Tim Hortons Brier

Tim Hortons Brier
Established	1927
2016 host city	Ottawa, Ontario
2016 arena	TD Place Arena
2016 champion	Alberta (Kevin Koe)
Current edition
2016 Tim Hortons Brier

The Tim Hortons Brier, or simply (and more commonly) the Brier, is the annual Canadian men's curling championship, sanctioned by the Canadian Curling Association (CCA). The current event name refers to its main sponsor, the Tim Hortons coffee and doughnut shop chain. "Brier" originally referred to a brand of tobacco sold by the event's first sponsor, the Macdonald Tobacco Company.

The Brier has been held since 1927, traditionally during the month of March. The winner of the Brier goes on to represent Canada at the World Championships of the same year. The Brier is regarded by most curlers as the world's premier curling championship. Many Canadian teams feel it is more of a privilege to win the Brier than the World Championship. The Brier is by far the best supported curling competition in terms of paid attendance, attracting crowds far larger than even those for World Championships held in Canada.

The Brier Tankard

History

In 1924, George J. Cameron, the president of W. L. Mackenzie and Company of the Macdonald Tobacco Company pitched the idea of a national curling championship to Macdonald Tobacco and was accepted. However, at the time Canadian curling was divided between the use of granite and iron curling stones with the latter being used in Quebec and Eastern Ontario and the former being used everywhere else. The granite camp held the advantage, as Macdonald Tobacco President Walter Stewart brother, T. Howard Stewart (also of Macdonald Tobacco) supported the use of granites, and was able to influence the decision for the new national championship to use granite stones.^[1]

Before the creation of the Brier, Macdonald Tobacco would begin by sponsoring the 1925 Manitoba Bonspiel, the provincial championship. The winner of this tournament would be sent to Eastern Canada to compete in a number of exhibition games against local teams. In 1926, the winners of the Bonspiel were sent to play in the Quebec Bonspiel. This visit was deemed popular enough to spur on the idea of a national championship to be held the year following. The first Brier would be held at the Granite Club in Toronto. Eight teams would play in the first Brier, from across the country. One team would represent Western Canada, while one team would represent the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, while an additional entry was given to Northern Ontario and one each for the cities of Toronto and Montreal. Games in the 1927 Brier would last 14 ends in length, and each team would play all the other teams in a 7-game round robin with no playoffs unless there was a tie for first. The first winning team would be from Nova Scotia, a rink skipped by Murray Macneill. The other four curlers on the team - Al MacInnes, Cliff Torey and Jim Donahue - were normally skips in their own right - but were added to the Macneill rink because the rest of his normal team could not make the trip.^[2]

By 1928, games were shortened to 12 ends in length and each of the three prairie provinces would get their own separate entries, bringing the number of teams up to 10. In 1932, the separate entries for Montreal and Toronto would be removed, but Northern Ontario – which is not a province – kept its entry, and still remains the only non provincial or territorial entry to this day. In 1936, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia were given entries followed by Newfoundland (later Newfoundland and Labrador) in 1951. Finally, the Territories were given representation with a combined entry beginning in 1975. Two years later, in 1977, games were shortened to 10 ends, which is the current length for matches (there is a move to shorten games to 8 ends, much like they are in Grand Slam events). Up until 1973, games had to last the full 12 ends. After 1973, teams could concede defeat before the end of the match if they wished.^[2]

From its beginnings until 1940, the Brier would be played at the Granite Club in Toronto. After then, the event would travel around the country, and would be played in all 10 provinces. Also at this point, rocks were coloured differently for each team and were matched to be of equal size. Play was discontinued between 1943 and 1945 due to World War II. After World War II, the event became more of a popular sporting spectacle across the country thanks to Macdonald Tobacco enlisting media outlets to cover the event. In 1946, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation began covering the event live across the country on the radio. By the 1960s, the CBC began showing curling on television, at first giving daily half-hour reports. In 1962, the CBC showed the tie-breaking playoff match up. In 1973, they began regularly showing live coverage of the final draw of the event.^[3]

In 1977, Macdonald Tobacco announced it would no longer be sponsoring the Brier, and the 1979 Macdonald Brier would mark the final event to be sponsored by the event. A committee headed by the Canadian Curling Association was put in charge to find a new sponsor, which would end up being the Labatt Brewing Company. The event retained the "Brier" name, despite the word being the property of Macdonald Tobacco. However, with the sponsorship of the Labatt came some changes to the event, such as adding a new championship trophy and adding a TV-friendly playoff round after the round robin games. Labatt remained the title sponsor until 2001 when Nokia took over. That sponsorship only lasted four years before Tim Hortons took over. When the Labatt sponsorship ended, the original Brier trophy was brought back and the names of the winners during the Labatt era were engraved in it.^[4]

Beginning in the 1990s, curling became more profitable, and the event would mostly be held in larger curling friendly markets (such as Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and Saskatoon). At the same time, the World Curling Tour made the sport more lucrative, and curlers demanded cash prizes at the Brier, and the ability to display their sponsors on their jerseys. The CCA ignored their demands, and when the Grand Slam curling series was instituted in 2001, many of the top teams in the country boycotted the Brier in favour of playing in the Slams.^[4] Curlers' demands were eventually met and the boycott ended in 2003. The dominant Brier team of the era, the "Ferbey four" did not boycott the Brier, and won four of five Briers during the era, while other top teams such as Kevin Martin's boycotted the event.

