Carruthers, Jacobs remain undefeated and tied for first
REGINA — Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers and Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs remained undefeated and tied for first place in Pool B with wins Monday afternoon at the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier. Carruthers (4-0) and his Winnipeg rink held on for a 9-6 win over Quebec. Quebec skip Mike Fournier (1-3) was able to read the ice quickly and made some crucial draws in the first half of the game, and pulled to within a point of Carruthers after getting a steal of one in the eighth end. Carruthers responded with two in the ninth end before Fournier conceded in the 10th. Jacobs kept pace with Carruthers with a 9-4 win over New Brunswick. Oromocto’s James Grattan (1-2) struggled in the first half, allowing Jacobs to steal one in the second and fifth ends, followed by and easy three in the seventh. Ontario’s John Epping (3-1) posted a 14-3 win over Nunavut to keep the pressure on the Pool B leaders. The Toronto-based rink commanded the game right from the start with a deuce in the first end followed by three consecutive steals to be up 9-2 heading into the sixth. Nunavut fell to 0-4 and was the first team to be eliminated from the championship pool. In a must-win scenario for both teams, host Saskatchewan improved to 2-2 with a 7-6 extra-end win over P.E.I. Charlottetown’s Eddie MacKenzie took the lead in the third after a big double to score three. Saskatchewan skip Matt Dunstone started to show his frustration in the eighth after missing on the final rock, giving P.E.I. a steal of one. Saskatchewan third Steve Laycock’s experience was on display at the Brandt Centre, helping to set up Dunstone for two in the ninth. MacKenzie had a chance to win it in the tenth but his final rock overcurled to push the game into an extra-end. Dunstone was able to draw for one with the hammer in the extra end. P.E.I. dropped to 1-3. In the morning draw, defending champion Brad Gushue and wild-card skip Mike McEwen picked up wins to set up a matchup of undefeated teams in the day’s evening schedule. McEwen’s Winnipeg rink scored three in the 10th end in a 6-5 win over Nova Scotia as Jamie Murphy’s Halifax foursome suffered its first loss in Regina. Murphy had taken a two-point lead into the final end after scoring a deuce in the seventh and stealing one in the eighth and ninth. Gushue joined McEwen at 3-0 with an 8-4 win over Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories. The 2017 Brier winner put the game away with three in the eighth end. The early results set up a battle for top spot in Pool A in a rare matchup of two teams not representing provinces or territories. Gushue’s rink from St. John’s, N.L., is competing at this Brier as Team Canada, while McEwen entered the main competition after winning the first ever Brier wild-card game on the weekend. In other early results, Alberta edged British Columbia 9-8 and Newfoundland and Labrador held on for a 7-6 win over Yukon. McEwen and Gushue led Pool A after six draws, followed by Nova Scotia and Alberta at 2-1.