The 2015 Tim Hortons Brier was held from February 28 to March 8 at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
In the final, the team of Pat Simmons, John Morris, Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen, representing "Team Canada" as defending Brier champions defeated the reigning Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs rink, representing Northern Ontario. Simmons had to make a draw to the button in an extra end to win the championship. With the victory, the Simmons rink went on to represent Canada at the 2015 Ford World Men's Curling Championship in Halifax, where they won the bronze medal.
Changes to competition format For the first time, the event was expanded to include an entry from Nunavut, which has previously not participated in the Brier. Another notable change was having separate entries for the Yukon and Northwest Territories, which had historically competed as a single entry.
Starting with the 2015 tournament, the top ten teams automatically qualified to the main tournament, which was a competition between twelve teams as in years past. An eleventh team was the defending champions from the previous Brier who played as Team Canada. The four remaining unqualified teams played in a pre-qualifying tournament to determine the twelfth team to play in the main tournament.
It was the first time in the history of the Brier that a Team Canada partook, which essentially allowed the defending champions direct re-entry into the event. The skip of the previous year's winning team, Kevin Koe, formed a new team in the off-season and was not part of Team Canada. Koe won the 2015 Boston Pizza Cup with his new team and represented Alberta at the 2015 Brier. Koe's former teammates recruited John Morris to skip the first ever edition of Team Canada at the Brier. Morris was the runner-up from the previous year.
Similar changes were also implemented for the 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, meaning that for the first time the Canadian men's and women's curling championships will be conducted using identical formats. Previous versions of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts differed from the Brier in that they included a Team Canada entry, but did not include a separate entry from Northern Ontario.
Teams The teams are listed as follows: British ColumbiaThe Glencoe Club, Calgary Skip: Pat Simmons Third: John Morris Second: Carter Rycroft Lead: Nolan Thiessen Alternate: Tom SallowsThe Glencoe Club, Calgary Skip: Kevin Koe Third: Marc Kennedy Second: Brent Laing Lead: Ben Hebert Alternate: Jamie KingVernon CC, Vernon & Kelowna CC, Kelowna Skip: Jim Cotter Third: Ryan Kuhn Second: Tyrel Griffith Lead: Rick Sawatsky Alternate: Grant Olsen Manitoba New Brunswick West St. Paul CC, West St. Paul Skip: Reid Carruthers Third: Braeden Moskowy Second: Derek Samagalski Lead: Colin Hodgson Alternate: Steve GouldThistle-St. Andrew's CC, Saint John Skip: Jeremy Mallais Third: Zach Eldridge Second: Chris Jeffrey Lead: Jared Bezanson Alternate: Jason VaughanBally Haly G&CC, St. John's Skip: Brad Gushue Third: Mark Nichols Second: Brett Gallant Lead: Geoff Walker Northern Ontario Soo CA, Sault Ste. Marie Skip: Brad Jacobs Third: Ryan Fry Second: E. J. Harnden Lead: Ryan Harnden Alternate: Eric HarndenMayflower CC, Halifax Fourth: Peter Burgess Skip: Glen MacLeod Second: Colten Steele Lead: Robbie McLean Alternate: Paul FlemmingFenelon Falls CC, Fenelon Falls Skip: Mark Kean Third: Mathew Camm Second: David Mathers Lead: Scott Howard Alternate: Bryan Cochrane Quebec SaskatchewanSilver Fox C&YC, Summerside Charlottetown CC, Charlottetown Skip: Adam Casey Third: Josh Barry Second: Anson Carmody Lead: Robbie Doherty Alternate: Robert CampbellCC Etchemin, Saint-Romuald Skip: Jean-Michel Ménard Third: Martin Crête Second: Éric Sylvain Lead: Philippe Ménard Alternate: Pierre CharetteNutana CC, Saskatoon Skip: Steve Laycock Third: Kirk Muyres Second: Colton Flasch Lead: Dallan Muyres Alternate: Gerry Adam Northwest Territories Nunavut Yellowknife CC, Yellowknife Skip: Jamie Koe Third: Mark Whitehead Second: Brad Chorostkowski Lead: Robert Borden Alternate: Bill MerklingerNo team (declined invitation)Whitehorse CC, Whitehorse Skip: Bob Smallwood Third: Wade Scoffin Second: Steve Fecteau Lead: Clint Ireland Alternate: Scott Odian
CTRS ranking The #1 ranked Mike McEwen rink lost in the Manitoba final. Member Association (Skip) Rank Points (Jacobs) 2 189.120 (Gushue) 3 174.950 (Carruthers) 4 138.430 (Laycock) 5 132.315 (K. Koe) 6 126.730 (Casey) 11 78.555 (Ménard) 13 51.145 (Kean) 14 49.075 (Cotter) 15 37.675 (Morris) 17 33.000 (Mallais) NR 0.000 (J. Koe) NR 0.000 (MacLeod) NR 0.000 (Smallwood) NR 0.000
Map of teams
Relegation playoff Combined record of each province/territory from 2012 to 2014 KeyTeam directly qualifies to play in the tournamentTeam must play in a pre-tournament round-robin to qualify LocaleWLLocaleWL 25 8 15 18 25 8 14 19 24 9 14 19 19 14 9 24 17 16 5 28 16 17 0 0 15 18 (declined to play) 0 0
Nunavut declined to send a team while Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and the Yukon played a single round-robin at the Scotiabank Saddledome in order to determine which one of the three teams would qualify for the tournament. The teams with the two best records were to advance to the play-in game which was contested Saturday, February 28, concurrent with the opening draw of the Brier round-robin. However, each team finished the round robin tied with a 1-1 record which saw Nova Scotia eliminated based on pregame draws to the button. Prince Edward Island then defeated the Yukon to advance to the main draw of the tournament.