Sponsors

For the first fifty years, the Brier was sponsored by Macdonald Tobacco (later RJR Tobacco Company and now part of JTI-Macdonald Corporation). The name "Brier", in fact, came from a brand of tobacco being manufactured by Macdonald at the time (a brier being a small shrub whose roots are commonly used to make tobacco pipes).^[5] Macdonald was also responsible for introducing both the Brier Tankard trophy (originally named the British Consols Trophy after a brand of cigarettes), and the now famous heart-shaped patches awarded to the tournament winners. The patches were modeled after a small tin heart pressed into the centre of Macdonald tobacco plugs, along with the slogan “The Heart of the Tobacco.” The same heart appeared on tins of Macdonald pipe tobacco. Later, when other national championships were developed, many took the heart as their identifying symbol as well.^[6]

Brier sponsors by year

Years	Sponsor
1927–1979	Macdonald Tobacco
1980–2000	Labatt
2001–2004	Nokia
2005 to present	Tim Hortons (with Monsanto becoming an important sponsor from 2010 to 2011)[7]

Qualification and eligibility

2006 Brier, in Regina

The Brier is currently contested by 12 teams. Most provinces are represented by one team, with the exception of Ontario, which sends two teams (named Ontario and Northern Ontario). Through 2014 the territories sent one team, but starting in 2015 all three territories may compete individually. Teams qualify for the Brier through their respective provincial championships, which are held every year and are open to any Canadian men's curling team consisting of Canadian citizens. The formats for these championships vary from province to province, but most entail a series of club, municipal, district and/or regional playdowns prior to the provincial championship.

Until 2013, the champions of the Brier did not automatically qualify for the following year's Brier, and had to qualify again. However, beginning in 2014, following the precedent set by its women's counterpart, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, champions now earn a bye representing Canada during the following year's Brier.^[8]

Starting in 2015, fifteen teams (ten provinces, three territories, Northern Ontario, and Team Canada) compete for twelve places in the Brier proper. The four lowest-ranked regions play a pre-qualifying tournament to open the Brier, with the winner advancing to the full round robin. In this format's first year Nunavut declined to send a team, and the round was between the winners of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and the Yukon.

Beginning with the 2018 Brier, the event will expand to a sixteen team field, with the ten provinces, three territories, Northern Ontario, and Team Canada being joined by the highest-ranked non-qualified team on the Canadian Team Ranking System standings.^[9] The teams will be separated into two pools of eight, each playing a round-robin, with the top four teams in each pool advancing to a second pool to determine the final four teams. The pools are tentatively slated to be determined by the CTRS standings as of December 31, 2017. ^[10]

