The 2025 Montana's Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from February 28 to March 9 at Prospera Place in Kelowna, British Columbia. The winning Brad Jacobs rink will represent Canada at the 2025 World Men's Curling Championship at Temple Gardens Centre in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
Summary Prior to the event, all the teams agreed not to use the new controversial 'black foam' brush heads, that are legal for competition. The new brush heads have firmer foam, which has caused debate among curlers, with the ensuing controversy being dubbed "Broomgate 2.0" or "foamgate", in reference to the brush head scandal from the 2015–16 season.
In Draw 6, Alberta (Jacobs) defeated Northwest Territories 20–2 setting a playoff-era record (since 1980) for most points scored in a game, breaking the record of 18 set in by Manitoba. This was also the first time a team scored 20 or more points in a game at the Brier since (which was also held in Kelowna) when Manitoba defeated British Columbia 22–5.
Team Canada, skipped by Brad Gushue was the first team to clinch a playoff berth in their morning game on March 5, after defeating Alberta's Kevin Koe rink, 7–6. Later in the day, Saskatchewan's Mike McEwen and Alberta's Brad Jacobs also earned playoff spots, after wins against Saskatchewan's Rylan Kleiter and Team Ontario (Sam Mooibroek), respectively. Kevin Koe, a former World Champion was eliminated from playoff competition for the second straight season.
On March 6, Reid Carruthers of Manitoba took the last playoff spot in Pool A, which had been dubbed the "Pool of Death" due to its depth. He had the evening off, but clinched after Manitoba's Matt Dunstone beat Gushue, which earned Dunstone first place in the pool, and gave Carruthers the tiebreaker advantage over Northern Ontario's John Epping who finished with the same record, as they had beaten them in pool play. Had Gushue won, Epping would have made the playoffs instead. In Pool B, Nova Scotia's Owen Purcell earned the final playoff sport after beating Ontario. It was the first time Nova Scotia made the playoffs since 2006.
In the 1/2 playoff qualifier games, Team Manitoba–Dunstone took on Saskatchewan–McEwen, while Alberta–Jacobs took on Team Canada, skipped by Brad Gushue. Dunstone beat McEwen 6–5, sending his team to the 1 vs. 2 page playoff game, and relegating McEwen to play Manitoba–Carruthers in the 3/4 qualifier game. Meanwhile, Gushue defeated Jacobs 7–4 in the other 1/2 game, in the "battle of the Brads", putting Team Canada in the 1 vs. 2 page playoff, and sending Jacobs into the 3/4 game against Nova Scotia's Owen Purcell rink. In the Gushue–Jacobs game, Jacobs missed an in-off in the seventh which could have resulted in multiple points, but instead resulted in a Gushue steal. It was Team Jacobs' first loss in the event.
In the 3/4 games, Team Carruthers sent McEwen packing, defeating them 6–4, while Jacobs sent Team Nova Scotia home, beating them 10–6. The turning point in the McEwen–Carruthers game came in the sixth end, when McEwen attempted a double takeout for three. He hit the first Carruthers rock too thin, resulting in a steal of two instead, an error McEwen later called "catastrophic", and a "monumental error in reading angles", as the shot for three may not have even been possible. The wins put Carruthers and Jacobs into the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game.
In the page 3 vs. 4 game, Jacobs defeated Carruthers, 6–5. Carruthers blamed his loss on a few "half shots". Meanwhile, in the page 1 vs. 2 game, Dunstone beat Team Canada 7–4. Team Canada skip Brad Gushue blamed his defeat on an "ad hoc" strategy, failing to "build many ends". The win put Jacobs into the semifinal to face Gushue, while Dunstone earned a bye into the final with his team's win. Carruthers was eliminated.
In the semifinal, Team Jacobs beat Canada's Brad Gushue rink 7–5. Jacobs took a 3–1 lead in the fifth when they scored three after Gushue ticked a guard on his first, and missed a hit and roll attempt on his last. This allowed Jacobs to make a hit for the three points. Gushue came back with a three-ender of his own in the eighth when he made a double takeout on his last stone of the end to take a 5–4 lead. Jacobs responded by making a hit for two in the ninth to take a 6–5 lead into the last end. The game came down to the last shots, with both teams facing time-clock pressure. On his last, Jacobs made a draw to the four-foot behind a guard to sit shot. To win, Gushue had to tap the rock back to score two points. On his final shot, Gushue threw the rock heavy, only grazing the Jacobs rock, giving up a steal and the game. The crowd gasped after the miss by the six-time Brier champion who was looking for his fourth straight championship. The win put Jacobs into the Brier final for the first time in 10 years.
