AGI, securing a top-two finish with an 8-2 win over Northern Ontario’s Team Sandy MacEwen (2-4; Sudbury) Wednesday afternoon at the Mary Brown’s Centre in St. John’s.

The win keeps Calgary’s Team Koe, rounded out by third Tyler Tardi, second/vice-skip Aaron Sluchinski, lead Karrick Martin, alternate Jacob Libbus and coach Mike Libbus, unblemished in its Montana’s Brier campaign with a 6-0 record, and guarantee of a spot in Friday afternoon’s Page 1-2 qualifying game, and a second life in the playoffs.

“Feels great,” said Koe about the result. “It’s been a couple Briers since we’ve been even really kind of close, so, 6-0 — great start. Now we just have to work to make sure we’re in one of the (Page 1v2) spots (with a win Friday), but we’re in a great spot.”

The Glencoe Club outfit had pressure on the Northern Ontario team early and often, mounting early steals of one in the second and third ends before a walloping haymaker in the seventh from Koe found purchase, scoring four. Team MacEwen would never mount a substantial comeback.

Koe credits the strength of his lineup for the current success but knows that his squad have another gear yet available.

“We played really good,” said Koe. “I thought Tyler was really good. He’s been a little tired — a lot going on all over the world with the Olympics. He played great and it was great to see a lot of confident throws out there. We’re going to need him to keep that up. But I thought, as a team, we played good but I think we still need to keep getting better.”

With nine Montana’s Brier playoff appearances to his name, Koe has the experience to guide his younger squad to success as pool play gives way to the playoffs, beginning Friday.

“I’ve been in what feels like so many; winning and losing” said Koe of his playoff experience. “I know what it’s like. You obviously have to play well and your skip needs to play good. You probably need the odd break or miss, but you know, it can be a pretty fine line against these top teams.”

Koe himself has memories of playing well at the 2017 Brier, which was also hosted at the Mary Brown’s Centre, and those memories harken back to a time where the four-time Montana’s Brier champion was a perennial threat.

Though a repeat of a Montana’s Brier final berth is a long way off, Koe would nothing more than to complete the redemption arc from 2017 and add a fifth Canadian men’s crown to his cabinet.

“That’d be nice,” said Koe of a potential final berth. “I’d take that. This building has been pretty good to me and I’ve played well. I’m comfortable here. We’re still a long way from (the final) and got a lot of tough games coming up for me to worry about that.”

It was the hometown heroes in Team Brad Gushue who defeated Koe in that 2017 Brier final and there’s a very real possibility that a repeat of that final could manifest itself in 2026.

“Battle of the old guys,” laughed Koe at the prospect. “I’m sure he wants to play against a 50-year-old — I get it. Brad and I have played each other something like 90 times so, hopefully, there’s one more sometime this week.”

Meanwhile, just a few sheets over, Manitoba’s Team Braden Calvert (4-1; Winnipeg) kept its playoff hopes alive with a 9-4 win over Saskatchewan’s Team Mike McEwen (5-2; Saskatoon).

“Really exciting,” said Calvert. “We knew going into today that this was a must win game and treated it like that. Nice to come out so sharp.”

Team Calvert still has two games remaining, versus Northern Ontario and New Brunswick’s Team James Grattan (3-3; Oromocto), but holds the even-important head-to-head tiebreaker versus Team McEwen for a potential Pool B third-place finish.

And with a runner-up finish at the 2025 Home Hardware Curling Pre-Trials in Wolfville, N.S., earlier this season, Calvert would love to convert that experience into a playoff berth here at the 2026 Montana’s Brier.

“I think every time we get on Greg (Ewasko)’s ice and arena ice, you kind of fall in love with it,” said Calvert. “You find a groove. The Pre-Trials was great prep for something like this.”

Pool A’s No. 1 spot remains up for grabs as both Team Canada’s Brad Jacobs (6-0; Calgary) and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Team Brad Gushue (6-0; St. John’s) hold matching records, have two games remaining in pool play, and won’t face off until Thursday at 2:30 p.m. (all times NT). No other Pool A team can catch the two front-runners, who are guaranteed a Page 1-2 qualifying game berth.

The playoff format will see the first-place team from Pool A meeting second place from Pool B, and vice versa, in the first round of the playoffs at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, with the winners going directly to the Page playoff 1-2 game, while the losers meet the third-place finishers in the pools Friday at 7:30 p.m. The winners of those games will advance to the Page playoff 3-4 game.

The standard Page playoffs commence with the winner of the Page 1v2 game on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., advancing directly to the final, and the loser plays the winner of the Page 3v4 game (scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Saturday) in the semifinal. 

The semifinal (Sunday at 1:30 p.m.) winner takes on the winner of the Page 1v2 game in the gold-medal game at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. The winner will represent Canada at the 2026 LGT World Men’s Curling Championship March 27-April 4 in Ogden, Utah.

The 2026 Montana’s Brier continues Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2026 Montana’s Brier are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/.

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2026 Montana’s Brier. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

For ticket information for the 2026 Montana’s Brier, go to www.curling.ca/2026brier/tickets/

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/fr/2026brier/nouvelles/