Winners

Macdonald Brier

Year	Winning province	Winning team	Host
1927	Nova Scotia	Murray Macneill, Al MacInnes, Cliff Torey, Jim Donahoe	Toronto, Ontario
1928	Manitoba	Gordon Hudson, Sam Penwarden, Ron Singbush, Bill Grant	Toronto, Ontario
1929	Manitoba	Gordon Hudson, Don Rollo, Ron Singbush, Bill Grant	Toronto, Ontario
1930	Manitoba	Howard Wood, Sr., Jimmy Congalton, Victor Wood, Lionel Wood	Toronto, Ontario
1931	Manitoba	Bob Gourley, Ernie Pollard, Arnold Lockerbie, Ray Stewart	Toronto, Ontario
1932	Manitoba	Jimmy Congalton, Howard Wood, Sr., Bill Noble, Harry Mawhinney	Toronto, Ontario
1933	Alberta	Cliff Manahan, Harold Deeton, Harold Wolfe, Bert Ross	Toronto, Ontario
1934	Manitoba	Leo Johnson, Lorne Stewart, Linc Johnson, Marno Frederickson	Toronto, Ontario
1935	Ontario	Gordon Campbell, Donnie Campbell, Gord Coates, Duncan Campbell	Toronto, Ontario
1936	Manitoba	Ken Watson, Grant Watson, Marvin MacIntyre, Charles Kerr	Toronto, Ontario
1937	Alberta	Cliff Manahan, Wes Robinson, Ross Manahan, Lloyd McIntyre	Toronto, Ontario
1938	Manitoba	Ab Gowanlock, Bung Cartmell, Bill McKnight, Tom McKnight	Toronto, Ontario
1939	Ontario	Bert Hall, Perry Hall, Ernie Parkes, Cam Seagram	Toronto, Ontario
1940	Manitoba	Howard Wood, Sr., Ernie Pollard, Howie Wood, Jr., Roy Enman	Winnipeg, Manitoba
1941	Alberta	Howard Palmer, Jack Lebeau, Art Gooder, Clare Webb	Toronto, Ontario
1942	Manitoba	Ken Watson, Grant Watson, Charlie Scrymgeour, Jim Grant	Quebec City, Quebec
1943	Cancelled due to World War II
1944
1945
1946	Alberta	Billy Rose, Bart Swelin, Austin Smith, George Crooks	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
1947	Manitoba	Jimmy Welsh, Alex Welsh, Jock Reid, Harry Monk	Saint John, New Brunswick
1948	British Columbia	Frenchy D'Amour, Bob McGhie, Fred Wendell, Jim Mark	Calgary, Alberta
1949	Manitoba	Ken Watson, Grant Watson, Lyle Dyker, Charles Read	Hamilton, Ontario
1950	Northern Ontario	Tom Ramsay, Len Williamson, Bill Weston, Billy Kenny	Vancouver, British Columbia
1951	Nova Scotia	Don Oyler, George Hanson, Fred Dyke, Wally Knock	Halifax, Nova Scotia
1952	Manitoba	Billy Walsh, Al Langlois, Andy McWilliams, John Watson	Winnipeg, Manitoba
1953	Manitoba	Ab Gowanlock, Jim Williams, Art Pollon, Russ Jackman	Sudbury, Ontario
1954	Alberta	Matt Baldwin, Glenn Gray, Pete Ferry, Jim Collins	Edmonton, Alberta
1955	Saskatchewan	Garnet Campbell, Don Campbell, Glen Campbell, Lloyd Campbell	Regina, Saskatchewan
1956	Manitoba	Billy Walsh, Al Langlois, Cy White, Andy McWilliams	Moncton, New Brunswick
1957	Alberta	Matt Baldwin, Gordon Haynes, Art Kleinmeyer, Bill Price	Kingston, Ontario
1958	Alberta	Matt Baldwin, Jack Geddes, Gordon Haynes, Bill Price	Victoria, British Columbia
1959	Saskatchewan	Ernie Richardson, Arnold Richardson, Garnet Richardson, Wes Richardson	Quebec City, Quebec
1960	Saskatchewan	Ernie Richardson, Arnold Richardson, Garnet Richardson, Wes Richardson	Fort William, Ontario
1961	Alberta	Hec Gervais, Ron Anton, Ray Werner, Wally Ursuliak	Calgary, Alberta
1962	Saskatchewan	Ernie Richardson, Arnold Richardson, Garnet Richardson, Wes Richardson	Kitchener, Ontario
1963	Saskatchewan	Ernie Richardson, Arnold Richardson, Garnet Richardson, Mel Perry	Brandon, Manitoba
1964	British Columbia	Lyall Dagg, Leo Hebert, Fred Britton, Barry Naimark	Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
1965	Manitoba	Terry Braunstein, Don Duguid, Ron Braunstein, Ray Turnbull	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
1966	Alberta	Ron Northcott, George Fink, Bernie Sparkes, Fred Storey	Halifax, Nova Scotia
1967	Ontario	Alf Phillips, Jr., John Ross, Ron Manning, Keith Reilly	Hull, Quebec
1968	Alberta	Ron Northcott, Jim Shields, Bernie Sparkes, Fred Storey	Kelowna, British Columbia
1969	Alberta	Ron Northcott, Dave Gerlach, Bernie Sparkes, Fred Storey	Oshawa, Ontario
1970	Manitoba	Don Duguid, Rod Hunter, Jim Pettapiece, Bryan Wood	Winnipeg, Manitoba
1971	Manitoba	Don Duguid, Rod Hunter, Jim Pettapiece, Bryan Wood	Quebec City, Quebec
1972	Manitoba	Orest Meleschuk, Dave Romano, John Hanesiak, Pat Hailley	St. John's, Newfoundland
1973	Saskatchewan	Harvey Mazinke, Billy Martin, George Achtymichuk, Dan Klippenstein	Edmonton, Alberta
1974	Alberta	Hec Gervais, Ron Anton, Warren Hansen, Darrel Sutton	London, Ontario
1975	Northern Ontario	Bill Tetley, Rick Lang, Bill Hodgson, Peter Hnatiw	Fredericton, New Brunswick
1976	Newfoundland	Jack MacDuff, Toby McDonald, Doug Hudson, Ken Templeton	Regina, Saskatchewan
1977	Quebec	Jim Ursel, Art Lobel, Don Aitken, Brian Ross	Montreal, Quebec
1978	Alberta	Ed Lukowich, Mike Chernoff, Dale Johnston, Ron Schindle	Vancouver, British Columbia
1979	Manitoba	Barry Fry, Bill Carey, Gordon Sparkes, Bryan Wood	Ottawa, Ontario

