CALGARY, March 12, 2009 (CCA)– They completed the round-robin here at the 2009 Tim Hortons Brier Thursday night. And after playing 17 draws, it’s going to take an 18th before the final playoff field can be set.
Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton will take on Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard in a playoff tiebreaker game Friday (4 p.m. AT, TSN) to determine who will get the fourth and final playoff spot.
Both Manitoba and Quebec finished the round-robin with 7-4 records and the winner on Friday will advance to Saturday morning’s 3 vs 4 Page Playoff game to face Newfoundland’s Brad Gushue, who finished alone in third place with a final record of 8-3.
Quebec forced the tiebreaker with a thrilling 7-6 extra end victory over Northern Ontario’s Mike Jakubo Thursday night, while Gushue locked up third place with an 8-3 romp over Saskatchewan’s Joel Jordison.
Meanwhile, Alberta’s Kevin Martin and Ontario’s Glenn Howard staged a dress rehearsal Thursday night of Friday night’s Page Playoff 1 vs 2 game.
The two best teams at the Brier all week slugged it out in what was a battle for first place and, for Alberta, a slice of Brier history.
And just as he has all this week — and for the entire Brier last year — Martin emerged victorious, edging Howard 7-5 in what was an exceptionally well-played game.
The win earns Alberta the hammer in the 1 vs 2 game and pushes their round-robin record to a perfect 11-0. Martin went 13-0 in winning last year’s Brier and he sets a new record for consecutive Brier wins with the victory over Ontario. The previous record of 23 straight wins was held by the four-time Canadian champion Randy Ferbey foursome.
Howard finishes the round-robin in second place with a 9-2 record.
In the only other game Thursday night, New Brunswick’s Russ Howard missed his chance to join the tiebreaker fray, falling 5-4 to BC’s Sean Geall to finish 6-5, the same record as BC.