Alberta bounces back at Brier
REGINA Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher dominated in a 9-2 eight ends victory over Jamie Koe’s Northwest Territories rink on Sunday in Draw 4 of the Tim Hortons Brier.
Bottcher scored two points in the second, third and fourth ends and then a single in the fifth to take a commanding lead.
Alberta and the Northwest Territories have identical 1-1 records in the roundrobin portion of the Canadian men’s curling championship.
Greg Smith of Newfoundland and Labrador, continued his aggressive approach but Nova Scotia’s James Murphy fought through the second half of the game with a three-point ender in the seventh, a steal of two in the eighth and a steal of one in the ninth to secure a 9-6 win.
Smith fell to 0-2 at the tournament and Murphy is 2-0.
It was early handshakes on the remaining sheets in the afternoon draw. Team Canada and Team Wild-Card remain undefeated in Pool A after two games.
The 2017 Brier champion Brad Gushue (2-0) defeated Yukon rookie skip Thomas Scoffin, stealing three out of eight ends in the 8-3 victory.
Also, Mike McEwen rink from Winnipeg, playing in the tournament as the wild card, took control of their game earlier against B.C.’s Sean Geall with back-to-back steals in the first and second ends and finishing with a steal of one to take a 9-3 win.
Earlier in the day, Reid Carruthers skipped his Manitoba rink to its second straight win, defeating Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock 7-5 in an extra end in Draw 3.
Carruthers (2-0) scored a deuce in the 11th after Laycock (0-2) had stolen a single in the 10th to tie the game and force the extra end.
Manitoba began the Canadian men’s curling championship with a 12-7 win over P.E.I.’s Eddie MacKenzie on Saturday.
MacKenzie (1-1) earned his first win of the tournament on Sunday morning, scoring a deuce in the 10th to edge Quebec’s Mike Fournier 7-6. Fournier is 1-1.