Labatt Brier

Year	Winning province	Winning team	Finalist province	Finalist team	Host
1980	Saskatchewan	Rick Folk, Ron Mills, Tom Wilson, Jim Wilson	Northern Ontario	Al Hackner, Rick Lang, Bob Nichol, Bruce Kennedy	Calgary, Alberta
1981	Manitoba	Kerry Burtnyk, Mark Olson, Jim Spencer, Ron Kammerlock	Northern Ontario	Al Hackner, Rick Lang, Bob Nichol, Bruce Kennedy	Halifax, Nova Scotia
1982	Northern Ontario	Al Hackner, Rick Lang, Bob Nichol, Bruce Kennedy	British Columbia	Brent Giles, Greg Monkman, Al Roemer, Brad Giles	Brandon, Manitoba
1983	Ontario	Ed Werenich, Paul Savage, John Kawaja, Neil Harrison	Alberta	Ed Lukowich, Mike Chernoff, Neil Houston, Brent Syme	Sudbury, Ontario
1984	Manitoba	Michael Riley, Brian Toews, John Helston, Russ Wookey	Ontario	Ed Werenich, Paul Savage, John Kawaja, Neil Harrison	Victoria, British Columbia
1985	Northern Ontario	Al Hackner, Rick Lang, Ian Tetley, Pat Perroud	Alberta	Pat Ryan, Gord Trenchie, Don Mckenzie, Don Walchuk	Moncton, New Brunswick
1986	Alberta	Ed Lukowich, John Ferguson, Neil Houston, Brent Syme	Ontario	Russ Howard, Glenn Howard, Tim Belcourt, Kent Carstairs	Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario
1987	Ontario	Russ Howard, Glenn Howard, Tim Belcourt, Kent Carstairs	British Columbia	Bernie Sparkes, Jim Armstrong, Monte Ziola, Jamie Sexton	Edmonton, Alberta
1988	Alberta	Pat Ryan, Randy Ferbey, Don Walchuk, Don McKenzie	Saskatchewan	Eugene Hritzuk, Del Shaughnessy, Murray Soparlo, Don Dabrowski	Chicoutimi-Jonquière, Quebec
1989	Alberta	Pat Ryan, Randy Ferbey, Don Walchuk, Don McKenzie	British Columbia	Rick Folk, Bert Gretzinger, Rob Koffski, Doug Smith	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
1990	Ontario	Ed Werenich, John Kawaja, Ian Tetley, Pat Perroud	New Brunswick	Jim Sullivan, Charlie Sullivan, Jr., Craig Burgess, Paul Power	Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
1991	Alberta	Kevin Martin, Kevin Park, Dan Petryk, Don Bartlett	Saskatchewan	Randy Woytowich, Brian McCusker, Wyatt Buck, John Grundy	Hamilton, Ontario
1992	Manitoba	Vic Peters, Dan Carey, Chris Neufeld, Don Rudd	Ontario	Russ Howard, Glenn Howard, Wayne Middaugh, Peter Corner	Regina, Saskatchewan
1993	Ontario	Russ Howard, Glenn Howard, Wayne Middaugh, Peter Corner	British Columbia	Rick Folk, Pat Ryan, Bert Gretzinger, Gerry Richard	Ottawa, Ontario
1994	British Columbia	Rick Folk, Pat Ryan, Bert Gretzinger, Gerry Richard	Ontario	Russ Howard, Glenn Howard, Wayne Middaugh, Peter Corner	Red Deer, Alberta
1995	Manitoba	Kerry Burtnyk, Jeff Ryan, Rob Meakin, Keith Fenton	Saskatchewan	Brad Heidt, Mark Dacey, Wayne Charteris, Dan Ormsby	Halifax, Nova Scotia
1996	Manitoba	Jeff Stoughton, Ken Tresoor, Garry VanDenBerghe, Steve Gould	Alberta	Kevin Martin, Don Walchuk, Shawn Broda, Don Bartlett	Kamloops, British Columbia
1997	Alberta	Kevin Martin, Don Walchuk, Rudy Ramcharan, Don Bartlett	Manitoba	Vic Peters, Dan Carey, Chris Neufeld, Scott Grant	Calgary, Alberta
1998	Ontario	Wayne Middaugh, Graeme McCarrel, Ian Tetley, Scott Bailey	Quebec	Guy Hemmings, Pierre Charette, Guy Thibaudeau, Dale Ness	Winnipeg, Manitoba
1999	Manitoba	Jeff Stoughton, Jon Mead, Garry VanDenBerghe, Doug Armstrong	Quebec	Guy Hemmings, Pierre Charette, Guy Thibaudeau, Dale Ness	Edmonton, Alberta
2000	British Columbia	Greg McAulay, Brent Pierce, Bryan Miki, Jody Sveistrup	New Brunswick	Russ Howard, Wayne Tallon, Rick Perron, Grant Odishaw	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Nokia Brier