In the final, Team Jacobs took on Team Dunstone in front of a sellout crowd of 5,483. Team Dunstone started with hammer, and blanked the first four ends. In the fifth, Jacobs missed a cross-house double which was followed up by Dunstone drawing for two to take a 2–0 lead. In the sixth end, Dunstone made a tapback to sit two, forcing Jacobs to draw for a single. In the seventh, Dunstone jammed on a double attempt which gave Jacobs a steal to tie the game at two. The teams then blanked the eighth. In the ninth end, Dunstone flashed on his first shot, and would be forced to take a single point, to take a 3–2 lead into the final end. In the 10th end, Team Dunstone tried to bunch up stones around the button in an attempt to force Jacobs to just one, but Team Jacobs made eight perfect shots in the end. On his first Jacobs made a soft tap to sit four, which Dunstone replied by making a freeze to hold Jacobs to sit just one. On Jacob's final stone, he picked out the frozen Dunstone rock to score three, and with it the Brier championship. It was Jacobs' first Brier title since , the fourth Brier championship for third Marc Kennedy, and the fifth title for second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert. It was the first time in Brier history that a team won four straight elimination games to win the event.
Teams A total of eighteen teams qualified for the 2025 Brier. The fourteen Canadian curling member associations held playdowns to determine who represented their province or territory. Team Canada was represented by Team Brad Gushue, who won the 2024 Montana's Brier.
In a slight change in the qualification format from 2024, three teams in the field pre-qualified for the 2025 Brier based on their 2023–24 Canadian Team Ranking Standings, which meant they bypassed the provincial qualifiers. These spots went to Teams Brad Jacobs, Mike McEwen and Matt Dunstone. This was different from the 2024 qualification where two teams pre-qualified for the event with the final spot going to the highest ranked team on the CTRS standings following the conclusion of the provincial championships.
The teams were as follows: British ColumbiaSt. John's CC, St. John's Skip: Brad Gushue Third: Mark Nichols Second: Brendan Bottcher Lead: Geoff Walker Alternate: Adam CaseyThe Glencoe Club, Calgary Skip: Kevin Koe Third: Aaron Sluchinski Second: Tyler Tardi Lead: Karrick Martin Alternate: Mike LibbusVictoria CC, Victoria Skip: Cameron de Jong Third: Alex Horvath Second: Corey Chester Lead: Brayden Carpenter Alternate: Paul Cseke Manitoba (Carruthers) New Brunswick Granite CC, Winnipeg Skip: Reid Carruthers Third: B.J. Neufeld Second: Catlin Schneider Lead: Connor Njegovan Alternate: Kyle DoeringGage G&CC, Oromocto Skip: James Grattan Third: Joel Krats Second: Paul Dobson Lead: Andy McCann Alternate: Drew GrattanSt. John's CC, St. John's Skip: Ty Dilello Third: Ryan McNeil Lamswood Second: Daniel Bruce Lead: Aaron Feltham Alternate: Nathan King Northern Credit Union CC, Sudbury Skip: John Epping Third: Jacob Horgan Second: Tanner Horgan Lead: Ian McMillanHalifax CC, Halifax Skip: Owen Purcell Third: Luke Saunders Second: Scott Saccary Lead: Ryan Abraham Alternate: Calan MacIsaacWhitby CC, Whitby Skip: Sam Mooibroek Third: Ryan Wiebe Second: Scott Mitchell Lead: Nathan Steele Alternate: Gavin Lydiate Quebec Saskatchewan (Kleiter)Crapaud Community CC, Crapaud Skip: Tyler Smith Third: Adams Cocks Second: Christopher Gallant Lead: Ed WhiteGlenmore CC, Dollard-des-Ormeaux,Curling des Collines, Chelsea,CC Etchemin, Saint-Romuald &CC