PORTAGE — Reid Carruthers and Kevin Koe round out the field for the Canadian men's curling championship after their teams won their respective provincial finals Sunday.
Carruthers defeated Braden Calvert 9-7 in Portage la Prairie, Man., and Koe downed Evan Van Amsterdam 9-7 in Stettler, Alta.
The crowning of the Alberta and Manitoba champions completed the field of 18 teams curling Feb. 28 to March 9 in the Montana's Brier in Kelowna, B.C.
The victor represents Canada at the men's world championship March 29 to April 6 in Moose Jaw, Sask.
Other teams already Brier-bound include Cameron de Jong (B.C.), Rylan Kleiter (Saskatchewan), Sam Mooiebroek (Ontario), John Epping (Northern Ontario), Tyler Smith (Prince Edward Island), Ty Di Lello (Newfoundland and Labrador), Owen Purcell (Nova Scotia), Thomas Scoffin (Yukon), Felix Asselin (Quebec), Shane Latimer (Nunavut), James Grattan (New Brunswick) and Aaron Bartling (Northwest Territories).
Six-time champion Brad Gushue of St. John's, N.L., returns as defending champion.
Teams skipped by Brad Jacobs, Mike McEwen and Matt Dunstone pre-qualified for Kelowna based on their rankings at the end of the 2023-24 season.
Jacobs, a Canadian, world and Olympic champion, took over as skip of Brendan Bottcher's Alberta-based team, that ranked No. 2 in Canada at the end of last season. Bottcher replaced E.J. Harnden as Gushue's second in October.
The winner in Kelowna can claim a berth in November's Olympic trials as long as that team ranks in the top six at the world championship.
Gushue and Jacobs are already bound for trials.
Should Gushue or Jacobs prevail in Kelowna, the trials berth goes to the highest ranked team at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season after the Players' Championship in April.
Carruthers will make his 12th appearance at the Brier. He stole two in the first end and scored four in the fourth for a 6-1 lead over Calvert on Sunday.
Calvert countered with deuces in the fifth, seventh and ninth ends, but trailed by one coming home without hammer. He missed a double hit with his final stone of the 10th.
Four-time national and two-time world champion Koe will skip a team in the Brier for the 13th time in his career. He missed the playoffs for just the second time last year in Regina.
His team scored deuces in the first, third and fifth ends, stole a point in the sixth and notched another deuce in the ninth Sunday to lead 9-5 coming home and ran Van Amsterdam out of rocks.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 9, 2025.
The Canadian Press