Year	Winning province	Winning team	Finalist province	Finalist team	Host
2001	Alberta	Randy Ferbey, David Nedohin, Scott Pfeifer, Marcel Rocque	Manitoba	Kerry Burtnyk, Jeff Ryan, Rob Meakin, Keith Fenton	Ottawa, Ontario
2002	Alberta	Randy Ferbey, David Nedohin, Scott Pfeifer, Marcel Rocque	Ontario	John Morris, Joe Frans, Craig Savill, Brent Laing	Calgary, Alberta
2003	Alberta	Randy Ferbey, David Nedohin, Scott Pfeifer, Marcel Rocque	Nova Scotia	Mark Dacey, Bruce Lohnes, Rob Harris, Andrew Gibson	Halifax, Nova Scotia
2004	Nova Scotia	Mark Dacey, Bruce Lohnes, Rob Harris, Andrew Gibson	Alberta	Randy Ferbey, David Nedohin, Scott Pfeifer, Marcel Rocque	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Tim Hortons Brier

Year	Winning province	Winning team	Finalist province	Finalist team	Host
2005	Alberta	Randy Ferbey, David Nedohin, Scott Pfeifer, Marcel Rocque	Nova Scotia	Shawn Adams, Paul Flemming, Craig Burgess, Kelly Mittelstadt	Edmonton, Alberta
2006	Quebec	Jean-Michel Ménard, François Roberge, Éric Sylvain, Maxime Elmaleh	Ontario	Glenn Howard, Richard Hart, Brent Laing, Craig Savill	Regina, Saskatchewan
2007	Ontario	Glenn Howard, Richard Hart, Brent Laing, Craig Savill	Newfoundland and Labrador	Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Chris Schille, Jamie Korab	Hamilton, Ontario
2008	Alberta	Kevin Martin, John Morris, Marc Kennedy, Ben Hebert	Ontario	Glenn Howard, Richard Hart, Brent Laing, Craig Savill	Winnipeg, Manitoba
2009	Alberta	Kevin Martin, John Morris, Marc Kennedy, Ben Hebert	Manitoba	Jeff Stoughton, Kevin Park, Rob Fowler, Steve Gould	Calgary, Alberta
2010	Alberta	Kevin Koe, Blake MacDonald, Carter Rycroft, Nolan Thiessen	Ontario	Glenn Howard, Richard Hart, Brent Laing, Craig Savill	Halifax, Nova Scotia

Tournament	Gold		Silver		Bronze		Host
	Locale	Team	Locale	Team	Locale	Team
2011	Manitoba	Jeff Stoughton Jon Mead Reid Carruthers Steve Gould	Ontario	Glenn Howard Richard Hart Brent Laing Craig Savill	Newfoundland and Labrador	Brad Gushue Mark Nichols Ryan Fry Jamie Danbrook	London, Ontario
2012	Ontario	Glenn Howard Wayne Middaugh Brent Laing Craig Savill	Alberta	Kevin Koe Pat Simmons Carter Rycroft Nolan Thiessen	Manitoba	Rob Fowler Allan Lyburn Richard Daneault Derek Samagalski	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
2013	Northern Ontario	Brad Jacobs Ryan Fry E. J. Harnden Ryan Harnden	Manitoba	Jeff Stoughton Jon Mead Reid Carruthers Mark Nichols	Ontario	Glenn Howard Wayne Middaugh Brent Laing Craig Savill	Edmonton, Alberta
2014	Alberta	Kevin Koe Pat Simmons Carter Rycroft Nolan Thiessen	British Columbia	John Morris Jim Cotter Tyrel Griffith Rick Sawatsky	Manitoba	Jeff Stoughton Jon Mead Mark Nichols Reid Carruthers	Kamloops, British Columbia
2015	Canada	Pat Simmons John Morris Carter Rycroft Nolan Thiessen	Northern Ontario	Brad Jacobs Ryan Fry E. J. Harnden Ryan Harnden	Saskatchewan	Steve Laycock Kirk Muyres Colton Flasch Dallan Muyres	Calgary, Alberta
2016	Alberta	Kevin Koe Marc Kennedy Brent Laing Ben Hebert	Newfoundland and Labrador	Brad Gushue Mark Nichols Brett Gallant Geoff Walker	Northern Ontario	Brad Jacobs Ryan Fry E. J. Harnden Ryan Harnden	Ottawa, Ontario
2017							St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
2018							Regina, Saskatchewan[11]

Top 3 finishes table

Prior to the 2011 Tim Hortons Brier, there were no bronze medal games, so the third-place finishes listed in the table are for the teams that finished third in the tournament. Following the introduction of bronze medal games, which are played between the loser of the page 3 vs. 4 playoff game and the loser of the semifinal game, the third-place finishes listed are for the teams that won the bronze medal games in each Brier.

