Team Saskatchewan eyes playoffs as Brier round robin wraps up
Team Saskatchewan is ready to make some noise.
Having clinched the top seed in Pool B at the 2024 Montana's Brier, skip Mike Mcewen, third Colton Flasch, second Kevin Marsh and lead Daniel Marsh are hoping to carry their strong play into the playoffs, which begin Friday, at the Canadian men's curling championship.
On Wednesday night, Mcewen and his squad secured the No. 1 seed in their pool at the championship in Regina with a 10-2 win over Nunavut to improve to 6-1. Saskatchewan concluded the round robin against Quebec on Thursday afternoon.
Saskatchewan will now face the No. 2 seed in Pool A on Friday at 1 p.m. in the Page 1-2 qualifier game. If they win, Mcewen and company will advance to Saturday night's Page 1-2 playoff game. A loss in the Page 1-2 qualifier means a short turnaround as they would face a No. 3 seed in the Page 3-4 qualifier at 7 p.m. on Friday, with the loser eliminated and the winner moving on to Saturday's Page 3-4 playoff game at 1 p.m.
Mcewen — who is the top skip in the field this week curling at 90 per cent after six days — is looking for his first Brier win in nine appearances. The Winnipeg product's best finish came in 2017 when he finished third as the skip of Team Manitoba.
Saskatchewan's last Brier title came in 1980 with Rick Folk winning. As a province, Saskatchewan has won seven Briers, with Ernie Richardson (four: 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963), Garnet Campbell (one: 1955) and Harvey Mazinke (one: 1973) having won the others.
Alberta leads all-time with 29 titles, followed by Manitoba with 27 and Ontario with 10.
This year's championship game is set for Sunday at 6 p.m.
The winner will represent Canada at the 2024 World Men's Curling Championship, set to get underway March 30 in Switzerland.