Valleyfield, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield Fourth: Félix Asselin Skip: Jean-Michel Ménard Second: Martin Crête Lead: Jean-François TrépanierNutana CC, Saskatoon Skip: Rylan Kleiter Third: Joshua Mattern Second: Matthew Hall Lead: Trevor Johnson Alternate: John Mattern Northwest Territories Nunavut Hay River CC, Hay River Skip: Aaron Bartling Third: D'arcy Delorey Second: Norman Bassett Lead: Eric Preston Alternate: Adam NauglerIqaluit CC, Iqaluit Skip: Shane Latimer Third: Sheldon Wettig Second: Justin McDonell Lead: Peter Van StrienWhitehorse CC, Whitehorse Skip: Thomas Scoffin Third: Kerr Drummond Second: Trygg Jensen Lead: Joe Wallingham The Glencoe Club, Calgary Skip: Brad Jacobs Third: Marc Kennedy Second: Brett Gallant Lead: Ben Hebert Alternate: Mike CaioneNutana CC, Saskatoon Skip: Mike McEwen Third: Colton Flasch Second: Kevin Marsh Lead: Dan Marsh Alternate: Brent LaingFort Rouge CC, Winnipeg Skip: Matt Dunstone Third: Colton Lott Second: E.J. Harnden Lead: Ryan Harnden Alternate: Adam Kingsbury
CTRS Rankings As of February 10, 2025
Source:
Member Association (Skip) Rank Points (Dunstone) 1 314.375 (Jacobs) 2 284.250 (McEwen) 3 281.500 (Gushue) 4 253.250 (Epping) 5 228.250 (Kleiter) 6 142.000 (Mooibroek) 8 130.750 (Koe) 9 119.813 (Carruthers) 10 113.125 (Ménard) 20 70.438 (Purcell) 21 68.063 (de Jong) 26 45.750 (Grattan) 53 24.500 (Smith) 55 23.750 (Scoffin) 83 9.938 (Dilello) 93 8.250 (Bartling) NR 0.000 (Latimer) NR 0.000
Map of teams
Round robin standings Final Round Robin Standings KeyTeams to Championship round Pool ASkip (Dunstone) Matt Dunstone 7 1 1–0 62 35 34 26 7 10 89% 214.9 Brad Gushue 7 1 0–1 60 32 33 25 8 7 90% 191.9 (Carruthers) Reid Carruthers 6 2 1–0 55 39 35 27 8 8 86% 404.9 John Epping 6 2 0–1 65 47 36 33 5 9 86% 165.0 (Koe) Kevin Koe 4 4 – 50 39 32 25 9 12 86% 249.3 James Grattan 3 5 – 40 52 32 31 5 8 82% 389.4 Cameron de Jong 2 6 – 46 47 30 32 4 8 83% 392.2 Ty Dilello 1 7 – 32 61 23 37 7 6 80% 794.5 Shane Latimer 0 8 – 25 83 22 41 1 3 68% 1146.0 Pool BSkip (Jacobs) Brad Jacobs 8 0 – 79 29 37 24 5 11 92% 153.8 (McEwen) Mike McEwen 7 1 – 65 36 33 27 11 8 89% 121.7 Owen Purcell 5 3 – 52 43 34 25 12 7 85% 274.3 Sam Mooibroek 4 4 2–0 56 48 32 29 3 9 82% 254.8 Jean-Michel Ménard 4 4 1–1 49 56 31 32 4 5 86% 357.9 Thomas Scoffin 4 4 0–2 45 51 31 32 5 8 80% 825.6 (Kleiter) Rylan Kleiter 3 5 – 42 46 26 26 7 7 85% 524.2 Tyler Smith 1 7 – 41 61 27 37 0 5 82% 365.3 Aaron Bartling 0 8 – 27 86 22 41 4 3 76% 851.7
+ Pool A Round Robin Summary Table Pos. Team AB–K BC CAN MB-C MB-D NB NL NO NU Record 5 (Koe) 4–4 7 2–6 2 7–1 3 (Carruthers) 6–2 1 (Dunstone) 7–1 6 3–5 8 1–7 4 6–2 9 0–8
+ Pool B Round Robin Summary Table Pos. Team AB–J NT NS ON PE QC SK–K SK–M YT Record 1 (Jacobs) 8–0 9 0–8 3 5–3 4 4–4 8 1–7 5 4–4 7 (Kleiter) 3–5 2 (McEwen) 7–1 6 4–4
Round robin results All draw times are listed in Pacific Time (UTC−08:00).
Draw 1 Friday, February 28, 6:30 pm
Draw 2 Saturday, March 1, 1:30 pm
Draw 3 Saturday, March 1, 6:30 pm
Draw 4 Sunday, March 2, 8:30 am
Draw 5 Sunday, March 2, 1:30 pm
Draw 6 Sunday, March 2, 6:30 pm
Draw 7 Monday, March 3, 8:30 am
Draw 8 Monday, March 3, 1:30 pm
Draw 9 Monday, March 3, 6:30 pm
Draw 10 Tuesday, March 4, 8:30 am
Draw 11 Tuesday, March 4, 1:30 pm
Draw 12 Tuesday, March 4, 6:30 pm
Draw 13 Wednesday, March 5, 8:30 am
Draw 14 Wednesday, March 5, 1:30 pm
Draw 15 Wednesday, March 5, 6:30 pm
Draw 16 Thursday, March 6, 8:30 am
Draw 17 Thursday, March 6, 1:30 pm
Draw 18 Thursday, March 6, 6:30 pm
Championship round
Page 1/2 Qualifier Friday, March 7, 12:30 pm