2005 Tim Hortons Brier in Edmonton

Province	1st	2nd	3rd	Top 3 finishes
Alberta	27	18	8	53
Manitoba	27	14	14	55
Ontario	10	18	12	40
Saskatchewan	7	15	16	38
Northern Ontario	5	6	12	23
British Columbia	4	13	14	31
Nova Scotia	3	3	6	12
Quebec	2	4	4	10
Newfoundland and Labrador	1	2	2	5
Canada	1	0	0	1
New Brunswick	0	3	7	10
Yukon/ Northwest Territories	0	1	0	1
Toronto	0	0	5	5
Prince Edward Island	0	0	2	2

Awards

Hec Gervais Playoff MVP Award

Year	Player	Province
1997	Kevin Martin	Alberta
1998	Graeme McCarrel	Ontario
1999	Jeff Stoughton	Manitoba
2000	Bryan Miki	British Columbia
2001	David Nedohin	Alberta
2002	David Nedohin (2)	Alberta
2003	David Nedohin (3)	Alberta
2004	Mark Dacey	Nova Scotia
2005	David Nedohin (4)	Alberta
2006	Jean-Michel Ménard	Quebec
2007	Glenn Howard	Ontario
2008	John Morris	Alberta
2009	Kevin Martin (2)	Alberta
2010	Kevin Koe	Alberta
2011	Jon Mead	Manitoba
2012	Wayne Middaugh	Ontario
2013	Brad Jacobs	Northern Ontario
2014	Carter Rycroft	Alberta
2015	Pat Simmons	Canada
2016	Kevin Koe (2)	Alberta

Ross Harstone Sportsmanship Award

Year	Player	Province
1966	George F. McCharles	Newfoundland
1967	Douglas S. McGibney	British Columbia
1968	Charles Piper, Jr.	Nova Scotia
1969	Bill Piercey	Newfoundland
1970	Ed Steeves	New Brunswick
1971	Bob Pickering	Saskatchewan
1972	David Sullivan	New Brunswick
1973	Mel Watchorn	Alberta
1974	Larry McGrath	Saskatchewan
1975	Harvey Mazinke	Saskatchewan
1976	Jim Ursel	Quebec
1977	Joe Power, Jr.	Newfoundland
1978	Peter Murray	New Brunswick
1979	Dave Durrant	Nova Scotia
1979	Wayne Matheson	Prince Edward Island
1980	Wayne Hamilton	Newfoundland
1981	Mel Watchorn (2)	Alberta
1982	Mark Noseworthy	Newfoundland
1983	Jim Armstrong	British Columbia
1984	John Helston	Manitoba
1985	Daniel Hildebrand	Manitoba
1986	Bill Campbell, Jr.	Nova Scotia
1987	Jim Armstrong (2)	British Columbia
1988	Thomas Hakansson	Nova Scotia
1989	Bert Gretzinger	British Columbia
1990	Craig Lepine	British Columbia
1991	Rick Lang	Northern Ontario
1992	Jim Armstrong (3)	British Columbia
1993	Trevor Alexander	Northwest Territories/Yukon
1994	Mark Noseworthy (2)	Newfoundland
1995	Rick Folk	British Columbia
1996	Brian Rafuse	Nova Scotia
1997	Vic Peters	Manitoba
1998	Toby McDonald	Newfoundland
1999	Gerald Shymko	Saskatchewan
2000	Bryan Miki	British Columbia
2001	Paul Flemming	Nova Scotia
2002	Mark Lang	Saskatchewan
2003	Bob Jenion	Manitoba
2004	Daniel Lafleur	Quebec
2005	Randy Dutiaume	Manitoba
2006	Jean-Michel Ménard	Quebec
2007	Mark Whitehead	Northwest Territories/Yukon
2008	Gerry Adam	Saskatchewan
2009	Dean Hicke	Saskatchewan
2010	Ian Fitzner-LeBlanc	Nova Scotia
2011	Jim Cotter	British Columbia
2012	Scott Manners	Saskatchewan
2013	Paul Flemming (2)	Nova Scotia
2014	Greg Balsdon	Ontario
2015	Jim Cotter (2)	British Columbia
2016	Tyrel Griffith	British Columbia

Shot of the Week Award

Year	Player	Province
1997	Kevin Martin	Alberta
1998	Guy Hemmings	Quebec
1999	Guy Hemmings (2)	Quebec
2000	Peter Corner	Ontario
2001	Kerry Burtnyk	Manitoba
2002	David Nedohin	Alberta
2003	Bruce Lohnes	Nova Scotia
2004	Jay Peachey	British Columbia
2005	David Nedohin (2)	Alberta
2006	Mark Dacey	Nova Scotia
2007	Dean Joanisse	British Columbia
2008	Glenn Howard	Ontario
2009	Glenn Howard (2)	Ontario
2010	Richard Hart	Ontario
2011	Jeff Stoughton	Manitoba
2012	Glenn Howard (3)	Ontario
2013	Brad Gushue	Newfoundland and Labrador

Ford Hot Shots

Records

Most Brier wins as skip

Three people have won the Brier four times as skip:

• Ernie Richardson (1959, 1960, 1962, 1963)
• Randy Ferbey (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005) - In addition, Ferbey won the 1988 and 1989 Briers playing third for Pat Ryan.
• Kevin Martin (1991, 1997, 2008, 2009)

