Gushue, Jacobs, Epping playoff-bound at the Brier

REGINA — Suspenseful quiet punctuated by explosive cheering signalled a shift in atmosphere Thursday at the Canadian men’s curling championship.

Under the new format introduced this year, the top eight teams with the best records after the first five days of the Tim Hortons Brier carried those records into the championship round.

The top four from that group advance to the playoffs and all but one of those berths were secured by Thursday night.

Defending champion Brad Gushue, 2013 champion Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario and Ontario’s John Epping were playoff bound at 8-1.

“We want nothing more than to win this thing once again,” Jacobs said. “That’s really the main motivation for our team, winning the Canadian men’s championship for a second time.”

With Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher at 7-2, the four-loss teams — Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers, Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock and the wild-card team skipped by Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen — needed to win out today and the Albertans to lose twice to force tiebreaker games for fourth.

That host Saskatchewan was in the championship round heightened tension and kept attendance high Thursday at the Brandt Centre.

But Gushue edged Laycock 5-4 in an extra end to put the Saskatoon team in the uncomfortable position of relying on Alberta losses, lest Saskatchewan’s drought at the Brier extend to 38 years without a title.

“We’re cheering for Alberta to lose two tomorrow or else we’re out. And we have to win out,” Laycock said. “There’s definitely a chance it could happen and we’ve got winnable games tomorrow.”

In an effort to include all provinces and territories, a Northern Ontario team, a defending champion and have an even number of teams for two pools, Curling Canada instituted this format at both the national men’s and women’s championships this year.