Round-robin standings Locale Skip Bob Smallwood 1 1 13 10 9 6 1 5 73% Adam Casey 1 1 12 11 6 9 0 1 79% Glen MacLeod 1 1 12 16 8 8 0 2 75%
Round-robin results All draw times are listed in Mountain Standard Time (UTC−7).
Draw 1 Thursday, February 26, 7:00 pm
Draw 2 Friday, February 27, 8:00 am
Draw 3 Friday, February 27, 3:30 pm
Pre-qualifying final Saturday, February 28, 1:30 pm
Round-robin standings Final round-robin standings KeyTeams to PlayoffsTeams to 2016 Relegation Round LocaleSkip Brad Jacobs 10 1 80 39 49 34 18 11 88% Brad Gushue 9 2 80 61 51 42 12 11 85% Steve Laycock 7 4 68 58 42 40 23 8 86% Pat Simmons 7 4 64 61 44 43 17 9 87% Kevin Koe 6 5 72 63 49 42 13 14 89% Jean-Michel Ménard 6 5 70 67 45 50 11 4 85% Jim Cotter 5 6 63 60 46 38 21 10 82% Mark Kean 5 6 64 79 41 49 14 6 83% Adam Casey 5 6 64 69 44 48 11 11 83% Reid Carruthers 4 7 66 63 41 46 13 8 88% Jeremy Mallais 2 9 50 79 38 50 10 4 81% Jamie Koe 0 11 46 88 37 47 12 4 79%
Round-robin results All draw times are listed in Mountain Standard Time (UTC−7).
Draw 1 Saturday, February 28, 1:30 pm
Draw 2 Saturday, February 28, 6:30 pm
Draw 3 Sunday, March 1, 8:30 am
Draw 4 Sunday, March 1, 1:30 pm
Draw 5 Sunday, March 1, 6:30 pm
Draw 6 Monday, March 2, 1:30 pm
Draw 7 Monday, March 2, 6:30 pm
Draw 8 Tuesday, March 3, 8:30 am
Draw 9 Tuesday, March 3, 1:30 pm
Draw 10 Tuesday, March 3, 6:30 pm
Draw 11 Wednesday, March 4, 8:30 am
Draw 12 Wednesday, March 4, 1:30 pm
Draw 13 Wednesday, March 4, 6:30 pm
Draw 14 Thursday, March 5, 8:30 am
Draw 15 Thursday, March 5, 1:30 pm
Draw 16 Thursday, March 5, 6:30 pm
Draw 17 Friday, March 6, 8:30 am
Playoffs
1 vs. 2 Friday, March 6, 6:30 pm
3 vs. 4 Saturday, March 7, 1:00 pm
Semifinal Saturday, March 7, 6:00 pm
Bronze medal game Sunday, March 8, 9:30 am
Final The 2015 Brier final was the first Brier final to start with four blanks. This game came down to the final stone of the eleventh end, where Pat Simmons had a draw to the pin for the win.
Sunday, March 8, 5:00 pm
Statistics
Top 5 player percentages Round Robin only Leads % Colin Hodgson 95 Ben Hebert 93 Nolan Thiessen 91 Geoff Walker 89 Jared Bezanson 89 Seconds % Brent Laing 91 Carter Rycroft 90 Derek Samagalski 88 E. J. Harnden 87 Tyrel Griffith 86 Thirds % Ryan Fry 92 Marc Kennedy 91 Braeden Moskowy 89 John Morris 88 Kirk Muyres 87 Fourths % Brad Jacobs 86 Steve Laycock 84 Pat Simmons 84 Brad Gushue 82 Jean-Michel Ménard 82
Perfect games Player Team Position Shots Opponent Brent Laing Second 18 Ryan Harnden Lead 18 Ryan Fry Third 18 Colin Hodgson Lead 16
Awards The awards and all-star teams are listed as follows:
All-Star Teams First Team Skip: Brad Jacobs, Northern Ontario Third: Ryan Fry, Northern Ontario Second: Carter Rycroft, Team Canada Lead: Colin Hodgson, Manitoba
Second Team Skip: Brad Gushue, Newfoundland and Labrador Third: Marc Kennedy, Alberta Second: Brent Laing, Alberta Lead: Ben Hebert, Alberta
Ross Harstone Sportsmanship Award Jim Cotter, British Columbia skip
Paul McLean Award Jim Young, longtime camera man for TSN's curling broadcasts
Hec Gervais Most Valuable Player Award Pat Simmons, Team Canada skip
Notes
References
External links