Top Attendance Records

#	Brier	Venue	Total attendance
1	2005	Rexall Place, Edmonton	281,985
2	2000	Saskatchewan Place, Saskatoon	248,793
3	2009	Pengrowth Saddledome, Calgary	246,126
4	2002	Pengrowth Saddledome, Calgary	245,296
5	1999	Skyreach Centre, Edmonton	242,887
6	2004	Saskatchewan Place, Saskatoon	238,129
7	1997	Canadian Airlines Saddledome, Calgary	223,322
8	2013	Rexall Place, Edmonton	190,113
9	2012	Credit Union Centre, Saskatoon	177,226
10	2008	MTS Centre, Winnipeg	165,075
11	2003	Metro Centre, Halifax	158,414
12	2001	Civic Centre, Ottawa	154,136
13	2015	Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary	151,835
14	1989	Saskatchewan Place, Saskatoon	151,538
15	1998	Winnipeg Arena, Winnipeg	147,017
16	1994	Centrium, Red Deer	130,625
17	1993	Civic Centre, Ottawa	130,076
18	1996	Riverside Coliseum, Kamloops	127,746
19	2006	Brandt Centre, Regina	125,971
20	1995	Metro Centre, Halifax	121,896
21	1992	Agridome, Regina	121,555
22	2016	TD Place Arena, Ottawa	115,047
23	2011	John Labatt Centre, London	113,626
24	2010	Metro Centre, Halifax	107,242
25	2007	Copps Coliseum, Hamilton	107,199
26	1982	Keystone Centre, Brandon	106,394

Perfect games

A perfect game in curling is one in which a player scores 100% on all their shots in a game. Statistics on shots have been kept since 1985.

Curler	Team	Position	Shots	Year	Opponent
Pat Perroud	Northern Ontario	Lead	22	1985	Alberta
Ron Kapicki	Northwest Territories/Yukon	Lead	18	1987	Quebec
Neil Harrison	Ontario	Lead	18	1988	Saskatchewan
Don Harvey	Manitoba	Lead	20	1988	Northern Ontario
Louis Biron	Quebec	Lead	10	1992	Alberta
Glenn Howard	Ontario	Third	18	1992	Saskatchewan
Kevin Martin	Alberta	Skip	10	1992	Quebec
Scott Alexander	Northwest Territories/Yukon	Lead	20	1993	Ontario
Louis Biron	Quebec	Lead	20	1993	British Columbia
Peter Corner	Ontario	Lead	20	1993	Northern Ontario
John Gundy	Saskatchewan	Lead	20	1993	Newfoundland
Glenn Howard	Ontario	Third	20	1993	British Columbia
Gerry Richard	British Columbia	Lead	16	1994	Saskatchewan
Kerry Burtnyk	Manitoba	Skip	14	1995	Northern Ontario
Ken Ellis	Newfoundland	Second	20	1997	New Brunswick
Pierre Charette	Quebec	Third	12	1998	Newfoundland
Don Walchuk	Alberta	Second	18	1998	Northern Ontario
Pierre Charette	Quebec	Third	18	1999	New Brunswick
Grant Odishaw	New Brunswick	Third	10	1999	Northern Ontario
Grant Odishaw	New Brunswick	Lead	14	2000	Nova Scotia
Grant Odishaw	New Brunswick	Lead	20	2000	Ontario
Don Walchuk	Alberta	Third	16	2000	British Columbia
Wayne Middaugh	Ontario	Skip	10	2001	Quebec
Wayne Middaugh	Ontario	Skip	16	2001	Manitoba
Ian Tetley	Ontario	Second	16	2001	Manitoba
Brad Fenton	British Columbia	Lead	20	2004	Nova Scotia
Phil Loevenmark	Ontario	Second	12	2004	Quebec
Scott Pfeifer	Alberta	Second	12	2004	Northern Ontario
Trevor Wall	Ontario	Lead	20	2004	Prince Edward Island
Jean Gagnon	Quebec	Lead	10	2006	Prince Edward Island
Glenn Howard	Ontario	Skip	14	2006	Manitoba
Craig Savill	Ontario	Lead	18	2006	Northern Ontario
Pierre Fraser	New Brunswick	Lead	12	2007	Alberta
Craig Savill	Ontario	Lead	10	2007	New Brunswick
Glenn Howard	Ontario	Skip	12	2008	Prince Edward Island
Ryan Fry	Newfoundland and Labrador	Second	14	2009	Quebec
Steve Gould	Manitoba	Lead	18	2009	Alberta
Kevin Martin	Alberta	Skip	12	2009	Northern Ontario
John Morris	Alberta	Third	12	2009	British Columbia
Nolan Thiessen	Alberta	Lead	18	2010	Nova Scotia
Jeff Stoughton	Manitoba	Skip	15	2011	Alberta
Brent Laing	Ontario	Second	16	2012	Prince Edward Island
Ryan Harnden	Northern Ontario	Lead	14	2013	Alberta
Ryan Harnden	Northern Ontario	Lead	17	2013	Manitoba
Ben Hebert	Alberta	Lead	10	2013	Nova Scotia
Brad Jacobs	Northern Ontario	Skip	14	2013	Alberta
Marc Kennedy	Alberta	Second	14	2013	Prince Edward Island
Brent Laing	Ontario	Second	14	2013	Newfoundland and Labrador
Mark Nichols	Manitoba	Lead	18	2013	Northern Ontario
Mark Nichols	Manitoba	Lead	16	2013	Nova Scotia
Philippe Ménard	Quebec	Lead	16	2013	British Columbia
Craig Savill	Ontario	Lead	14	2013	Newfoundland and Labrador
Jamie Childs	Northern Ontario	Lead	20	2014	Prince Edward Island
Nolan Thiessen	Alberta	Lead	15	2014	Newfoundland and Labrador
Nolan Thiessen	Alberta	Lead	16	2014	Northwest Territories/Yukon
Rick Sawatsky	British Columbia	Lead	18	2014	Prince Edward Island
Rick Sawatsky	British Columbia	Lead	16	2014	New Brunswick
Rick Sawatsky	British Columbia	Lead	16	2014	Ontario
Ryan Fry	Northern Ontario	Third	18	2015	Ontario
Ryan Harnden	Northern Ontario	Lead	18	2015	British Columbia
Colin Hodgson	Manitoba	Lead	16	2015	Northern Ontario
Brent Laing	Alberta	Second	18	2015	Northern Ontario
Marc Kennedy	Alberta	Third	16	2016	Prince Edward Island
Marc LeCocq	New Brunswick	Second	20	2016	Manitoba
Philippe Ménard	Quebec	Lead	18	2016	Saskatchewan
Scott Howard	Ontario	Lead	18	2016	Northwest Territories
Glenn Howard	Ontario	Skip	16	2016	Prince Edward Island
Nolan Thiessen	Canada	Lead	20	2016	New Brunswick
E. J. Harnden	Northern Ontario	Second	16	2016	Northwest Territories
Denni Neufeld	Manitoba	Lead	17	2016	British Columbia
Kevin Koe	Alberta	Skip	18	2016	Canada
Brett Gallant	Newfoundland and Labrador	Second	18	2016	Prince Edward Island

Number of games played

As of the 2016 Brier

Rank	Player	Province(s)	Games played
1	Glenn Howard	Ontario	207
2	Russ Howard	Ontario  New Brunswick	174
3	Brad Gushue	Newfoundland and Labrador	160
4	Kevin Martin	Alberta	150
5	Mark Nichols	Newfoundland and Labrador  Manitoba	147
5	Brent Laing	Ontario  Alberta	147
7	Jeff Stoughton	Manitoba	139
8	Brad Chorostkowski	Northwest Territories/Yukon  Northwest Territories	131
9	Bernie Sparkes	Alberta  British Columbia	129
10	James Grattan	New Brunswick	127
11	Rick Lang	Northern Ontario	121
11	Craig Savill	Ontario	121
13	Pat Ryan	Alberta  British Columbia	120
13	Ed Werenich	Ontario	120
15	Éric Sylvain	Quebec	119
16	Wayne Middaugh	Ontario	115
17	John Morris	Ontario  Alberta  British Columbia  Canada	114
18	Mark O'Rourke	Prince Edward Island	111
18	Jamie Koe	Northwest Territories/Yukon  Northwest Territories	111
20	Pat Simmons	Saskatchewan  Alberta  Canada	110
21	Ben Hebert	Saskatchewan  Alberta	109
22	Jean-Michel Ménard	Quebec	108
23	Al Hackner	Northern Ontario	106
24	Ryan Fry	Manitoba  Newfoundland and Labrador  Northern Ontario	103
25	Garnet Campbell	Saskatchewan	101
26	Randy Ferbey	Alberta	100
26	Peter Gallant	Prince Edward Island	100

See also

• Scottish Men's Curling Championship
• United States Men's Curling Championship
• World Curling Championships
• Scotties Tournament of Hearts (Canada)
• Scottish Women's Curling Championship

References

1. "Canada Curls", by Doug Maxwell, pg 106
2. "Canada Curls", by Doug Maxwell, pg 109
3. "Canada Curls", by Doug Maxwell, pg 114
4. "Canada Curls", by Doug Maxwell, pg 121
5. "CBC Digital Archives: Curling at the 1947 Macdonald Brier". CBC.
6. "The History of Curling". Canadian Curling Association.
7. Mellor, Claire (12 March 2010). "Monsanto curls up with Brier organizers". Halifax, Nova Scotia: The Chronicle Herald.
8. "Brier to follow Scotties in awarding a Team Canada bye to champion". Canadian Press. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
9. http://www.curling.ca/blog/2016/06/19/new-formats-new-event-introduced-at-2016-national-curling-congress/
10. https://www.facebook.com/curlingcanada/photos/a.332767560068617.90230.118338991511476/1249133898431974/?type=3&comment_id=1249144271764270&reply_comment_id=1249147581763939&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R6%22%7D
11. "Regina to host 2018 Brier curling championship". CBC News. November 3, 2016. Retrieved November 5, 2016. The Regina competition will be the first brier [sic] using an expanded 16-team format.

Further reading

• Bonspiel! The History of Curling in Canada at Library and Archives Canada
• SOUDOG'S Curling History Site

External links

• Canadian Curling Association
• Brier news at CurlingRink.ca
• Archives